July 13th

Today's Highlight in History:
On July 13th, 1960, John F. Kennedy won the Democratic presidential nomination at his party's convention in Los Angeles.

On this date:
In 1787, Congress enacted an ordinance governing the Northwest Territory.

In 1793, French revolutionary writer Jean Paul Marat was stabbed to death in his bath by Charlotte Corday.

In 1863, deadly rioting against the Civil War military draft erupted in New York City.

In 1878, the Treaty of Berlin amended the terms of the Treaty of San Stefano, which had ended the Russo-Turkish War of 1877-78.

In 1967, race-related rioting that claimed 27 lives broke out in Newark, New Jersey.

In 1974, the Senate Watergate Committee proposed sweeping reforms in an effort to prevent another Watergate scandal.

In 1977, a blackout lasting 25 hours hit the New York City area.

In 1978, Lee Iacocca was fired as president of Ford Motor Company by chairman Henry Ford the Second.

In 1979, a 45-hour siege by Palestinian guerrillas began at the Egyptian Embassy in Ankara, Turkey.

In 1985, "Live Aid," an international rock concert in London, Philadelphia, Moscow and Sydney, took place to raise money for Africa's starving people.

Ten years ago: Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev closed the Communist Party's 28th congress by saying he would welcome Western aid without political strings.

Five years ago: President Clinton denounced a base-closing list for the damage it would do to California and Texas, but then approved the package while promising to save jobs in those states. Just six days after the space shuttle "Atlantis" returned, the shuttle "Discovery" blasted off on a nine-day mission. About 2500 workers at Detroit's daily newspapers went on strike.

One year ago: Angel Maturino Resendiz, suspected of being the "Railroad Killer," surrendered in El Paso, Texas. In Tehran, police fired tear gas to disperse ten-thousand demonstrators on the sixth day of protests against Iranian hard-liners. The American League won the All-Star game for the third straight time, defeating the National League 4-to-1 at Boston's Fenway Park.

"If I were to wish for anything, I should not wish for wealth and power, but for the passionate sense of the potential, for the eye which, ever young and ardent, sees the possible. Pleasure disappoints, possibility never."

-- Soren Kierkegaard, Danish philosopher (1813-1855).