Today is Saturday, Dec. 13, 2025, the 347th day of the year. There are 18 days left in 2025.
On Dec. 13, 2022, President Joe Biden signed the Respect for Marriage Act, providing federal recognition and protections for same-sex and interracial marriages. He called the law “a blow against hate in all its forms.”
Also on this date:
In 1862, Union forces led by Maj. Gen. Ambrose Burnside launched repeated frontal assaults against entrenched Confederate troops at the Battle of Fredericksburg during the Civil War; the beaten Union army withdrew two days later after suffering heavy casualties.
In 1937, during the Second Sino-Japanese War, Japanese soldiers captured the Chinese city of Nanjing and began a weeks-long massacre that killed an estimated 200,000 to 300,000 civilians, prisoners and soldiers.
In 1996, the U.N. Security Council chose Kofi Annan of Ghana to become the United Nations’ seventh secretary-general.
In 2000, Republican George W. Bush claimed the presidency after the U.S. Supreme Court halted further recounts of disputed Florida ballots; Democrat Al Gore conceded and urged national unity.
In 2001, the Pentagon released a captured videotape of Osama bin Laden in which he said the deaths and destruction from the Sept. 11 attacks exceeded his “most optimistic” expectations.
In 2003, Saddam Hussein was captured by U.S. forces while hiding in a hole beneath a farmhouse in Adwar, Iraq, near his hometown of Tikrit.
In 2014, thousands of protesters marched in New York, Washington and other U.S. cities to draw attention to killings of unarmed Black men by white police officers.
In 2019, the House Judiciary Committee approved two articles of impeachment accusing President Donald Trump of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress in the Ukraine-related investigation; he was later acquitted by the Senate.
Today’s birthdays: Actor-comedian Dick Van Dyke is 100; music and film producer Lou Adler is 92; singer and TV host John Davidson is 84; Baseball Hall of Famer Ferguson Jenkins is 83; guitarist Jeff “Skunk” Baxter is 77; rock musician Ted Nugent is 77; country singer Randy Owen (Alabama) is 76; actor Wendie Malick is 75; country musician John Anderson is 71; actor Steve Buscemi is 68; singer-actor Morris Day is 68; Football Hall of Famer Richard Dent is 65; actor-comedian Jamie Foxx is 58; actor and reality star NeNe Leakes is 58; Hockey Hall of Famer Sergei Fedorov is 56; rock musician Tom DeLonge (Blink-182) is 50; rock singer Amy Lee (Evanescence) is 44; singer-songwriter Taylor Swift is 36; actor Maisy Stella is 22.
