Associated Press
Today in History: Wednesday, August 12, 2015
On Aug. 12, 1985, a crippled Japan Air Lines Boeing 747 on a domestic flight crashed into a mountain, killing 520 people in the world’s worst single-aircraft accident.
1851- Isaac Singer was granted a patent on his sewing machine.
1880- Baseball Hall of Famer Christy Mathewson was born in Factoryville, Pa.
1898- The peace protocol ending the Spanish-American War was signed.
1898- Hawaii was formally annexed to the United States.
1944- Joseph P. Kennedy Jr., eldest son of Joseph and Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy, was killed when an explosives-laden Navy plane blew up over England during World War II.
1953- The Soviet Union conducted a secret test of its first hydrogen bomb.
1960- The first balloon satellite, Echo 1, was launched by the United States from Cape Canaveral, Fla.
1966- John Lennon apologized at a news conference in Chicago for saying “the Beatles are more popular than Jesus.”
1977- The space shuttle Enterprise passed its first solo flight test by taking off atop a Boeing 747, separating and then touching down in California’s Mojave Desert.
1981- IBM introduced its first personal computer, the model 5150.
1998- Swiss banks agreed to pay $1.25 billion as restitution to Holocaust survivors to settle claims for their assets.
2000- The Russian nuclear submarine Kursk and its 118-man crew were lost during naval exercises in the Barents Sea.
2004- New Jersey Gov. James E. McGreevey announced his resignation and proclaimed himself “a gay American.”
2004- The California Supreme Court voided the nearly 4,000 same-sex marriages sanctioned in San Francisco earlier in the year.
2008- Russia halted its devastating five-day assault on Georgia that left homes in smoldering ruins and uprooted 100,000 people.
Today’s Birthdays:
Actress Rebecca Gayheart turns 43 years old today.
Dale Bumpers, Former U.S. senator, D-Ark., 90
George Hamilton, Actor, 76
Dana Ivey, Actress, 74
Mark Knopfler, Rock singer, musician (Dire Straits), 66
Kid Creole, Singer, 65
Pat Metheny, Jazz guitarist, 61
Bruce Greenwood, Actor, 59
Sir Mix-A-Lot, Rapper, 52
Peter Krause, Actor (“Six Feet Under”), 50
Michael Ian Black, Actor, comedian (“Ed”), 44
Yvette Nicole Brown, Actress (“Community”), 44
Pete Sampras, Tennis player, 44
Maggie Lawson, Actress, 35
Dominique Swain, Actress, 35
Actor Casey Affleck turns 40 years old today.
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