Today in History : January 12
1872 : Russian Grand Duke Alexis goes on a gala buffalo hunting expedition with Gen. Phil Sheridan and Lt. Col. George Armstrong Custer.
1879 : The British-Zulu War begins. British troops — under Lieutenant General Frederic Augustus — invade Zululand from the southern African republic of Natal.
1908 : A wireless message is sent long-distance for the first time from the Eiffel Tower in Paris.
1913 : Kiel and Wilhelmshaven become submarine bases in Germany.
1915 : The U.S. Congress establishes Rocky Mountain National Park.
1926 : U.S. coal talks break down, leaving both sides bitter as the strike drags on into its fifth month.
1927 : U.S. Secretary of State Kellogg claims that Mexican rebel Plutarco Calles is aiding communist plot in Nicaragua.
1932 : Oliver Wendell Holmes retires from the Supreme Court at age 90.
1938 : Austria recognizes the Franco government in Spain.
1940 : Soviet bombers raid cities in Finland.
1943 : Soviet forces raise the siege of Leningrad.
1952 : The Viet Minh cut the supply lines to the French forces in Hoa Binh, Vietnam.
1962 : The United States resumes aid to the Laotian regime.
1973 : Yassar Arafat is re-elected as head of the Palestinian Liberation Organization.
1982 : Peking protests the sale of U.S. planes to Taiwan.
1991 : The U.S. Congress gives the green light to military action against Iraq in the Persian Gulf Crisis.
1998 : Nineteen European nations agree to prohibit human cloning.
2010 : An earthquake in Haiti kills an estimated 316,000 people.
Born on January 12
1588 : John Winthrop, the first governor of Massachusetts Bay Colony.
1737 : John Hancock, first signer of the Declaration of Independence.
1876 : Jack London, American writer (The Call of the Wild).
1893 : Hermann Goering, Nazi leader, commander of the Luftwaffe.
1903 : Igor Kurchatov, Russian physicist, known as the “father of the Soviet atomic bomb.”
1905 : Tex Ritter, singer, actor (“Have I Told You Lately that I Love You?”).
1907 : Sergi Korolev, engineer, lead rocket engineer and spacecraft designer for the Soviet Union during the 1950s and ’60s; often called the “father of practical astronautics”.
1916 : P.W. Botha, first State President of South Africa (1984-89).
1923 : Ira Hays, one of the US Marines photographed in the iconic image of raising a flag on Mt. Suribachi, Iwo Jima; member of the Pima tribe; portrayed himself in the movie Sands of Iwo Jima.
1926 : Ray Price, singer; leader in the “Nashville sound” movement that introduced lush arrangements into country music recording (“The Same Old Me,” “For the Good Times”).
1938 : Qazi Hussain Ahmad, former Emir of Jamaat-e-Islami, right-wing party in Pakistan; vocal critic of US counterterrorism policy.
1946 : Cynthia Robinson, musician, vocalist with the psychedelic soul/funk band Sly and the Family Stone.
1949 : Michael W. Vannier, radiologist; played important role in advancing three-dimensional imaging and surgical planning.
1951 : Kirstie Alley, actress; won Emmy and Golden Globe as the leading actress in the TV series Cheers.
1951 : Rush Limbaugh, conservative radio talk show host, political commentator and author; a leading voice in the US neo-conservative movement.
1954 : Howard Stern, radio personality, author, TV show host; noted as a “shock jock” for his controversial comments on air.
1968 : Heather Mills, model, charity campaigner; continued modeling with a prosthetic limb after a leg amputation due to a traffic accident and founded Heather Mills Health Trust to assist amputees; married to former Beatle Sir Paul McCartney (2003–2008).
