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more events on January 13
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1990
In Virginia, Douglas Wilder, the first African American elected governor of a US state, takes office.
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1982
Air Florida Flight 90 Boeing 737 jet crashes into Washington, D.C.’s 14th Street Bridge shortly after takeoff, then plunges into the Potomac River; 78 people, including 4 motorists, are killed.
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1980
The United States offers Pakistan a two-year aid plan to counter the Soviet threat in Afghanistan.
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1976
Argentina ousts a British envoy in dispute over the Falkland Islands.
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1968
U.S. reports shifting most air targets from North Vietnam to Laos.
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1965
Two U.S. planes are shot down in Laos while on a combat mission.
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1961
Julia Louis-Dreyfus, actress, producer (Seinfeld TV series)
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1955
Chase National and the Bank of Manhattan agree to merge resulting in the second largest U.S. bank.
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1947
British troops replace striking truck drivers.
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1945
The Red Army opens an offensive in South Poland, crashing 25 miles through the German lines.
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1944
Plants are destroyed and 64 U.S. aircraft are lost in an air attack in Germany.
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1943
General Leclerc’s Free French forces merge with the British under Field Marshal Bernard Law Montgomery in Libya.
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1937
The United States bars Americans from serving in the Civil War in Spain.
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1931
The bridge connecting New York and New Jersey is named the George Washington Memorial Bridge.
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1929
Joe Pass, considered one of the greatest jazz guitarists of the 20th century.