On this day, Feb. 13
1935 A jury in Flemington, N.J., found Bruno Richard Hauptmann guilty of first-degree murder in the kidnap-slaying of Charles A. Lindbergh Jr., the 20-month-old son of Charles and Anne Lindbergh. (Hauptmann was later executed.)
1965 During the Vietnam War, President Lyndon B. Johnson authorized Operation Rolling Thunder, an extended bombing campaign against the North Vietnamese.
1972 “Cabaret,” directed by Bob Fosse, based on John Kander and Fred Ebb’s musical of the same name, starring Liza Minnelli and Michael York, was released.
1980 The 13th Winter Olympics opened in Lake Placid, N.Y.
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.
1996 The rock musical “Rent,” by Jonathan Larson, opened off-Broadway less than three weeks after Larson’s death. 2000 Charles Schulz’s final “Peanuts” strip ran in Sunday newspapers, the day after the cartoonist died in his sleep at his California home at age 77.
2002 John Walker Lindh pleaded not guilty in federal court in Alexandria, Va., to conspiring to kill Americans and supporting the Taliban and terrorist organizations. (Lindh later pleaded guilty to lesser offenses and was sentenced to 20 years in prison. He was released in September 2019 after serving 17 years of that sentence.)
2011 Egypt’s military leaders dissolved parliament, suspended the constitution and promised elections in moves cautiously welcomed by protesters who had helped topple President Hosni Mubarak.
2013 Beginning a long farewell to his flock, a weary Pope Benedict XVI celebrated his final public Mass as pontiff, presiding over Ash Wednesday services inside St. Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican.
2016 Justice Antonin Scalia, the influential conservative and most provocative member of the U.S. Supreme Court, was found dead at a private residence in the Big Bend area of West Texas; he was 79. 2018 President Donald Trump’s personal attorney, Michael Cohen, said he had paid $130,000 out of his own pocket to a porn actress who claimed to have had a sexual relationship with Mr. Trump.
Today’s birthdays: Actor Kim Novak, 90. Actor Bo Svenson, 82. Actor Stockard Channing, 79. Talk show host Jerry Springer, 79. Singer Peter Gabriel, 73. Actor David Naughton, 72. Rock musician Peter Hook, 67. Actor Matt Salinger, 63. Singer Henry Rollins, 62. Actor Neal McDonough, 57. Singer Freedom Williams, 57. Actor Kelly Hu, 55. Rock singer Matt Berninger (The National), 52. Country musician Scott Thomas (Parmalee), 50. Singer Robbie Williams, 49. Singer-songwriter Feist, 47. R&B performer Natalie Stewart, 44. Actor Mena Suvari, 44. Actor Katie Volding, 34. Michael Joseph Jackson Jr. (also known as Prince Michael Jackson I), 26.