May 13......

May 13 is the 133rd (134th in leap years) day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. There are 232 days remaining in the year on this date.

Best Liberal Quote of the Day: On Fools and Fanatics "Fervor is the weapon of choice of the impotent." — Frantz Fanon

Stupidest Quote from the Right for the Day: On Christians Against Pluralism "I pledge allegiance to the Christian flag and to the Savior, for whose Kingdom it stands, one Savior, crucified, risen, and coming again, with life and liberty for all who believe." — Dan "p-o-t-a-t-o-e" Quayle, George H. W. Bush's vice president

Thought for the day: "At 18, I was ashamed of how ignorant my father was. At 21, I was amazed at how much he had learned in three years."

{Disclaimer: I have attempted to give credit to the many different sources that I get entries. Any failure to do so is unintentional. Any statement enclosed by brackets like these are the opinion of the blogger, A Proud Liberal.}

EVENTS

● 535 - St Agapitus I begins his reign as Catholic Pope

● 609 - Pope Boniface I turns Pantheon into Catholic church

● 641 - Eligius (Saint Eloy) becomes bishop of Doornik-Noyon

● 1106 - Henry I of Limburg becomes duke of Netherlands

● 1110 - Crusaders march into Beirut causing a bloodbath

● 1364 - Peter Coutherel banished from Leuven

● 1497 - Pope Alexander VI excommunicates Girolamo Savonarola.

● 1559 - Excavated corpse of heretic David Jorisz burned in Basel

● 1568 - Battle of Langside: the forces of Mary Queen of Scots are defeated by a confederacy of Scottish Protestants under James Stewart, Earl of Moray, her half-brother.

● 1588 - King Henri III flees Paris

● 1607 - Captain John Smith and 105 cavaliers in three ships lands on the Virginia coast, starting the first permanent English settlement in the New World at Jamestown.

● 1619 - Dutch statesman Johan van Oldenbarnevelt is executed in The Hague after having been accused of treason.

● 1624 - Admiral Hermites fleet blockade Lima Peru

● 1637 - Cardinal Richelieu of France creates the table knife

● 1643 - Battle at Grantham: English parliamentary armies beat royalists

● 1643 - Heavy earthquake strikes Santiago Chile; kills 1/3 of population

● 1648 - Margaret Jones of Plymouth was found guilty of witchcraft and was sentenced to be hanged by the neck.

● 1648 - Construction of the Red Fort at Delhi was completed.

● 1652 - Ingen Ryuki invited to become the abbot of Sofokuji temple in Nagasaki

● 1654 - Venetian fleet under Admiral Adeler beats Turkish

● 1665 - A statute is enacted in Rhode Island, offering freemanship with no specifically Christian requirements, thus effectively enfranchising Jews.

● 1779 - War of Bavarian Succession: Russian and French mediators at the Congress of Teschen negotiate an end to the war. In the agreement Austria receives the part of its territory that was taken from them (the Innviertel).

● 1787 - Captain Arthur Phillip left Britain for Australia. He successfully landed eleven ships full of convicts on January 18, 1788, at Botany Bay. The group moved north eight days later and settled at Port Jackson.

● 1794 - Whiskey Rebellion begins in western Pennsylvania.

● 1821 - The first practical printing press was patented in the U.S. by Samuel Rust.

● 1828 - The absurdly high "Tariff of Abominations," to the surprise and horror of the Jackson supporters who framed it as a political ruse, is passed by Congress, and subsequently wreaks havoc with the nation's economy.

● 1830 - Republic of Ecuador is founded, with Juan Jose Flores as president

● 1835 - 1st foreign embassy in Hawaii is established

● 1839 - Birth of William P. Mackey, a Scottish physician who later in life became a Presbyterian pastor. Mackey wrote several hymns during his life, including "Revive Us Again."

● 1842 - Composer Arthur Sullivan, who collaborated with William Gilbert in writing 14 comic operas, was born in London.

● 1842 - A "People's Government," organized by reformer Thomas Dorr, attempts to seize power in Rhode Island by capturing the arsenal at Providence, but is repulsed when the incumbent regime calls out the militia.

● 1846 - The U.S. Congress declares war on Mexico. Following its victory the U.S. annexes Mexico's northern territories, including much of what are now California, Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas, to satisfy Southern political pressure to add new slave-owning states.

