August 13
1521
After a three-month siege, the Aztec capital of Tenochtitlán fell to the Spanish conquistadors, marking the end of one empire and the rise of another.
1868
A series of earthquakes killed 25,000 in Peru and Ecuador.
1906
An all-black army unit was accused of a shooting rampage that left 1 civilian dead at Fort Brown in Brownsville, Texas. In 1972 they were all exonerated.
1942
Disney’s Bambi opened at Radio City Music Hall in New York City.
1961
The border between East and West Berlin was closed and marked with a barbed wire fence.
1995
Baseball great Mickey Mantle died of cancer.
2008
U.S. swimmer Michael Phelps won his 11th career gold medal, becoming the first athlete in Olympic history to do so.
Birthdays
Fidel Castro
1926—, Cuban revolutionary, premier of Cuba (1959–76), president of the Council of State and Council of Ministers (1976-).
Anders Jöns Ångström
physicist (1814)
Lucy Stone
reformer (1818)
Annie Oakley
sharpshooter (1860)
Alfred Hitchcock
filmmaker (1899)
Ben Hogan
golfer (1912)
Don Ho
entertainer (1930)
Midori Ito
figure skater (1969)