![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Screenshot-2026-05-12-at-16-38-08-Today-in-History-May-13-United-States-declares-war-on-Mexico-AP-Ne.jpeg\")
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
This painting depicts street fighting during the siege of Monterey in September 1846 in the U.S. War with Mexico. (AP file photo\/U.S. Army Signal Corps)<\/p>\n
Today in History: May 13, United States declares war on Mexico<\/p>\n
By The Associated Press<\/p>\n
Today is Wednesday, May 13, the 133rd day of 2026. There are 232 days left in the year.<\/p>\n
Today in history:<\/p>\n
On May 13, 1846, the United States Congress formally declared war against Mexico, following battles along the disputed U.S.-Mexico border in the preceding weeks; the Mexican-American War would continue for nearly two years until the signing of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo in February 1848.<\/p>\n
Also on this date:<\/p>\n
In 1940, in his first speech to the House of Commons as British prime minister, Winston Churchill said, \u201cI have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat.\u201d<\/p>\n
In 1973, in tennis\u2019 first so-called \u201cBattle of the Sexes,\u201d Bobby Riggs defeated Margaret Court 6-2, 6-1 in Ramona, California. (Billie Jean King soundly defeated Riggs at the Houston Astrodome later that year.)<\/p>\n
In 1980, a tornado struck downtown Kalamazoo, Michigan, killing five people and injuring 79.<\/p>\n
In 1981, Pope John Paul II was shot and seriously wounded in St. Peter\u2019s Square by Turkish assailant Mehmet Ali A\u011fca. (A\u011fca was sentenced to life in prison in Italy in July 1981, but was pardoned in 2000 at the Pope\u2019s request.)<\/p>\n
In 1985, a confrontation between Philadelphia authorities and the radical group MOVE ended as a police helicopter dropped two bombs onto the group\u2019s row house, igniting a fire that killed 11 people (including five children) and destroyed 61 homes.<\/p>\n
In 1995, British climber Alison Hargreaves became the first woman to reach the summit of Mount Everest, the world\u2019s tallest mountain, without bottled oxygen or the help of sherpas. (The following August, she was one of several climbers to die in a sudden, fierce storm while descending from the pinnacle of K2, the world\u2019s second-highest peak.)<\/p>\n
In 2012, 49 mutilated bodies were found dumped along a Mexican highway near the northern city of Monterrey in killings authorities blamed on fighting among rival drug gangs.<\/p>\n
In 2016, the Obama administration issued a directive requiring public schools to permit transgender students to use bathrooms and locker rooms consistent with their chosen gender identity.<\/p>\n
Today\u2019s Birthdays: Actor Harvey Keitel is 87. Musician Stevie Wonder is 76. Screenwriter-producer David Simon (\u201cThe Wire\u201d) is 67. Basketball Hall of Famer Dennis Rodman is 65. TV host\/comedian Stephen Colbert is 62. Musician Darius Rucker (Hootie and the Blowfish) is 60. Actor Samantha Morton is 49. Actor-writer-director Lena Dunham is 40. Actor Robert Pattinson is 40. Actor Debby Ryan is 33. Country musician Morgan Wallen is 33. Actor Mika Abdalla is 26.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"This painting depicts street fighting during the siege of Monterey in September 1846 in the U.S. War with…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":640127,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[23,3,276362,21,276365,276363,276364,19,22,20,25,24],"class_list":["post-640126","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-united-states","tag-america","tag-news","tag-today-in-history-may-13","tag-united-states","tag-united-states-declares-war-on-mexico","tag-united-states-declares-war-on-mexicorecords","tag-united-states-declares-war-on-mexicotoday-in-history","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-unitedstates","tag-unitedstatesofamerica","tag-us","tag-usa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/640126","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=640126"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/640126\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/640127"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=640126"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=640126"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=640126"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}