Today's Highlight in History:
On April 12, 1945, President Franklin D. Roosevelt died of a cerebral hemorrhage in Warm Springs, Ga., at age 63; he was succeeded by Vice President Harry S. Truman.
In 1606, England's King James I decreed the design of the original Union Flag, which combined the flags of England and Scotland.
In 1861, the American Civil War began as Confederate forces bombarded Fort Sumter in South Carolina.
In 1877, the catcher for Harvard's baseball team, James Tyng, wore a modified fencing mask behind the plate in a game against the Lynn Live Oaks. It is believed to be the first time a catcher's mask was used during a game.
In 1908, fire devastated the city of Chelsea, Mass.
In 1910, American educator and social critic William Graham Sumner died at age 69 in Englewood, N.J.
In 1934, "Tender Is the Night," by F. Scott Fitzgerald, was first published in book form after being serialized in Scribner's Magazine.
In 1955, the Salk vaccine against polio was declared safe and effective.
In 1960, Candlestick Park in San Francisco first opened, with Vice President Richard Nixon throwing the ceremonial first pitch before a game between the San Francisco Giants and St. Louis Cardinals, which the Giants won, 3-1.
In 1961, Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin became the first man to fly in space, orbiting the earth once before making a safe landing.
In 1981, the space shuttle Columbia blasted off from Cape Canaveral on its first test flight.
In 1985, Sen. Jake Garn, R-Utah, became the first sitting member of Congress to fly in space as the shuttle Discovery lifted off.
In 1989, former boxing champion Sugar Ray Robinson died in Culver City, Calif., at age 67; radical activist Abbie Hoffman was found dead at his home in New Hope, Pa., at age 52.
In 1990, under pressure from environmentalists, three top U.S. tuna canneries -- Heinz, Van Camp and Bumblebee -- announced "dolphin-safe" tuna-catching practices.
In 1993, NATO warplanes began enforcing a no-fly zone over Bosnia-Herzegovina, marking the first time the alliance's forces were used outside its traditional defense area.
In 1994, Israel and the PLO agreed that 9,000 Palestinian police would be stationed in Jericho and the Gaza Strip after the Israeli military withdrawal.
In 1999, U.S. District Judge Susan Webber Wright found President Bill Clinton in contempt of court for giving "intentionally false" testimony in a lawsuit filed by Paula Jones about his relationship with former White House intern Monica Lewinsky. Clinton was fined $1,202. A jury in Little Rock, Ark., acquitted Susan McDougal of obstructing Independent Counsel Kenneth Starr's Whitewater inquiry and deadlocked on two other charges, causing a mistrial.
In 2000, Attorney General Janet Reno met in Miami with the U.S. relatives of Elian Gonzalez, after which she ordered them to bring the 6-year-old boy to an airport the next day so he could be taken to a reunion with his father in Washington. Elian was seized by federal agents ten days after Reno's order to turn him over.
In 2002, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez resigned under pressure from the country's divided military. (He was returned to office two days later.)
In 2003, Gen. Amir al-Saadi, Saddam Hussein's top science adviser, denied Iraq had any weapons of mass destruction and surrendered to U.S. forces.
In 2004, a federal judge allowed a nationwide ban on dietary supplements containing ephedra to take effect, turning aside a plea from two manufacturers. Abelardo Flores and Fatima Holloway pleaded guilty in Houston to taking part in a smuggling scheme that resulted in the deaths of 19 illegal immigrants abandoned in a sweltering truck trailer. Iraqi insurgents released 12 hostages of different nationalities in response to pleas by Sunni Muslim clerics. Barry Bonds hit his 660th home run to tie his godfather, Willie Mays, for third on baseball's career list. (Bonds is now the career leader in home runs.)
In 2005, three men with suspected al-Qaida ties, already in British custody, were charged with a yearslong plot to attack the New York Stock Exchange and other East Coast financial institutions. Seven men were eventually convicted in British court and received sentences ranging up to 26 years; the leader of the group, Dhiren Barot, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit murder and received life in prison. President George W. Bush visited soldiers at Fort Hood, Texas, marking the two-year anniversary of the end of Saddam Hussein's regime. U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld made a surprise visit to Iraq and urged the quick formation of a new government.
