April 12th Major News Events
- 1945 US President Franklin D. Roosevelt dies
- 1955 Salk Polio vaccine declared safe and effective
- 1961 Soviet Yuri Gagarin becomes first person in space
- 1981 First US Space Shuttle Columbia launched
- 1992 Euro Disney theme park opens in France
- 2012 Connecticut votes to end death penalty
Find More Details for What happened 12th April This Day in History on your birthday
1954 USA "Rock Around the Clock"
1954: Bill Haley and the Comets, record "Rock Around the Clock" the song is released in May but is not a major chart hit, but in July 1955, after the song is used as the theme song for the movie Blackboard Jungle it goes to number 1 on the pop charts. Find More From What happened in 1954
1961 Soviet Union Yuri Gagarin First Man in Space
1961: The Soviet Union successfully launched the first man into space today taking the prize for "The First Man In Space". Yuri Gagarin , a 27-year-old air force major. He orbited the Earth in 1 hr 40 minutes. The next target is to put a man on the moon which the US achieves before the end of the decade.
1981 USA First Space Shuttle Columbia Launched
1981: The First of the US Space Shuttles Columbia was launched making way for mans continuing exploration of space.
1861 USA Attack on Fort Sumter
1861: The Confederate States attack Fort Sumter on This Day, 1861 which starts the Civil War.
1921 UK Coal Miners
1921: Coal Miners refuse to consider British Prime Ministers wage program , Miners are part of the Transport and General Workers and Railwayman's Union, and many are predicting bloodshed if the talks fail completely.
1934 USA Tax Returns
1934: Senate votes to make all income tax returns subject to public inspection in the hope of stopping Tax Dodging.
1939 USA Woody Herman
1939: Popular bandleader Woody Herman records the big band favorite "Woodchopper's Ball" with his orchestra.
1942 World War II
1942: Americans attack 4 Japanese invasion bases in retaliation for bombing of Pearl Harbor and British bombers distribute death and destruction on Rhineland in Germany.
1945 USA Franklin D. Roosevelt Dies
1945: After serving as U.S. president for 12 years, Franklin D. Roosevelt the 32nd president of the United States died from a massive cerebral hemorrhage at his retreat in Warm Springs, Georgia. Vice President Harry S. Truman became the President of the United States.
1955 USA Salk Vaccine Against Polio
1955: The Salk vaccine against Poliomyelitis commonly known as (Polio or Infantile Paralysis) was declared safe and effective. The vaccine works by inducing immunity by developing protective antibodies to polio.
1957 Egypt Suez Canal
1957: Following the opening up of the Suez Canal to international traffic President Nasser of Egypt has warned that any Israel ship entering the Canal will be sunk , and if any further attempt was made to break the oil embargo to Israel an embargo would be placed on oil to the west.
1966 North Atlantic Michelangelo
1966: Major Storm at sea takes 8 lives when the cruise ship Michelangelo was battered by 45 ft waves during a severe north Atlantic storm.
Born This Day In History April 12th
Celebrating Birthdays Today
Tiny Tim
Born: Herbert Khaury, 12th April 1932, New York, New York, U.S.
Died: 30th November 1996, Minneapolis, Minnesota, U.S.
Known For: Tiny Tim is one of those characters who appear every so often strange looking and sounding, but most of us remember his hit song Tiptoe Through the Tulips even if only because of it's strangeness. Like many performers the persona on stage was very different to the real one, he had a comprehensive knowledge of pre-rock popular music and also a deep baritone voice, he was also a conservative with a traditional belief system about religion and marriage.
David Letterman
Born: David Michael Letterman, 12th April 1947, Indianapolis, Indiana, U.S.
Known For: David Letterman best known as the host of the late night television talk show, Late Show with David Letterman on CBS. The show began in 1982 on NBC and ran until 1993 when he moved from NBC to CBS. Letterman retired from the Late Show in 2015.
1989 Videotape Storage Cabinet
Price: $79.99This custom-crafted oak-grained cabinet opens to reveal storage for up to 120 video tapes. With inserts included, holds 92 video tapes, 18 CD's and 14 audio cassettes. Doors lock for complete security.
1987 Clock Radio TV
Price: $79.95AM/FM Clock/Radio with four and a half inch black and white TV. Red LED digital time display with AM indicator. High/low dimmer control. Snooze bar. Battery backup system. Earphone jack. Telescopic FM antenna. White plastic cabinet.
1973 Lebanon Tensions Worsen
1973: The United States and the Arab World headed for further confrontation over Palestinian Charges that there was US involvement in the Israel Raid on Beirut.
