Today in History

Today is Thursday, May 16, the 136th day of 2013. There are 229 days left in the year.

Today's Highlight in History:

On May 16, 1943, the nearly month-long Warsaw Ghetto Uprising came to an end as German forces crushed the Jewish resistance and blew up the Great Synagogue. An estimated 7,000 Jews were killed during the uprising, while about 7,000 others were summarily executed. The remaining Jews, more than 40,000 of them, were deported to concentration camps.

On this date:

In 1763, the English lexicographer, author and wit Samuel Johnson first met his future biographer, James Boswell.

In 1770, Marie Antoinette, age 14, married the future King Louis XVI of France, who was 15.

In 1868, the U.S. Senate failed by one vote to convict President Andrew Johnson as it took its first ballot on the 11 articles of impeachment against him.

In 1913, jazz musician and bandleader Woody Herman was born in Milwaukee.

In 1920, Joan of Arc was canonized by Pope Benedict XV.

In 1929, the first Academy Awards were presented. The movie "Wings" won "best production," while Emil Jannings and Janet Gaynor were named best actor and best actress.

In 1939, the government began its first food stamp program in Rochester, N.Y.

In 1948, CBS News correspondent George Polk, who'd been covering the Greek civil war between communist and nationalist forces, was found slain in Salonika Harbor.

In 1953, Associated Press correspondent William N. Oatis was released by communist authorities in Czechoslovakia, where he'd been imprisoned for two years after being forced to confess to espionage while working as the AP's Prague bureau chief.

In 1961, Park Chung-hee seized power in South Korea in a military coup.

In 1975, Japanese climber Junko Tabei became the first woman to reach the summit of Mount Everest.

In 1988, the Supreme Court, in California v. Greenwood, ruled that police can search discarded garbage without a search warrant. Surgeon General C. Everett Koop released a report declaring nicotine was addictive in ways similar to heroin and cocaine.

Ten years ago: President George W. Bush launched his re-election campaign. The Senate committed $15 billion to fight global AIDS. In Casablanca, Morocco, five simultaneous suicide attacks claimed the lives of 33 victims, in addition to a dozen suicide bombers.

Five years ago: President George W. Bush visited Saudi Arabia, where he failed to win help from Saudi leaders to relieve skyrocketing American gas prices. Osama bin Laden said in an audio statement that al-Qaida would continue its holy war against Israel and its allies until the liberation of Palestine. U.S. Marine Staff Sgt. Tyrone L. Hadnott, accused of raping a 14-year-old Japanese girl in Okinawa, Japan, was found guilty of abusive sexual conduct by a U.S. military court and sentenced to four years in prison, with the fourth year suspended. Robert Mondavi, the patriarch of California wine country, died in Yountville at age 94.

One year ago: Gen. Ratko Mladic went on trial at the Yugoslav war crimes tribunal in the Netherlands, accused of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes. Mary Richardson Kennedy, 64, the estranged wife of Robert Kennedy Jr. whose death sent America's great political family into grief again, died in Bedford, N.Y., a suicide.

Today's Birthdays: Actor George Gaynes is 96. Jazz musician Billy Cobham is 69. Actor Bill Smitrovich is 66. Actor Pierce Brosnan is 60. Actress Debra Winger is 58. Olympic gold medal gymnast Olga Korbut is 58. Actress Mare Winningham is 54. Rock musician Boyd Tinsley (The Dave Matthews Band) is 49. Rock musician Krist Novoselic is 48. Singer Janet Jackson is 47. Country singer Scott Reeves (Blue County) is 47. Actor Brian F. O'Byrne is 46. Rhythm-and-blues singer Ralph Tresvant (New Edition) is 45. Actor David Boreanaz is 44. Political correspondent Tucker Carlson is 44. Actress Tracey Gold is 44. Tennis player Gabriela Sabatini is 43. Country singer Rick Trevino is 42. Musician Simon Katz is 42. Entrepreneur Bill Rancic (TV: "The Apprentice") is 42. Actress Tori Spelling is 40. Actress Lynn Collins is 36. Actress Melanie Lynskey is 36. Actress Megan Fox is 27. Actor Jacob Zachar is 27. Actor Marc John Jefferies is 23. Actor Miles Heizer is 19.

Thought for Today: "Those who don't believe in magic will never find it." -- Roald Dahl, British author (1916-1990).

Copyright 2013, The Associated Press. All rights reserved.