History of 12 February
- 1909 – The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is founded.
- 1909 – New Zealand’s worst maritime disaster of the 20th century happens when the SS Penguin, an inter-island ferry, sinks and explodes at the entrance to Wellington Harbour.
- 1912 – The Xuantong Emperor, the last Emperor of China, abdicates.
- 1915 – In Washington, D.C., the first stone of the Lincoln Memorial is put into place.
- 1921 – Bolsheviks launch a revolt in Georgia as a preliminary to the Red Army invasion of Georgia.
- 1924 – George Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue received its premiere in a concert titled “An Experiment in Modern Music”, in Aeolian Hall, New York, by Paul Whiteman and his band, with Gershwin playing the piano.
- 1935 – USS Macon, one of the two largest helium-filled airships ever created, crashes into the Pacific Ocean off the coast of California and sinks.
- 1946 – World War II: Operation Deadlight ends after scuttling 121 of 154 captured U-boats.
- 1946 – African American United States Army veteran Isaac Woodard is severely beaten by a South Carolina police officer to the point where he loses his vision in both eyes. The incident later galvanizes the civil rights movement and partially inspires Orson Welles’ film Touch of Evil.
- 1947 – The largest observed iron meteorite until that time creates an impact crater in the Sikhote-Alin, in the Soviet Union.
- 1947 – Christian Dior unveils a “New Look”, helping Paris regain its position as the capital of the fashion world.
- 1961 – The Soviet Union launches Venera 1 towards Venus.
- 1963 – Construction begins on the Gateway Arch in St. Louis, Missouri.
- 1965 – Malcolm X visits Smethwick following the racial charged 1964 general election.
- 1968 – Phong Nhị and Phong Nhất massacre.
- 1974 – Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, the winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1970, is exiled from the Soviet Union.
- 1983 – One hundred women protest in Lahore, Pakistan against military dictator Zia-ul-Haq’s proposed Law of Evidence. The women were tear-gassed, baton-charged and thrown into lock-up. The women were successful in repealing the law.
- 1988 – Cold War: The 1988 Black Sea bumping incident: The U.S. missile cruiser USS Yorktown (CG-48) is intentionally rammed by the Soviet frigate Bezzavetnyy in the Soviet territorial waters, while Yorktown claims innocent passage.
- 1990 – Carmen Lawrence becomes the first female Premier in Australian history when she becomes Premier of Western Australia.
- 1992 – The current Constitution of Mongolia comes into effect.
- 1993 – Two-year-old James Bulger is abducted from New Strand Shopping Centre by two ten-year-old boys, who later torture and murder him.
- 1994 – Four thieves break into the National Gallery of Norway and steal Edvard Munch’s iconic painting The Scream.
- 1999 – United States President Bill Clinton is acquitted by the United States Senate in his impeachment trial.
- 2001 – NEAR Shoemaker spacecraft touches down in the “saddle” region of 433 Eros, becoming the first spacecraft to land on an asteroid.
- 2002 – The trial of Slobodan Milošević, the former President of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, begins at the United Nations International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia in The Hague, Netherlands. He dies four years later before its conclusion.
- 2002 – An Iran Airtour Tupolev Tu-154 crashes in the mountains outside Khorramabad, Iran while descending for a landing at Khorramabad Airport, killing 119.
- 2004 – The city of San Francisco begins issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples in response to a directive from Mayor Gavin Newsom.
- 2009 – Colgan Air Flight 3407 crashes into a house in Clarence Center, New York while on approach to Buffalo Niagara International Airport, killing all on board and one on the ground.
- 2016 – Pope Francis and Patriarch Kirill sign an Ecumenical Declaration in the first such meeting between leaders of the Catholic and Russian Orthodox Churches since their split in 1054.
Celebrating Birthday Today
- 1970 – Jim Creeggan, Canadian singer-songwriter, and bass player
- 1970 – Bryan Roy, Dutch footballer, and manager
- 1970 – Judd Winick, American author, and illustrator
- 1971 – Scott Menville, American voice actor, singer, actor, and musician
- 1973 – Gianni Romme, Dutch speed skater
- 1973 – Tara Strong, Canadian voice actress, and singer
- 1974 – Naseem Hamed, English boxer
- 1976 – Christian Cullen, New Zealand rugby player
- 1977 – Jimmy Conrad, an American soccer player, and manager
- 1978 – Paul Anderson, English actor
- 1978 – Brett Hodgson, Australian rugby league player, and coach
- 1979 – Antonio Chatman, American football player
- 1979 – Jesse Spencer, Australian actor, and violinist
- 1980 – Juan Carlos Ferrero, a Spanish tennis player
- 1980 – Sarah Lancaster, American actress
- 1980 – Christina Ricci, American actress, and producer
- 1980 – Gucci Mane, American rapper
- 1981 – Wade McKinnon, Australian rugby league player
- 1982 – Jonas Hiller, Swiss ice hockey player
- 1982 – Louis Tsatoumas, Greek long jumper
- 1982 – Anthony Tuitavake, New Zealand rugby player
- 1983 – Carlton Brewster, American football player, and coach
- 1984 – Brad Keselowski, American race car driver
- 1984 – Andrei Sidorenkov, Estonian footballer
- 1984 – Peter Vanderkaay, American swimmer
- 1988 – DeMarco Murray, American football player
- 1988 – Nicolás Otamendi, Argentine footballer
- 1988 – Mike Posner, American singer-songwriter and producer
- 1990 – Robert Griffin III, American football player
- 1991 – Patrick Herrmann, German footballer
- 2000 – Kim Ji-min, South Korean actress