Events, Births and Deaths Happening on this Date
Monday, July 13, 2026
Today is the 194th day of 2026. There are 171 days left in this year.
Notable Events
1787
The Congress of the Confederation enacts the Northwest Ordinance establishing governing rules for the Northwest Territory. It also establishes procedures for the admission of new states and limits the expansion of slavery.
1793
French revolutionary writer Jean Paul Marat was stabbed to death in his bath by Charlotte Corday, who was executed four days later. Marat's slaying is depicted in the famous painting by Jacques Louis David.
1830
The General Assembly's Institution, now the Scottish Church College, one of the pioneering institutions that ushered the Bengali Renaissance, is founded by Alexander Duff and Raja Ram Mohan Roy, in Calcutta, India.
1863
Rioting against the Civil War military draft erupted in New York City; about 1,000 people died over three days.
1878
Treaty of Berlin: The European powers redraw the map of the Balkans. Serbia, Montenegro and Romania become completely independent of the Ottoman Empire.
1919
The British airship R34 lands in Norfolk, England, completing the first airship return journey across the Atlantic in 182 hours of flight.
1923
The famous Hollywood sign was first constructed over the Hollywood Hills in Los Angeles, California. The sign was originally spelled as "Hollywoodland", but the last four letters would be removed in 1949.
1937
The very first Krispy Kreme Doughnuts shop opened in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.
1960
John F. Kennedy was officially nominated as the presidential candidate for the Democratic Party. Upon winning the presidency, he would become the first Catholic President and the youngest ever to be elected.
1962
In an unprecedented action, British Prime Minister Harold Macmillan dismisses seven members of his Cabinet, marking the effective end of the National Liberals as a distinct force within British politics.
1967
Race-related rioting broke out in Newark, N.J.; by the time the violence ended four days later, 27 people had been killed.
1973
Alexander Butterfield reveals the existence of a secret Oval Office taping system to investigators for the Senate Watergate Committee.
1977
A 25-hour blackout hit the New York City area after lightning struck upstate power lines.
1977
Somalia declares war on Ethiopia, starting the Ogaden War.
1977
New York City: Amidst a period of financial and social turmoil experiences an electrical blackout lasting nearly 24 hours that leads to widespread fires and looting.
1978
Lee Iacocca was fired as president of Ford Motor Co. by chairman Henry Ford II.
1985
Vice President George H. W. Bush becomes the Acting President for the day when President Ronald Reagan undergoes surgery to remove polyps from his colon.
1985
The "Live Aid" concert series was held in London, Philadelphia, Moscow and Sydney, Australia to raise money to feed people affected by the Ethiopian famine. An estimated 40 percent of the global population watched the concert on TV.
1990
A 6.4-magnitude earthquake in Afghanistan triggers an avalanche on Lenin Peak, killing 43 climbers in the deadliest mountaineering disaster in history.
1994
Tonya Harding's ex-husband, Jeff Gillooly, was sentenced in Portland, Ore., to two years in prison for his role in the attack on Harding's skating rival, Nancy Kerrigan. He served six months.
1998
A jury in Poughkeepsie, N.Y., ruled that the Rev. Al Sharpton and two others had defamed a former prosecutor by accusing him of raping Tawana Brawley.
1999
Angel Maturino Resendiz, suspected of being the ''railroad killer,'' surrendered in El Paso, Texas.
2008
Battle of Wanat begins when Taliban and al-Qaeda guerrillas attack US Army and Afghan National Army troops in Afghanistan. The U.S. deaths were, at that time, the most in a single battle since the beginning of operations in 2001.
2011
United Nations Security Council Resolution 1999 is adopted, which admits South Sudan to member status of United Nations.
2011
Mumbai is rocked by three bomb blasts during the evening rush hour, killing 26 and injuring 130.
2013
Florida neighborhood watch volunteer George Zimmerman was found not guilty of second-degree murder and manslaughter in the shooting death of 17-year old Trayvon Martin. Zimmerman had claimed Martin attacked him and he was forced to use self-defense.
2013
Typhoon Soulik kills at least nine people and affects more than 160 million in East China and Taiwan.
2016
Prime Minister of the United Kingdom David Cameron resigns, and is succeeded by Theresa May.
2020
After a five-day search, the body of American actress and singer Naya Rivera is recovered from Lake Piru, where she drowned in California.
