TODAY IN HISTORY
TODAY IS MONDAY, JULY 13, the 195th day of 2020. There are 171 days left in the year. TODAY’S HIGHLIGHT IN HISTORY:
On this date in 2013, a jury in Sanford, Florida, cleared neighborhood watch volunteer George Zimmerman of all charges in the shooting of Trayvon Martin, the unarmed Black teenager whose killing unleashed furious debate over racial profiling, self-defense and equal justice.
In 1787, the Congress of the Confederation adopted the Northwest Ordinance, which established a government in the Northwest Territory, an area corresponding to the presentday Midwest and Upper Midwest.
In 1863, deadly rioting against the Civil War military draft erupted in New York City. (The insurrection was put down three days later.)
In 1965, President Lyndon B. Johnson nominated Thurgood Marshall to be U.S. Solicitor General; Marshall became the first Black jurist appointed to the post. (Two years later, Johnson nominated Marshall to the U.S. Supreme Court.)
In 1974, the Senate Watergate Committee proposed sweeping reforms in an effort to prevent another Watergate scandal.
In 1985, “Live Aid,” an international rock concert in London, Philadelphia, Moscow and Sydney, took place to raise money for Africa’s starving people.
In 1999, Angel Maturino Resendiz, suspected of being the “Railroad Killer,” surrendered in El Paso, Texas. (Resendiz was executed in 2006.)
In 2018, a grand jury indictment, sought by special counsel Robert Mueller, alleged that the Russian government was behind a sweeping conspiracy to interfere in the 2016 U.S. presidential election; the grand jury indicted 12 Russian military intelligence officers on charges that they had hacked Hillary Clinton’s campaign and the Democratic Party.
TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS: Game show announcer Johnny Gilbert (TV: “Jeopardy!”) is 96. Actor Patrick Stewart is 80. Actors Robert Forster and Harrison Ford, and singer-guitarist Roger McGuinn (The Byrds) are 78. Actor-comedian Cheech Marin is 74. Actress Didi Conn is 69. Actor Gil Birmingham is 67. Singer Louise Mandrell is 66. Rock musician Mark “The Animal” Mendoza (Twisted Sister) is 64. Actor-director Cameron Crowe is 63. Former tennis player Anders Jarryd is 59. Actor Kenny Johnson is 57. Roots singer/songwriter Paul Thorn is 56. Country singer Neil Thrasher is 55. Singer Deborah Cox is 47. Actress Ashley Scott is 43. Rock musician Will Champion (Coldplay) is 42. Actor Fran Kranz is 39. Actress Aya Cash and St. Louis Cardinals catcher Yadier Molina are 38. Actors Colton Haynes and Steven R. McQueen are 32. Soul singer Leon Bridges is 31. Actress Hayley Erin (“General Hospital”) is 26. Actor Kyle Harrison Breitkopf is 15.