13 April It Happened Today

1598  King Henry IV of France issues the Edict of Nantes.

1743  Birth of American President Thomas Jefferson.

1852  Birth of American chain store legend Frank Winfield Woolworth.

1912  The Royal Flying Corps is founded in Britain.

1964  Sidney Poitier becomes the first black actor to receive an Oscar. He won it for his performance in The Lilies of the Field.

1990  The Soviet Union admits for the first time that it was responsible for the massacre of 15000 Polish army officers in WWII.  The 1940 massacre at Katyn had previously been blamed on the Germans.