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History

- The Associated Press
Saturday April 13, 2002

Today is Saturday, April 13, the 103rd day of 2002. There are 262 days left in the year. 

 

Today’s Highlight in History: 

On April 13, 1970, Apollo 13, four-fifths of the way to the moon, was crippled when a tank containing liquid oxygen burst. (The astronauts managed to return safely.) 

 

On this date: 

In 1598, King Henry IV of France endorsed the Edict of Nantes, which granted rights to the Protestant Huguenots. (The edict was abrogated in 1685 by King Louis XIV, who declared France entirely Catholic again.) 

In 1742, Handel’s “Messiah” was first performed publicly, in Dublin, Ireland. 

In 1743, the third president of the United States, Thomas Jefferson, was born. 

In 1870, the Metropolitan Museum of Art was founded in New York. 

In 1943, President Franklin Roosevelt dedicated the Jefferson Memorial. 

In 1958, Van Cliburn became the first American to win the Tchaikovsky International Piano Contest in Moscow. 

In 1964, Sidney Poitier became the first black performer in a leading role to win an Academy Award, for “Lilies of the Field.” 

In 1965, 16-year-old Lawrence Wallace Bradford Jr. was appointed by New York Republican Jacob Javits to be the first black page of the U.S. Senate. 

In 1986, Pope John Paul II visited a Rome synagogue in the first recorded papal visit of its kind. 

In 1981, Washington Post reporter Janet Cooke received a Pulitzer Prize for her feature about an eight-year-old heroin addict named “Jimmy”; however, Cooke relinquished the prize two days later, admitting she’d fabricated the story. 

Ten years ago: 

The Great Chicago Flood took place as the city’s century-old tunnel system and adjacent basements filled with water from the Chicago River. 

Five years ago: With tanks, sharpshooters and thousands of police deployed to protect him, Pope John Paul II preached forgiveness during a mass in Sarajevo. Tiger Woods became the youngest person to win the Masters Tournament and the first player of partly African heritage to claim a major golf title. 

One year ago: 

With the crew of a U.S. spy plane safely back in the United States, American officials gave their detailed version of what happened when the plane collided with a Chinese fighter on April 1; the United States said its plane was struck by the jet. (China maintained that the U.S. plane rammed the fighter.) 

 

Today’s Birthdays: 

Actor Howard Keel is 83. Actor Don Adams is 76. Sen. Ben Nighthorse Campbell, R-Colo., is 69. Actor Edward Fox is 65. Playwright Lanford Wilson is 65. Actor Paul Sorvino is 63. Movie and TV composer Bill Conti is 60. Actor Tony Dow is 57. Bluegrass singer-musician Sam Bush is 50. Rock musician Joey Mazzola (Sponge) is 41. Chess grandmaster Garry Kasparov is 39. Rock musician Lisa Umbarger (Toadies) is 37. Actor Rick Schroder is 32