Main Page | See live article | Alphabetical index June 12 is the 163rd day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (164th in leap years), with 202 days remaining. Table of contents 1 Events 2 Births 3 Deaths 4 Holidays and observances Events 1099 - Crusade leaders visit the Mount of Olives, where they meet a hermit who urges them to assault Jerusalem 1381 - Peasants' Revolt, England - rebels arrive at Blackheath 1442 - Alfonso V of Aragon is crowned King of Naples 1665 - England installs a municipal government in New York City. This was the former Dutch settlement of New Amsterdam 1667 - The first human blood transfusion is administered by Dr. Jean Baptiste. He successfully transfuses the blood of a sheep to a 15-year old boy. 1758 - James Wolfe's attack at Louisbourg, Nova Scotia commences 1812 - Napoleonic Wars: Napoleon's invasion of Russia begins 1838 - The Iowa Territory is organized. 1839 - Abner Doubleday creates the game of baseball, according to legend. However, evidence has surfaced that indicates that the game of baseball was played before 1800. 1849 - The gas mask is patented by L.P. Haslett 1864 - American Civil War: Battle of Cold Harbor: - General Ulysses S. Grant pulls his troops from their positions at Cold Harbor, Virginia and moves south 1889 - Armagh rail disaster 1897 - Carl Elsener patentes his penknife. The object later became known as the Swiss army knife. 1898 - Gen. Emilio Aguinaldo declares the Philippines' independence from Spain. 1900 - The Reichstag approves a second law that allows the expansion of the German navy 1901 - Cuba agrees to become an American protectorate by accepting the Platt Amendment 1912 - Lillian Russell retires from the stage and marries for the fourth time 1918 - World War I: The first airplane bombing raid by an American unit occurrs on the Western Front in France 1926 - Brazil quits the League of Nations in protest over plans to admit Germany 1931 - Al Capone and 68 of his henchmen are indicted for violating United States Prohibition laws 1935 - Senator Huey Long of Louisiana makes the longest speech on Senate record. The speech took 15 1/2 hours and was filled by 150,000 words. 1935 - The Chaco War is ended with a truce. Bolivia and Paraguay had been fighting since 1932. 1937 - The Soviet Union executes eight army leaders under Joseph Stalin 1939 - The National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum is dedicated in Cooperstown, New York. This is exactly one hundred years to the day on which the game was supposedly invented by Abner Doubleday. 1940 - World War II: 54,000 British and French troops surrender to Field Marshal Erwin Rommel at St. Valery-en-Caux 1942 - Anne Frank receives a diary for her thirteenth birthday 1944 - Chinese Communist leader Mao Tse-tung announces that he will support Kuomintang leader Chiang Kai-shek in the war against Japan 1948 - Ben Hogan wins his first U.S. Open golf tournament 1957 - Maurice Bourgès-Maunoury becomes Prime Minister of France 1963 - Cleopatra starring Elizabeth Taylor, Rex Harrison and Richard Burton premieres at the Rivoli Theatre in New York City. 1963 - Civil rights leader Medgar Evers is fatally shot in front of his home in Jackson, Mississippi 1964 - South Africa sentences Nelson Mandela to life in prison 1967 - State laws which prohibit interracial marriages are ruled unconstitutional by the United States Supreme Court. 1967 - Venera 4 is launched and becomes the first space probe to enter another planet's atmosphere and successfully return data 1975 - Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi is found guilty of corrupt election practices in 1971 1978 - David Berkowitz, the "Son of Sam" killer in New York City, is sentenced to 25 years to life in prison for six killings 1979 - Bryan Allen flies the Gossamer Albatross, man powered, across the English Channel. 1981 - Major League Baseball players begin a 49 day strike over the issue of free-agent compensation. 1982 - 750,000 people rally against nuclear weapons in New York City's Central Park. Jackson Browne, James Taylor, Bruce Springsteen, and Linda Ronstadt are in attendance. 