● 1848 - First performance of Finland's national anthem.

● 1861 - American Civil War: Queen Victoria of Britain issues a "proclamation of neutrality" which recognizes the breakaway states as having belligerent rights.

● 1861 - Great Comet of 1861 discovered in Australia.

● 1864 - American Civil War: Battle of Resaca – the battle begins with Union General Sherman fighting toward Atlanta.

● 1865 - American Civil War: Battle of Palmito Ranch – In far south Texas, more than a month after Confederate General Lee's surrender, the last land battle of the Civil War ends with a Confederate victory. PVT John J Williams of 34th Indiana is last man killed.

● 1867 - Confederate President Jefferson Davis became a free man after spending two years in prison for his role in the American Civil War.

● 1873 - Ludwig M. Wolf patented the sewing machine lamp holder.

● 1874 - Pope Pius IX encyclical "On the Greek-Ruthenian rite"

● 1876 - Amersfoort-Zutphen railway opens

● 1880 - In Menlo Park, New Jersey, Thomas Edison performs the first test of his electric railway.

● 1882 - Toba-Indians killed 20 members of French expedition

● 1884 - Institute for Electrical & Electronics Engineers (IEEE) is founded

● 1888 - Brazil, which imported more African slaves than any other Western Hemisphere country (including the U.S.), abolishes slavery.

● 1890 - Lord Salisbury offers Germany Helgoland in exchange for Zanzibar, Uganda & Equatoria

● 1893 - Western Federation of Miners organized.

● 1909 - Christian National Labor Workers (CNV) party begins in Netherlands

● 1912 - In the United Kingdom, the Royal Flying Corps (now the Royal Air Force) was established.

● 1913 - Igor Sikorsky becomes the first man to pilot a four-engine aircraft.

● 1914 - Joe Louis, the American boxer who was world heavyweight champion for a record-setting 12 years, was born.

● 1916 - 1st observance of Indian (Native American) Day

● 1917 - Near Fatima, Portugal, three shepherd children reported that Mary, the mother of Jesus, had appeared to them. Since 1930, this appearance has come to be known as Our Lady of Fatima.

● 1917 - The Nuncio Eugenio Pacelli, the future Pope Pius XII, is consecrated Archbishop by Pope Benedict XV.

● 1918 - The first airmail postage stamps were issued with airplanes on them. The denominations were 6, 16, and 24 cents.

● 1925 - In Tallahassee, Florida, the State legislature passed a bill requiring daily Bible readings in all public schools.

● 1926 - In Warsaw, Joseph Pilsudski had President Wojciechowski arrested.

● 1926 - German Government of Luther falls

● 1927 - "Black Friday" on Berlin Stock Exchange

● 1930 - Farmer killed by hail in Lubbock TX; this is the only known fatality due to hail

● 1931 - Paul Doumer elected President of France

● 1934 - Great dustbowl storm

● 1936 - Quiroga Government takes office in Spain

● 1939 - SS St Louis departs Hamburg with 937 Jews fugitives

● 1940 - British bomb factory at Breda

● 1940 - German breakthrough at Grebbelinie

● 1940 - World War II: Germany's conquest of France begins as the German army crosses the Meuse River. Churchill makes his "blood, toil, tears, and sweat" speech to the House of Commons.

● 1940 - Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands flees the Nazi invasion in the Netherlands to Britain. Princess Juliana takes her children to Canada for their safety.

● 1941 - World War II: Yugoslav royal colonel Dragoljub Mihailović starts fighting with German occupation troops, beginning the Serbian resistance.

● 1941 - Martin Bormann is named head of Nazi Party Chancellery in Germany

● 1941 - Trial against resistance fighter comte d'Estienne d'Orves begins

● 1942 - Helicopter makes its 1st cross-country flight

● 1943 - German occupiers confiscate all radios

● 1943 - World War II: German Afrika Korps and Italian troops in North Africa surrender to Allied forces.

● 1945 - US troops conquer Dakeshi Okinawa

● 1946 - US convicts 58 camp guard of Mauthausen concentration camp to death

● 1946 - Winston Churchill welcomed in Rotterdam

● 1947 - Senate approved the Taft-Hartley Act limiting the power of unions

● 1948 - 1948 Arab-Israeli War: The Kfar Etzion massacre is committed by Arab irregulars, the day before the declaration of independence of the state of Israel on May 14.

