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Civil War begins as Confederate forces fire on Fort Sumter

Born on This Day

David Letterman

1947 -

Comedian and late-night talk show host who snarkily antagonized celeb guests and staged oddball sketches like "Stupid Pet Tricks."

Herbie Hancock

1940 -

Grammy-winning jazz pianist and composer known for his collaborations with pop, rock and electronic music performers.

Ilana Glazer

1987 -

Comedian, actor, writer and director best known for the millennial buddy sitcom "Broad City."

David LettermanGetty Images

Herbie HancockGetty Images

Ilana GlazerGetty Images

1995

APR12

On "The Late Show," 20-year-old actress Drew Barrymore celebrates host David Letterman's birthday by jumping on his desk and flashing him—with her back to the camera. His response: "I can't thank you enough for that."

Timeline

Also on This Day in History

Discover more of the major events, famous births, notable deaths and everything else history-making that happened on April 12th

Galileo goes on trial for heresy

On April 12, 1633, chief inquisitor Father Vincenzo Maculani da Firenzuola, appointed by Pope Urban VIII, begins the inquisition of physicist and astronomer Galileo Galilei. Galileo was ordered to turn himself in to the Holy Office to begin trial for holding the belief that the Earth revolves around the sun, which was deemed heretical by the […]

British king approves repeal of the hated Townshend Acts

On April 12, 1770, a parliamentary bill to repeal the hated Townshend Acts received assent from the British crown. Initially passed on June 29, 1767, the Townshend Acts constituted an attempt by the British government to consolidate fiscal and political power over the American colonies by placing import taxes on many of the British products […]

Hundreds of Union soldiers killed in Fort Pillow Massacre

During the American Civil War, Major General Nathan Bedford Forrest’s Confederate raiders attack the isolated Union garrison at Fort Pillow, Tennessee, overlooking the Mississippi River. The fort, an important part of the Confederate river defense system, was captured by federal forces in 1862. Of the 500-strong Union garrison defending the fort, more than half the […]

Canadians capture Vimy Ridge in northern France

After three days of fierce combat and over 10,000 casualties suffered, the Canadian Corps seizes the previously German-held Vimy Ridge in northern France on April 12, 1917. Many historians have pointed to the victory at Vimy Ridge during World War I as a moment of greatness for Canada, when it emerged from Britain’s shadow to […]

FDR dies

On April 12, 1945, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt passes away partway through his fourth term in office, leaving Vice President Harry S. Truman in charge of a country still fighting the Second World War and in possession of a weapon of unprecedented and terrifying power. On a clear spring day at his Warm Springs, Georgia, retreat, […]

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Bill Haley and His Comets record “Rock Around The Clock”

On April 12, 1954, Bill Haley and His Comets record “(We’re Gonna) Rock Around The Clock.” If rock and roll was a social and cultural revolution, then “(We’re Gonna) Rock Around The Clock” was its Declaration of Independence. And if Bill Haley was not exactly the revolution’s Thomas Jefferson, it may be fair to call […]

Project Ozma launches, hoping to detect extraterrestrial life

The goal? To detect radio signals from deep space.

Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin becomes the first man in space

On April 12, 1961, aboard the spacecraft Vostok 1, Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Alekseyevich Gagarin becomes the first human being to travel into space. During the flight, the 27-year-old test pilot and industrial technician also became the first man to orbit the planet, a feat accomplished by his space capsule in 89 minutes. Vostok 1 orbited […]

Martin Luther King Jr. is jailed in Birmingham

On April 12, 1963, Good Friday, the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., is arrested and jailed for a campaign of protests, marches and sit-ins against segregation in Birmingham, Alabama. The actions, orchestrated with his Southern Christian Leadership Conference and their partners in the Alabama Christian Movement for Human Rights, had begun a little over […]

U.S. Embassy in Cambodia evacuated

In Cambodia, the U.S. ambassador and his staff leave Phnom Penh when the U.S. Navy conducts its evacuation effort, Operation Eagle. On April 3, 1975, as the communist Khmer Rouge forces closed in for the final assault on the capital city, U.S. forces were put on alert for the impending embassy evacuation. An 11-man Marine […]

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The space shuttle Columbia is launched for the first time

The space shuttle Columbia is launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida, becoming the first reusable manned spacecraft to travel into space. Piloted by astronauts Robert L. Crippen and John W. Young, the Columbia undertook a 54-hour space flight of 36 orbits before successfully touching down at California’s Edwards Air Force Base on April 14. On September […]

Soviets admit to Katyn Massacre of World War II

The Soviet government officially accepts blame for the Katyn Massacre of World War II, when nearly 5,000 Polish military officers were murdered and buried in mass graves in the Katyn Forest. The admission was part of Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev’s promise to be more forthcoming and candid concerning Soviet history. In 1939, Poland had been […]

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