Today in history

February 13

1689

The English Parliament enacted into law a Bill of Rights.

1960
France became the world’s fourth nuclear power, conducting its first nuclear test at Reganne, in what was then French Algeria, in the Sahara Desert. It was detonated from a 330-foot tower and had a yield of 60-70 kilotons.

1967
Carrying huge photos of Napalmed Vietnamese children, 2,500 members of the group Women Strike for Peace stormed the Pentagon, demanding to see “the generals who send our sons to Vietnam.” When Pentagon guards locked the main-entrance doors, the women took off their shoes and banged on the doors with their heels. They were finally allowed inside, but Defense Secretary Robert McNamara would not meet with them.

Women Strike for Peace began on November 1, 1961, when an estimated 50,000 thousand women walked out of their kitchens and off their jobs in a one-day protest against Soviet and American nuclear policies.

1968
Five soldiers were arrested at a pray-in for peace in Vietnam at Fort Jackson, South Carolina.

1991
US bombs an Iraqi air raid shelter, killing 334.