May 12
1780 - During the Revolutionary War, the besieged city of Charleston, South Carolina, surrendered to British forces.
1820 - Florence Nightingale, the founder of modern nursing, was born in Florence, Italy.
1870 - Manitoba became a province of Canada.
1932 - The body of Charles and Anne Lindbergh's kidnapped baby boy was found in a wooded area near Hopewell, New Jersey.
1937 - Britain's King George VI was crowned at Westminster Abbey in London; his wife, Elizabeth, was crowned as queen consort.
1943 - Axis forces in North Africa surrendered.
1949 - The Soviet blockade that prompted the Berlin airlift was ended.
1955 - Manhattan’s last elevated rail line, the Third Avenue El, ceased operation.
1958 - The United States and Canada signed an agreement to create the North American Air Defense Command (later the North American Aerospace Defense Command, or NORAD).
1965 - West Germany and Israel established diplomatic relations.
1970 - The U.S. Senate voted unanimously to confirm Harry A. Blackmun to the Supreme Court.
1975 - The White House announced the new Cambodian government had seized an American merchant ship, the Mayaguez, in international waters. (U.S. Marines gained control of the ship three days after its seizure, not knowing the 39 civilian members of the crew had already been released by Cambodia.)
1982 - Pope John Paul II was assaulted by a knife-wielding Spanish priest while visiting the shrine of Fatima in Portugal. (In 2008, the pope's longtime secretary revealed that the pontiff had been lightly wounded in the attack.)
2002 - Former President Jimmy Carter became the first U.S. president (in or out of office) to visit Fidel Castro's Cuba.
2003 - Suicide bombers in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, killed 26 people, including nine U.S. citizens.
2003 - Fifty-nine Texas House Democrats fled to Oklahoma to prevent passage of a congressional redistricting bill.
2008 - An estimated 87,000 people were killed and thousands more injured when a 7.9 magnitude earthquake struck the Sichuan, Gansu and Yunnan provinces in western China.
2009 - Five Miami men were convicted in a plot to blow up FBI buildings and Chicago's Sears Tower.
2011 - A German court convicted retired U.S. autoworker John Demjanjuk of being an accessory to the murder of tens of thousands of Jews as a Nazi death camp guard. (Demjanjuk, who maintained his innocence, died in 2012.)
2011 - CEOs of the five largest oil companies went before the Senate Finance Committee, where Democrats challenged the executives to justify tax breaks at a time when people were paying $4 a gallon for gas.
2012 - The 2012 World Expo began in Yeosu, South Korea.
2016 - A divided U.S. Supreme Court blocked the execution of an Alabama inmate so that a lower court could review claims that strikes and dementia had rendered him incompetent to understand his looming death sentence. (A federal appeals court ruled in March 2017 that Vernon Madison was incompetent, and could not be executed.)
2020 - House Democrats unveiled a coronavirus aid package totaling more than $3 trillion, including $1 trillion for states and cities to avert layoffs and a fresh round of direct cash aid to American households. (The measure won House approval but Senate Republicans and the White House rejected it as too costly.)
Birthdays
23 - Cuban Doll (rapper)
24 - Odeya Rush (actress)
24 - Rio Sage (actress)
26 - Sullivan Sweeten (actor)
29 - Malcolm David Kelley (actor)
35 - Emily VanCamp (actress)
37 - Clare Bowen (actress/singer)
40 - Rami Malek (actor)
43 - Jason Biggs (actor)
43 - Malin Akerman (actress)
44 - Rebecca Herbst (actress)
48 - Mackenzie Astin (actress)
49 - Rhea Seehorn (actress)
51 - Samantha Mathis (actress)
52 - Kim Fields (actress)
53 - Scott Schwartz (actor)
53 - Tony Hawk (skateboarder)
55 - Stephen Baldwin (actor)
58 - Vanessa Williams (actress)
59 - April Grace (actress)
59 - Emilio Estevez (actress)
62 - Ving Rhames (actor)
63 - Kim Greist (actress)
66 - Kix Brooks (country singer)
71 - Billy Squier (singer)
71 - Gabriel Byrne (actor)
73 - Steve Winwood (singer)
73 - Lindsay Crouse (actress)
78 - Linda Dano (actress)
79 - Billy Swan (country singer)
85 - Millie Perkins (actress)
93 - Burt Bacharach (composer)
========================================
Today in Sports History - May 12
1950 - The American Bowling Congress abolished its white males-only membership restriction after 34 years.
1966 - The St. Louis Cardinals played their first game at Busch Memorial Stadium. They won the game 4-3 over the Atlanta Braves.
1970 - Ernie Banks of the Chicago Cubs hit his 500th career home run.
1972 - The Milwaukee Brewers beat the Minnesota Twins, 4-3, in 22 innings. The game was actually completed on May 13.
1973 - The Indiana Pacers defeat the Kentucky Colonels in seven games to win the ABA championship.
1974 - The Boston Celtics defeat the Milwaukee Bucks in seven games to win the NBA championship.
1979 - Chris Evert's 125-match winning streak on a clay surface comes to an end.
1982 - The United States Football League was formed.
1985 - The New York Knicks won the first NBA Draft Lottery.
1997 - Larry Bird was named head coach of the Indiana Pacers.
1997 - Australian Susie Maroney became the first woman to swim from Cuba to Florida, covering the 118-mile distance in 24 1/2 hours.
1998 - Larry Bird became just the third rookie coach in NBA history to win NBA Coach of the Year honors.
1998 - The Atlanta Braves tied a national league record when they hit a home run in their 24th consecutive game.
1998 - St. Louis Cardinals manager Tony LaRussa won his 1,500th career game.
2013 - Tiger Woods wins his second Players Championship.
