TODAY HISTORY LESSON: JANUARY 12
1528 Gustav I of Sweden crowned King of Sweden, rules for 37 years and becomes known as the “father of the nation”
1755 Tsarina Elisabeth establishes 1st Russian University
1773 The first public museum in the U.S. was established in Charleston, S.C.
1872 Russian Grand Duke Alexis goes on a gala buffalo hunting expedition with Gen. Phil Sheridan and Lt. Col. George Armstrong Custer.
1872 Yohannes IV is crowned Emperor of Ethiopia in Axum, 1st imperial coronation in Axum in over 200 years
1879 The British-Zulu War begins. British troops — under Lieutenant General Frederic Augustus — invade Zululand from the southern African republic of Natal.
1896 H. L. Smith took the first X-ray photograph. It was a hand with a bullet in it.
1908 The first long-distance radio message is broadcast from the Eiffel Tower in Paris
1915 The U.S. Congress establishes Rocky Mountain National Park.
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.
1942 U.S. President Roosevelt created the National War Labor Board.
1948 The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that states could not discriminate against law-school applicants because of race.
1964 One month after Zanzibar became independent, the ruling Zanzibar Nationalist Party was overthrown in a violent coup.
1966 “Batman” with Adam West & Burt Ward premieres on ABC TV
1967 James Bedford is frozen with intent of future resuscitation. Bedford was the first human to be cryonically preserved; his body awaits resuscitation in Scottsdale, Arizona.
1969 Led Zeppelin releases their debut album
1971 Fed grand jury indicts Reverand Philip Berrigan & 5 others, including a nun & 2 priests, on charges of plotting to kidnap Henry Kissinger
1979 Los Angeles’s Hillside Strangler, Kenneth Bianchi, arrested in Bellingham
1991 The U.S. Congress gives the green light to military action against Iraq in the Persian Gulf Crisis.
1994 Malcolm X’s daughter arrested for plotting Louis Farrakhan’s murder
1997 HAL becomes operational (2001: A Space Odyssey); this date was given as January 12, 1992 on screen, but 1997 is the date used in both the novel and screenplay
1998 Linda Tripp provided Independent Counsel Kenneth Starr’s office with taped conversations between herself and former White House intern Monica Lewinsky.
2000 The U.S. Supreme Court, in a 5-4 ruling, gave police broad authority to stop and question people who run at the sight of an officer.
2010 Earthquake Devastates Haiti, killing approximately 160,000 and destroying the majority of the capital Port-au-Prince
REFERENCE: history.net, onthisday.com, thepeopleshistory.com, timeanddate.com, scopesys.com, on-this-day.com
