June 12, 2017

190 years ago
1827

Born on this date
Johanna Spyri. Swiss authoress. Mrs. Spyri was a novelist who wrote children's stories, the best-known of which was Heidi (1881). She died on July 7, 1901, 25 days after her 74th birthday.

150 years ago
1867

War
Liberal forces in the Mexican civil war captured former President Antonio López de Santa Anna at Sisal.

140 years ago
1877

Born on this date
Thomas C. Hart. U.S. military officer and politician. Admiral Hart served with the United States Navy from 1897-1945, holding several commands in World War II. A Republican, he represented Connecticut in the U.S. Senate (1945-1946). Adm. Hart died on July 4, 1971, 22 days after his 94th birthday.

120 years ago
1897

Born on this date
Josefina Acosta de Barón. Colombian composer. Miss Acosta was a classical pianist and piano teacher who mainly composed for piano, and also wrote sacred music. She died in 1945 at the age of 47 or 48.

110 years ago
1907

Born on this date
Isabel Bonner. U.S. actress. Miss Bonner appeared in radio and television, but was best known as a stage actress. She appeared in Broadway productions of The Shrike (1952, 1953), as well as the movie (1955). Miss Bonner was playing the wife of the male lead, played by Dane Clark, in a production of The Shrike at Cathay Circle Theatre in Los Angeles on July 1, 1955, 19 days after her 48th birthday, when she collapsed with a cerebral hemorrhage. Her co-star, Dane Clark, ad-libbed as he took her in his arms, and called for the curtain to be brought down, while the audience thought it was part of the play.

100 years ago
1917

Died on this date
Teresa Carreño, 63. Venezuelan musician. Miss Carreño performed as an opera singer, but was better known as one of the world's most popular concert pianists. She also composed more than 40 works. Miss Carreño died after an illness of several months.

90 years ago
1927

Education
The Judicial Committee of the Privy Council dismissed an appeal by Roman Catholics for separate schools in Ontario.

80 years ago
1937

Golf
Ralph Guldahl won the U.S. Open at the South Course of Oak Hills Country Club in Birmingham, Michigan with a 7-under-par score of 281, 2 strokes ahead of Sam Snead. First prize money was $1,000.



75 years ago
1942

Space
Danish astronomer Kaj Strand reported to the American Astronomical Society his discovery of a new red dwarf star accompanying a pair of double stars in the Mu Draconis group.

War
U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt created an eight-man Alaska War Council, headed by Governor Ernest Gruening. Field Marshal Ernst Rommel's German forces in Libya attacked El Adem, 18 miles south of Tobruk, while the main body circled eastward through the El Duda-Rezegh area in a drive to the Mediterranean Sea. A small contingent of Japanese troops landed on Attu Island at the westernmost end of the Aleutian archipelago, and was subjected to U.S. air assaults. Japanese troops captured the Chinese city of Nancheng in Kiangsi Province after Chinese forces evacuated the city. The U.S. Navy Department said that 37 Japanese ships had been sunk or damaged and more than 100 planes destroyed in separate actions in the Coral Sea in March and May, as compared to three U.S. ships lost.

Economics and finance
The Mexican Treasury ordered the confiscation of all properties of Axis subjects.

The Argentine Senate ratified the commercial treaty with the United States which had been signed on October 14, 1941.

U.S. President Roosevelt called upon every American to turn in every bit of scrap rubber they could to the government for the war effort.

Disasters
At least 29 people were killed and more than 50 injured when a tornado struck the southwest section of Oklahoma City.

70 years ago
1947

World events
Former Austrian Foreign Minister Guido Schmidt was acquitted in Vienna of charges that he had helped the Nazis to annex Austria in 1938.

Economics and finance
The Argentine government seized factory stocks of clothing and shoes, and introduced retail price controls in an effort to lower inflated living costs.

Labour
French railroad workers ended a six-day nationwide strike after Prime Minister Paul Ramadier signed a compromise agreement providing a total increase of $82 million in wages and benefits.