2024
While campaigning for the 2024 U.S. presidential election, former President of the United States Donald Trump is injured in a shooting at a rally he held near Butler, Pennsylvania.
Notable Births
1793
John Clare, English poet and author (d. 1864)
1821
Nathan Bedford Forrest, American general and first Grand Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan (d. 1877)
1841
Otto Wagner, Austrian architect, designed the Austrian Postal Savings Bank and Karlsplatz Stadtbahn Station (d. 1918)
1859
Sidney Webb, 1st Baron Passfield, English economist and politician, Secretary of State for the Colonies (d. 1947)
1863
Margaret Murray, British archaeologist, anthropologist, historian, and folklorist (d. 1963)
1864
John Jacob Astor IV, American colonel and businessman (d. 1912)
1886
Father Edward J. Flanagan, founder of Boys Town (d. 1948)
1900
George Lewis, American clarinet player and songwriter (d. 1969)
1905
Magda Foy, American child actress (d. 2000)
1907
George Weller, American author, playwright, and journalist (d. 2002)
1908
Tim Spencer, American country & western singer-songwriter and actor (d. 1974)
1911
Bob Steele, American radio personality (d. 2002)
1913
Dave Garroway, American journalist and television personality (d. 1982)
1923
Ashley Bryan, American children's book author and illustrator (d. 2022)
1925
Suzanne Zimmerman, American competition swimmer and Olympic medalist (d. 2021)
1927
Simone Veil, French lawyer and politician, President of the European Parliament (d. 2017)
1928
Bob Crane, American actor (d. 1978)
1928
Johnny Gilbert, American game show host and announcer
1935
Jack Kemp, American football player and politician, 9th United States Secretary of Housing and Urban Development (d. 2009)
1935
Kurt Westergaard, Danish cartoonist (d. 2021)
1940
Paul Prudhomme, American chef and author (d. 2015)
1940
Patrick Stewart, English actor, director, and producer
1941
Robert Forster, American actor and producer (d. 2019)
1942
Harrison Ford, American actor and producer
1942
Roger McGuinn, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
1944
Erno Rubik, Hungarian game designer, architect, and educator, invented the Rubik's Cube
1946
Cheech Marin, American actor and comedian
1950
George Nelson, American astronomer and astronaut
1950
Jurelang Zedkaia, Marshallese politician, 5th President of the Marshall Islands (d. 2015)
1954
Louise Mandrell, American singer-songwriter and actress
1956
Mark Mendoza, American bass player and songwriter
1956
Michael Spinks, American boxer
1957
Cameron Crowe, American director, producer, and screenwriter
1964
Paul Thorn, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
1965
Eileen Ivers, American fiddler
1966
Gerald Levert, American R&B singer-songwriter, producer, and actor (d. 2006)
1988
Steven R. McQueen, American actor and model
Notable Deaths
1807
Henry Benedict Stuart, Italian cardinal, pretender to the British throne and last member of the House of Stuart (b. 1725)
1911
Allan McLean, Scottish-Australian politician, 19th Premier of Victoria (b. 1840)
1921
Gabriel Lippmann, Luxembourger physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1845)
1951
Arnold Schoenberg, Austrian-American composer and painter (b. 1874)
1974
Patrick Blackett, Baron Blackett, English physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1897)
1980
Seretse Khama, Botswana lawyer and politician, 1st President of Botswana (b. 1921)
1981
Martin Hurson Irish Republican Hunger Striker.
1993
Davey Allison, American race car driver (b. 1961)
2006
Red Buttons, American actor (b. 1919)
2010
George Steinbrenner, American businessman (b. 1930)
2012
Richard D. Zanuck, American film producer (b. 1934)
2014
Nadine Gordimer, South African novelist, short story writer, and activist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1923)
2017
Liu Xiaobo, Chinese literary critic, human rights activist (b. 1955)
2020
Zindzi Mandela, South African politician, diplomat, and third daughter of Nelson Mandela (b. 1960)
2020
Grant Imahara, American electrical engineer, roboticist, and television host (b. 1970)
2024
Richard Simmons, American fitness personality and public figure. He was a promoter of weight-loss programs, most prominently through his Sweatin' to the Oldies line of aerobics videos. (b. 1948)