Today is Friday, Nov. 13, the 318th day of 2020. There are 48 days left in the year.
Today’s Highlight in History:
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- On Nov. 13, 1982, the Vietnam Veterans Memorial was dedicated on the National Mall in Washington, D.C.
On this date:
- In 1789, Benjamin Franklin wrote in a letter to a friend, Jean-Baptiste Leroy: “In this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes.”
- In 1927, the Holland Tunnel opened to the public, providing access between lower Manhattan and New Jersey beneath the Hudson River.
- In 1942, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed a measure lowering the minimum draft age from 21 to 18.
- In 1956, the Supreme Court struck down laws calling for racial segregation on public buses.
- In 1969, speaking in Des Moines, Iowa, Vice President Spiro T. Agnew accused network television news departments of bias and distortion, and urged viewers to lodge complaints.
- In 1971, the U.S. space probe Mariner 9 went into orbit around Mars.
- In 1974, Karen Silkwood, a 28-year-old technician and union activist at the Kerr-McGee Cimarron plutonium plant near Crescent, Oklahoma, died in a car crash while on her way to meet a reporter.
- In 1985, some 23,000 residents of Armero, Colombia, died when a volcanic mudslide buried the city.
- In 2000, lawyers for George W. Bush failed to win a court order barring manual recounts of ballots in Florida. Florida Secretary of State Katherine Harris announced she would end the recounting at 5 p.m. Eastern time the next day -- prompting an immediate appeal by lawyers for Al Gore.
- In 2001, President George W. Bush approved the use of a special military tribunal that could put accused terrorists on trial faster and in greater secrecy than an ordinary criminal court. President Bush and Russian President Vladimir Putin met at the White House, where they pledged to slash Cold War-era nuclear arsenals by two-thirds.
- In 2014, Clayton Kershaw became the first pitcher to win the National League MVP award since Bob Gibson in 1968; Los Angeles Angels' outfielder Mike Trout was a unanimous pick for the AL MVP.
Today’s Birthdays:
Actor Chris Noth is 66. Actor-comedian Whoopi Goldberg is 65. Actor Rex Linn is 64. Actor Caroline Goodall is 61. Actor Neil Flynn is 60. Former NFL quarterback and College Football Hall of Famer Vinny Testaverde is 57. Rock musician Walter Kibby (Fishbone) is 56. Comedian and talk show host Jimmy Kimmel is 53. Actor Steve Zahn is 53. Actor Gerard Butler is 51. Writer-activist Ayaan Hirsi Ali is 51. Actor Jordan Bridges is 47. Actor Aisha Hinds is 45. Rock musician Nikolai Fraiture is 42. Former NBA All-Star Metta World Peace (formerly Ron Artest) is 41. Actor Monique Coleman is 40. Actor Rahul Kohli is 35. Actor Devon Bostick is 29.