Important Events From This day in History April 12th

 

1954 USA "Rock Around the Clock"

1954: Bill Haley and the Comets, record "Rock Around the Clock" the song is released in May but is not a major chart hit, but in July 1955, after the song is used as the theme song for the movie Blackboard Jungle it goes to number 1 on the pop charts. Find More From What happened in 1954

1961 Soviet Union Yuri Gagarin First Man in Space

1961: The Soviet Union successfully launched the first man into space today taking the prize for "The First Man In Space". Yuri Gagarin , a 27-year-old air force major. He orbited the Earth in 1 hr 40 minutes. The next target is to put a man on the moon which the US achieves before the end of the decade.

1981 USA First Space Shuttle Columbia Launched

1981: The First of the US Space Shuttles Columbia was launched making way for mans continuing exploration of space.

1861 USA Attack on Fort Sumter

1861: The Confederate States attack Fort Sumter on This Day, 1861 which starts the Civil War.

1921 UK Coal Miners

1921: Coal Miners refuse to consider British Prime Ministers wage program , Miners are part of the Transport and General Workers and Railwayman's Union, and many are predicting bloodshed if the talks fail completely.

1934 USA Tax Returns

1934: Senate votes to make all income tax returns subject to public inspection in the hope of stopping Tax Dodging.

1939 USA Woody Herman

1939: Popular bandleader Woody Herman records the big band favorite "Woodchopper's Ball" with his orchestra.

1942 World War II

1942: Americans attack 4 Japanese invasion bases in retaliation for bombing of Pearl Harbor and British bombers distribute death and destruction on Rhineland in Germany.

1945 USA Franklin D. Roosevelt Dies

1945: After serving as U.S. president for 12 years, Franklin D. Roosevelt the 32nd president of the United States died from a massive cerebral hemorrhage at his retreat in Warm Springs, Georgia. Vice President Harry S. Truman became the President of the United States.

1955 USA Salk Vaccine Against Polio

1955: The Salk vaccine against Poliomyelitis commonly known as (Polio or Infantile Paralysis) was declared safe and effective. The vaccine works by inducing immunity by developing protective antibodies to polio.

1957 Egypt Suez Canal

1957: Following the opening up of the Suez Canal to international traffic President Nasser of Egypt has warned that any Israel ship entering the Canal will be sunk , and if any further attempt was made to break the oil embargo to Israel an embargo would be placed on oil to the west.

1966 North Atlantic Michelangelo

1966: Major Storm at sea takes 8 lives when the cruise ship Michelangelo was battered by 45 ft waves during a severe north Atlantic storm.

1973 Lebanon Tensions Worsen

1973: The United States and the Arab World headed for further confrontation over Palestinian Charges that there was US involvement in the Israel Raid on Beirut.

1975 Cambodia US Pull Out

1975: The US admits defeat in Cambodia and removed its remaining embassy personnel from the capital, Phnom Penh.

1982 USA The Brown Bomber

1982: Joe Louis (The Brown Bomber) died of a heart attack, just hours before he had watched Larry Holmes defend his World Heavyweight Title in Las Vegas.

1984 UK Miners Strike

1984: The NUM Miners' leader Arthur Scargill has ruled out a national ballot of miners on whether to the continue the miners strike. The miners strike started on March 6th after the head of the National Coal Board, Ian McGregor, announced plans to lose 20,000 jobs in the mining industry and ended on March 3rd 1985 making it one of the longest running industrial disputes in Britain. The strike continued for 12 months and ended because the miners failed to stop power production when the government used a higher percentage of electricity generated from oil powered power stations.

1992 France Euro Disney

1992: Euro Disney a new $4 billion theme park, opened in Marne-La-Vallee a new town on the outskirts of Paris, France. This is the second Disney resort to open outside the United States after the first which was Tokyo and is now one of Europe's leading tourist destinations.

1994 Israel Bomb Explosion

1994: A Bomb Exploded on a crowded bus today in Northern Israel Killing 6 people and wounding 25 others a radical extremist Islamic Group HAMAS claimed responsibility.

1999 USA President Bill Clinton

1999: President Bill Clinton is found in contempt of court by U.S. District Judge Susan Webber Wright for giving "intentionally false" testimony in a lawsuit filed by Paula Jones about his relationship with former White House intern Monica Lewinsky.

2001 Cincinnati Riots

2001: The Cincinnati Mayor Charles Luken declares a state of emergency after the third night of violence and looting, as a reaction to the fatal shooting in Cincinnati of Timothy Thomas on April 7. Thomas , a 19-year-old black male, is shot by Steven Roach, a white police officer, during an on-foot pursuit by several officers.

