On This Day in History - April 12th - Almanac

Today is Friday, April 12, the 103rd day of 2024 with 263 to follow.

The moon is waxing. Morning stars are Mars, Saturn and Venus. Evening stars are Jupiter and Uranus.

Those born on this date are under the sign of Aries. They include U.S. statesman Henry Clay in 1777; opera singer Lily Pons in 1898; author Beverly Cleary in 1916; actor/dancer Ann Miller in 1923; singer Tiny Tim in 1932; opera singer Montserrat Caballé in 1933; jazz keyboard player Herbie Hancock in 1940 (age 84); musician John Kay (Steppenwolf) in 1944 (age 80); actor Ed O'Neill in 1946 (age 78); author Tom Clancy in 1947; TV personality David Letterman in 1947 (age 77); actor Dan Lauria in 1947 (age 77); writer Scott Turow in 1949 (age 75); actor/singer David Cassidy in 1950; musician J.D. Nicholas (The Commodores) in 1952 (age 72); musician Pat Travers in 1954 (age 70); writer Jon Krakauer in 1954 (age 70); actor Andy Garcia in 1956 (age 68); country singer Vince Gill in 1957 (age 67); model/TV personality J. Alexander, born Alexander Jenkins, in 1958 (age 66); musician Will Sergeant (Echo & the Bunnymen) in 1958 (age 66); musician Art Alexakis (Everclear) in 1962 (age 62); musician Amy Ray (Indigo Girls) in 1964 (age 60); actor Retta, born Marietta Sirleaf, in 1970 (age 54); musician Nick Hexum (311) in 1970 (age 54); actor Shannen Doherty in 1971 (age 53); actor Christina Moore in 1973 (age 51); actor Marley Shelton in 1974 (age 50); musician Guy Berryman (Coldplay) in 1978 (age 46); actor Riley Smith in 1978 (age 46); actor Claire Danes in 1979 (age 45); actor Jennifer Morrison in 1979 (age 45); actor/model Brooklyn Decker in 1987 (age 37); musician Brendon Urie (Panic! at the Disco) in 1987 (age 37); musician Jessie James Decker in 1988 (age 36); musician Travis Mills in 1989 (age 35); actor Saoirse Ronan in 1994 (age 30).

On this date in history:

In 1861, the Civil War began when Confederate troops opened fire on Fort Sumter in South Carolina.

In 1945, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, the longest-serving president in U.S. history, died of a cerebral hemorrhage at Warm Springs, Ga., three months into his fourth term. About 3 hours later, Vice President Harry S. Truman was sworn in as chief executive.

In 1955, U.S. health officials announced that the polio vaccine developed by Dr. Jonas Salk was "safe, potent and effective."

In 1961, Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin, in Vostok 1, became the first human to travel to outer space and the first to orbit Earth.

In 1975, the U.S. military evacuated Americans from the U.S. Embassy in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, as part of Operation Eagle Pull. The evacuation came as the communist Khmer Rouge seized the capital city to end a five-year war.

In 1976, Knopf published Anne Rice's debut novel, Interview with a Vampire, the first of a series of several books. The book was adapted into a movie starring Tom Cruise in 1994.

In 1981, the Columbia was launched on the first U.S. space shuttle flight. The crowd of more than 3,000 VIPs oohed-and-aahed, shouting, "Go Baby Go," and staring into the bright early-morning sky long after Columbia was out of sight over the Atlantic Ocean.

In 2003, Gen. Amir al-Saadi, Saddam Hussein's top science adviser, denied Iraq had any weapons of mass destruction and surrendered to U.S. forces.

In 2007, Kurt Vonnegut Jr., whose novels such as Slaughterhouse-Five resonated with a generation, died in New York at the age of 84.

In 2009, U.S. Navy SEALs rescued a U.S. ship captain, Richard Phillips, held hostage by pirates off the Somalia coast, by killing three of the kidnappers four days after the standoff began. The incident inspired the 2013 Tom Hanks movie, Captain Phillips.

In 2012, North Korea, defying international warnings, fired a long-range test rocket but the launch ended in failure. U.S. officials said the rocket broke up and fell into the sea.

In 2022, a gunman opened fire at a Brooklyn subway station, injuring 29 people. Frank James pleaded guilty to federal terrorism charges and was sentenced to life in prison in 2023.

In 2023, New York City named Kathleen Corradi its first-ever "rat czar" to tackle the Big Apple's growing rat population.

A thought for the day: "I may be compelled to face danger, but never fear it, and while our soldiers can stand and fight, I can stand and feed and nurse them." -- American Red Cross founder Clara Barton