On This Day - March 13th

On this day in the year 607 of the common era CE, the twelfth perihelion passage of Halley's Comet is recorded; one thousand, one hundred and fifty-two years later it makes its twenty-seventh perihelion passage. Twenty-two years after that, in 1781 CE, William Herschel sees what he thinks is a "comet" but actually discovers the planet Uranus; one hundred and forty-nine years later, Clyde Tombaugh announces the discovery of Pluto at Lowell Observatory. Thirty-nine years after that, Apollo 9 returns to Earth.

On this day in the year 1569 CE, at the Battle of Jarnac, French Catholic forces led by Gaspard de Saulx and the Duke of Anjou defeat the Huguenots led by Louis de Bourbon and Gaspard de Coligny during the long terror of the religious wars.

On this day in 1677 CE, Massachusetts gains title to Maine for six-thousand-dollars; one hundred and one years later, France informs Great Britain of their Treaty of Alliance with the United States, and Great Britain responds with a declaration of war against France four days later. One hundred and twenty-five years after that, in 1903 CE, the British Empire brings about the fall of the Sokoto Caliphate in Northern Nigeria, claiming sovereignty over 500,000 square miles of Sokoto territory

In 1865 CE, the treasonous Confederate president, Jefferson Davis, signs a bill authorizing the use of slaves as soldiers during last weeks of the United States (U.S.) Civil War.

In 1868 CE the U.S. Senate begins the impeachment trial president Andrew Johnson; one hundred and fifty-six years later, the U.S. House of Representatives votes to force TikTok owner, the China-based ByteDance to sell the social media platform or face a ban in the United States, stipulating that it is a national security threat...the law was enacted, but president Donald Trump has elected to not enforce it.

In 1869 CE the Arkansas legislature passes an anti-Ku Klux Klan law…which utterly failed to stamp out the white nationalist movement by driving it underground; forty-four years later, in 1913 CE, the Kansas legislature approves censorship of motion pictures; twelve years after that, Tennessee makes it unlawful to teach evolution as a part of biology and the physical sciences…because ignorance is insatiable.

In 1877 CE American Chester Greenwood patents earmuffs after inventing them at the age of fifteen, seventeen years later J. L. Johnstone of England invents the starting gate for horse racing.

Twenty-nine years after that, in 1923 CE, American inventor Lee de Forest demonstrates his sound-on-film moving pictures in New York, New York.

In 1878 CE, Oxford University defeats Cambridge University in their first match of golf; nineteen years later San Diego State University is founded.

In 1881 CE, tsar Alexander II of Russia is assassinated by members of far-left terror group know as the “People's Will” who throw a bomb at him in the city of St. Petersburg; nine years later, France puts a limit on the length of the working day for women and children at eleven hours. Five years after that, in 1905 Mata Hari first performs her dance-act at the Guimet Museum in Paris, France; thirteen years later, Leon Trotsky gains control of the Russian Red Army. Forty-five years that, in 1963 CE, two Russian reconnaissance flights jet over Alaska.

In 1915 CE the manager of the Brooklyn Robins, Wilbert Robinson tries to catch a baseball dropped from an airplane, but the pilot substitutes a grapefruit…and it makes a big splash; twenty-eight years later, Major League Baseball approves the official ball, made with cork & balata. Eleven years after that, in 1954 CE, the Atlanta Braves' Bobby Thomson breaks his ankle and is replaced by Hank Aaron; six years later, the Chicago White Sox unveil new road uniforms with players' names above number.

In 1920 CE, after the German government is forced to cut its army to ten thousand men, a confederation of private military groups plot an unsuccessful coup, but their revolt is ended by a general strike because nobody wanted that shit; one year later, Mongolia (formerly Outer Mongolia) declares its independence from China.

In 1922 CE, George Bernard Shaw's largest-scale play "Back to Methusaleh (Part 3)" opens at the Garrick Theatre in New York, New York; it runs for twenty-five performances; sixteen years later, the World News Roundup is broadcast for the first time on CBS Radio in the United States.

