April 12
1861 - Fort Sumter in South Carolina was attacked by Confederate forces, marking the beginning of the U.S. Civil War.
1862 - James J. Andrews led the raiding party that stole the Confederate locomotive "The General," inspiring the 1926 Buster Keaton movie.
1945 - President Franklin D. Roosevelt died of a cerebral hemorrhage in Warm Springs, Georgia at age 63; Vice President Harry S. Truman became president.
1955 - The polio vaccine developed by Dr. Jonas Salk was deemed "safe, effective, and potent."
1961 - Soviet cosmonaut Yuri A. Gagarin became the first human in space and also the first to orbit the Earth in a spacecraft.
1963 - Civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. was arrested and jailed in Birmingham, Alabama, charged with contempt of court and parading without a permit. (During his time behind bars, King wrote his "Letter from Birmingham Jail.")
1981 - NASA's first space shuttle, Columbia, took its first test flight.
1983 - Harold Washington was elected Chicago's first African-American mayor.
1988 - The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office issued a patent to Harvard University for a genetically engineered mouse, the first time a patent was granted for an animal life form.
1990 - In its first meeting, East Germany's first democratically elected parliament acknowledged responsibility for the Nazi Holocaust, and asked the forgiveness of Jews and others who had suffered.
1992 - After five years in the making, Euro Disneyland (now called Disneyland Paris) opened in Marne-La-Vallee, France, amid controversy as French intellectuals bemoaned the invasion of American pop culture.
1999 - Arkansas federal judge Susan Webber Wright found President Bill Clinton in contempt of court for lying about his relationship with Monica Lewinsky.
2013 - U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, visiting South Korea, delivered a stark warning to North Korea not to test-fire a mid-range missile while tamping down anxiety caused by a new U.S. intelligence report suggesting significant progress in the communist regime's nuclear weapons program.
2015 - Hillary Rodham Clinton jumped back into presidential politics, announcing in a video her much-awaited second campaign for the White House.
2018 - Police in Philadelphia arrested two black men at a Starbucks; the men had been asked to leave after one of them was denied access to the restroom. (Starbucks apologized and, weeks later, closed thousands of stores for part of the day to conduct anti-bias training.)
Birthdays
29- Saoirse Ronan (actress)
35 - Jessie James Decker (singer)
36 - Brendon Urie (singer)
36 - Brooklyn Decker (actress/model)
37 - Matt McGorry (actor)
44 - Jennifer Morrison (actress)
44 - Claire Danes (actress)
45 - Riley Smith (actor)
46 - Jordana Spiro (actress)
46 - Sarah Jane Morris (actress)
50 - Christina Moore (actress)
52 - Shannen Doherty (actress)
52 - Nicholas Brendon (actor)
55 - Alicia Coppola (actress)
59 - Amy Ray (singer)
66 - Vince Gill (singer)
67 - Andy Garcia (actor)
76 - David Letterman (TV host)
76 - Dan Lauria (actor)
77 - Ed O'Neill (actor)
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Today in Sports History - April 12
1938 - The Chicago Blackhawks defeat the Toronto Maple Leafs to win the Stanley Cup.
1941 - The Boston Bruins defeat the Detroit Red Wings to win the Stanley Cup.
1954 - Sam Snead wins his third and final Masters title.
1954 - The Minneapolis Lakers defeat the Syracuse Nationals in seven games to win the NBA championship.
1958 - The St. Louis Hawks defeat the Boston Celtics in six games to win the NBA championship.
1961 - Gen. Douglas MacArthur declines an offer to become commissioner of Major League Baseball.
1964 - Arnold Palmer wins his fourth Masters title, which was also his seventh and final major victory of his career.
1981 - Tom Watson wins his second Masters title.
1981 - Former world heavyweight boxing champion Joe Louis, 66, died in Las Vegas, Nevada.
1992 - In the second-lowest scoring game in NBA history during the shot clock era, the Detroit Pistons defeat the New York Knicks 72-61.
1992 - Fred Couples wins the Masters, the only major victory of his career.
1998 - Mark O'Meara wins the Masters.
2004 - Barry Bonds (San Francisco Giants) hit his 660th home run to tie Willie Mays for third on baseball's career list.
2007 - The Dallas Stars and Vancouver Canucks played 138 minutes and 6 seconds before the Canucks were able to score an overtime goal and win the game. It was the sixth-longest game in NHL history.
2013 - Guan Tianlang, a 14-year-old from China, made history as the youngest player to make the cut in a PGA Tour-sanctioned event; despite being the first player at Augusta National to get hit with a one-shot penalty for slow play, Guan made the cut under the 10-shot rule at the Masters.
2015 - Jordan Spieth wins the Masters.