● 1949 - The first gas turbine to pump natural gas was installed in Wilmar, AR.

● 1949 - 1st British-produced jet bomber, Canberra, makes its 1st test flight

● 1952 - Pandit Nehru becomes premier of India

● 1952 - The Rajya Sabha, the upper house of the Parliament of India, held its first sitting.

● 1954 - Labour Party wins British municipal elections

● 1954 - US performs atmospheric nuclear test at Enwetak

● 1954 - U.S. President Eisenhower signed into law the St. Lawrence Seaway Development Act.

● 1958 - French settlers riot against French army in Algeria

● 1958 - Jordan & Iraq form the Arab Federation

● 1958 - Five days after getting the same treatment in Peru, Vice Pres. Nixon's motorcade greeted with rocks and bottles, Caracas, Venezuela.

● 1958 - Pierre Pflimlin becomes Prime Minister of France.

● 1960 - 1st launch of Delta satellite launching vehicle; it failed

● 1960 - Hundreds of UC Berkeley students congregate for the first day of protest against a visit by the House Un-American Activities Committee. San Francisco police attack students (including a young Abbie Hoffman) protesting the local hearing. 31 students are arrested, and the Free Speech Movement is born.

● 1961 - Police watch while counter-protesters beat pro-Castro "Fair Play for Cuba" demonstrators in downtown Seattle.

● 1965 - Several Arab nations break ties with West Germany after it established diplomatic relations with Israel

● 1966 - Federal education funding is denied to 12 school districts in the South because of violations of the 1964 Civil Rights Act

● 1967 - Blacks riot in San Francisco's Playland by the Pacific, while the Diggers host a "love feast" in Haight-Ashbury.

● 1967 - Dr. Zakir Hussain became 3rd President of India. He was the first Muslim President of Indian Union. He held this position till August 24, 1969.

● 1968 - Peace talks between the U.S. and North Vietnam began in Paris.

● 1968 - Strike by French students and workers, including occupation of The Sorbonne, leads to general strike by 10 million, Paris.

● 1969 - Race riots in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, later known as the 13 May Incident.

● 1970 - Houston, Texas - Listener-sponsored Pacifica radio station KPFT's transmitter is blown up by person(s) unknown. Portions of the destroyed transmitter are still on display at the station.

● 1972 - Faulty electrical wiring ignites a fire underneath the Playtown Cabaret in Osaka. Blocked exits and nonfunctional elevators cause 118 fatalities, with many victims leaping to their deaths.

● 1975 - Hail stones as large as tennis balls hit Wernerville TN

● 1977 - Mohawk end three-year occupation of Ganienkeh "Land of Flint" in Adirondack Mountains in exchange for 5,700 acres elsewhere in New York.

● 1979 - Shah & family sentenced to death in Teheran

● 1980 - An F3 tornado hits Kalamazoo County, Michigan. President Carter declares it a federal disaster area.

● 1981 - In St. Peter's Square, Rome, Turkish terrorist Mehmet Ali Agca, 23, shot and seriously wounded Pope John Paul II in an assassination attempt. Following a long convalescence, however, John Paul resumed his world travels.

● 1982 - Soyuz T-5 is launched-Berezovoi & Lebedev for 211 days in space

● 1985 - Philadelphia, Pennsylvania police storm MOVE headquarters to end a stand-off, killing 11 MOVE members and destroying the homes of 250 city residents.

● 1989 - British war hero 'seized' in Beirut; British war hero Jackie Mann,74, is feared kidnapped in Beirut after disappearing in the Lebanese capital.

● 1989 - Greens gain balance of power in House of Assembly, Tasmania (a state of Australia).

● 1989 - Approximately 2,000 students begin hunger strike in Tiananmen Square, China

● 1991 - South African activist Winnie Mandela convicted of abducting 4 blacks

● 1992 - 3 astronauts simultaneous walked in space for the 1st time

● 1992 - Ecuador's government grants 148 native communities legal title to more than three million acres (slightly less than the size of the state of Washington) in the Amazon Basin.

