January 13 in history — What Happened Today in History

Soviet Union troops attack Lithuanian independence supporters in Vilnius, killing 14 people and wounding around 1,000 others.

Douglas Wilder becomes the first elected African American governor as he takes office as Governor of Virginia in Richmond, Virginia.

Lee Teng-hui becomes the first native Taiwanese President of the Republic of China.

A month-long violent struggle begins in Aden, South Yemen between supporters of Ali Nasir Muhammad and Abdul Fattah Ismail, resulting in thousands of casualties.

A passenger train plunges into a ravine in Ethiopia, killing 428 in the worst railroad disaster in Africa.

Shortly after takeoff, Air Florida Flight 90, a Boeing 737 jet, crashes into Washington, D.C.'s 14th Street Bridge and falls into the Potomac River, killing 78 including four motorists.

United States Food and Drug Administration requires all blood donations to be labeled "paid" or "volunteer" donors.

Japan Air Lines Cargo Flight 1045, a Douglas DC-8 jet, crashes onto the runway during takeoff from Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport, killing five.

Prime Minister Kofi Abrefa Busia and President Edward Akufo-Addo of Ghana are ousted in a bloodless military coup by Colonel Ignatius Kutu Acheampong.

Johnny Cash performs live at Folsom State Prison.

Robert C. Weaver becomes the first African American Cabinet member when he is appointed United States Secretary of Housing and Urban Development.

Anti-Muslim riots break out in Calcutta, in response to anti-Hindu riots in East Pakistan. About one hundred people are killed.

In Manchester, New Hampshire, fourteen-year-old Pamela Mason is murdered. Edward Coolidge is tried and convicted of the crime, but the conviction is set aside by the landmark Fourth Amendment case Coolidge v. New Hampshire (1971).

Coup d'état in Togo results in the assassination of president Sylvanus Olympio.

The Moroccan Army of Liberation ambushes a Spanish patrol in the Battle of Edchera.

An article appears in Pravda accusing some of the most prestigious and prominent doctors, mostly Jews, in the Soviet Union of taking part in a vast plot to poison members of the top Soviet political and military leadership.

First Indochina War: The Battle of Vĩnh Yên begins.

British submarine HMS Truculent collides with an oil tanker in the Thames Estuary, killing 64 men.

Finland forms diplomatic relations with the People's Republic of China.

Henry Ford patents a soybean car, which is 30% lighter than a regular car.

World War II: First use of an aircraft ejection seat by a German test pilot in a Heinkel He 280 jet fighter.

The Black Friday bushfires burn 20,000 square kilometres (7,700 sq mi) of land in Australia, claiming the lives of 71 people.

A plebiscite in Saarland shows that 90.3% of those voting wish to no more being a "region occupied and governed by the United Kingdom and France".

The Reichstag Bloodbath of January 13, 1920, the bloodiest demonstration in German history.

The 6.7 Mw Avezzano earthquake shakes the Province of L'Aquila in Italy with a maximum Mercalli intensity of XI (Extreme), killing between 29,978 and 32,610.

The Rhoads Opera House fire in Boyertown, Pennsylvania kills 171 people.

To combat Czech nationalism, Emperor Franz Joseph decrees German will be language of the Austro-Hungarian Armed Forces.

Émile Zola's J'accuse…! exposes the Dreyfus affair.

Vasilije Micić, Serbian basketball player

Max Whitlock, English artistic gymnast

Adam Matthews, Welsh footballer

Dinah Pfizenmaier, German tennis player

Austin Watson, American ice hockey player

Rob Kiernan, English-Irish footballer

Kyle Clifford, Canadian ice hockey player

Vincenzo Fiorillo, Italian footballer

Liam Hemsworth, Australian actor

Morgan Burnett, American football player

Heath Hembree, American baseball player

Doug Martin, American football player (died 2025)

Beau Mirchoff, Canadian-American actor

Lawrence Phillips, American football player (born 1975)

Mark Juddery, Australian journalist and author (born 1971)

Robert White, American diplomat, United States Ambassador to Paraguay (born 1926)

Bobby Collins, Scottish footballer and manager (born 1931)

Randal Tye Thomas, American journalist and politician (born 1978)

Waldemar von Gazen, German general and lawyer (born 1917)

Diogenes Allen, American philosopher and theologian (born 1932)

Rodney Mims Cook, Sr., American lieutenant and politician (born 1924)

Chia-Chiao Lin, Chinese-American mathematician and academic (born 1916)

Rauf Denktaş, Turkish-Cypriot lawyer and politician, 1st President of Northern Cyprus (born 1924)

Guido Dessauer, German physicist and engineer (born 1915)

Miljan Miljanić, Serbian footballer and manager (born 1930)

Albert Heijn, Dutch businessman (born 1927)