TODAY IN HISTORY

TODAY’S HIGHLIGHT

Jan. 13, 1982

An Air Florida 737 crashed into Washington, D.C.’s 14th Street Bridge and fell into the Potomac River while trying to take off during a snowstorm, killing a total of 78 people; four passengers and a flight attendant survived.

ALSO ON THIS DATE

1794

President George Washington approved a measure adding two stars and two stripes to the American flag, following the admission of Vermont and Kentucky to the Union.

1915

A magnitude-7 earthquake centered in Avezzano, Italy, claimed some 30,000 lives.

1941

A new law went into effect granting Puerto Ricans U.S. birthright citizenship. Novelist and poet James Joyce died in Zurich, Switzerland, less than a month before his 59th birthday.

1962

Comedian Ernie Kovacs died in a car crash in west Los Angeles 10 days before his 43rd birthday.

1964

Roman Catholic Bishop Karol Wojtyla was appointed Archbishop of Krakow, Poland, by Pope Paul VI.

1968

Country singer Johnny Cash performed and recorded a pair of shows at Folsom State Prison in California; material from the concerts was released as an album by Columbia Records under the title “Johnny Cash at Folsom Prison,” which proved a hit.

1978

Former Vice President Hubert H. Humphrey died in Waverly, Minnesota, at age 66.

1990

L. Douglas Wilder of Virginia became the nation’s first elected black governor as he took the oath of office in Richmond.

1992

Japan apologized for forcing tens of thousands of Korean women to serve as sex slaves for its soldiers during World War II, citing newly uncovered documents that showed the Japanese army had a role in abducting the so-called “comfort women.”