1985 - The United States House of Representatives approves $27 million in aid to the Nicaraguan Contras 1986 - South Africa declares a national state of emergency. Virtually unlimited power is given to security forces and restrictions are put on news coverage of the unrest. 1987 - The Central African Republic's former Emperor Jean-Bedel Bokassa is sentenced to death for crimes he had committed during his 13-year rule 1987 - President Ronald Reagan publicly challenges Mikhail Gorbachev to tear down the Berlin Wall 1990 - The parliament of the Russian Federation formally declares its sovereignty (see Russia Day below) 1991 - Russianss elect Boris Yeltsin as the president of their republic 1991 - NAFTA talks open in Toronto, Ontario. 1991 - The Chicago Bulls win their first National Basketball Association championship. The Bulls beat the Los Angeles Lakers four games to one. 1992 - In a letter to the United States Senate, Russian President Boris Yeltsin states that in the early 1950s the Soviet Union had shot down nine U.S. planes and held 12 American survivors 1994 - Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman are murdered outside her home in Los Angeles, California. O. J. Simpson is later acquitted of the killings, but is held liable in a civil suit. 1996 - In Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, a panel of federal judges blocks a law against indecency on the internet. The panel says that the 1996 Communications Decency Act would infringe upon the free speech rights of adults. 1997 - Interleague play begins in baseball, ending a 126-year tradition of separating the major leagues until the World Series. 1997 - The United States Department of the Treasury unveils a new $50 bill meant to be more counterfeit-resistant 1998 - Compaq Computer pays $9 billion for Digital Equipment Corporation in largest high-tech acquisition 1998 - A jury in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, convicts 17-year-old Luke Woodham of killing two students and wounding seven others at Pearl High School. 1999 - NATO peacekeeping forces enter the province of Kosovo in Yugoslavia 2003 - Robert Angleton goes missing while on bond, five days before he was to be tried for conspiring to commit the 1997 murder of wife Doris Angleton, as well as weapons charges. He was arrested at Schipol Airport in Amsterdam for passport fraud, and was sent back to Houston the same day. Births 1827 - Johanna Spyri, author (+ 1901) 1875 - Sam De Grasse, actor (+ 1953) 1890 - Egon Schiele, painter and graphic artist (+ 1918) 1892 - Djuna Barnes, author (+ 1982) 1897 - Anthony Eden, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (+ 1977) 1915 - David Rockefeller, banker 1916 - Ivan Tors, movie producer (+ 1983) 1916 - Irwin Allen, movie producer (+ 1991) 1918 - Samuel Z. Arkoff, movie producer (+ 2001) 1919 - Uta Hagen, actress 1920 - Dave Berg, cartoonist for Mad Magazine (+ 2002) 1921 (some sources say 1919) - Vera Ralston, actress 1921 - James Houston, artist 1924 - George H.W. Bush, 41st President of the United States 1928 - Vic Damone, singer 1929 - Anne Frank, Nazi victim known for her diary (+ 1945) 1929 - Brigid Brophy, British writer 1930 - Otto Schenk, actor and director 1930 - Jim Nabors, actor and musician 1935 - Christoph Meckel, writer 1941 - Chick Corea, musician 1941 - Marv Albert, sportscaster 1974 - Jason Mewes, actor Deaths 1675 - Duke Charles Emmanuel II of Savoy 1957 - Jimmy Dorsey, musician 1963 - Medgar Evers, civil rights activist 1980 - Milburn Stone, actor 1983 - Norma Shearer, actress 2002 - Bill Blass, fashion designer 2003 - Gregory Peck, actor Holidays and observances Roman Empire - sixth day of the Vestalia in honor of Vesta Philippines - Araw ng Kalayaan (Independence Day) 1898 Russian Federation - Russia Day (Independence Day) 1990 See Also: June 11 - June 13 - May 12 - July 12 -- listing of all days January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December This article is from Wikipedia. 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