● 1993 - Eight African-American protesters are indicted in Chattanooga, TN, for participating in a demonstration at the unveiling of a memorial for Chattanooga police. The demonstration was in protest of the failure of a local grand jury to bring charges against a policeman who choked to death an African-American motorist, Larry Powell.

● 1993 - Methane gas explosion in Secunda coal mine South-Africa, kills 50

● 1994 - Birth of new but still dependent Palestinian state within Israel, ending 27 years of official Israeli occupation. Oddly enough, the occupation continued.

● 1995 - British woman conquers Everest; A British mother of two becomes the first woman to conquer Everest without oxygen or the help of sherpas.

● 1995 - 6.5 earthquake hits Greece

● 1996 - Severe thunderstorms and a tornado in Bangladesh kill 600 people.

● 1998 - India carries out two nuclear tests at Pokhran, in addition to the three conducted on May 11. United States and Japan impose economic sanctions on India.

● 1999 - In Moscow, the impeachment of Russian President Boris Yeltsin began.

● 2000 - In Enschede, the Netherlands, a fireworks factory explodes, killing 22 people, wounding 950, and resulting in approximately €450 million in damage.

● 2001 - Silvio Berlusconi's House of Freedoms coalition wins the Italian general elections.

● 2003 - The government unveiled a new version of the $20 bill - the first to be colorized in an effort to thwart counterfeiters.

● 2005 - Malcolm Glazer completes a hostile takeover of the world's biggest sports club Manchester United Football Club for $1.4 billion.

● 2005 - The Andijan Massacre occurs in Uzbekistan.

● 2006 - 2006 São Paulo violence: A major rebellion occurs in several prisons of the state.

BIRTHS

● 1588 - Ole Worm, Danish physician (d. 1654)

● 1638 - Richard Simon, French Biblical critic (d. 1712)

● 1655 - Pope Innocent XIII (d. 1724)

● 1699 - Marquis of Pombal, Prime Minister of Portugal (d. 1782)

● 1712 - Johann Hartwig Ernst, Count von Bernstorff, Danish statesman (d. 1772)

● 1717 - Empress Maria Theresa of Austria (d. 1780)

● 1729 - Henry William Stiegel, German-born American ironmaster and glassmaker (d. 1785)

● 1730 - Charles Watson-Wentworth, 2nd Marquess of Rockingham, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (d. 1782)

● 1737 - William Petty-Fitzmaurice, 1st marquess of Lansdowne; British statesman and prime minister (July 1782 - April 1783) (d. 1805)

● 1753 - Lazare Carnot, French general, politician, and mathematician (d. 1823)

● 1792 - Pope Pius IX (d. 1878)

● 1794 - Louis-Leopold Robert, French painter (d. 1835)

● 1795 - Gérard Paul Deshayes, French geologist (d. 1875)

● 1830 - Zebulon Baird Vance, three-time governor of North Carolina (d. 1894)

● 1840 - Alphonse Daudet, French novelist (d. 1897)

● 1842 - Arthur Sullivan, English composer (d. 1900)

● 1857 - Ronald Ross, English physician, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (d. 1932)

● 1882 - Georges Braque, French painter (d. 1963)

● 1883 - Georgios Papanikolaou, Greek doctor, inventor of the Pap smear (d. 1962)

● 1894 - Ásgeir Ásgeirsson, 2nd President of Iceland (d. 1972)

● 1896 - Charles Pahud de Mortanges, Dutch equestrian; won Olympic medals in 1924, 1928 and1932 (d. 1971)

● 1907 - Dame Daphne du Maurier, English author (d. 1989)

● 1913(12? NYT) - Gil Evans, Canadian musician (d. 1988)

● 1913 - William R. Tolbert, Jr., Liberian president (d. 1980)

● 1913 - Lambros Konstantaras, Greek actor (d. 1985)

● 1914 - Joe Louis, American boxer (d. 1981)

● 1918 - T. Balasaraswati, Bharatanatyam dancer (d.1984)

● 1920 - Gareth Morris, British flautist (d. 2007)

● 1922 - Bea Arthur, Actress ("Maude," "The Golden Girls")

● 1922 - Michael Ainsworth, British cricketer (d. 1978)

