Thursday, November 12th
The 316th day of 2009.
There are 49 days left in the year.
Go to a previous date.
Go to lesson
Today's Highlights in History
On Nov. 12, 1942, the World War II naval Battle of Guadalcanal began. The Americans eventually won a major victory over the Japanese. (Go to article.)
On Nov. 12, 1815, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, the pioneering American women's rights leader and social reformer, was born. Following her death on Oct. 26, 1902, her obituary appeared in The Times. (Go to obit. | Other Birthdays)
Editorial Cartoon of the Day
On November 12, 1870, Harper's Weekly featured a cartoon about Manton Marble, the publisher of the New York World. (See the cartoon and read an explanation.)
On this date in:
1815 American suffragist Elizabeth Cady Stanton was born in Johnstown, N.Y.
1920 Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis was elected baseball's first commissioner.
1927 Josef Stalin became the undisputed ruler of the Soviet Union as Leon Trotsky was expelled from the Communist Party.
1948 Former Japanese premier Hideki Tojo and several other World War II Japanese leaders were sentenced to death by a war crimes tribunal.
1954 Ellis Island closed after processing more than 20 million immigrants since opening in New York Harbor in 1892.
1982 Yuri V. Andropov was elected to succeed the late Leonid I. Brezhnev as general secretary of the Soviet Communist Party's Central Committee.
1985 Xavier Suarez was elected Miami's first Cuban-American mayor.
1987 The American Medical Association issued a policy statement saying it was unethical for a doctor to refuse to treat someone solely because that person has AIDS or is HIV-positive.
1990 Japanese Emperor Akihito formally assumed the Chrysanthemum Throne.
1996 Jonathan Schmitz was convicted of second-degree murder for shooting Scott Amedure, a gay man who'd revealed a crush on Schmitz during a taping of "The Jenny Jones Show."
1997 Ramzi Yousef was found guilty of masterminding the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center.
1999 President Bill Clinton signed a sweeping measure knocking down Depression-era barriers and allowing banks, investment firms and insurance companies to sell each other's products.
2001 An American Airlines flight crashed near New York's Kennedy airport, killing 265 people.
2004 A jury in Redwood City, Calif., convicted Scott Peterson of murdering his pregnant wife, Laci, and dumping her body in San Francisco Bay. (Peterson was later sentenced to death.)
2006 Gerald R. Ford surpassed Ronald Reagan as the longest-lived U.S. president at 93 years and 121 days. (Ford died the following month.)
2008 Same-sex marriages began in Connecticut, a month after the state Supreme Court ruled that gays had the right to wed.
Current Birthdays
Anne Hathaway turns 27 years old today.
AP Photo/Peter Kramer Actress Anne Hathaway ("The Devil Wears Prada") turns 27 years old today.
78 Norman Y. Mineta
Former secretary of transportation
70 Ruby Nash Curtis
R&B singer
66 Jimmy Hayes
R&B singer (Persuasions)
66 Brian Hyland
Singer
66 Wallace Shawn
Actor, playwright
65 Booker T. Jones
Rock musician (Booker T. & the MGs)
65 Al Michaels
Sportscaster
62 Donald Roeser
Rock musician (Blue Oyster Cult)
60 Jack Reed
U.S. senator, D-R.I.
59 Barbara Fairchild
Country singer
51 Megan Mullally
Actress ("Will and Grace")
50 Vincent Irizarry
Actor ("All My Children")
48 Nadia Comaneci
Olympic gold medal gymnast
46 Sam Lloyd
Actor ("Scrubs")
45 David Ellefson
Rock musician (Megadeth)
41 Sammy Sosa
Baseball player
36 Radha Mitchell
Actress
35 Lourdes Benedicto
Actress
35 Tamala Jones
Actress
35 Angela Watson
Actress
33 Tevin Campbell
R&B singer
31 Ashley Williams
Actress
30 Cote de Pablo
Actress ("NCIS")
29 Ryan Gosling
Actor
25 Omarion
Singer
17 Macey Cruthird
Actress ("Hope and Faith")
Historic Birthdays
Elizabeth Cady Stanton
11/12/1815 - 10/26/1902
American social reformer; fought for women's suffrage
(Go to obit.)
66 Baccio Bandinelli
11/12/1493 - 2/7/1560
Italian sculptor
53 Aleksandr Borodin
11/12/1833 - 2/27/1887
Russian composer
77 Auguste Rodin
11/12/1840 - 11/17/1917
French sculptor
74 Jack Oakie
11/12/1903 - 1/23/1978
American actor
90 Harry Blackmun
11/12/1908 - 3/4/1999
American jurist; associate justice of U.S. Supreme Court (1970-94)
80 Buck Clayton
11/12/1911 - 12/8/1991
American musician
64 Roland Barthes
11/12/1915 - 3/25/1980
French essayist
52 Grace Kelly
11/12/1929 - 9/14/1982
American actress
Go to a previous date.
SOURCE: The Associated Press
Front Page Image Provided by UMI
Copyright 2009 The New York Times Company
Children's Privacy Notice