Twenty-eight years after in 1965 CE, the Beatles' single, Eight Days a Week goes to number one, and stays there for two weeks; three years later they release the single Lady Madonna. Thirty-six years after that, in 2004 CE, Luciano Pavarotti performs in his final opera, "Tosca," at the Metropolitan Opera in New York, New York; two years later, at the twenty-first Rock and Roll Hall of Fame the inductees include: Blondie, Miles Davis (posthumously) and the Sex Pistols.

In 1933 CE, Joseph Goebbels becomes Nazi Germany's Minister of Information and Propaganda; ten years later, there is a failed assassin attempt on Adolf Hitler during Smolensk-Rastenburg flight. Also on this day, in 1943 CE the Nazis destroy the Jewish ghetto in Kraków; kill or deport all of the people to death camps; Oskar Schindler with advance information, saves his workers by keeping them in his factory overnight.

In 1942 CE Julia Flikke of the Nurse Corps, becomes the first female colonel in U.S. Army; seventy-three years later, Donatella Versace steps down after twenty-eight years as Chief Creative Officer of Italian fashion house Versace, founded by her brother, with Dario Vitale taking over her role.

In 1954 CE Viet Minh General Võ Nguyên Giáp opens an assault on French forces at Dien Bien Phu, northwest Vietnam; ten years later, Turkey threatens Cyprus with armed attack

In 1961 CE, Floyd Patterson overcomes two knockdowns in the first round against Ingemar Johansson, who Patterson knocks out in the sixth in Miami Beach, to retain the world heavyweight boxing crown; thirty-eight years later, Evander Holyfield and Lennox Lewis fight each other to a split draw after twelve rounds in one of the most controversial decisions in boxing history. Lewis pummeled Holyfield throughout the fight, and was the clear victor, though Holyfield showed all of his heart…I watched it live.

In 1967 CE the ex-premier of the Congo, Moise Tsjombe, is sentenced to death; one year later, six-thousand sheep are killed in a nerve gas accident at Skull Valley, Utah. Twelve years after that, in 1980 CE, American serial-killer and professional clown, John Wayne Gacy, receives the death sentence in Illinois for the murder of twelve people...he is known to have killed thirty-three.

In 1970 CE, Digital Equipment Corp. introduces the PDP-11 minicomputer; nine years later, the European Monetary System is established and the European Economic Union is created. Seven years after that, in 1986 CE, Microsoft is listed on the NASDAQ in its initial public offering; six years later, the Federal Communications Commission rules that companies can own thirty 30 AM & thirty FM stations, more than doubling the number from twelve. Twenty-eight years after that, in 2020 CE, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates steps down from the company's board to focus on philanthropic activities…and to avoid being in the public eye where he might be scrutinized for his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein.

In 1987 CE, John Gotti, boss of the Gambino crime family, is acquitted of racketeering; thirty-two years later, Frank Cali, a member of the New York Gambino mob family is shot dead outside his home; it is the first killing of a high-ranking mobster since 1985 CE.

In 1988 CE, Japan's Seikan Tunnel opens, it is the world's longest tunnel with an underwater segment (53.90 km in total – though it has neither the longest underwater segment, nor is it the longest tunnel), connecting Honshu and Hokkaido by rail; this Channel Tunnel remains the longest underwater chunnel in the world.

In 2003 CE the journal Nature reports that 350,000-year-old footprints of an upright-walking homo sapiens (human) have been found in Italy; nine years later Encyclopedia Britannica announces that it will no longer publish printed versions of its encyclopedia. Six years after that, in 2018 CE, National Geographic magazine admits that it has had a long history of racist coverage, even in the fifty years since the death of the reverend doctor Martin Luther King Jr..

In 2008 CE the price of gold on the New York Mercantile Exchange hits $1,000.00/ounce for the first time; today in 2026 the price of gold is $5,023.10/ounce.

In 2013 CE the Argentine Catholic Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio, at age seventy-six, is elected the pope, taking the name Francis, who will forever be known as Francis “The Good.”

In 2020 CE, emergency medical technician Breonna Taylor, an African-American woman, is shot and killed by police officers executing a no-knock warrant on her flat in Louisville, Kentucky; they were not looking for her, but the cowardly officers killed her anyway, and then lied through their teeth to cover up their crime…they were not held accountable.