On This Day in History - January 12th - Almanac

Today is Tuesday, Jan. 12, the 12th day of 2021 with 353 to follow.

The moon is waning. Morning stars are Mars, Mercury, Uranus and Venus. Evening stars are Jupiter, Mars, Mercury, Neptune, Saturn and Uranus.

Those born on this date are under the sign of Capricorn. They include French fairy tale writer Charles Perrault, author of the Mother Goose stories, in 1628; painter John Singer Sargent in 1856; novelist Jack London in 1876; World War II Nazi leader Hermann Goering in 1893; mentalist The Amazing Kreskin, born George Joseph Kresge, in 1935 (age 86); champion heavyweight boxer Joe Frazier in 1944; author Haruki Murakami in 1949 (age 72); actor Kirstie Alley in 1951 (age 70); radio personality Rush Limbaugh in 1951 (age 70); radio personality Howard Stern in 1954 (age 67); journalist Christiane Amanpour in 1958 (age 63); actor Oliver Platt in 1960 (age 61); Amazon founder Jeff Bezos in 1964 (age 57); musician/film director Rob Zombie in 1965 (age 56); Heather Mills, activist and former wife of Paul McCartney, in 1968 (age 53); actor Rachael Harris in 1968 (age 53); singer Melanie Chisholm in 1974 (age 47); actor/singer Issa Rae in 1985 (age 36); actor Naya Rivera in 1987; singer Zayn Malik in 1993 (age 28).

On this date in history:

In 1912, industrialist Andrew Carnegie lined up with the anti-trust view of former President Theodore Roosevelt as against the trust dissolution plans of President Taft today in testimony before the Stanley Committee.

In 1919, UP correspondent John Graudenz arrested by German troops while en route to the scene of an attack in Berlin, he was later released.

In 1921, Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis was elected the first commissioner of Major League Baseball.

In 1932, Hattie Caraway, D-Ark., became the first woman elected to serve a full term as a United States senator.

In 1943, the U.S. wartime Office of Price Administration said standard frankfurters would be replaced during World War II by "Victory Sausages" consisting of a mixture of meat and soy meal.

In 1986, U.S. Rep. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., traveled into space aboard the shuttle Columbia.

In 1994, U.S. President Bill Clinton asked Attorney General Janet Reno to appoint an independent counsel to investigate the Whitewater land deal affair that involved him and the first lady. Reno names New York lawyer Robert Fiske.

In 2003, Maurice Gibb, 53, of the Bee Gees, died of complications from an intestinal blockage.

In 2006, about 350 people were crushed to death by a stampeding crowd at the entrance to Jamarat Bridge in Mina, Saudi Arabia, during a pilgrimage to Mecca.

In 2010, a magnitude-7 earthquake dealt Haiti and its capital Port-au-Prince a catastrophic blow, killing at least 100,000 people. The massive quake crippled the already-strained infrastructure of the island nation and sparked a cholera outbreak that killed thousands over the next several years.

In 2013, a bus struck a pole on the side of a road in Nepal and plunged 700 feet down a slope. Authorities said the accident killed at least 30 people and injured many others.

In 2014, Six world powers (Britain, China, France, Germany, Russia and the United States) and Iran agreed on a plan to restrict Iranian nuclear operations in return for the easing of some economic sanctions. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said, "We've taken a critical, significant step forward towards reaching a verifiable resolution that prevents Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon."

In 2020 Taal Volcano in the central Philippines rumbled to life, spewing ash and prompting evacuations in nearby communities. Nearly 40 people died in the eruption.

A thought for the day: American author Jack London said riding a bicycle is "something that makes life worth living."