15,000 soft coal miners ended a week-long unauthorized strike in western Pennsylvania protesting the Taft-Hartley bill.

Energy
The U.S. Atomic Energy Commission refused to fill foreign requests for radioactive isotopes until American demand was fully met and legal problems were worked out.

60 years ago
1957

At the movies
Island in the Sun, starring James Mason, Harry Belafonte, Joan Fontaine, Joan Collins, Dorothy Dandridge, and Michael Rennie, opened in theatres.

Died on this date
Jimmy Dorsey, 53. U.S. musician. Mr. Dorsey was a saxophonist and clarinetist in a band with his younger brother Tommy from the late 1920s until 1935, when they split after an argument onstage. Jimmy then led his own band through the early 1950s, recording 11 singles that reached Number One in the United States. The Dorsey Brothers reunited in 1953, and remained together until Tommy died on November 26, 1956 at the age of 51. Jimmy died of throat cancer just when So Rare had reached #2 on the singles chart, marking the last major hit for a big band.

Adventure
Mayflower II, a 92-foot, 190-ton reproduction of the Pilgrim ship, arrived in Provincetown, Massachusetts after completing a 53-day transatlantic voyage from Plymouth, England.

War
People's Republic of China anti-aircraft guns damaged a U.S. Navy plane flying "westward of its plotted position" eight miles from the Chinese mainland near Swatow.

Economics and finance
A Soviet-Finnish communique reported agreement on a $25-million increase in trade during 1957.

50 years ago
1967

Hit parade
#1 single in Spain (PROMUSICAE): Marionetas en la Cuerda (Puppet on a String)--Sandie Shaw (5th week at #1)

On television tonight
Coronet Blue, starring Frank Converse, on CBS
Tonight's episode: The Assassins



You're in Love, Charlie Brown, on CBS

This was the first broadcast of the Peanuts special, which wasn't broadcast in Canada until June 1968.

At the movies
You Only Live Twice, starring Sean Connery as James Bond, received its premiere screening at the Odeon Leicester Square in London. Queen Elizabeth II was among those in attendance.



Space
The U.S.S.R. launched the probe Venera (Venus) 4 on a four-month journey to Venus.

Society
The United States Supreme Court ruled unanimously in Loving v. Virginia that all U.S. state laws which prohibited interracial marriages were unconstitutional.

Protest
Three days of race riots began in the Cincinnati neighbourhood of Avondale.

Law
The U.S. Supreme Court ended its 1966-1968 term; Associate Justice Tom Clark, who had served on the Court since 1949, retired.

40 years ago
1977

Hit parade
#1 single in New Zealand: It Doesn't Matter Anymore--Mark Williams (2nd week at #1)

Diplomacy
U.S. First Lady Rosalynn Carter returned from a seven-nation tour of Central and South America, which had begun on May 30. Acting as the personal emissary of her husband, President Jimmy Carter, she had reviewed political and economic questions with heads of government and other officials.

Auto racing
Johnny Rutherford won the Rex Mays 150 in Milwaukee.

30 years ago
1987

Hit parade
#1 single in West Germany (Media Control): I Wanna Dance with Somebody (Who Loves Me)--Whitney Houston

Diplomacy
U.S. President Ronald Reagan, speaking at the Brandenburg Gate in West Berlin, challenged U.S.S.R. leader Mikhail Gorbachev to “tear down this wall.”



Politics and government
Former Central African Republic dictator Jean-Bedel Bokassa was convicted and sentenced to death for involvement in at least 20 murders. He was tried and sentenced in absentia after being deposed in 1979 and fleeing to France. Mr. Bokassa returned to the C.A.R. in 1986 in an attempt to clear his name, but was arrested and retried. The court found that he had ordered real or imagined opponents put to death in prison. Mr. Bokassa was also convicted of ordering the arrest of 100 children who had objected to wearing uniforms produced in a factory owned by his wife. Many of the children had been subsequently killed in prison.

