On Feb. 12, 1809, Abraham Lincoln, the 16th president of the United States, was born in present-day Larue County, Ky. Naturalist Charles Darwin was born in Shrewsbury, England.
On this date:
In 1541, Santiago, Chile, was founded.
In 1554, Lady Jane Grey, who'd claimed the throne of England for nine days, and her husband, Guildford Dudley, were beheaded after being condemned for high treason.
In 1733, the American colony of Georgia is founded by James Oglethorpe.
In 1795, the University of North Carolina became the first U.S. state university to admit students with the arrival of Hinton James, who was the only student on campus for two weeks.
In 1818, Chile officially proclaimed its independence, more than seven years after initially renouncing Spanish rule.
In 1855, Michigan State University was established at East Lansing, Mich.
In 1870, women in the Utah Territory gained the right to vote (however, that right was taken away in 1887 before being restored in 1895).
In 1877, Alexander Graham Bell's new invention, the telephone, was publicly demonstrated with a hookup between Boston and Salem, Mass.
In 1908, the first round-the-world automobile race began in New York. (It ended in Paris the following July with the drivers of the American car, a Thomas Flyer, declared the winners over teams from Germany and Italy.)
In 1909, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People was founded.
In 1912, Pu Yi, the last emperor of China, abdicated, marking the end of the Qing Dynasty.
In 1915, the cornerstone for the Lincoln Memorial was laid in Washington, D.C., a year to the day after groundbreaking.
In 1953, the Soviet Union broke off relations with Israel after terrorists bombed the Soviet legation in Tel Aviv, Israel.
In 1959, the redesigned Lincoln penny - with an image of the Lincoln Memorial replacing two ears of wheat on the reverse side - went into circulation.
In 1973, Operation Homecoming began as the first release of American prisoners of war from the Vietnam conflict took place.
In 1980, the International Olympic Committee rejected a U.S. proposal to postpone or cancel the 1980 Summer Games or move the site from Moscow as a protest against the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.
In 1993, about 5,000 demonstrators marched on Atlanta's State Capitol to protest the Confederate symbol on the Georgia state flag.
In 1997, The Washington Post reported the Chinese government might have channeled money to the Democratic National Committee in order to influence the Clinton administration.
In 1999, the Senate voted to acquit President Bill Clinton of perjury and obstruction of justice; Clinton told Americans he was "profoundly sorry" for what he'd said and done in the Monica Lewinsky affair that triggered it all. Swarms of anxious travelers were left stranded when American Airlines again scrubbed more than 1,000 flights after its pilots defied a court order and continued their mass sickout.
In 2000, Hall-of-Fame football coach Tom Landry, who'd led the Dallas Cowboys to five Super Bowls, died in Irving, Texas, at age 75. Michelle Kwan won her third straight U.S. Figure Skating Championships crown, while Michael Weiss successfully defended the men's title during the competition in Cleveland.
In 2001, a NASA spacecraft landed on the asteroid EROS.
In 2002, the war crimes trial of former Serbian leader Slobodan Milosevic began at The Hague in the Netherlands.
In 2004, South Korean scientists announced they had created the world's first mature cloned human embryos. Also in 2004, despite a state law defining marriage as a union between a man and a woman, San Francisco began issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples. Thousands of couples applied. Four men were charged in a 42-count indictment alleging they'd run a steroid-distribution ring that provided performance-enhancing drugs to dozens of athletes in the NFL, the major leagues and track and field. (All four later pleaded guilty to steroids-related charges, and two of them, personal trainer Greg Anderson and Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative founder Victor Conte, served several months in prison.)
In 2005, former presidential candidate Howard Dean was elected national Democratic chairman during the party's winter meeting. "The Gates," a 16-day art exhibit created by Christo and Jeanne-Claude, debuted in New York's Central Park with the unfurling of saffron-colored fabric banners suspended from 16-foot-high frames.
In 2008, Democrat Barack Obama and Republican John McCain won their respective parties' primaries in Maryland, Virginia and the District of Columbia. General Motors reported losing $38.7 billion in 2007, the largest annual loss in automotive history, and offered buyouts to 74,000 hourly workers. Imad Mughniyeh, one of world's most wanted terrorists, was killed in a car bombing in Damascus, Syria. Uno became the first beagle named Westminster's best in show.
