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Today in History
Today is Saturday, May 13, the 133rd day of 2023. There are 232 days left in the year.
Today's Highlight in History:
On May 13, 1981, Pope John Paul II was shot and seriously wounded in St. Peter's Square by Turkish assailant Mehmet Ali Agca.
On this date:
In 1607, English colonists arrived by ship at the site of what became the Jamestown settlement in Virginia (the colonists went ashore the next day).
In 1914, heavyweight boxing champion Joe Louis was born in Lafayette, Alabama.
In 1917, three shepherd children reported seeing a vision of the Virgin Mary near Fatima, Portugal; it was the first of six such apparitions that the children claimed to have witnessed.
In 1972, 118 people died after fire broke out at the Sennichi Department Store in Osaka, Japan.
In 1973, in tennis' first so-called "Battle of the Sexes," Bobby Riggs defeated Margaret Court 6-2, 6-1 in Ramona, California. (Billie Jean King soundly defeated Riggs at the Houston Astrodome in September.)
In 1985, a confrontation between Philadelphia authorities and the radical group MOVE ended as police dropped a bomb onto the group's row house, igniting a fire that killed 11 people and destroyed 61 homes.
In 1994, President Bill Clinton nominated federal appeals Judge Stephen G. Breyer to the U.S. Supreme Court to replace retiring Justice Harry A. Blackmun; Breyer went on to win Senate confirmation.
In 2002, President George W. Bush announced that he and Russian President Vladimir Putin ould sign a treaty to shrink their countries' nuclear arsenals by two-thirds.
In 2016, the Obama administration issued a directive requiring public schools to permit transgender students to use bathrooms and locker rooms consistent with their chosen gender identity.
In 2019, Doris Day, the sunny blond film star and singer who appeared in comedic roles opposite Rock Hudson and Cary Grant in the 1950s and 1960s, died at her California home at the age of 97.
In 2020, the Wisconsin Supreme Court struck down Gov. Tony Evers' coronavirus stay-at-home order, ruling that his administration had overstepped its authority by extending the order for another month.
Ten years ago: President Barack Obama tried to swat down a pair of brewing controversies, denouncing as "outrageous" the targeting of conservative political groups by the IRS but angrily denying any administration cover-up after the deadly attacks in Benghazi, Libya, in September 2012. Philadelphia abortion doctor Kermit Gosnell was convicted of first-degree murder in the deaths of three babies who were delivered alive and then killed with scissors at his clinic (Gosnell is serving a life sentence). The Associated Press sent a letter of protest to Attorney General Eric Holder after the Justice Department told the news agency it had secretly obtained two months of telephone records of AP reporters and editors. Psychologist Joyce Brothers, 85, died in Fort Lee, New Jersey.
Five years ago: President Donald Trump said he would help the Chinese telecommunications company ZTE get "back into business"; the Commerce Department had earlier moved to block the company from importing American components.