APRIL 12

• 467 - Anthemius is elevated to Emperor of the Western Roman Empire
• 1204 - The Fourth Crusade sacks Constantinople
• 1633 - Galileo is convicted of heresy
• 1815 - Mount Tambora blows its top during an eruption event that started on April 5. 92,000 are killed during this eruption.
• 1861 - American Civil War: The war begins with Confederate forces firing on Fort Sumter, in the harbor of Charleston, South Carolina
• 1864 - American Civil War: Fort Pillow massacre: Confederate forces under General Nathan Bedford Forrest kill most of the African American soldiers who had surrendered at Fort Pillow, Tennessee
• 1865 - American Civil War: Mobile, Alabama falls to the Union Army
• 1877 - The United Kingdom annexes the Transvaal
• 1926 - By a vote of 45 to 41, the United States Senate unseats Iowa Senator Smith W. Brookhart and seats Daniel F. Steck, after Brookhart had already served for over one year.
• 1945 - Harry S. Truman is inaugurated as the 33rd President of the United States.
• 1946 - Syria gains independence from France
• 1961 - Yuri Gagarin is the first man in space.
• 1968 - Nerve gas accident at Skull Valley, Utah
• 1975 - Vietnam War: The United States embassy in Phnom Penh, Cambodia is evacuated as Khmer Rouge troops encircle the city
• 1981 - Columbia 1 mission, the first Space Shuttle launch
• 1992 - Euro Disney opens in Marne-la-Vallee, France

Births

• 599 BC - Mahavira, founder of Jainism
• 1777 - Henry Clay, American statesman and orator († 1852)
• 1832 - Hugo Adolph Steinheil, optician († 1893)
• 1867- Sindo Garay, Cuban singer and musician († 1968)
• 1884 - Otto Meyerhof, biochemist, winner of Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (1922) († 1951)
• 1888 - Cecil Kimber, founder of MG
• 1895 - Lily Pons, opera soprano
• 1903 - Sally Rand, fan dancer
• 1904 - Paul Dahlke, actor († 1984)
• 1913 - Lionel Hamptom, musician
• 1916 - Beverly Cleary, writer
• 1922 - Tiny Tim, musician († 1996)
• 1933 - Montserrat Caballé, opera singer
• 1939 - Alan Ayckbourn, writer
• 1940 - Herbie Hancock, musician
• 1944 - John Kay, of Steppenwolf
• 1947 - David Letterman, talk show host
• 1947 - Tom Clancy, author
• 1948 - Joschka Fischer, foreign minister of Germany
• 1949 - Scott Turow, writer
• 1950 - David Cassidy, singer, actor
• 1956 - Herbert Grönemeyer, singer, pianist and actor
• 1956 - Andy Garcia, actor
• 1957 - Vince Gill, country musician
• 1971 - Shannen Doherty, actress
• 1976 - Robert Brown, generalist
• 1979 - Claire Danes, actress

Deaths

• 65 - Lucius Annaeus Seneca, philosopher, dramatist, statesman
• 238 - Roman emperors Gordian I (suicide) and Gordian II (killed in battle
• 1912 - Clara Barton, nurse and Red Cross advocate
• 1938 - Feodor Chaliapin, operatic bass
• 1945 - Franklin Delano Roosevelt, 32nd President of the United States
• 1962 - Sir Mokshagundam Visvesvaraya, Indian politician and engineer, dies at 101
• 1975 - Josephine Baker, dancer
• 1981 - Joe Louis, boxer
• 1988 - Alan Paton, novelist
• 1989 - Sugar Ray Robinson, multiple time world champion boxer
• 1989 - Abbie Hoffman, radical leader
• 2001 - Harvey Ball, inventor of the Smiley
• 2003 - Cecil H. Green, Texas Instruments Founder, dies at 102

Holidays and observances

• The Roman holiday of Cerealia begins.

April 11 - April 13 - March 12 - May 12 -- listing of all days

January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December