Today is Friday, March 13, the 72nd day of 2009. There are 293 days left in the year.
1519 _ Cortez lands in Mexico
1852 _ Uncle Sam cartoon figure made its debut in the New York Lantern weekly
1868 _ Senate begins President Andrew Johnson impeachment trial
1921 _ Mongolia (formerly Outer Mongolia) declares independence from China
1925 _ Tennessee makes it unlawful to teach evolution
1950 _ General Motors reports net earnings of $656,434,232 (record)
1951 _ Israel demands DM 6.2 billion compensation from Germany
1961 _ Pablo Picasso (79) marries his model Jacqueline Rocque (37)
1965 _ Jeff Beck replaces Eric Clapton of the Yardbirds
1991 _ Exxon pays $1-billion dollars in fines and cleanup of Valdez oil spill (Prince William Sound, Alaska)