On Nov. 13, 354, St. Augustine was born in present-day Algeria.
In 1775 colonial forces captured Montreal during the American Revolution.
In 1789 Benjamin Franklin wrote to a friend that “in this world, nothing can be said to be certain except death and taxes.”
In 1927 the Holland Tunnel under the Hudson River was opened, linking New York and New Jersey.
In 1942 the draft age was lowered to 18 from 21.
In 1947 actor Joe Mantegna was born in Chicago.
In 1956 the Supreme Court outlawed racial segregation on public buses.
In 1971 the unmanned U.S. spacecraft Mariner 9 rocketed into orbit around Mars.
In 1974 Karen Silkwood, 28, a technician and union activist at Kerr-McGee’s Cimarron plutonium plant near Crescent, Okla., was killed in a car crash. (Rumors of murder were never substantiated.)
In 1977 Al Capp’s syndicated comic strip “Li’l Abner” appeared in newspapers for the last time.
In 1979 former California Gov. Ronald Reagan announced his candidacy for the Republican presidential nomination.
In 1982 the Vietnam Veterans Memorial was dedicated in Washington.
In 1985 Colombia’s Nevado del Ruiz volcano erupted, claiming 23,000 lives and delivering an avalanche of mud and ash to 14 towns.
In 1994 Sweden voted to join the European Union.
In 1999 Lennox Lewis became the undisputed heavyweight champion, winning a unanimous decision over Evander Holyfield in Las Vegas.
In 2001 Afghanistan’s ruling Taliban abandoned the capital, Kabul, without a fight, enabling U.S.-backed fighters to take over the city. Also, Bishop Wilton Gregory was elected the first black president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.
In 2002, claiming Iraq was seeking the “path of peace,” Saddam Hussein’s government agreed to the return of international weapons inspectors.
In 2003 Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore, who had refused to remove his granite 10 Commandments monument from the state courthouse, was thrown off the bench by a judicial ethics panel for having “placed himself above the law.”
