January 12
1773
The first public museum in the U.S. was established in Charleston, S.C.
1896
H. L. Smith took the first X-ray photograph. It was a hand with a bullet in it.
1915
The U.S. House of Representatives rejected a proposal to give women the right to vote.
1932
Hattie W. Caraway, a democrat from Arkansas became the first woman to be elected to the U.S. Senate.
1964
One month after Zanzibar became independent, the ruling Zanzibar Nationalist Party was overthrown in a violent coup.
1991
A divided Congress gave President Bush the go-ahead on the Persian Gulf War.
1998
Nineteen European countries signed an agreement banning human cloning.
2010
Haiti is dealt a catastrophic blow when a magnitude 7.0 earthquake strikes 10 miles southwest of Port-au-Prince, the country’s capital. It is the region’s worst earthquake in 200 years. The number of fatalities was between 46,000 and 85,000 people.
Birthdays
John Hancock
1737–93, political leader in the American Revolution and signer of the Declaration of Independence.
Charles Perrault
poet (1628)
Edmund Burke
political writer and statesman (1729)
John Singer Sargent
painter (1856)
Jack London
novelist (1876)
P. W. Botha
political leader (1916)
James Farmer
civil rights leader (1920)
Joe Frazier
boxer (1944)
Rush Limbaugh
radio personality (1951)
Howard Stern
radio personality (1954)
Jeff Bezos
entrepreneur (1964)
Rob Zombie
rock musician, filmmaker (1966)
Vendela
model (1967)