TODAY IN HISTORY

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Today is Friday, March 13, the 73rd day of 2020. There are 293 days left in the year.

Today’s Highlight in History:

On March 13, 2013, Jorge Bergoglio of Argentina was elected pope, choosing the name Francis; he was the first pontiff from the Americas and the first from outside Europe in more than a millennium.

On this date:

In 1639, New College was renamed Harvard College for clergyman John Harvard.

In 1862, President Abraham Lincoln signed a measure prohibiting Union military officers from returning fugitive slaves to their owners.

In 1865, Confederate President Jefferson Davis signed a measure allowing black slaves to enlist in the Confederate States Army with the promise they would be set free.

In 1901, the 23rd President of the United States, Benjamin Harrison, died in Indianapolis at age 67.

In 1925, the Tennessee General Assembly approved a bill prohibiting the teaching of the theory of evolution.

In 1933, banks in the U.S. began to reopen after a “holiday” declared by President Franklin D. Roosevelt.

In 1934, a gang that included John Dillinger and “Baby Face” Nelson robbed the First National Bank in Mason City, Iowa, making off with $52,344.

In 1954, the Battle of Dien Bien Phu began during the First Indochina War as Viet Minh forces attacked French troops, who were defeated nearly two months later.

In 1969, the Apollo 9 astronauts splashed down, ending a mission that included the successful testing of the Lunar Module.

In 1975, the first Chili’s restaurant was opened in Dallas by entrepreneur Larry Lavine.

In 1980, Ford Motor Co. Chairman Henry Ford II announced he was stepping down, the same day a jury in Winamac, Indiana, found the company not guilty of reckless homicide in the fiery deaths of three young women in a Ford Pinto.

Today’s Birthdays: Jazz musician Roy Haynes is 95. Country singer Jan Howard is 90. Songwriter Mike Stoller is 87. Singer-songwriter Neil Sedaka is 81. R&B/gospel singer Candi Staton is 80. Opera singer Julia Migenes is 71. Actor William H. Macy is 70. Comedian Robin Duke is 66. Actress Dana Delany is 64. Sen. John Hoeven, R-N.D., is 63. Rock musician Adam Clayton (U2) is 60. Jazz musician Terence Blanchard is 58. Actor Christopher Collet is 52. Rock musician Matt McDonough (Mudvayne) is 51. Actress Annabeth Gish is 49. Actress Tracy Wells is 49. Rapper-actor Common is 48.

Thought for Today: “History repeats itself. That’s one of the things wrong with history.” — Clarence Darrow, American lawyer (born 1857, died this date in 1938).

By The Associated Press

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