January 13th in History

Michael Dobson | January 13

Today in History

  • The Great Fire of New Orleans begins (1830)
  • Émile Zola’s J’accuse…! exposes the Dreyfus Affair (1898)
  • The first public radio broadcast airs (1910)
  • Henry Ford patents a plastic car (1942)
  • First use of an aircraft ejection seat (1942)
  • The Soviet gulag system is officially abolished (1960)
  • First African-American US cabinet member (1966)
  • Johnny Cash performs at Folsom State Prison (1968)
  • First African-American US governor (1990)

Birthdays

  • Horatio Alger, Jr., author (1832)
  • Sophie Tucker, singer and actress (1884)
  • Alfred Fuller, brush salesman (1885)
  • George Gurdjieff, mystic and philosopher (1887)
  • Clark Ashton Smith, author (1893)
  • Robert Stack, actor (1919)
  • Gwen Verdon, actress and dancer (1925)
  • Charles Nelson Reilly, actor (1931)
  • Julia Louis-Dreyfus, actress (1961)
  • Patrick Dempsey, actor (1966)
  • Orlando Bloom, actor (1977)
  • Nate Silver, statistician (1978)

Deaths

  • Gaius Marius, Roman leader (86 BCE)
  • Jan Brueghel the Elder, painter (1625 CE)
  • Stephen Foster, songwriter (1864 CE)
  • Wilhelm Mauser, gun designer (1882)
  • Wyatt Earp, sheriff (1929)
  • James Joyce, novelist (1941)
  • Ernie Kovacs, comedian (1962)
  • Hubert Humphrey, US Vice President (1978)
  • Patrick McGoohan, actor, director, and producer (2009)
  • Teddy Pendergrass, singer-songwriter (2010)

Holidays and Celebrations

  • Democracy Day (Cape Verde)
  • Korean-American Day
  • Liberation Day (Togo)
  • Old New Year’s Eve (various Slavic nations)
  • St. Knut’s Day (Finland, Sweden)
Informal and made-up holidays include Make Your Dream Come True Day, National Sticker Day, Public Radio Broadcasting Day, and Rubber Duckie Day.