Spotlight
Today in history: Aug. 13
East Germany sealed off the border between Berlin’s eastern and western sectors before building a wall that would divide the city for the next 28 years, and more events that happened on this day in history.
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1910: Florence Nightingale
In 1910, Florence Nightingale, the founder of modern nursing, died in London at age 90.
AP1932: Adolf Hitler
In 1932, Adolf Hitler rejected the post of vice chancellor of Germany, saying he was prepared to hold out “for all or nothing.”
AP1961: East Germany
In 1961, East Germany sealed off the border between Berlin’s eastern and western sectors before building a wall that would divide the city for the next 28 years.
AP1967: "Bonnie and Clyde"
In 1967, the crime caper biopic “Bonnie and Clyde,” starring Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway, had its U.S. premiere; the movie, directed by Arthur Penn, was considered shocking as well as innovative for its graphic portrayal of violence.
AP1995: Mickey Mantle
In 1995, baseball Hall of Famer Mickey Mantle died at a Dallas hospital of rapidly spreading liver cancer; he was 63.
AP2010: Barack Obama
Ten years ago: Weighing in for the first time on a controversy gripping New York City and the nation, President Barack Obama endorsed allowing a mosque near ground zero, telling a White House dinner celebrating the Islamic holy month of Ramadan that the country’s founding principles demanded no less.
AP2010: Edwin Newman
Ten years ago: Veteran NBC newsman Edwin Newman died in Oxford, England, at age 91.
AP2015: Baghdad
Five years ago: In one of the deadliest single attacks in postwar Baghdad, a truck bomb shattered a popular fruit-and-vegetable market in a teeming Shiite neighborhood, killing dozens of people.
AP2015: Warren G. Harding
Five years ago: The New York Times reported that DNA testing had proved that President Warren G. Harding fathered a child with long-rumored mistress Nan Britton, according to AncestryDNA, a division of Ancestry.com.
AP2017: Donald Trump
In 2017, in a statement, the White House said President Donald Trump “very strongly” condemned individual hate groups such as “white supremacists, KKK and neo-Nazis;” the statement followed criticism of Trump for blaming the previous day’s deadly violence at a white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, on “many sides.” Protesters decrying hatred and racism converged around the country, saying they felt compelled to respond to the white supremacist rally in Virginia.
AP2019: Jeffrey Epstein
One year ago: The warden at the New York federal jail where Jeffrey Epstein had taken his own life was removed, and two guards who were supposed to be watching Epstein were placed on leave while federal authorities investigated the death.
AP2019: Ken Cuccinelli
One year ago: Ken Cuccinelli, the Trump administration’s acting director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, said the famous inscription on the Statue of Liberty welcoming “huddled masses” to American shores referred to “people coming from Europe.”
AP2019: Plácido Domingo
One year ago: The Associated Press reported that numerous women had accused opera legend Plácido Domingo of sexual harassment and inappropriate behavior spanning decades, and music companies began canceling appearances by Domingo in response to the story; Domingo issued a statement calling the allegations “deeply troubling and, as presented inaccurate.”
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