Private Collection

1980

Da Vinci notebook sells for over $5M

Born on This Day

Sinatra Portrait In LA

Frank Sinatra

1915 - 1998

"Ol' Blue Eyes" and "The Chairman of the Board" crooner and actor. One of 20th century's most popular entertainers.

TV One Presents The 6th Annual URBAN ONE HONORS: Best In Black - Inside - Arrivals

Dionne Warwick

1940 -

Singer, actress and TV host famous for pop and soul hits like "I Say a Little Prayer" and "Walk On By."

Edvard Munch, c

Edvard Munch

1863 - 1944

Norwegian painter best known for "The Scream." His work explores themes of anxiety, death and human emotion.

Dionne Warwick

Getty Images for TV One

Edvard Munch

Heritage Images/Getty Images

1899

DEC

12

George F. Grant, an African American dentist from Boston, receives US Patent number 638,920 for the world’s first golf tee. Neither a marketer nor an inventor, Grant gives away a few copies of his creation but makes no money from it before he dies.

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 December 12th

1787

Pennsylvania ratifies the Constitution

On December 12, 1787, Pennsylvania becomes the second state to ratify the Constitution, by a vote of 46 to 23. Pennsylvania was the first large state to ratify, as well as the first state to endure a serious Anti-Federalist challenge to ratification. Pennsylvania was the most ethnically and religiously diverse state in the new nation. […]

1868

Vigilantes yank train robbers from jail and hang them

An angry group of vigilantes yank the brothers Frank, William, and Simeon Reno from their Indiana jail cell and hang them, after a guard they had shot during an earlier train robbery died of his wounds. Although the Reno gang—which included another brother, John, as well—had a short reign of terror, they are credited with […]

1901

First radio transmission sent across the Atlantic Ocean

Italian physicist and radio pioneer Guglielmo Marconi succeeds in sending the first radio transmission across the Atlantic Ocean, disproving detractors who told him that the curvature of the earth would limit transmission to 200 miles or less. The message—simply the Morse-code signal for the letter “s”—traveled more than 2,000 miles from Poldhu in Cornwall, England, […]

1:54m read read

1913

Stolen “Mona Lisa” recovered in Florence

Two years after it was stolen from the Louvre Museum in Paris, Leonardo da Vinci’s masterpiece The Mona Lisa is recovered inside Italian waiter Vincenzo Peruggia’s hotel room in Florence. Peruggia had previously worked at the Louvre and had participated in the heist with a group of accomplices dressed as Louvre janitors on the morning […]

0:54m read read

1937

USS Panay sunk by Japanese

During the battle for Nanking in the Sino-Japanese War, the U.S. gunboat Panay is attacked and sunk by Japanese warplanes in Chinese waters. The American vessel, neutral in the Chinese-Japanese conflict, was escorting U.S. evacuees and three Standard Oil barges away from Nanking, the war-torn Chinese capital on the Yangtze River. After the Panay was […]

0:52m read read

1963

JFK memorial album sets record for sales

On December 12, 1963, a vinyl long-playing record (“LP”) called John Fitzgerald Kennedy: A Memorial Album sets a record for album sales. A total of 4 million copies sold in the first six days of its release. The album, released on the Premier label, included recordings of some of Kennedy’s most memorable speeches, as well […]

1:40m read read

1963

Kenya declares independence from Britain

On December 12, 1963, Kenya declares its independence from Britain. The East African nation is freed from its colonial oppressors, but its struggle for democracy is far from over. A decade before, in 1952, a rebellion known the Mau Mau Uprising had shaken the British colony. Not only did the British spend an estimated £55 […]

1:36m read read

1965

NFL rookie Gale Sayers ties single-game TD record

On December 12, 1965, the rookie running back Gale Sayers of the Chicago Bears scores six touchdowns during a single game against the San Francisco 49ers at Chicago’s Wrigley Field, tying the National Football League (NFL) record for most touchdowns in a single game. Born in 1943, Sayers was a two-time All-American at the University […]

1:42m read read

1967

“Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner” opens in theaters

On December 12, 1967, Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner, a groundbreaking movie about an interracial romantic relationship starring Katharine Hepburn, Spencer Tracy, Sidney Poitier and Katharine Houghton, opens in theaters. Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner followed the story of a young white woman (Houghton) who brings her fiance (Poitier), an African American doctor, home to […]

2:56m read read

1970

“Tears Of A Clown” gives Smokey Robinson & The Miracles their first #1 pop hit

After more than a decade of hits like that never quite made it to the top of the charts, Smokey Robinson and the Miracles finally earn their first #1 hit when “Tears Of A Clown” topped the Billboard Hot 100 on December 12, 1970. While Motown Records founder Berry Gordy surely deserves credit for establishing […]

1:54m read read

1977

“Saturday Night Fever” premieres in New York

The film Saturday Night Fever premieres in New York City on December 12, 1977. Shining a bright light on the world of disco dance, it would become a pop-culture juggernaut. The film drew inspiration from a largely fictional 1976 New York magazine article entitled, “The Tribal Rites of the New Saturday Night,” written by journalist […]

2:34m read read

1989

Real estate mogul Leona Helmsley sentenced to prison

Leona Helmsley, nicknamed the “Queen of Mean” by the press, receives a four-year prison sentence, 750 hours of community service, and a $7.1 million tax fraud fine in New York. For many, Helmsley became the object of loathing and disgust when she quipped that “only the little people pay taxes.” Leona’s husband, Harry, was one […]

1:42m read read

1997

14-year-old indicted for school shooting

Fourteen-year-old Michael Carneal is indicted as an adult on three counts of murder and five counts of attempted murder for the shooting of his classmates at Heath High School in West Paducah, Kentucky. On December 1, Carneal pulled out a pistol and fired 11 shots into a group of students in the school’s lobby. By […]

1:36m read read

History Every Day

Sign Up for "This Day in History"

Uncover fascinating moments from the past every day! Learn something new with key events in history, from the American Revolution to pop culture, crime and more.

By submitting your information, you agree to receive emails from HISTORY and A+E Global Media. You can opt out at any time. You must be 16 years or older and a resident of the United States.

More details: Privacy Policy | Terms of Use | Contact Us