1861 - Fort Sumter in South Carolina was attacked by Confederate forces, marking the beginning of the U.S. Civil War.
1862 - James J. Andrews led the raiding party that stole the Confederate locomotive "The General," inspiring the 1926 Buster Keaton movie.
1945 - President Franklin D. Roosevelt died of a cerebral hemorrhage in Warm Springs, Georgia at age 63; Vice President Harry S. Truman became president.
1955 - The polio vaccine developed by Dr. Jonas Salk was deemed "safe, effective, and potent."
1961 - Soviet cosmonaut Yuri A. Gagarin became the first human in space and also the first to orbit the Earth in a spacecraft.
1963 - Civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. was arrested and jailed in Birmingham, Alabama, charged with contempt of court and parading without a permit. (During his time behind bars, King wrote his "Letter from Birmingham Jail.")
1981 - NASA's first space shuttle, Columbia, took its first test flight.
1983 - Harold Washington was elected Chicago's first African-American mayor.
1988 - The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office issued a patent to Harvard University for a genetically engineered mouse, the first time a patent was granted for an animal life form.
1990 - In its first meeting, East Germany's first democratically elected parliament acknowledged responsibility for the Nazi Holocaust, and asked the forgiveness of Jews and others who had suffered.
1992 - After five years in the making, Euro Disneyland (now called Disneyland Paris) opened in Marne-La-Vallee, France, amid controversy as French intellectuals bemoaned the invasion of American pop culture.
1999 - Arkansas federal judge Susan Webber Wright found President Bill Clinton in contempt of court for lying about his relationship with Monica Lewinsky.
2013 - U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, visiting South Korea, delivered a stark warning to North Korea not to test-fire a mid-range missile while tamping down anxiety caused by a new U.S. intelligence report suggesting significant progress in the communist regime's nuclear weapons program.
2015 - Hillary Rodham Clinton jumped back into presidential politics, announcing in a video her much-awaited second campaign for the White House.
2018 - Police in Philadelphia arrested two black men at a Starbucks; the men had been asked to leave after one of them was denied access to the restroom. (Starbucks apologized and, weeks later, closed thousands of stores for part of the day to conduct anti-bias training.)
Birthdays
29- Saoirse Ronan (actress)
35 - Jessie James Decker (singer)
36 - Brendon Urie (singer)
36 - Brooklyn Decker (actress/model)
37 - Matt McGorry (actor)
44 - Jennifer Morrison (actress)
44 - Claire Danes (actress)
45 - Riley Smith (actor)
46 - Jordana Spiro (actress)
46 - Sarah Jane Morris (actress)
50 - Christina Moore (actress)
52 - Shannen Doherty (actress)
52 - Nicholas Brendon (actor)
55 - Alicia Coppola (actress)
59 - Amy Ray (singer)
66 - Vince Gill (singer)
67 - Andy Garcia (actor)
76 - David Letterman (TV host)
76 - Dan Lauria (actor)
77 - Ed O'Neill (actor)
===============================
Today in Sports History - April 12
1938 - The Chicago Blackhawks defeat the Toronto Maple Leafs to win the Stanley Cup.
1941 - The Boston Bruins defeat the Detroit Red Wings to win the Stanley Cup.
1954 - Sam Snead wins his third and final Masters title.
1954 - The Minneapolis Lakers defeat the Syracuse Nationals in seven games to win the NBA championship.
1958 - The St. Louis Hawks defeat the Boston Celtics in six games to win the NBA championship.
1961 - Gen. Douglas MacArthur declines an offer to become commissioner of Major League Baseball.
1964 - Arnold Palmer wins his fourth Masters title, which was also his seventh and final major victory of his career.
1981 - Tom Watson wins his second Masters title.
1981 - Former world heavyweight boxing champion Joe Louis, 66, died in Las Vegas, Nevada.
1992 - In the second-lowest scoring game in NBA history during the shot clock era, the Detroit Pistons defeat the New York Knicks 72-61.
1992 - Fred Couples wins the Masters, the only major victory of his career.
1998 - Mark O'Meara wins the Masters.
2004 - Barry Bonds (San Francisco Giants) hit his 660th home run to tie Willie Mays for third on baseball's career list.
2007 - The Dallas Stars and Vancouver Canucks played 138 minutes and 6 seconds before the Canucks were able to score an overtime goal and win the game. It was the sixth-longest game in NHL history.
2013 - Guan Tianlang, a 14-year-old from China, made history as the youngest player to make the cut in a PGA Tour-sanctioned event; despite being the first player at Augusta National to get hit with a one-shot penalty for slow play, Guan made the cut under the 10-shot rule at the Masters.
2015 - Jordan Spieth wins the Masters.
