Today is Wednesday, July 13, the 195th day of 2016. There are 171 days left in the year.

on this date

In 1787, the Congress of the Confederation adopted the Northwest Ordinance, which established a government in the Northwest Territory, an area corresponding to the eastern half of the present-day Midwest.

In 1939, Frank Sinatra made his first commercial recording, “From the Bottom of My Heart” and “Melancholy Mood,” with Harry James and His Orchestra for the Brunswick label.

In 1960, John F. Kennedy won the Democratic presidential nomination on the first ballot at his party’s convention in Los Angeles.

In 1965, President Lyndon B. Johnson nominated Thurgood Marshall to be U.S. Solicitor General; Marshall became the first black jurist appointed to the post. (Two years later, Johnson nominated Marshall to the U.S. Supreme Court.)

In 1972, George McGovern received the Democratic presidential nomination at the party’s convention in Miami Beach.

In 1977, a blackout lasting 25 hours hit the New York City area.

In 1985, Live Aid, an international rock concert in London, Philadelphia, Moscow and Sydney, took place to raise money for Africa’s starving people.

In 1990, the romantic fantasy “Ghost,” starring Patrick Swayze and Demi Moore, was released by Paramount Pictures.