TODAY IN HISTORY
Today is Friday, April 12, the 103rd day of 2024. There are 263 days left in the year. Today’s Highlight in History:
On April 12, 1861, the U.S. Civil War began as Confederate forces opened fire on Fort Sumter in South Carolina.
On this date:
In 1945, President Franklin D. Roosevelt died of a cerebral hemorrhage in Warm Springs, Georgia, at age 63; he was succeeded by Vice President Harry S. Truman.
In 1955, the Salk vaccine against polio was declared safe and effective.
In 1961, Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin became the first man to fly in space, orbiting the earth once before making a safe landing.
In 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.”) In 1981, former world heavyweight boxing champion Joe Louis, 66, died in Las Vegas, Nevada.
In 1985, Sen. Jake Garn, R-Utah, became the first sitting member of Congress to fly in space as the shuttle Discovery lifted off.
In 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.
In 2015, Hillary Rodham Clinton jumped back into presidential politics, announcing in a video her much-awaited second campaign for the White House.
In 2020, Christians around the world celebrated Easter Sunday isolated in their homes by the coronavirus. St. Peter’s Square was barricaded to keep out crowds. Pope Francis celebrated Easter Mass inside the largely vacant basilica, calling for global solidarity in the face of the pandemic.
In 2022, actor and standup comic Gilbert Gottfried died at age 67.
Today’s Birthdays: Playwright Alan Ayckbourn is 85. Jazz musician Herbie Hancock is 84. Actor Ed O’Neill is 78. Talk show host David Letterman is 77. Author Scott Turow is 75. Actor-playwright Tom Noonan is 73. Singer Pat Travers is 70. Actor Andy Garcia is 68. Country singer Vince Gill is 67. Folk-pop singer Amy Ray (Indigo Girls) is 60. Actor Alicia Coppola is 56. Actor Shannen Doherty is 53. Actor Claire Danes is 45. Actor Saoirse Ronan is 30.