Today in History
Today is Monday, Feb. 13, the 44th day of 2017. There are 321 days left
in the year. Today's Highlight in History: On Feb. 13, 1967, the
Beatles' double A-sided single "Strawberry Fields Forever" and "Penny
Lane" was released in the United States by Capitol Records. On this
date: In 1542, the fifth wife of England's King Henry VIII, Catherine
Howard, was executed for adultery. In 1741, Andrew Bradford of
Pennsylvania published the first American magazine. "The American
Magazine, or A Monthly View of the Political State of the British
Colonies" lasted three issues. In 1861, Abraham Lincoln was officially
declared winner of the 1860 presidential election as electors cast
their ballots. In 1914, the American Society of Composers, Authors and
Publishers, also known as ASCAP, was founded in New York. In 1920, the
League of Nations recognized the perpetual neutrality of Switzerland.
In 1935, a jury in Flemington, New Jersey, found Bruno Richard
Hauptmann guilty of first-degree murder in the kidnap-slaying of
Charles A. Lindbergh Jr., the son of Charles and Anne Lindbergh.
(Hauptmann was later executed.) In 1945, during World War II, Allied
planes began bombing the German city of Dresden. The Soviets captured
Budapest, Hungary, from the Germans. In 1960, France exploded its first
atomic bomb in the Sahara Desert. In 1972, the 11th Winter Olympics
ended in Sapporo, Japan. In 1980, the 13th Winter Olympics opened in
Lake Placid, New York. In 1988, the 15th Winter Olympics opened in
Calgary, Alberta, Canada. In 1991, during Operation Desert Storm,
allied warplanes destroyed an underground shelter in Baghdad that had
been identified as a military command center; Iraqi officials said 500
civilians were killed. Ten years ago: Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt
Romney officially entered the 2008 presidential race in Michigan, the
place of his birth. With Democrats in control, House members debated
Iraq in an emotional and historic faceoff over a war that Speaker Nancy
Pelosi condemned as a commitment with "no end in sight. Five years ago:
President Barack Obama unveiled a record $3.8 trillion election-year
budget plan, calling for stimulus-style spending on roads and schools
and tax hikes on the wealthy to help pay the costs. Washington Gov.
Christine Gregoire (GREG'-wahr) signed a measure making her state the
seventh to legalize same-sex marriage. One year ago: Justice Antonin
Scalia (AN'-toh-nihn skuh-LEE'-uh), the influential conservative and
most provocative member of the Supreme Court, was found dead at a
private residence in the Big Bend area of West Texas; he was 79. During
a Republican presidential debate that evening in Greenville, South
Carolina, the candidates, with the exception of Jeb Bush, insisted that
President Barack Obama step aside and let his successor nominate
Justice Scalia's replacement. On his first full day in Mexico, Pope
Francis issued a tough-love message to the country's political and
church elites, telling them they had a duty to provide their people
with security, justice and courageous pastoral care. Today's Birthdays:
U.S. Air Force Maj. Gen. Charles E. "Chuck" Yeager (ret.) is 94.
Actress Kim Novak is 84. Actor George Segal is 83. Actor Bo Svenson is
76. Actress Carol Lynley is 75. Singer-musician Peter Tork (The
Monkees) is 75. Actress Stockard Channing is 73. Talk show host Jerry
Springer is 73. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., is 71. Singer Peter
Gabriel is 67. Actor David Naughton is 66. Rock musician Peter Hook is
61. Actor Matt Salinger is 57. Singer Henry Rollins is 56. Actor Neal
McDonough is 51. Singer Freedom Williams is 51. Actress Kelly Hu is 49.
Rock singer Matt Berninger (The National) is 46. Rock musician Todd
Harrell (3 Doors Down) is 45. Country musician Scott Thomas (Parmalee)
is 44. Singer Robbie Williams is 43. Singer-songwriter Feist is 41.
Rhythm-and-blues performer Natalie Stewart is 38. Actress Mena Suvari
(MEE'-nuh soo-VAHR'-ee) is 38. Rock musician Dash Hutton (Haim (hym))
is 32. Actress Katie Volding is 28. Michael Joseph Jackson Jr. (also
known as Prince Michael Jackson I) is 20. Thought for Today: "It is not
so much what we have done amiss, as what we have left undone, that will
trouble us, looking back. Ellen Wood, English playwright and journalist
(1813-1887).
