GMT

Today in History: March 13

0607 The 12th recorded passage of Halley's Comet occurs.

1777 Congress orders its European envoys to appeal to high-ranking foreign officers to send troops to reinforce the American army.

1781 Astronomer William Herschel discovers the planet Uranus, which he names 'Georgium Sidus,' in honor of King George III.

1793 Eli Whitney patents the cotton gin.

1861 Jefferson Davis signs a bill authorizing slaves to be used as soldiers for the Confederacy.

1868 The U.S. Senate begins the impeachment trial of President Andrew Johnson.

1918 Women are scheduled to march in the St. Patrick's Day Parade in New York due to a shortage of men.

1935 A three-thousand-year-old archive is found in Jerusalem confirming biblical history.

1951 Israel demands $1.5 billion in German reparations for the cost of caring for war refugees.

1957 The FBI arrests Jimmy Hoffa on bribery charges.

1974 The U.S. Senate votes 54-33 to restore the death penalty.

1974 Arab nations decide to end the oil embargo on the United States.

1985 Upon the death of Konstantin Chernenko, Mikhail Gorbachev becomes the new leader of the Soviet Union.

1991 Exxon pays $1 billion in fines and costs for the clean-up of the Alaskan oil spill.

2008 Gold prices on the New York Mercantile Exchange hit $1,000.00 an ounce for the first time.

2020 12 hours after PGA Tour cancelled its flagship event, The Players Championship, Augusta National announces postponement of the Masters Tournament to a date to be fixed because of COVID-19 pandemic

Born on March 13

1615 Innocent XII, Roman Catholic Pope

1733 Joseph Priestly, scientist credited with the discovery of oxygen.


Joke of the Day

The other day, my wife asked me to pass her lipstick, but I accidentally passed her a glue stick.
She still isn’t talking to me.