Today is Thursday, Aug. 13, the 225th day of 2026. There are 140 days left in the year.<\/p>\n
Today in history:In 1521, Spanish conqueror Hernando Cortez captured Tenochtitlan, present-day Mexico City, from the Aztecs.<\/p>\n
In 1792, French revolutionaries arrested and imprisoned King Louis XVI; he would be executed by guillotine the following January.<\/p>\n
In 1889, William Gray of Hartford, Connecticut, received a patent for the first coin-operated telephone.<\/p>\n
In 1918, Opha May Johnson became the first woman to join the U.S. Marine Corps.<\/p>\n
In 1952, Big Mama Thornton first recorded the song \u201cHound Dog,\u201d four years before Elvis Presley\u2019s famous version was released.<\/p>\n
On Aug. 13, 1961, on what would become known as Barbed Wire Sunday, East Germany sealed the border between Berlin\u2019s eastern and western sectors before building a wall that would divide the city for the next 28 years.<\/p>\n
In 1969, New York City held a ticker-tape parade for Apollo 11 astronauts Neil Armstrong, Edwin \u201cBuzz\u201d Aldrin and Michael Collins.<\/p>\n
In 1995, Baseball Hall of Famer Mickey Mantle died at a Dallas hospital of rapidly spreading liver cancer at age 63.<\/p>\n