TODAY IN HISTORY
Today is Tuesday, Dec. 12, the 346th day of 2023. There are 19 days left in the year.
ON THIS DATE IN HISTORY
On Dec. 12, 2015, nearly 200 nations meeting in Paris adopted the first global pact to fight climate change, calling on the world to collectively cut and then eliminate greenhouse gas pollution but imposing no sanctions on countries that didn’t do so.
1870 — Joseph H. Rainey of South Carolina became the first Black lawmaker sworn into the US House of Representatives.
1917 — During World War I, a train carrying some 1,000 French troops from the Italian front derailed while descending a steep hill in Modane; at least half of the soldiers were killed in France’s greatest rail disaster.
1977 — The dance movie “Saturday Night Fever,” starring John Travolta, premiered in New York.
1985 — Two hundred forty-eight American soldiers and eight crew members were killed when an Arrow Air charter crashed after takeoff from Gander, Newfoundland.
2000 — George W. Bush became president-elect as a divided US Supreme Court reversed a state court decision for recounts in Florida’s contested election.
2020 — Thousands of supporters of President Donald Trump gathered in Washington for rallies to back his desperate efforts to subvert the election that he lost to Joe Biden.
TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS
Basketball Hall of Famer Bob Pettit is
91. Singer Connie Francis is 86. Singer Dionne Warwick is 83. Rock singer-musician Dickey Betts is 80. Hall of Fame race car driver Emerson Fittipaldi is 77. Actor Wings Hauser is 76. Actor Bill Nighy is
74. Actor Duane Chase (Film: “The Sound of Music”) is 73. Country singer LaCosta is 73. Gymnast-turned-actor Cathy Rigby is 71. Singer-musician Sheila E. is 66. Actor Sheree J. Wilson is 65. Pop singer Daniel O’Donnell is 62. International Tennis Hall of Famer Tracy Austin is 61. Rock musician Eric Schenkman (Spin Doctors) is 60. Author Sophie Kinsella is 54. News anchor Maggie Rodriguez is 54. Actor Jennifer Connelly is
53. Actor Madchen Amick is 53. Actor Regina Hall is 53. Country singer Hank Williams III is 51. Actor Mayim Bialik is
48. Model Bridget Hall is 46.