This day in history

[January 13, 2011]  (AP)  Today is Thursday, Jan. 13, the 13th day of 2011. 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 impoverished in a New York hospital at age 37. (In his pocket: a note which read, "Dear friends and gentle hearts.")

In 1898, Emile Zola's famous defense of Capt. Alfred Dreyfus, "J'accuse," (zhah-KOOZ') was published in Paris.

In 1941, a new law went into effect granting Puerto Ricans U.S. birthright citizenship. 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 a total of 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: An earthquake estimated by the U.S. Geological Survey at magnitude 7.7 struck El Salvador; more than 840 people were killed.

Five years ago: President George W. Bush met with Germany's new chancellor, Angela Merkel, at the White House. A U.S. Army OH-58 Kiowa helicopter went down near Mosul after coming to the aid of Iraqi police under hostile fire; its two pilots were killed. A U.S. missile strike in Pakistan killed a relative of al-Qaida's No. 2 leader Ayman al-Zawahri (AY'-muhn ahl-ZWAH'-ree) and a terror suspect, but also 13 residents, prompting outrage among Pakistanis.

One year ago: Haitians piled bodies along the devastated streets of their capital a day after a powerful earthquake, while in Washington, President Barack Obama pledged an all-out rescue and relief effort. During the first hearing of the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission, top Wall Street bankers apologized for risky behavior that led to the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression, but still declared it seemed appropriate at the time. Rhythm-and-blues singer Teddy Pendergrass died in Bryn Mawr, Pa., at age 59.

Today's birthdays: Country singer Liz Anderson is 81. Actress Frances Sternhagen is 81. TV personality Nick Clooney is 77. Comedian Rip Taylor is 77. Actor Billy Gray is 73. Actor Richard Moll is 68. Rock musician Trevor Rabin is 57. Rhythm-and-blues musician Fred White is 56. Rock musician James Lomenzo (Megadeth) is 52. Actor Kevin Anderson is 51. Actress Julia Louis-Dreyfus is 50. Rock singer Graham "Suggs" McPherson (Madness) is 50. Country singer Trace Adkins is 49. Actress Penelope Ann Miller is 47. Actor Patrick Dempsey is 45. Actress Traci Bingham is 43. Actor Keith Coogan is 41. Actress Nicole Eggert is 39. Actor Orlando Bloom is 34. Actor Julian Morris is 28.

Thought for today: "I am tomorrow, or some future day, what I establish today. I am today what I established yesterday or some previous day." -- James Joyce (1882-1941)

[Associated Press]

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