Today is Wednesday, Aug. 13, the 225th day of 2025. There are 140 days left in the year.
Today in history:
On Aug. 13, 1961, on what would become known as Barbed Wire Sunday, East Germany sealed the border between Berlin’s eastern and western sectors before building a wall that would divide the city for the next 28 years.
Also on this date:
In 1521, Spanish conqueror Hernando Cortez captured Tenochtitlan (teh-natch-teet-LAHN’), present-day Mexico City, from the Aztecs.
In 1792, French revolutionaries arrested and imprisoned King Louis XVI; he would be executed by guillotine the following January.
In 1889, William Gray of Hartford, Connecticut, received a patent for the first coin-operated telephone.
In 1918, Opha May Johnson became the first woman to join the U.S. Marine Corps.
In 1952, Big Mama Thornton first recorded the song “Hound Dog,” four years before Elvis Presley’s famous version was released.
In 1969, New York City held a ticker-tape parade for Apollo 11 astronauts Neil Armstrong, Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin and Michael Collins.
In 1995, Baseball Hall of Famer Mickey Mantle died at a Dallas hospital of rapidly spreading liver cancer at age 63.
In 2011, seven people were killed when a stage collapsed at the Indiana State Fair during a powerful storm just before a concert was to begin.
Today’s Birthdays:
- Former U.S. Surgeon General Joycelyn Elders is 92.
- Opera singer Kathleen Battle is 77.
- High wire aerialist Philippe Petit is 76.
- Hockey Hall of Famer Bobby Clarke is 76.
- Golf Hall of Famer Betsy King is 70.
- Movie director Paul Greengrass is 70.
- Actor Danny Bonaduce is 66.
- TV weatherman Sam Champion is 64.
- Actor Dawnn Lewis is 64.
- Actor John Slattery is 63.
- Actor Debi Mazar is 61.
- Figure skater Midori Ito is 56.
- Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders is 43.
- Actor Sebastian Stan is 43.
- Actor Lennon Stella is 26.