December 12

Events

627 - Battle of Nineveh
1531 - Apparition of Our Lady of Guadalupe, Mexico City
1787 - Pennsylvania becomes the second state to ratify the United States Constitution
1870 - Joseph H. Rainey of South Carolina becomes the first black U.S. congressman
1897 - The city of Belo Horizonte is founded.
1900 - US Steel formed
1901 - First radio transmission across the Atlantic Ocean by Guglielmo Marconi
1913 - Mona Lisa recovered in Florence, two years after it was stolen
1917 - In Nebraska, Father Edward J. Flanagan founds Boys Town as a farm village for wayward boys (in 1979 it was opened to girls as well).
1925 - Reza Pahlavi takes control of Iran as Shah
1937 - Panay incident
1941 - United States seizes French ship Normandie
1963 - Kenya gains its independence from the United Kingdom
1969 - Strage di Piazza Fontana in Italy
1979 - Rhodesia changes its name to Zimbabwe
1985 - An Arrow Air DC-8 crashes after takeoff in Gander, Newfoundland killing 256, including 248 members of the United States Army's 101st Airborne Division
1996 - Uday Hussein is seriously injured in an assassination attempt
2003 - Paul Martin, Jr. is sworn-in as the 21st Prime Minister of Canada

Births

1574 - Anne of Denmark, consort of James I of England (d. 1619)
1745 - John Jay, United States Supreme Court justice (d. 1829)
1805 - William Lloyd Garrison, abolitionist (d. 1879)
1806 - Stand Watie, Confederate general, Cherokee leader (d. 1871)
1821 - Gustave Flaubert, French writer (d. 1880)
1863 - Edvard Munch, Norwegian painter (d. 1944)
1876 - Alvin Kraenzlein, American athlete
1887 - Kurt Atterberg, Swedish composer
1892 - Liesl Karlstadt, actress along with Karl Valentin (d. 1960)
1892 - Herman Potočnik Noordung, Slovene pioneer of astronautics and cosmonautics, and rocket engineer (d. 1929)
1893 - Edward G. Robinson, actor (d. 1973)
1905 - Mnes Sperber, writer (d. 1984)
1914 - Patrick O'Brian, British author (d. 2000)
1915 - Frank Sinatra, American singer and actor (d. 1998)
1918 - Joe Williams, singer (d. 1999)
1919 - Hermann Neuberger, sports official (d. 1992)
1923 - Bob Barker, game show host, television personality
1924 - Ed Koch, former mayor of New York City
1927 - Robert Noyce, American inventor (d. 1990)
1927 - Honor Blackman, actress
1929 - John Osborne, British dramatist (d. 1994)
1932 - Bob Pettit, basketball star
1934 - Miguel de la Madrid, President of Mexico
1938 - Connie Francis, American singer
1940 - Dionne Warwick, American singer
1943 - Dickie Betts, musician (The Allman Brothers)
1943 - Grover Washington Jr., musician (d. 1999)
1952 - Cathy Rigby, gymnast, actress
1956 - Nikki Sixx, musician
1957 - Sheila E., musician
1969 - Andrey Spasibozhko, web engineer (Chelyabinsk, Russia)
1981 - Yuvraj Singh, cricketer, India

Deaths

884 - Carloman, King of the West Franks
1574 - Selim II, Ottoman Emperor
1894 - Sir John Thompson, fourth Prime Minister of Canada (b. 1845)
1923 - Raymond Radiguet, French author (b. 1903)
1929 - Charles Goodnight, cattle baron (b. 1836)
1939 - Douglas Fairbanks, Sr., American actor (b. 1883)
1968 - Tallulah Bankhead, actress (b. 1902)
1971 - David Sarnoff, radio and television pioneer (b. 1891)
1994 - Stuart Roosa, Apollo Astronaut (b. 1933)
1996 - Vance Packard, American author on media manipulation (b. 1914)
1999 - Joseph Heller, American author (b. 1923)
2001 - Jean Richard, French actor (b. 1921)
2003 - Geidar Aliev, former President of Azerbaijan (b. 1923)