● 1923 - Beatrice Arthur, American actress

● 1925 - Harry Schwarz, South african MP and Ambassador to the US

● 1926 - Wallace Breem, British author

● 1927 - Clive Barnes, Critic

● 1927 - Herbert Ross, American director (d. 2001)

● 1928 - Jim Shoulders, Champion Rodeo Cowboy

● 1931 - Jim Jones, American cult leader responsible for the Jonestown Massacre in 1978 (d. 1978)

● 1934 - Leon Wagner, baseball player (d. 2004)

● 1937 - Roch Carrier, Canadian novelist

● 1937 - Roger Zelazny, American author (d. 1995)

● 1937 - Trevor Baylis, English inventor of the wind-up radio

● 1938 - Buck Taylor, Actor

● 1939 - Harvey Keitel, American actor

● 1940 - Bruce Chatwin, British writer (d. 1989)

● 1941 - Senta Berger, Austrian actress

● 1941 - Ritchie Valens, American singer (d. 1959)

● 1944 - Armistead Maupin, American author

● 1947 - Charles Baxter, Author

● 1947 - Stephen R. Donaldson, American author

● 1949 - Franklyn Ajaye, Actor

● 1949 - Zoë Wanamaker, English-American actress

● 1950 - Stevie Wonder, American singer and musician

● 1951 - Sharon Sayles Belton, Mayor of Minneapolis, Minnesota

● 1951 - Paul Thompson, British rock drummer (Roxy Music)

● 1954 - Johnny Logan, Irish singer and songwriter

● 1956 - Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, Founder of the Art of Living Foundation

● 1957 - Alan Ball, American screenwriter, director, and producer

● 1957 - Koji Suzuki, Japanese writer (Ring, Dark Water)

● 1960 - Julianne Phillips, Actress ("Sisters")

● 1961 - Dennis Rodman, American basketball player and actor

● 1962 - Eduardo Palomo, Mexican actor (d. 2003)

● 1962 - Kathleen Jamie, Scottish poet

● 1963 - Tom Verica, Actor ("American Dreams")

● 1964 - Stephen Colbert, American comedian and actor

● 1964 - Ronnie Coleman, American bodybuilder and an eight-time Mr. Olympia title winner

● 1964 - Tom Verica, American actor

● 1965 - José Antonio Delgado, Venezuelan mountain climber (d. 2006)

● 1965 - Lari White, Country singer

● 1965 - Hikari Ota, Japanese comedian

● 1965 - Tasmin Little, English violinist

● 1966 - Darius Rucker, American singer (Hootie & the Blowfish)

● 1966 - Nikos Aliagas, Greek TV show host

● 1966 - Kamen Vodenicharov, Bulgarian entertainer

● 1967 - Chuck Schuldiner, American musician (Death, Control Denied) (d. 2001)

● 1968 - Susan Floyd, Actress

● 1968 - Alison Goldfrapp, English musician

● 1969 - André Schmechta, German musician (X Marks the Pedwalk)

● 1976 - Mark Delaney, Welsh footballer

● 1977 - Ilse DeLange, Dutch singer

● 1977 - Neil Hopkins, American actor

● 1977 - Samantha Morton, English actress

● 1978 - Barry Zito, American baseball player

● 1978 - Mike Bibby, American basketball player

● 1979 - Mickey Madden, Rock musician (Maroon 5)

● 1979 - Prince Carl Philip of Sweden

● 1980 - Waka Inoue, Japanese gravure idol and actress

● 1980 - Mau Marcelo, Filipino singer, Philippine Idol winner

● 1981 - Jimmy Yang, American professional wrestler

● 1981 - Sunny Leone, Canadian model

● 1982 - Yoko Kumada, Japanese gravure idol

● 1982 - Oguchi Onyewu, American footballer

● 1983 - Grégory Lemarchal, French singer, winner of Star Academy 4

● 1983 - Yaya Touré, Ivorian footballer

● 1985 - Travis Zajac, Canadian ice hockey player

● 1986 - Robert Pattinson, English actor

● 1987 - Hunter Parrish, American actor

● 1988 - Casey Donovan, Australian singer

DEATHS

● 1162 - Géza II of Hungary

● 1176 - Matthias I, Duke of Lorraine (b. 1119)

● 1312 - Theobald II, Duke of Lorraine (b. 1263)

