On This Day July 13

1985
Pres. Reagan undergoes surgery to remove a cancerous polyp from his colon.

1985
Live Aid: The concerts, held in Philadelphia and London, attract 1.5 billion TV viewers and raise $70,000,000 to aid the hungry.

1977
New York City Blackout: Lightning strikes send millions of NYC residents into darkness. 4,500 people were arrested and $61 million of damage occurred in the ensuing riots.

1943
Baseball - First All-Star game played at night: The AL deafeats the NL 5-3 at Shibe Park.

1923
Hollywood Sign: The famous Los Angeles landmark is officially dedicated.

1919
First lighter-than-air transatlantic flight: Major George H. Scott arrives in Mineola, New York. He had started from Firth of Fourth, Scotland on July 2.

1863
Civil War - Draft Riots: 50,000 people attack New York City's draft office. About 100 people are killed during the next four days of violence, blacks being the target of most of the violence on civilians.

1832
Mississippi River: The source of the great river is discovered, by Henry Rowe Schoolcraft.

1787
First Federal Law Prohibiting Slavery in a U.S. Territory: The Northwest Ordinance is enacted. The banning of slavery in the territory had the effect of establishing the Ohio River as the boundary between free and slave territory in the region between the Appalachian Mountains and the Mississippi River. It also established the precedent that the United States would expand westward by admitting new states, rather than by expanding existing states.

2305
Jean-Luc Picard, fictional captain of the USS-Enterprise D and E in TV and film.

1954
Louise Mandrell, American country singer. Music: Put It On Me (1978) and Everlasting Love (1979).

1946
Richard "Cheech" Marin, American Grammy-winning comedian, of Cheech and Chong. Film: Up in Smoke (1978) and Born in East L.A. (1987). He was the first Celebrity Jeopardy! champion (1992). His father was 30-year veteran of the LAPD.

1944
Dr. Erno Rubik, Hungarian inventor, creator of the Rubik's Cube, which has 43,252,003,274,489,856,000 possible combinations.

1942
Stephen Jo Bladd, American drummer, with J. Geils Band. Music: Must Have Got Lost (1974), Freeze-Frame (1981), and Centerfold (1981, #1).

1942
Roger McGuinn (James Joseph McGuinn), American guitarist, singer, with The Byrds. Music: Mr. Tambourine Man (1965, #1) and Turn! Turn! Turn! (1966).

1942
Harrison Ford, American actor. Film: Star Wars (1977, Han Solo), Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981, Indiana Jones), and Blade Runner (1982).

1940
Patrick Stewart, English actor. TV: Star Trek: The Next Generation (Capt. Jean-Luc Picard).

1935
Jack Kemp, American politician, former U.S. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development.

1928 d. 1978
Bob Crane, American actor. TV: Hogan's Heroes (Col. Robert Hogan).

1886 d. 1948
Edward Joseph Flanagan, Irish-born American Roman Catholic monsignor, founder of Boys Town (1917). His motto was "There is no such thing as a bad boy."

1821 d. 1877
Nathan Bedford Forrest, American Confederate cavalry commander. He is considered the greatest cavalry commander in American history. He also founded the Ku Klux Klan during the reconstruction period after the Civil War.

1729 d. 1775
John Parker, American farmer, soldier. He led the minutemen at Lexington during the Battle of Lexington and Concord on April 19, 1775, the first battle of the Revolution. Tradition reports he ordered "Stand your ground. Don't fire unless fired upon, but if they mean to have a war, let it begin here."

1527 d. 1608
John Dee, English mathematician, astrologer, was astrologer to the queen (1551) and was the first to use Crystal Balls for fortune telling (1580).

2006 b. 1919
Red Buttons (Aaron Chwatt), American Oscar-winning actor. Film: Sayonara (1957, Oscar).

2005 b. 1916
Mickey Owen (Arnold Malcolm Owen), American baseball catcher. He hit the first pinch-hit home run in an All-Star game (1942). He dropped a third strike in the 1941 World Series that allowed the Yankees to win the game and they went on to beat the Dodgers in the series. That same season he had set the record for most errorless chances by a catcher with 508 perfect attempts.

1993 b. 1961
Davey Allison, American race car driver, NASCAR 1987 Rookie of the Year. He died from injuries received in a helicopter crash at Talladega Superspeedway.

1958 b. 1891
Claire Straith, American pioneer in cosmetic surgery, convinced U.S. automakers to use safety glass (1930).

1921 b. 1845
Gabriel Lippmann, French Nobel-winning physicist. He received the Nobel Prize (1908) for producing the first color photographic plates.

1890 b. 1813
Major General John Charles Fremont, American mapmaker, explored the Western U.S., and was the first Republican candidate for U.S. president (1856). He was court-martialed and convicted of mutiny by the U.S. Army (1847-48).

1794 b. 1716
James Lind, Scottish physician. His recommendation of eating fresh citrus fruits eliminated scurvy in the British Navy. Before then, scurvy killed more British sailors than combat.

1785 b. 1707
Stephen Hopkins, American politician, signer of the Declaration of Independence, and three-time governor of Rhode Island (1755-68).

July 13

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