Associated Press
On Oct. 13, 1792, the cornerstone of the White House was laid during a ceremony in the District of Columbia.
1775- The Continental Congress ordered the construction of a naval fleet.
1843- The Jewish organization B’nai B’rith was founded in New York City.
1845- Texas ratified a state constitution.
1903- The Boston Americans beat the Pittsburgh Pirates 3-0 to win the first World Series five games to three.
1925- Margaret Thatcher, the first female British prime minister, was born Margaret Roberts in Grantham, England.
1943- Italy declared war on Germany, its one-time Axis partner.
1960- Richard M. Nixon and John F. Kennedy participated in the third televised debate of the presidential campaign, with Nixon in Hollywood, Calif., and Kennedy in New York.
1960- The World Series ended with a home run for the first time as Bill Mazeroski of the Pittsburgh Pirates hit a round-tripper in the ninth inning of Game 7 against the New York Yankees.
1962- “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?” by Edward Albee opened on Broadway.
1981- Egyptians voted in a referendum to elect Vice President Hosni Mubarak the new president, one week after the assassination of Anwar Sadat.
1998- The NBA canceled the first two weeks of its regular season because of a lockout.
1999- The JonBenet Ramsey grand jury was dismissed after 13 months; prosecutors said there wasn’t enough evidence to charge anyone in the 6-year-old’s strangulation.
2005- British playwright Harold Pinter won the Nobel Prize in literature.
2006- The United Nations General Assembly appointed South Korean Foreign Minister Ban Ki-moon the next U.N. secretary-general.
2008- The Dow Jones industrial average soared 936.42 points – it’s largest one-day increase – ending eight consecutive days of stock market declines.
2010- Rescuers in Chile pulled 33 men one by one to freedom 69 days after they were trapped in a collapsed mine a half-mile underground.
Today’s Birthdays:
Singer-songwriter Paul Simon turns 74 years old today.
Demond Wilson, Actor (“Sanford and Son”), 69
Sammy Hagar, Rock singer, 68
Maria Cantwell, U.S. senator, D- Wash., 57
Marie Osmond, Singer, 56
Doc Rivers, Basketball coach, executive, 54
Kelly Preston, Actress, 53
Jerry Rice, Football Hall of Famer, 53
Trevor Hoffman, Baseball player, 48
Kate Walsh, Actress (“Grey’s Anatomy,” “Private Practice”), 48
Nancy Kerrigan, Figure skater, 46
Paul Pierce, Basketball player, 38
Ashanti, R&B singer, 35
Actor Sacha Baron Cohen (“Borat”) turns 44 years old today.