TODAY IN HISTORY
Today is Saturday, April 13, the 104th day of 2024. There are 262 days left in the year.
On this date in:
1743: Thomas Jefferson was born at Shadwell Plantation in the British Colony of Virginia.
1861: Union forces surrendered to Confederate forces at Fort Sumter in what was the first major battle and defeat of the Civil War. No direct casualties were reported.
1870: The Metropolitan Museum of Art was founded in New York City. The institution was tasked with “encouraging and developing the study of the fine arts, and the application of the arts to manufacture and practical life, of advancing general knowledge of kindred subjects, and, to that end, furnishing popular instruction and recreation.” Among its founders was Theodore Roosevelt Sr., the father of President Theodore Roosevelt. The museum opened to the public two years later in February 1872.
1873: A mob of former Confederate soldiers and the Ku Klux Klan murdered 60 to 150 Black militia men in Colfax, Louisiana, after they surrendered. The mob of the Colfax massacre, sometimes referred to as the Colfax Riot, took to arms after a contested governor’s election.
1941: The USSR and Japan signed the Soviet–japanese Neutrality Pact as a non-aggression agreement after the conclusion of the Soviet Japanese Border
War. It meant that, for most of World War II, the two nations were not involved in direct combat with each other.
1953: CIA director Allen Dulles directed the agency to develop the mind-control program called Project Mkultra. It was designed to be utilized against the Soviets. The project employed various experiments to manipulate and alter mental states and brain functions using psychoactive drugs, hypnosis, electroshocks, sensory deprivation, isolation, physical and verbal abuse, as well as other forms of torture.
1953: Bond. James Bond. The infamous enigmatic spy debuted in Ian Fleming’s “Casino Royale,” which was also Fleming’s first book.
– Hoang Tran, USA TODAY Network
Today’s birthdays: Musician John William Casady (Jefferson Airplane), turns 80. Musician Al Green, 78. Actor Ron Perlman, 74. Actor William Sadler, 74. Singer Peabo Bryson, 73. Drummer Max Weinberg (E Street Band and “Late Night With Conan O’brien”), 73. Actor
Saundra Santiago, 67. Actor-comedian Caroline Rhea, 60. Singer
Aaron Lewis (Staind), 52. Actor Bokeem Woodbine, 51. Singer Lou Bega, 49. Actor Glenn Howerton, 48. Actor Kelli Marie Giddish, 44. Rapper Ty Dolla $ign, 42. Actor Allison Williams, 36.
– USA TODAY NETWORK