2006 Great Britain Terrorism Act 2006

2006: New laws have been made in Britain that will make it illegal to glorify terrorism and distribute terrorist publications. The Terrorism Act 2006 will ban groups or organizations that take part in these offences, and covers anyone who gives or receives training on them. Trespassing onto certain governmental sites will also be a terrorist offence. Human rights campaigners argue the law is drawn far too widely, and it is facing stiff opposition in the House of Lords.

2007 Kremlin Vetoes Inquiry into Gagarin’s Death

2007: The Kremlin has vetoed the launch of a fresh investigation into the death of Yuri Gagarin, in which aviation specialists have said that they've unraveled the mystery behind the first space traveler's death. Russia celebrates Cosmonauts' Day on April 12th, which is the anniversary of Gagarin's 1961 flight around the Earth. The cosmonaut died in a mysterious plane crash on March 27th, 1968 while on a routine training mission in a MiG-15 with his flight instructor. The official investigation that followed was hypothetical, and did not explain what happened to the flight, or why.

2009 Captain Richards Rescued From Pirates

2009: Captain Richards is held hostage by 3 Pirates on a lifeboat under tow by the USS Bainbridge (DDG-96) approximately 25 to 30 yards astern U.S. Navy SEAL marksmen open fire and kill the three pirates holding Captain Richard Phillips on the lifeboat and rescue him.

2009 Thailand State Of Emergency

2009: Following on from mass demonstrations at Government House and the nearby Royal Plaza by the evening in Bangkok on April 8th( 100,000 ) and further unrest in the streets over the next few days during the week-long Songkran (Thai New Year) holiday, Abhisit Vejjajiva declares a state of emergency in Bangkok and surrounding areas. On the 13th Thai soldiers in full combat kit used tear gas and live rounds from automatic weapons to clear protesters from the Din Daeng intersection near the Victory Monument in central Bangkok.

2009 Mexican Ambassador Accuses United States

2009: The U.S. Mexican ambassador has asked America to stop the flow of guns and cash into his country, saying that they fuel the country's drug wars. Arturo Sarukhan has said that the money provides the drug cartels with the means to "corrupt, bribe and kill." It has been reported that something like six thousand people died in 2008 from drug-related violence. The Mexican government believes the 90% of the weapons used have come from the United States.

2010 Washington Hosts Nuclear Security Summit

2010: World leaders, presidents, prime ministers and top officials from forty-seven countries, have arrived in Washington for a nuclear security summit. Barack Obama has warned world leaders of the problems of nuclear arms falling into the hands of extremists. He hopes that all nuclear materials will be made secure from theft or diversion within four years. The summit participants have issued a broad Communique that affirmed their dedication to preventing nuclear terrorism. During the summit Russia and the United States have agreed to dispose of some of their surplus weapons-grade plutonium under the deal that was signed at a nuclear summit in Washington. The deal asks for each side to dispose of 34 tons of the material. Moscow is to spend $2.5 billion on the program, with the U.S. contributing $400 million to the Russian disposal. Barack Obama has said that the participants had agreed to secure all the world's vulnerable nuclear material within four years.

2012 Connecticut Votes To End Death Penalty

2012: State legislators in the US state of Connecticut voted to repeal the death penalty in the state after a ten hour debate. The state's governor, Dannel Malloy, has said that he would sign the bill which would make Connecticut the seventeenth state to end the death penalty.

2013 Japanese Car Makers Recall Vehicles

2013: Toyota, Honda, Nissan and Mazda announced that they would be recalling a total of 3.4 million vehicles worldwide due to a defective part in airbags. The vehicles were sold between 2000 and 2004 and some of the models affected included the Toyota Yaris and Corolla, Honda CRV and Civic and others.

2013 French Senate Approves Gay Marriage

2013: France's Senate voted in favor of legalizing gay marriage in the country. To become law in the country it would still need approval with a final vote in the country's lower house. The law is expected to pass despite the several protests against gay marriage in the country.

2014 Japan Official Visits Shrine

2014: A visit by the Japanese internal affairs minister, Yoshitaka Shindo, to the Yasukuni shrine angered officials in China and South Korea. The shrine honors Japan's dead soldiers, including war criminals. Shindo stated that he visited the shrine to pray for peace. Visits to the Yasukuni shrine by Japanese officials almost always draws criticism from China and South Korea who do not believe that Japan has done enough to recognize atrocities committed by the country during World War II.

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