In 2009, Republican Sen. Judd Gregg of New Hampshire abruptly withdrew his nomination as President Barack Obama's Commerce Secretary. A Colgan Air commuter plane crashed into a suburban Buffalo, N.Y., home, killing all 49 aboard and a person in the house. (The victims included Alison Des Forges, 66, a noted expert on 1994 Rwanda genocide, and Gerry Niewood, 64, and Coleman Mellett, 34, members of Chuck Mangione's band.)
Today's Birthdays: Movie director Franco Zeffirelli is 87. Actor Louis Zorich is 86. Baseball Hall-of-Fame sportscaster Joe Garagiola is 84. Sen. Arlen Specter, D-Pa., is 80. Basketball Hall-of-Famer Bill Russell is 76. Actor Joe Don Baker is 74. Author Judy Blume is 72. Rock musician Ray Manzarek (The Doors) is 71. Country singer Moe Bandy is 66. Actress Maud Adams is 65. Actor Cliff DeYoung is 64. Actor Michael Ironside is 60. Rock musician Steve Hackett is 60. Rock singer Michael McDonald is 58. Actress Joanna Kerns is 57. Actor-former talk show host Arsenio Hall is 55. Actor John Michael Higgins is 47. Actress Christine Elise is 45. Actor Josh Brolin is 42. Singer Chynna Phillips is 42. Rock musician Jim Creeggan (Barenaked Ladies) is 40. Rhythm-and-blues musician Keri Lewis is 39. Actor Jesse Spencer ("House, M.D.") is 31. Actress Sarah Lancaster is 30. Actress Christina Ricci is 30.
Those Born On This Date Include: Etienne-Louis Boullee, French architect (1728); philanthropist Peter Cooper (1791); U.S. Army Gen. Omar Bradley (1893); actors Lorne Greene (1915) and Forrest Tucker (1919); Charles Van Doren, subject of U.S. quiz program scandals (1926).
Today In Entertainment February 12
In 1924, George Gershwin's "Rhapsody in Blue" premiered in New York.
In 1940, the radio play "The Adventures of Superman" began airing on the Mutual Network, with Bud Collyer as the Man of Steel.
In 1957, The Coasters recorded "Young Blood," which became the group's first big hit.
In 1961, "Shop Around" by The Miracles became the first million-seller for Motown Records.
In 1967, police raided the English country home of Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards in a search for drugs. Singer Mick Jagger was there at the time. They were charged three months later.
In 1968, Jimi Hendrix returned home to Seattle to perform a free show for local high school students. [At his alma mater, Garfield. Which we would have attended if we hadn't been shipped off to the Lakeside School for Boys. Thanks again, parental units. And, Hendrix was on tour w/ The Monkees. He didn't "return home" just for the Garfield gig. — Ed.]
In 1977, The Police recorded their first single, "Fall Out."
In 1981, Blondie vocalist Deborah Harry announced plans to record a solo album. The group had two number one singles that year "The Tide Is High" and "Rapture."
In 1983, Eubie Blake, who wrote such songs as "I'm Just Wild About Harry" and "Memories of You," died in Brooklyn, New York, five days after turning 100.
In 1990, M.C. Hammer released "Please Hammer Don't Hurt 'Em," featuring the hit single, "U Can't Touch This."
In 1993, talk show host Joan Rivers swapped jobs with one of her viewers and worked as a flight attendant on a flight from New York to Pittsburgh. She spilled a drink on a passenger.
In 2008, Character actor David Groh died in Los Angeles at age 68.
In 2000, "Peanuts" cartoonist Charles Schulz died at his home in Santa Rosa, after battling colon cancer. He was 77. He died the day before his last "Peanuts" strip was published.
In 2009, Irish playwright Hugh Leonard ("Da") died in Dublin at age 82.
Thought for Today: "Human beings are the only creatures who are able to behave irrationally in the name of reason." - Ashley Montagu, English anthropologist (1905-1999).
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