1780 - During the Revolutionary War, the besieged city of Charleston, South Carolina, surrendered to British forces.
1820 - Florence Nightingale, the founder of modern nursing, was born in Florence, Italy.
1870 - Manitoba became a province of Canada.
1932 - The body of Charles and Anne Lindbergh's kidnapped baby boy was found in a wooded area near Hopewell, New Jersey.
1937 - Britain's King George VI was crowned at Westminster Abbey in London; his wife, Elizabeth, was crowned as queen consort.
1943 - Axis forces in North Africa surrendered.
1949 - The Soviet blockade that prompted the Berlin airlift was ended.
1955 - Manhattan’s last elevated rail line, the Third Avenue El, ceased operation.
1958 - The United States and Canada signed an agreement to create the North American Air Defense Command (later the North American Aerospace Defense Command, or NORAD).
1965 - West Germany and Israel established diplomatic relations.
1970 - The U.S. Senate voted unanimously to confirm Harry A. Blackmun to the Supreme Court.
1975 - The White House announced the new Cambodian government had seized an American merchant ship, the Mayaguez, in international waters. (U.S. Marines gained control of the ship three days after its seizure, not knowing the 39 civilian members of the crew had already been released by Cambodia.)
1982 - Pope John Paul II was assaulted by a knife-wielding Spanish priest while visiting the shrine of Fatima in Portugal. (In 2008, the pope's longtime secretary revealed that the pontiff had been lightly wounded in the attack.)
2002 - Former President Jimmy Carter became the first U.S. president (in or out of office) to visit Fidel Castro's Cuba.
2003 - Suicide bombers in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, killed 26 people, including nine U.S. citizens.
2003 - Fifty-nine Texas House Democrats fled to Oklahoma to prevent passage of a congressional redistricting bill.
2008 - An estimated 87,000 people were killed and thousands more injured when a 7.9 magnitude earthquake struck the Sichuan, Gansu and Yunnan provinces in western China.
2009 - Five Miami men were convicted in a plot to blow up FBI buildings and Chicago's Sears Tower.
2011 - A German court convicted retired U.S. autoworker John Demjanjuk of being an accessory to the murder of tens of thousands of Jews as a Nazi death camp guard. (Demjanjuk, who maintained his innocence, died in 2012.)
2011 - CEOs of the five largest oil companies went before the Senate Finance Committee, where Democrats challenged the executives to justify tax breaks at a time when people were paying $4 a gallon for gas.
2012 - The 2012 World Expo began in Yeosu, South Korea.
2016 - A divided U.S. Supreme Court blocked the execution of an Alabama inmate so that a lower court could review claims that strikes and dementia had rendered him incompetent to understand his looming death sentence. (A federal appeals court ruled in March 2017 that Vernon Madison was incompetent, and could not be executed.)
2020 - House Democrats unveiled a coronavirus aid package totaling more than $3 trillion, including $1 trillion for states and cities to avert layoffs and a fresh round of direct cash aid to American households. (The measure won House approval but Senate Republicans and the White House rejected it as too costly.)
Birthdays
23 - Cuban Doll (rapper)
24 - Odeya Rush (actress)
24 - Rio Sage (actress)
26 - Sullivan Sweeten (actor)
29 - Malcolm David Kelley (actor)
35 - Emily VanCamp (actress)
37 - Clare Bowen (actress/singer)
40 - Rami Malek (actor)
43 - Jason Biggs (actor)
43 - Malin Akerman (actress)
44 - Rebecca Herbst (actress)
48 - Mackenzie Astin (actress)
49 - Rhea Seehorn (actress)
51 - Samantha Mathis (actress)
52 - Kim Fields (actress)
53 - Scott Schwartz (actor)
53 - Tony Hawk (skateboarder)
55 - Stephen Baldwin (actor)
58 - Vanessa Williams (actress)
59 - April Grace (actress)
59 - Emilio Estevez (actress)
62 - Ving Rhames (actor)
63 - Kim Greist (actress)
66 - Kix Brooks (country singer)
71 - Billy Squier (singer)
71 - Gabriel Byrne (actor)
73 - Steve Winwood (singer)
73 - Lindsay Crouse (actress)
78 - Linda Dano (actress)
79 - Billy Swan (country singer)
85 - Millie Perkins (actress)
93 - Burt Bacharach (composer)
========================================
Today in Sports History - May 12
1950 - The American Bowling Congress abolished its white males-only membership restriction after 34 years.
1966 - The St. Louis Cardinals played their first game at Busch Memorial Stadium. They won the game 4-3 over the Atlanta Braves.
1970 - Ernie Banks of the Chicago Cubs hit his 500th career home run.
1972 - The Milwaukee Brewers beat the Minnesota Twins, 4-3, in 22 innings. The game was actually completed on May 13.
1973 - The Indiana Pacers defeat the Kentucky Colonels in seven games to win the ABA championship.
1974 - The Boston Celtics defeat the Milwaukee Bucks in seven games to win the NBA championship.
1979 - Chris Evert's 125-match winning streak on a clay surface comes to an end.
1982 - The United States Football League was formed.
1985 - The New York Knicks won the first NBA Draft Lottery.
1997 - Larry Bird was named head coach of the Indiana Pacers.
1997 - Australian Susie Maroney became the first woman to swim from Cuba to Florida, covering the 118-mile distance in 24 1/2 hours.
1998 - Larry Bird became just the third rookie coach in NBA history to win NBA Coach of the Year honors.
1998 - The Atlanta Braves tied a national league record when they hit a home run in their 24th consecutive game.
1998 - St. Louis Cardinals manager Tony LaRussa won his 1,500th career game.
2013 - Tiger Woods wins his second Players Championship.