1975 Cambodia US Pull Out
1975: The US admits defeat in Cambodia and removed its remaining embassy personnel from the capital, Phnom Penh.
1982 USA The Brown Bomber
1982: Joe Louis (The Brown Bomber) died of a heart attack, just hours before he had watched Larry Holmes defend his World Heavyweight Title in Las Vegas.
1984 UK Miners Strike
1984: The NUM Miners' leader Arthur Scargill has ruled out a national ballot of miners on whether to the continue the miners strike. The miners strike started on March 6th after the head of the National Coal Board, Ian McGregor, announced plans to lose 20,000 jobs in the mining industry and ended on March 3rd 1985 making it one of the longest running industrial disputes in Britain. The strike continued for 12 months and ended because the miners failed to stop power production when the government used a higher percentage of electricity generated from oil powered power stations.
1992 France Euro Disney
1992: Euro Disney a new $4 billion theme park, opened in Marne-La-Vallee a new town on the outskirts of Paris, France. This is the second Disney resort to open outside the United States after the first which was Tokyo and is now one of Europe's leading tourist destinations.
1994 Israel Bomb Explosion
1994: A Bomb Exploded on a crowded bus today in Northern Israel Killing 6 people and wounding 25 others a radical extremist Islamic Group HAMAS claimed responsibility.
1999 USA President Bill Clinton
1999: President Bill Clinton is found in contempt of court by U.S. District Judge Susan Webber Wright for giving "intentionally false" testimony in a lawsuit filed by Paula Jones about his relationship with former White House intern Monica Lewinsky.
2001 Cincinnati Riots
2001: The Cincinnati Mayor Charles Luken declares a state of emergency after the third night of violence and looting, as a reaction to the fatal shooting in Cincinnati of Timothy Thomas on April 7. Thomas , a 19-year-old black male, is shot by Steven Roach, a white police officer, during an on-foot pursuit by several officers.
We spent many hours researching cost of living information for each year and I created this page after being asked a number of times about why I did not include current prices alongside our cost of living information for each year and thought this was the easiest way to make the information available. includes Average Cost Of New Home, Average Wages, New Car cost, Gallon Of Gas and a 1lb Hamburger Meat, 1920 to 2023
Soccer and Rugby
'The game of American football (hereafter referred to just as "football") developed out of something like a cross between association football (or soccer) and rugby. Rugby itself grew out of the soccer tradition in England, so soccer is truly at the very core of this sport. However, as both games made their way across the Atlantic, they were both played at colleges and universities, and out of those two games, football was born. The earliest history of the sport tells us that no single variety of the game was played; some schools played essentially soccer, others rugby, while still others played various combinations of the two (and certainly without any formalized rules). It what is commonly billed as the first college football game, Princeton and Rutgers played each other on November 6, 1869 at Rutgers in New Brunswick, New Jersey. The game was played under modified London Football Association rules - for example, players could only kick the ball, not touch it with their hands and each score, called a goal, counted for one point (Rutgers beat Princeton 6-4). However, unlike soccer, there were 25 players on each side, not the usual 11. This first college game was essentially soccer, but nevertheless laid the groundwork for the modern game as we know it today. In order to do that, however, rules would have to be put in place to truly differentiate the sport.'
2006 Great Britain Terrorism Act 2006
2006: New laws have been made in Britain that will make it illegal to glorify terrorism and distribute terrorist publications. The Terrorism Act 2006 will ban groups or organizations that take part in these offences, and covers anyone who gives or receives training on them. Trespassing onto certain governmental sites will also be a terrorist offence. Human rights campaigners argue the law is drawn far too widely, and it is facing stiff opposition in the House of Lords.
2007 Kremlin Vetoes Inquiry into Gagarin’s Death
2007: The Kremlin has vetoed the launch of a fresh investigation into the death of Yuri Gagarin, in which aviation specialists have said that they've unraveled the mystery behind the first space traveler's death. Russia celebrates Cosmonauts' Day on April 12th, which is the anniversary of Gagarin's 1961 flight around the Earth. The cosmonaut died in a mysterious plane crash on March 27th, 1968 while on a routine training mission in a MiG-15 with his flight instructor. The official investigation that followed was hypothetical, and did not explain what happened to the flight, or why.
2009 Captain Richards Rescued From Pirates
2009: Captain Richards is held hostage by 3 Pirates on a lifeboat under tow by the USS Bainbridge (DDG-96) approximately 25 to 30 yards astern U.S. Navy SEAL marksmen open fire and kill the three pirates holding Captain Richard Phillips on the lifeboat and rescue him.
