Today in History

Today is Tuesday, October 13, the 286th day of 2015. There are 79 days left in the year.

Today's Highlight in History:

On October 13, 1775, the United States Navy had its origins as the Continental Congress ordered the construction of a naval fleet.

On this date:

In A.D. 54, Roman Emperor Claudius I died, poisoned apparently at the behest of his wife, Agrippina.

In 1792, the cornerstone of the executive mansion, later known as the White House, was laid during a ceremony in the District of Columbia.

In 1843, the Jewish organization B'nai B'rith was founded in New York City.

In 1932, President Herbert Hoover and Chief Justice Charles Evans Hughes laid the cornerstone for the U.S. Supreme Court building in Washington.

In 1944, during World War II, American troops entered Aachen, Germany.

In 1957, CBS-TV broadcast "The Edsel Show," a one-hour live special starring Bing Crosby designed to promote the new, ill-fated Ford automobile. (It was the first special to use videotape technology to delay the broadcast to the West Coast.)

In 1960, John F. Kennedy and Richard Nixon held the third televised debate of their presidential campaign (Nixon was in Los Angeles, Kennedy in New York).

In 1962, Edward Albee's four-character drama "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" opened on Broadway.

In 1972, a Uruguayan chartered flight carrying 45 people crashed in the Andes; survivors resorted to feeding off the remains of some of the dead in order to stay alive until they were rescued more than two months later.

In 1981, voters in Egypt participated in a referendum to elect Vice President Hosni Mubarak the new president, one week after the assassination of Anwar Sadat.

In 1990, Le Duc Tho, co-founder of the Vietnamese Communist Party, died in Hanoi a day before his 79th birthday.

In 2000, South Korean President Kim Dae-jung was named winner of the Nobel Peace Prize. Longtime American communist Gus Hall died in New York at age 90.

Ten years ago: British playwright Harold Pinter won the 2005 Nobel Prize in literature. Scores of Islamic militants launched simultaneous attacks on police and government buildings in Nalchik, a city in Russia's turbulent Caucasus region, leaving 139 people dead, most of them insurgents.

Five years ago: Rescuers in Chile using a missile-like escape capsule pulled 33 men one by one to fresh air and freedom 69 days after they were trapped in a collapsed mine a half-mile underground. U.S. authorities announced the arrests of 73 people accused of being part of a vast network of Armenian gangsters and their associates who allegedly used phantom health care clinics and other means to try to cheat Medicare out of $163 million.

One year ago: President Barack Obama huddled with some of his senior national security aides and with top administration health officials for the latest assessment on the government's response to Ebola in the aftermath of a Dallas nurse's contracting the disease. Frenchman Jean Tirole was announced as the winner of the Nobel Prize in economics for showing how to encourage better products and competitive prices in industries dominated by a few companies.

Today's Birthdays: Gospel singer Shirley Caesar is 78. Actress Melinda Dillon is 76. Singer-musician Paul Simon is 74. Actress Pamela Tiffin is 73. Musician Robert Lamm (Chicago) is 71. Country singer Lacy J. Dalton is 69. Actor Demond Wilson is 69. Singer-musician Sammy Hagar is 68. Actor John Lone is 63. Model Beverly Johnson is 63. Producer-writer Chris Carter is 59. Actor Reggie Theus is 58. Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., is 57. Singer Marie Osmond is 56. Rock singer Joey Belladonna is 55. Former White House press secretary Ari Fleischer is 55. NBA coach Doc Rivers is 54. Actress T'Keyah Crystal Keymah is 53. College and Pro Football Hall of Famer Jerry Rice is 53. Actress Kelly Preston is 53. Country singer John Wiggins is 53. Actor Christopher Judge is 51. Actor Matt Walsh (TV: "Veep") is 51. Actress Kate Walsh is 48. Rhythm-and-blues musician Jeff Allen (Mint Condition) is 47. Actress Tisha Campbell-Martin is 47. Classical singer Carlos Marin (Il Divo) is 47. Olympic silver-medal figure skater Nancy Kerrigan is 46. Country singer Rhett Akins is 46. Classical crossover singer Paul Potts (TV: "Britain's Got Talent") is 45. TV personality Billy Bush is 44. Actor Sacha Baron Cohen is 44. Rock musician Jan Van Sichem Jr. (K's Choice) is 43. Rhythm-and-blues singers Brandon and Brian Casey (Jagged Edge) are 40. Actress Kiele Sanchez is 39. NBA All-Star Paul Pierce is 38. Singer Ashanti is 35. Christian rock singer Jon Micah Sumrall (Kutless) is 35. Olympic gold medal swimmer Ian Thorpe is 33.

Thought for Today: "A hero is a man who is afraid to run away." -- English proverb.

Copyright 2015, The Associated Press. All rights reserved.