● 1573 - Takeda Shingen, Japanese warlord (b. 1521)

● 1619 - Johan van Oldenbarnevelt, Dutch statesman (b. 1547)

● 1704 - Louis Bourdaloue, French Jesuit preacher (b. 1632)

● 1742 - Ludwig IX, Landgrave of Hesse-Darmstadt (b. 1719)

● 1807 - Eliphalet Dyer, American statesman and judge (b. 1721)

● 1832 - Georges Cuvier, French naturalist (b. 1769)

● 1835 - John Nash, English architect (b. 1752)

● 1866 - Nikolai Brashman, Russian mathematician (b. 1796)

● 1871 - Daniel Auber, French composer (b. 1782)

● 1884 - Cyrus McCormick, American inventor (b. 1809)

● 1885 - Friedrich Gustav Jakob Henle, German physician (b. 1809)

● 1916 - Sholom Aleichem, Russian author (b. 1859)

● 1925 - Boris Savinkov, Russian writer and terrorist (b. 1879)

● 1926 - Libert H. Boeynaems, Belgian Catholic prelate (b. 1857)

● 1930 - Fridtjof Nansen, Nobel Peace Prize winner (b. 1861)

● 1937 - Ekaterina Geladze, mother of Joseph Stalin (b. 1858)

● 1938 - Charles Edouard Guillaume, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1861)

● 1945 - Tubby Hall, American musician (b. 1895)

● 1961 - Gary Cooper, American actor (b. 1901)

● 1962 - Henry Trendley Dean, American dental researcher (b. 1893)

● 1974 - Jaime Torres Bodet, Mexican writer (b. 1902)

● 1975 - Bob Wills, American musician (b. 1905)

● 1985 - Leatrice Joy, American actress (b. 1893)

● 1988 - Chet Baker, American jazz trumpeter (b. 1929)

● 1992 - F. E. McWilliam, Northern Irish sculptor (b. 1909)

● 1999 - Gene Sarazen, American golfer (b. 1902)

● 2000 - Paul Bartel, American actor (b. 1938)

● 2001 - R.K. Narayan, Indian novelist (b. 1906)

● 2001 - Jason Miller, American playwright (b. 1939)

● 2005 - George Dantzig, American mathematician (b. 1914)

● 2005 - Michael Ross, American serial killer (b. 1959)

● 2006 - Jaroslav Pelikan, American historian (b. 1923)

● 2006 - Johnnie Wilder, Jr., American singer (b. 1949)

HOLIDAYS AND OBSERVANCES

● Roman Catholic:
● Our Lady of Fatima
● St. Abban
● St. Agnes of Poitiers
● St. Euthymius
● St. Gerald of Villamagna
● St. Glyceria
● St. John the Silent
● St. Juliana of Norwich
● St. Mael
● St. Maria Dominica Mazzarello (died 1881)
● St. Merewenna
● St. Mucius
● St. Natalis
● St. Onesimus
● St. Robert Bellarmine
● St. Rolanda
● St. Servatus
● Bl. Imelda

● Russian Orthodox Christian Menaion Calendar has no entry for (Civil Date: May 13)

● Anglican:
● Julian of Norwich

● Bhuddist-Singapore : Buddha's Birthday

● Roman Empire - Feast of the Lemures.

● Abbotsbury Garland Day, Dorset, England.

● World Fair Trade Day (2006).

● Rotuma Day in Fiji.

● These Holidays are only applicable on a given "day of the week"
● US : Mother's Day, give her a call today - ( Sunday )
● Ireland : Feis Ceoil music festival (1897) - ( Monday )
● Baltimore : Preakness Frog Hop - ( Wednesday )
● US : Native American/Indian Day - ( Saturday )


Click on this LINK to see original Wikipedia list with many having links with details.

Additional facts taken from:

On this day in the New York Times

The BBC’s Take on the day

On This Day Website

Geov Parrish's this Day in Radical History, things that happened on this day that you never had to memorize in school.

Scope Systems Any Day Website

Roman Catholic Saint of the Day

Russian Orthodox Christian Menaion Calendar

Quotes of the Day taken from The Best Liberal Quotes Ever: Why the Left Is Right Compiled by William P. Martin ©2004

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