On this day, April 12

1861 The U.S. Civil War began as Confederate forces opened fire on Fort Sumter in South Carolina.

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.

1961 Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin became the first man to fly in space, orbiting the earth once before making a safe landing.

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.”)

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.

2018 The Screen Actors Guild issued new guidelines calling for an end to auditions and professional meetings in private hotel rooms and residences in the wake of the Harvey Weinstein scandal.

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.

Today’s birthdays: Playwright Alan Ayckbourn (AYK’-bohrn), 85. Jazz musician Herbie Hancock, 84. Rock singer John Kay (Steppenwolf), 80. Actor Ed O’Neill, 78. Actor Dan Lauria, 77. Talk show host David Letterman, 77. Author Scott Turow, 75. Actorplaywright Tom Noonan, 73. R&B singer JD Nicholas (The Commodores), 72. Singer Pat Travers, 70. Actor Andy Garcia, 68.