This day in history
Today is Wednesday, July 12, the 193rd day of 2023. There are 172 days left in the year.
▶ Birthdays: Actor Denise Nicholas is 79. Singer-songwriter Butch Hancock is 78. Fitness guru Richard Simmons is 75. Singer Walter Egan is 75. Writer-producer Brian Grazer is 72. Actor Cheryl Ladd is 72. Country singer Julie Miller is 67. Soul Asylum guitarist Dan Murphy is 61. Gin Blossoms singer Robin Wilson is 58. Actor Lisa Nicole Carson is 54. Olympic gold medal figure skater Kristi Yamaguchi is 52. Actor Anna Friel is 47. R&B singer Tracie Spencer is 47. Actor Alison Wright is 47. Senator Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona is 47. Actor Steve Howey is 46. Actor Topher Grace is 45. Actor Michelle Rodriguez is 45. Actor Kristen Connolly is 43. Country singer-musician Kimberly Perry is 40. Actor Matt Cook is 39. Actor Natalie Martinez is 39. Actor Bernard David Jones is 38. Actor Ta’Rhonda Jones is 35. Golfer Inbee Park is 35. Actor Melissa O’Neil is 35. Actor Rachel Brosnahan is 33. Actor Erik Per Sullivan is 32. Olympic gold medal gymnast Jordyn Wieber is 28. Nobel Peace laureate Malala Yousafzai is 26.
▶ In 1862, during the Civil War, President Lincoln signed a bill authorizing the Army Medal of Honor.
▶ In 1896, the newly created Metropolitan Parks Commission opened Revere Beach, the first public beach in the nation. About 45,000 people gathered in celebration after the commission had cleared it of a railway, shanties, and other eyesores and built a broad boulevard, an elegant public bathhouse, and a bandstand.
▶ In 1909, the House of Representatives joined the Senate in passing the 16th Amendment to the Constitution, allowing for a federal income tax, and submitted it to the states. (It was declared ratified in February 1913.)
▶ In 1965, the Beach Boys single “California Girls” was released by Capitol Records.
▶ In 1967, rioting erupted in Newark, N.J., over the police beating of a Black taxi driver; 26 people were killed in the five days of violence that followed.
▶ In 1974, President Nixon signed a measure creating the Congressional Budget Office. Former White House aide John Ehrlichman and three others were convicted of conspiring to violate the civil rights of Daniel Ellsberg’s former psychiatrist.
▶ In 1984, Democratic presidential candidate Walter F. Mondale announced his choice of Representative Geraldine A. Ferraro of New York to be his runningmate; Ferraro was the first woman to run for vice president on a major-party ticket.
▶ In 1991, Japanese professor Hitoshi Igarashi, who had translated Salman Rushdie’s “The Satanic Verses,” was found stabbed to death, nine days after the novel’s Italian translator was attacked in Milan.
▶ In 2016, with hugs and handshakes, Bernie Sanders endorsed Hillary Clinton for president during an appearance in Portsmouth, N.H.
▶ In 2018, after an emergency gathering of NATO leaders held to address his criticisms, President Trump said the US commitment to the alliance “remains very strong,” despite reports that he had threatened to pull out in a dispute over defense spending.
▶ Last year, as a Russian offensive intensified in eastern Ukraine, authorities urged residents to evacuate for other, safer cities and towns in the west of the country, though many refused to leave, including pensioners worried they wouldn’t have enough money to survive in a new location. Twitter sued Elon Musk to force him to complete the $44 billion acquisition of the social media company after Musk said he was backing off his agreement to buy the company. (He would eventually become Twitter’s owner in October of 2022.) Ann Shulgin, a pioneer of psychedelics in therapy, died at age 91.