This day in history

[January 13, 2009]  (AP)  Today is Tuesday, Jan. 13, the 13th day of 2009. There are 352 days left in the year.

Today's highlight in history:

On Jan. 13, 1794, President George Washington approved a measure adding two stars and two stripes to the American flag, following the admission of Vermont and Kentucky to the union. (The number of stripes was later reduced to the original 13.)

On this date:

In 1733, James Oglethorpe and some 120 English colonists arrived at Charleston, S.C., while en route to settle in present-day Georgia.

In 1864, composer Stephen Foster died in New York at age 37.

In 1898, Emile Zola's famous defense of Captain Alfred Dreyfus, "J'accuse," was published in Paris.

In 1941, novelist and poet James Joyce died in Zurich, Switzerland, less than a month before his 59th birthday.

In 1945, during World War II, Soviet forces began a huge, successful offensive against the Germans in Eastern Europe.

In 1962, comedian Ernie Kovacs died in a car crash in west Los Angeles 10 days before his 43rd birthday.

In 1966, Robert C. Weaver was named Secretary of Housing and Urban Development by President Lyndon B. Johnson; Weaver became the first black Cabinet member.

In 1978, former Vice President Hubert H. Humphrey died in Waverly, Minn., at age 66.

In 1982, an Air Florida 737 crashed into Washington, D.C.'s 14th Street Bridge after takeoff during a snowstorm and fell into the Potomac River, killing 78 people.

In 1990, L. Douglas Wilder of Virginia became the nation's first elected black governor as he took the oath of office in Richmond.

Ten years ago: President Bill Clinton's legal team dispatched a formal trial brief to the Senate, arguing that neither "fact or law" warranted his removal from office; House officials sent the Senate all public evidence in the case. Michael Jordan announced his second retirement from the Chicago Bulls.

Five years ago: Hostile fire brought down a U.S. Army Apache attack helicopter in Iraq, but the two crew members escaped injury. A domestic airliner crashed in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, killing all 37 people aboard. Harold Shipman, the British doctor blamed for killing more than 200 mostly elderly patients, was found hanged in his prison cell, an apparent suicide.

One year ago: President George W. Bush, visiting the United Arab Emirates, gently urged authoritarian Arab allies to satisfy frustrated desires for democracy in the Mideast and saved his harshest criticism for Iran, branding it "the world's leading state-sponsor of terror." The Golden Globes were announced in a dry, news conference-style ceremony, devoid of stars because of the Hollywood writers' strike; "Atonement" won best motion picture drama, while "Mad Men" was named best dramatic TV series.

Today's birthdays: Country singer Liz Anderson is 79. Actress Frances Sternhagen is 79. Comedian Rip Taylor is 75. Actor Billy Gray is 71. Actor Richard Moll is 66. Rock musician Trevor Rabin is 55. Rhythm-and-blues musician Fred White is 54. Actor Kevin Anderson is 49. Actress Julia Louis-Dreyfus is 48. Rock singer Graham "Suggs" McPherson (Madness) is 48. Country singer Trace Adkins is 47. Actress Penelope Ann Miller is 45. Actor Patrick Dempsey is 43. Actress Traci Bingham is 41. Actor Keith Coogan is 39. Actress Nicole Eggert is 37. Actor Orlando Bloom is 32.

Thought for today: "Life is a dream for the wise, a game for the fool, a comedy for the rich, a tragedy for the poor." -- Sholom Aleichem, Russian author-humorist (1859-1916)

[Associated Press]

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