History of 12 September
1914 – The first battle of Marne ended when the allied forces stopped the German offensive in France.
1916 – Adelina and August Van Buren finished the first successful transcontinental motorcycle tour to be attempted by two women. They started in New York City on July 5, 1916.
1918 – During World War I, At the Battle of St. Mihiel, U.S. Army personnel operate tanks for the first time. The tanks were French-built.
1922 – The Episcopal Church removed the word “Obey” from the bride’s section of wedding vows.
1928 – Katharine Hepburn made her stage debut in the play “The Czarina.” Four years later she made her film debut in “A Bill of Divorcement.”
1938 – In a speech, Adolf Hitler demanded self-determination for the Sudeten Germans in Czechoslovakia.
1940 – The Lascaux paintings were discovered in France. The cave paintings were 17,000 years old and were some of the best examples of art from the Paleolithic period.
1943 – During World War II, Benito Mussolini was taken by German paratroopers from the Italian government that was holding him.
1944 – U.S. Army troops entered Germany, near Trier, for the first time during World War II.
1953 – U.S. Senator John F. Kennedy married Jacqueline Lee Bouvier.
1953 – Nikita Krushchev was elected as the first secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.
1954 – “Lassie” made its television debut on CBS. The last show aired on September 12, 1971.
1963 – The last episode of “Leave it to Beaver” was aired. The show had debuted on October 4, 1957.
1966 – “Family Affair” premiered on CBS television.
1974 – Violence occurred on the opening day of classes in Boston, MA, due opposition to court-ordered school “busing.”
1974 – Emperor Haile Selassie was taken out of power by Ethiopia’s military after ruling for 58 years.
1977 – South African anti-apartheid activist Stephen Biko died at the age of 30. The student leader died while in police custody which triggered an international outcry.
1979 – Carl Yastrzemski of the Boston Red Sox became the first American League player to get 3,000 career hits and 400 career home runs.
1983 – Arnold Schwarzenegger became a U.S. citizen. He had emigrated from Austria 14 years earlier.
1984 – Michael Jordan signed a seven-year contract to play basketball with the Chicago Bulls.
1984 – Dwight Gooden (New York) Mets set a rookie strikeout record with his 251st strikeout of the season.
1991 – The space shuttle Discovery took off on a mission to deploy an observatory that was to study the Earth’s ozone layer.
1992 – Police in Peru captured Shining Path founder Abimael Guzman.
1992 – Dr. Mae Carol Jemison became the first African-American woman in space. She was the payload specialist aboard the space shuttle Endeavor. Also onboard were Mission Specialist N. Jan Davis and Air Force Lieutenant Colonel Mark C. Lee. They were the first married couple to fly together in space. And, Mamoru Mohri became the first Japanese person to fly into space.
1994 – Frank Eugene Corder fatally crashes a single-engine Cessna 150 into the White House’s south lawn, striking the West wing. There were no other casualties.
2001 – Ansett Australia, Australia’s first commercial interstate airline, collapses due to increased strain on the international airline industry, leaving 10,000 people unemployed.
2003 – The United Nations lifts sanctions against Libya after that country agreed to accept responsibility and recompense the families of victims in the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103.
2003 – Iraq War: In Fallujah, U.S. forces mistakenly shoot and kill eight Iraqi police officers.
2005 – Israeli-Palestinian conflict: the Israeli disengagement from Gaza is completed, leaving some 2,530 homes demolished.
2007 – Former Philippine President Joseph Estrada is convicted of plunder.
2008 – The 2008 Chatsworth train collision in Los Angeles between a Metrolink commuter train and a Union Pacific freight train kills 25 people.
2009 – Steve Jobs announced that Apple’s iTunes had 88% of the legal U.S. music download market.
2011 – The National September 11 Memorial & Museum in New York City open to the public.
2015 – A series of explosions involving propane triggering nearby illegally stored mining detonators in the Indian town of Petlawad in the state of Madhya Pradesh kills at least 105 people with over 150 injured.
Celebrating Birthday Today
- 1981 – Marty Adams, Canadian actor, and screenwriter
- 1981 – Alan Arruda, Brazilian footballer
- 1981 – Jennifer Hudson, American singer, and actress
- 1981 – Staciana Stitts, American swimmer
- 1982 – Zoran Planinić, Croatian basketball player
- 1982 – Sal Rinauro, American wrestler
- 1983 – Tom Geißler, German footballer
- 1983 – Rami Haikal, Jordanian guitarist
- 1983 – Sebastian Hofmann, German footballer
- 1983 – Daniel Muir, American football player
- 1983 – Sergio Parisse, Argentinian-Italian rugby player
- 1983 – Clayton Richard, American baseball player
- 1983 – Carly Smithson, Irish singer-songwriter
- 1984 – Nashat Akram, Iraqi footballer
- 1984 – Chelsea Carey, Canadian curler
- 1986 – Kamila Chudzik, Polish heptathlete
- 1986 – Akwasi Fobi-Edusei, English footballer
- 1986 – Joanne Jackson, English swimmer
- 1986 – Yuto Nagatomo, Japanese footballer
- 1986 – Dimitrios Regas, Greek sprinter
- 1986 – Alfie Allen, English actor
- 1986 – Emmy Rossum, American singer, and actress
- 1988 – Amanda Jenssen, Swedish singer-songwriter and guitarist
- 1989 – Freddie Freeman, American-Canadian baseball player
- 1989 – Andrew Luck, American football player
- 1991 – Thomas Meunier, Belgian footballer
- 1991 – Mike Towell, Scottish professional boxer (d. 2016)
- 1991 – Scott Wootton, English footballer
- 1992 – Connor Franta, American YouTube personality
- 1992 – Sviatlana Pirazhenka, a Belarusian tennis player
- 1993 – Kelsea Ballerini, American singer-songwriter
- 1994 – Gideon Jung, German footballer
- 1994 – RM, South Korean rapper, songwriter and record producer
- 1994 – Elina Svitolina, a Ukrainian tennis player
- 1995 – Ryan Potter, American actor