On This Day in History - January 13th - Almanac

Today is Tuesday, Jan. 13, the 13th day of 2015 with 352 to follow.

The moon is waning. Morning stars are Jupiter and Saturn. Evening stars are Mars, Mercury, Neptune, Uranus and Venus.

Those born on this date are under the sign of Capricorn. They include Salmon P. Chase, sixth chief justice of the United States and whose image is on the U.S. $10,000 bill, in 1808; Horatio Alger, author of rags-to-riches stories, in 1832; Alfred Fuller, the original Fuller Brush Man, in 1885; singer Sophie Tucker in 1886; Hollywood columnist Army Archerd in 1922; television executive Brandon Tartikoff in 1949; actor Robert Stack in 1919; actor Gwen Verdon in 1925; actor Frances Sternhagen in 1930 (age 85); actor Charles Nelson Reilly in 1931; actor Rip Taylor in 1934 (age 81); actor Richard Moll in 1943 (age 72); actor Kevin Anderson in 1960 (age 55); actor Julia Louis-Dreyfus in 1961 (age 54); country singer Trace Adkins in 1962 (age 53); actor Penelope Ann Miller in 1964 (age 51); actor Patrick Dempsey in 1966 (age 49); actor Orlando Bloom in 1977 (age 38); actor Liam Hemsworth in 1990 (age 25).

On this date in history:

In 1864, composer Stephen Foster ("My Old Kentucky Home") died in a New York hospital, three days after he was found sick and almost penniless in a hotel room.

In 1910, radio pioneer and electron tube inventor Lee Deforest arranged the world's first public radio broadcast, a performance by the New York Metropolitan Opera.

In 1915, nearly 30,000 people were killed in an earthquake in Avezzano, Italy.

In 1941, Irish novelist James Joyce died at age 58.

In 1953, Josip Broz Tito was chosen president of Yugoslavia. (He would serve until May 1980.)

In 1982, an Air Florida Boeing 737 crashed into a Potomac River bridge in Washington, killing 78 people.

In 1987, seven top New York Mafia bosses, including the heads of the Genovese, Colombo and Lucchese crime families, were each sentenced to 100 years in prison.

In 1990, L. Douglas Wilder took office in Virginia, becoming the first elected African-American governor of a U.S. state.

In 1991, at least 40 South Africans were killed and 50 injured when fighting erupted during a soccer game in Orkney.

In 1997, U.S. President Bill Clinton awarded the Medal of Honor to seven African-American soldiers for their courage in action in Italy during World War II. It was the first time the medal was given to black WWII servicemen.

In 1999, Michael Jordan, regarded by many as the greatest basketball player ever, announced his retirement. He had led the Chicago Bulls to six NBA championships.

In 2001 a magnitude-7.7 early morning earthquake killed more than 800 people, injured hundreds of others and caused widespread damage and destruction in El Salvador. Deadly mudslides were triggered by the quake.

In 2003, Pope John Paul II argued against war in Iraq except as "the very last option." He said it would be "a defeat for humanity."

In 2012, the cruise ship Costa Concordia slammed into a rocky shoal near the Italian coast and capsized, killing 32 people.

In 2014, U.S. Rep. George Miller, D-Calif., announced he would retire at the end of the year -- ending 40 years in Congress.

A thought for the day: "Those who hate rain hate life." -- Dejan Stojanovic