Today in History

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 signed a measure making her state the seventh to legalize same-sex marriage.

One year ago: Justice Antonin Scalia, 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 is 38. Rock musician Dash Hutton (Haim) 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).