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Other Notable Events for April 13

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Published in History & Quotes

On this date in history: In 1742, George Frideric Handel's Messiah made its world premiere.

In 1943, the Jefferson Memorial was dedicated in Washington on the 200th anniversary of Thomas Jefferson's birth.

In 1964, Sidney Poitier became the first African-American to win an Oscar for Best Actor, honored for his work in Lilies of the Field.

In 1970, an oxygen tank exploded aboard Apollo 13 en route to a planned moon landing and one of the three astronauts aboard, Jack Swigert, the command module pilot, famously said, Houston, we've had a problem.(The mission was aborted and the craft, also carrying James Lovell, the commander, and Fred Haise,the lunar module pilot, returned safety to Earth April 17 after some harrowing moments.)

In 1972, the first Major League Baseball strike ended, eight days after it began.

In 1984, Christopher Wilder, the FBI's most wanted man, accidentally killed himself as police moved in to arrest him in New Hampshire. Wilder was a suspect in the deaths, rapes and disappearances of 11 young women in eight states.

In 1987, the Population Reference Bureau reported that the world's population had exceeded 5 billion.

In 1997, Tiger Woods, 21, won the Masters, the youngest golfer to accomplish that feat and the first African-American to win any of the four men's major professional golf tournaments. (Woods also won the Masters in 2001, 2002 and 2005.)

In 2005, as part of a deal to avoid the death penalty, Eric Rudolph pleaded guilty to four bombings that killed two people and injured more than 120. Among the attacks were bombings at the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta and two abortion clinics. (Rudolph was sentenced to life in prison.)

In 2008, about 1,300 Iraqi police officers and soldiers were fired in Basra and Kut for failing to fight Shiite militias, the Iraqi government said. Some of those fired were said to have merely switched sides during the battles.

In 2009, music producer Phil Spector was found guilty of second-degree murder by a Los Angeles jury in his second trial for the 2003 slaying of Lana Clarkson, an actress and club hostess. (He was sentenced to 19 years-to-life in prison.)

In 2012, the White House reported that President Obama and first lady Michelle Obama had income of $789,674 in 2011 and paid $162,074 in taxes, a rate of about 20.5 percent. They paid an additional $31,914 to the state of Illinois.

In 2013, the Vatican announced that Pope Francis appointed eight cardinals to look into ways of reforming the Roman Catholic Church.

In 2014, Bubba Watson won the Masters for the second time in three years.

 


Copyright 2015 by United Press International

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