Protest
A number of people were injured when a melee broke out in Gdansk, Poland between police and demonstrators who had attended a mass conducted by Pope John Paul II.

Economics and finance
The United States Labor Department reported that prices charged by producers for finished goods had risen 0.3% in May. The Commerce Department reported that the U.S. deficit on merchandise trade had fallen slightly to $13.3 billion in April.

25 years ago
1992

Hit parade
#1 single in Germany (Media Control): Rhythm is a Dancer--Snap! (4th week at #1)

Diplomacy
U.S. President George Bush addressed the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro. He said that the U.S. environmental record was “second to none,” and he called for an “action plan” to avert global warming. Mr. Bush was one of 117 heads of state and government at the summit, possibly the greatest number to attend any meeting.

Business
The Canadian Radio and Telecommunications Commission ended the long-standing monopoly of phone companies, ruling that the long distance telephone market must be open to competition.

Economics and finance
The United States Labor Department reported that consumer prices had risen 0.1% in May.

Basketball
NBA
Finals
Chicago 88 @ Portland 93 (Chicago led best-of-seven series 3-2)

Michael Jordan scored 46 points and Scottie Pippen added 24 points, 11 rebounds, and 9 assists as the Bulls beat the Trail Blazers before 12,888 fans at Memorial Coliseum. Clyde Drexler led Portland with 30 points.

20 years ago
1997

Hit parade
#1 single in Finland (Musiikkituottajat – IFPI Finland): Mato--Apulanta

At the movies
Clockwatchers, directed by Jill Sprecher and starring Toni Collette, Parker Posey, Lisa Kudrow, and Alanna Ubach, opened in theatres in Australia.

Died on this date
Rick Baldwin, 42. U.S. auto racing driver. Mr. Baldwin competed in 11 NASCAR races from 1982-1985. While attempting to qualify for the Miller American 400 at Michigan International Speedway in 1986, he suffered traumatic head injuries when his car spun and hit the wall, and the protective netting on the driver's window apparently gave way. He spent 11 years in a coma, and died two days after his 42nd birthday.

Theatre
Queen Elizabeth II opened a reconstruction of the Globe Theatre in London.

Crime
British law lords ruled that former Home Secretary Michael Howard had acted illegally in raising the minimum sentences of the two 10-year-old boys who had murdered 2-year-old Jamie Bulger in 1993.

Abominations
Interleague play began in the major leagues, ending a 126-year tradition of separating the major leagues until the World Series.

10 years ago
2007

Politics and government
Robert Ghiz was sworn in as Premier of Prince Edward Island, leading a Liberal government that was replacing the former Progressive Conservative government of Premier Pat Binns.

Basketball
NBA
Finals
San Antonio 75 @ Cleveland 72 (San Antonio led best-of-seven series 3-0)

LeBron James missed a 29-foot 3-point field goal attempt in the final seconds that would have tied the game, as the Spurs defeated the Cavaliers before 20,562 fans at Quicken Loans Arena in one of the lowest-scoring games in Finals history. Mr. James finished with 25 points and 7 assists, while Tony Parker led the Spurs with 17 points.

Baseball
Justin Verlander pitched a no-hitter for the Detroit Tigers, walking 4 batters and striking out 12, as the Tigers blanked the Milwaukee Brewers 4-0 before 33,555 fans at Comerica Park in Detroit.



The Seattle Mariners scored 2 runs in the top of the 13th inning to defeat the Chicago Cubs 5-3 before 40,071 fans at Wrigley Field in Chicago.

Brad Ausmus batted 3 for 4 with a run and 4 runs batted in, singling home Adam Everett with the winning run with 1 out in the bottom of the 11th inning to give the Houston Astros a 5-4 win over the Oakland Athletics before 33,637 fans at Minute Maid Park in Houston. Kurt Suzuki made his major league debut with the Athletics, grounding out as a pinch hitter in the top of the 10th and remaining in the game at catcher, making 2 assists.