Just Plain Fun
This Day in History – April 12, 2011
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1606 England adopts the Union Jack as its flag 1776 Halifax resolution for independence adopted by North Carolina 1811 1st US colonists on Pacific coast arrive at Cape Disappointment WA 1844 Texas became a US territory 1861 Fort Sumter SC is shelled by Confederacy, starting the Civil War 1864 Confederate General Nathan Bedford Forrest captures Fort Pillow TN 1869 North Carolina legislature passes anti-Klan Law 1872 Jesse James gang robs bank in Columbia KY (1 dead/$1,500) 1877 Catcher’s mask 1st used in a baseball game 1905 French Dufaux brothers test helicopter 1934 Highest velocity wind ever recorded on Mount Washington NH, 231 mph 1940 NFL cuts clipping penalty from 25 yards to 15 yards 1940 Italy annexes Albania 1945 Harry Truman sworn in as 33rd US President 1954 Bill Haley & the Comets record “Rock Around the Clock” 1954 Joe Turner releases “Shake, Rattle & Roll” 1955 Salk polio vaccine safe & effective; 4 billion dimes marched 1963 Birmingham police use dogs & cattle prods on peaceful demonstrators 1966 Rocker Jan Berry crashes his Corvette into a parked truck 1966 1st B-52 bombing on North Vietnam 1980 US Olympic Committee endorses a boycott of the Moscow games 1981 Maiden voyage Space Transit System-space shuttle Columbia launched 1982 3 CBS employees shot to death in NYC parking lot 1983 Harold Washington becomes Chicago’s 1st black mayor 1987 Texaco files for bankruptcy 1988 Harvard University patents genetically engineered mouse (1st for animal life) 1988 Sonny Bono elected mayor of Palm Springs CA 1990 James Brown moves to a work-release center after serving 15 months 1991 US announces closing of 31 major US military bases 1992 Euro Disney opens in Marne-la-Vallee France]]]]> ]]>
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