Today in History: Friday, January 13, 2012

Today in History: Friday, January 13, 2012 Dallas Morning News AP Highlight in History: On Jan. 13, 1978, former Vice President Hubert H. Humphrey died in Waverly, Minn., at age 66. AP Photo On this date in: 1794 President George Washington approved a measure adding two stars and two stripes to the American flag, following the admission of Vermont and Kentucky to the union. 1808 Salmon P. Chase, U.S. senator, secretary of the treasury and chief justice of the Supreme Court, was born in Cornish, N.H. 1893 Britain's Independent Labor Party, a precursor to the Labor Party, first met. 1898 Novelist Emile Zola's "J'accuse" - a defense of Captain Alfred Dreyfus, a French Jew falsely convicted of treason - was published in a Paris newspaper. 1964 Karol Wojtyla, the future Pope John Paul II, was appointed archbishop of Krakow, Poland, by Pope Paul VI. 1966 Robert C. Weaver became the first black Cabinet member as he was appointed Secretary of Housing and Urban Development by President Lyndon B. Johnson. 1968 Country musician Johnny Cash recorded a live concert at Folsom Prison in California. 1982 An Air Florida 737 crashed into the 14th Street Bridge in Washington, D.C., after takeoff and fell into the Potomac River, killing 78 people. 1989 New York City subway gunman Bernhard H. Goetz was sentenced to one year in prison for possessing an unlicensed gun that he used to shoot four youths he said were about to rob him. 1990 L. Douglas Wilder of Virginia, the nation's first elected black governor, took the oath of office in Richmond. 2000 Microsoft chairman Bill Gates stepped aside as chief executive. 2002 The off-Broadway musical "The Fantasticks" ended a run of nearly 42 years and 17,162 performances. Video Highlights of This Day in History Today's Birthdays: Actor Patrick Dempsey ("Grey's Anatomy") turns 46 years old today. AP Photo/Evan Agostini Name Profession Age Frances Sternhagen Actress 82 Rip Taylor Comedian 78 Billy Gray Actor ("Father Knows Best") 74 Richard Moll Actor ("Night Court") 69 Trevor Rabin Rock musician (Yes) 58 Julia Louis-Dreyfus Actress ("Seinfeld," "The New Adventures of Old Christine") 51 Penelope Ann Miller Actress 48 Nicole Eggert Actress 40 Orlando Bloom Actor ("Pirates of the Caribbean" and "The Lord of the Rings" movies) 35 Country singer Trace Adkins turns 50 years old today. AP Photo/Peter Kramer SHARE THIS NEWSLETTER