August 12
1624
Cardinal Richelieu was named chief minister of France by king Louis XIII.
1851
Issac Singer patented the sewing machine.
1865
British surgeon Joseph Lister became the first doctor to use an antiseptic during surgery.
1898
A peace protocol ending the Spanish-American War was signed.
1972
The last American combat troops left Vietnam.
1985
In the world’s worst single-aircraft disaster, a Japan Air Lines 747 crashed into Mount Osutaka, killing 520 of the 524 aboard.
1998
Swiss banks agreed to pay $1.25 billion to settle lawsuits brought by Holocaust survivors and their heirs. The banks had kept millions of dollars deposited by Holocaust victims before and during World War II.
2000
The Russian military submarine, Kursk, and its crew were lost in the Barents Sea.
2004
N.J. governor James McGreevey announced his resignation.
2013
Notorious Boston gangster James (Whitey) Bulger was found guilty of 31 of the 32 charges he faced, including murder, extortion, money laundering, drug dealing and possession of weapons.
Birthdays
George IV
1762–1830, king of Great Britain and Ireland (1820–30), eldest son and successor of George III.
Katharine Lee Bates
author (1859)
Jacinto Benavente
dramatist (1866)
Mary Roberts Rinehart
novelist (1876)
Christy Mathewson
baseball player (1880)
Cecil B. De Mille
film director (1881)
Erwin Schrödinger
theoretical physicist (1887)
Cantinflas
actor (1911)
George Hamilton
actor, producer (1939)
Pete Sampras
tennis player (1971)