In 2006, the French Parliament voted to replace a controversial labor law that triggered nationwide rioting among youth who feared unjustified dismissals.
In 2007, Kurt Vonnegut Jr., whose novels such as "Slaughterhouse-Five" resonated with a generation, died in New York at the age of 84.
In 2008, Democrat Barack Obama conceded that comments he'd made privately during a fundraiser about bitter working class voters who "cling to guns or religion" were ill chosen. Boston College won the NCAA hockey championship, 4-1, over Notre Dame. The United States won its second women's world hockey championship, upsetting Canada 4-3 in Harbin, China. At least 13 suspected militia gunmen were killed in Sadr City as fighting raged between Iraqi government forces and the Mehdi Army.
In 2009, American cargo ship captain Richard Phillips was rescued from Somali pirates by U.S. Navy snipers who shot and killed three of the hostage-takers. Angel Cabrera became the first Argentine to win the Masters. In Hameenlinna, Finland, the United States won its second straight women's World Hockey Championship title, beating Canada 4-1.
Today's Birthdays: Country singer Ned Miller is 85. Actress Jane Withers is 84. Opera singer Montserrat Caballe is 77. Actor Charles Napier is 74. Playwright Alan Ayckbourn is 71. Jazz musician Herbie Hancock is 70. Actor Frank Bank ("Leave It to Beaver") is 68. Rock singer John Kay (Steppenwolf) is 66. Actor Ed O'Neill is 64. Author Tom Clancy is 63. Actor Dan Lauria is 63. Talk show host David Letterman is 63. Author Scott Turow is 61. Singer David Cassidy is 60. Actor-playwright Tom Noonan is 59. Rhythm-and-blues singer JD Nicholas (The Commodores) is 58. Singer Pat Travers is 56. Actor Andy Garcia is 54. Movie director Walter Salles is 54. Country singer Vince Gill is 53. Actress Suzzanne (cq) Douglas is 53. Rock musician Will Sergeant (Echo & the Bunnymen) is 52. Rock singer Art Alexakis (Everclear) is 48. Country singer Deryl Dodd is 46. Folk-pop singer Amy Ray (Indigo Girls) is 46. Actress Alicia Coppola is 42. Rock singer Nicholas Hexum (311) is 40. Actor Nicholas Brendon is 39. Actress Shannen Doherty is 39. Actress Marley Shelton is 36. Actress Jordana Spiro is 33. Rock musician Guy Berryman (Coldplay) is 32. Actress Claire Danes is 31. Actress Jennifer Morrison is 31. Contemporary Christian musician Joe Rickard (Red) is 23. Rock singer-musician Brendon Urie (Panic at the Disco) is 23. Actress Saoirse Ronan ("Atonement") is 16.
Also: American statesman Henry Clay (1777); opera singer Lily Pons (1898)
12 April In Entertainment
In 1935, "Your Hit Parade" premiered.
In 1954, Bill Haley and His Comets recorded "Rock Around The Clock" for Decca Records. It's considered the first rock and roll song to top the charts.
In 1966, Jan Berry of the duo Jan and Dean crashed his Corvette into a parked truck in Los Angeles. He suffered extensive brain damage and paralysis and needed several years of rehabilitation.
In 1979, Mickey Thomas became the lead singer of Jefferson Starship.
In 1989, Herbert Mills of The Mills Brothers died in Las Vegas at age 77. The group was probably best known for the song "Paper Doll."
In 1992, the Euro Disneyland theme park opened in France.
In 1993, actress Lisa Bonet filed for divorce from singer Lenny Kravitz.
In 1997, The Fugees played the first of two homecoming concerts in Haiti to raise money for Haitian refugees. The concerts ended up costing more money than they raised.
In 2009, actress Marilyn Chambers, 56, who'd starred in the explicit 1972 movie "Behind the Green Door," was found dead at her home in Canyon Country, Calif.
Thought for Today: "All history is only one long story to this effect: Men have struggled for power over their fellow men in order that they might win the joys of earth at the expense of others, and might shift the burdens of life from their own shoulders upon those of others." — William Graham Sumner (1840-1910).
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