2009 Thailand State Of Emergency
2009: Following on from mass demonstrations at Government House and the nearby Royal Plaza by the evening in Bangkok on April 8th( 100,000 ) and further unrest in the streets over the next few days during the week-long Songkran (Thai New Year) holiday, Abhisit Vejjajiva declares a state of emergency in Bangkok and surrounding areas. On the 13th Thai soldiers in full combat kit used tear gas and live rounds from automatic weapons to clear protesters from the Din Daeng intersection near the Victory Monument in central Bangkok.
2009 Mexican Ambassador Accuses United States
2009: The U.S. Mexican ambassador has asked America to stop the flow of guns and cash into his country, saying that they fuel the country's drug wars. Arturo Sarukhan has said that the money provides the drug cartels with the means to "corrupt, bribe and kill." It has been reported that something like six thousand people died in 2008 from drug-related violence. The Mexican government believes the 90% of the weapons used have come from the United States.
2010 Washington Hosts Nuclear Security Summit
2010: World leaders, presidents, prime ministers and top officials from forty-seven countries, have arrived in Washington for a nuclear security summit. Barack Obama has warned world leaders of the problems of nuclear arms falling into the hands of extremists. He hopes that all nuclear materials will be made secure from theft or diversion within four years. The summit participants have issued a broad Communique that affirmed their dedication to preventing nuclear terrorism. During the summit Russia and the United States have agreed to dispose of some of their surplus weapons-grade plutonium under the deal that was signed at a nuclear summit in Washington. The deal asks for each side to dispose of 34 tons of the material. Moscow is to spend $2.5 billion on the program, with the U.S. contributing $400 million to the Russian disposal. Barack Obama has said that the participants had agreed to secure all the world's vulnerable nuclear material within four years.
2012 Connecticut Votes To End Death Penalty
2012: State legislators in the US state of Connecticut voted to repeal the death penalty in the state after a ten hour debate. The state's governor, Dannel Malloy, has said that he would sign the bill which would make Connecticut the seventeenth state to end the death penalty.
2013 Japanese Car Makers Recall Vehicles
2013: Toyota, Honda, Nissan and Mazda announced that they would be recalling a total of 3.4 million vehicles worldwide due to a defective part in airbags. The vehicles were sold between 2000 and 2004 and some of the models affected included the Toyota Yaris and Corolla, Honda CRV and Civic and others.
2013 French Senate Approves Gay Marriage
2013: France's Senate voted in favor of legalizing gay marriage in the country. To become law in the country it would still need approval with a final vote in the country's lower house. The law is expected to pass despite the several protests against gay marriage in the country.
2014 Japan Official Visits Shrine
2014: A visit by the Japanese internal affairs minister, Yoshitaka Shindo, to the Yasukuni shrine angered officials in China and South Korea. The shrine honors Japan's dead soldiers, including war criminals. Shindo stated that he visited the shrine to pray for peace. Visits to the Yasukuni shrine by Japanese officials almost always draws criticism from China and South Korea who do not believe that Japan has done enough to recognize atrocities committed by the country during World War II.
From 1971 Page
What Happened in 1971 Major Events, Popular Culture, Prices, Born This Year 50 years ago
What happened in 1971 Major News Stories include Intel releases world's first microprocessor, the 4004, Aswan Dam is completed, Charles Manson and three of his followers receive the death penalty, National Public Radio (NPR) broadcasts for the first time, Walt Disney World Resort opens in Florida, Mount Etna erupts, Voting Age Lowered US and UK to 18, UK Moves to Decimal Currency, San Fernando Valley Earthquake, Ibrox disaster
Toys From The Year 1971
From 1980s Ladies Fashions Page
From 1980 Multi Stripe Terry Dress
Price: $24.00Description : Pullover 1-piece style features horizontal striping with a diagonally striped insert on the front of the bodice. Three-button and loop closing on the shoulder with long sleeves. Has an elasticized waist with black patent-look buckled belt. Skirt has side slit.
From 1988 Two Piece Dramatic Dress
Price: $80.00Description : A dress that makes heads turn and hearts sigh. Two piece, cut-out sleeveless dress has softly draped and shirred turtleneck with top back slit and back button closure. Elastic waist, shirred self-covered cummerbund with back button closure. Soft, gathered skirt. Cocoon-style jacket has self-covered shoulder pads, button cuffs. Pale pink.