Today in History

Today is Friday, Oct. 13, the 286th day of 2017. There are 79 days left in the year.

Today's Highlight in History:

On Oct. 13, 1792, the cornerstone of the executive mansion, later known as the White House, was laid by President George Washington during a ceremony in the District of Columbia.

On this date:

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

In 1307, King Philip IV of France ordered the arrests of Knights Templar on charges of heresy.

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

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 new videotape technology to delay the broadcast to the West Coast.)

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 1999, the Senate rejected the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, with 48 senators voting in favor and 51 against, far short of the 67 needed for ratification. In Boulder, Colorado, the JonBenet Ramsey grand jury was dismissed after 13 months of work with prosecutors saying there wasn't enough evidence to charge anyone in the 6-year-old beauty queen's 1996 slaying.

In 2010, 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.

Ten years ago: Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, after meeting with human-rights activists in Moscow, told reporters the Russian government under Vladimir Putin had amassed so much central authority that the power-grab could undermine its commitment to democracy.

Five years ago: Republicans Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan rallied college students in all corners of all-important Ohio and hammered at President Barack Obama for going easy on China over unfair trade practices; Obama took precious time off the campaign trail to practice for the next debate against his GOP rival. The Detroit Tigers beat the New York Yankees 6-4 in the first game of the American League Championship Series. Actor and TV host Gary Collins, 74, died in Biloxi, Mississippi.

One year ago: Donald Trump heatedly rejected the growing list of sexual assault allegations against him as "pure fiction," hammering his female accusers as "horrible, horrible liars." Bob Dylan was named winner of the Nobel prize in literature. Death claimed Thailand's longtime monarch, King Bhumibol, at age 88 and Nobel Prize-winning Italian playwright Dario Fo at age 90.

Today's Birthdays: Gospel singer Shirley Caesar is 80. Actress Melinda Dillon is 78. Singer-musician Paul Simon is 76. Actress Pamela Tiffin is 75. Musician Robert Lamm (Chicago) is 73. Country singer Lacy J. Dalton is 71. Actor Demond Wilson is 71. Singer-musician Sammy Hagar is 70. Pop singer John Ford Coley is 69. Actor John Lone is 65. Model Beverly Johnson is 65. Producer-writer Chris Carter is 61. Actor Reggie Theus is 60. Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., is 59. Singer Marie Osmond is 58. Rock singer Joey Belladonna is 57. Former White House press secretary Ari Fleischer is 57. NBA coach Doc Rivers is 56. Actress T'Keyah Crystal Keymah is 55. College and Pro Football Hall of Famer Jerry Rice is 55. Actress Kelly Preston is 55. Country singer John Wiggins is 55. Actor Christopher Judge is 53. Actor Matt Walsh is 53. Actor Reginald Ballard is 52. Actress Kate Walsh is 50. Rhythm-and-blues musician Jeff Allen (Mint Condition) is 49. Actress Tisha Campbell-Martin is 49. Classical singer Carlos Marin (Il Divo) is 49. Olympic silver medal figure skater Nancy Kerrigan is 48. Country singer Rhett Akins is 48. Classical crossover singer Paul Potts is 47. TV personality Billy Bush is 46. Actor Sacha Baron Cohen is 46. Rock musician Jan Van Sichem Jr. (K's Choice) is 45. Rhythm-and-blues singers Brandon and Brian Casey (Jagged Edge) are 42. Actress Kiele Sanchez is 41. NBA All-Star Paul Pierce is 40. DJ Vice is 39. Singer Ashanti is 37. Christian rock singer Jon Micah Sumrall (Kutless) is 37. Olympic gold medal swimmer Ian Thorpe is 35. Actor Caleb McLaughlin (TV: "Stranger Things") is 16.

Thought for Today: "Nobody holds a good opinion of a man who has a low opinion of himself." -- Anthony Trollope, English author (1815-1882).