Today in History: Feb. 13, 2017

Published 1:30 am Monday, February 13, 2017

Today is Monday, Feb. 13, the 44th day of 2017. There are 321 days left in the year.

Today’s highlight:

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 1861, Abraham Lincoln was officially declared winner of the 1860 presidential election as electors cast their ballots.

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 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.

Five years ago: 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. 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.

Associated Press