Today in History

Today is Sunday, Feb. 12, the 43rd day of 2023. There are 322 days left in the year.

Today’s Highlight in History:

On Feb. 12, 1809, Abraham Lincoln, the 16th president of the United States, was born in a log cabin in Hardin (now LaRue) County, Kentucky.

On this date:

In 1554, Lady Jane Grey, who had claimed the throne of England for nine days, and her husband, Guildford Dudley, were beheaded after being condemned for high treason.

In 1909, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, the NAACP, was founded.

In 1912, Pu Yi, the last emperor of China, abdicated, marking the end of the Qing Dynasty.

In 1914, groundbreaking took place for the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C. (A year later on this date, the cornerstone was laid.)

In 1973, Operation Homecoming began as the first release of American prisoners of war from the Vietnam conflict took place.

In 1983, composer-pianist Eubie Blake, who wrote such songs as “I’m Just Wild About Harry” and “Memories of You,” died in Brooklyn, New York, five days after turning 100.

In 1999, the Senate voted to acquit President Bill Clinton of perjury and obstruction of justice.

In 2000, Charles M. Schulz, creator of the “Peanuts” comic strip, died in Santa Rosa, California, at age 77.

In 2002, former Yugoslav president Slobodan Milosevic went on trial in The Hague, accused of war crimes (he died in 2006 before the trial could conclude).

In 2006, figure skater Michelle Kwan effectively retired from competition as she withdrew from the Turin Olympics due to injury (she was replaced on the U.S. team by Emily Hughes). Snowboarder Shaun White beat American teammate Danny Kass to win the Olympic gold medal.

In 2019, Mexico’s most notorious drug lord, Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, was convicted in New York of running an industrial-scale smuggling operation; a jury, whose members’ identities were kept secret as a security measure, had deliberated for six days. (Guzman is serving a life sentence at the federal supermax prison facility in Florence, Colorado.)

In 2020, Holland America Line said a cruise ship, the MS Westerdam, which had been barred from docking by four governments because of fears of the coronavirus, would arrive the next day in Cambodia. In Japan, officials confirmed 39 new cases on a cruise ship that had been quarantined at Yokohama, bringing the total number of cases on the Diamond Princess to 174.

Ten years ago: The manhunt for a rogue ex-Los Angeles cop Christopher Dorner, who was seeking revenge for his firing, came to an end with his apparent suicide in a mountain cabin following a gunbattle with law enforcement; authorities blamed him for killing four people, including two officers. The U.N. Security Council strongly condemned North Korea’s latest nuclear test. IOC leaders dropped wrestling for the 2020 Games in a surprise decision to scrap one of the oldest sports on the Olympic program.

Five years ago: In a retreat from promises to balance the budget, President Donald Trump unveiled a $4.4 trillion plan that envisioned steep cuts to America’s social safety net but mounting military spending; the outline acknowledged that the 2017 Republican tax overhaul would add billions to the deficit. Two Baltimore police detectives were convicted of robbery, racketeering and conspiracy at a trial that was part of a federal probe of corruption among rogue members of the city’s police force. The National Portrait Gallery unveiled portraits of former President Barack Obama and his wife, painted by African-American artists chosen by the Obamas. American snowboarder Jamie Anderson won gold in the women’s slopestyle event at the Winter Olympics in South Korea.

One year ago: President Joe Biden called on President Vladimir Putin to pull back more than 100,000 Russian troops massed near Ukraine’s borders and warned that the U.S. and its allies would “respond decisively and impose swift and severe costs” if Russia invaded. (Russia would invade Ukraine eight days later.) Paris police fired tear gas against a handful of demonstrators on the Champs Elysees Avenue who defied a police order by taking part in a vehicle protest against virus restrictions.

Today’s birthdays: Movie director Costa-Gavras is 90. Actor Joe Don Baker is 87. Author Judy Blume is 85. Former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak is 81. Country singer Moe Bandy is 79. Actor Maud Adams is 78. Actor Cliff DeYoung is 77. Actor Michael Ironside is 73. Rock musician Steve Hackett is 73. Rock singer Michael McDonald is 71. Actor Joanna Kerns is 70. Actor Zach Grenier is 69. Actor-talk show host Arsenio Hall is 67. Actor John Michael Higgins is 60. Actor Raphael Sbarge is 59. Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh is 58. Actor Christine Elise is 58. Actor Josh Brolin is 55. Singer Chynna Phillips is 55. Rock musician Jim Creeggan (Barenaked Ladies) is 53. Actor Jesse Spencer is 44. Rapper Gucci Mane is 43. Actor Sarah Lancaster is 43. Actor Christina Ricci is 43. Actor Jennifer Stone is 30. Actors Baylie and Rylie Cregut (TV: “Raising Hope”) are 13.

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