Following are some of the major events to have occurred on April 12:
1945 – Franklin Roosevelt, U.S. president for a record four terms, died in office. Vice President Harry Truman took over and completed his term of office.
1954 – Bill Haley and the Comets recorded the song “Rock Around the Clock”. It sold an estimated 25 million copies worldwide, at the time the second biggest-selling single behind Bing Crosby’s “White Christmas”.
1955 – Polio vaccine announced as safe and effective.
1981 – Joe Louis, heavyweight boxing champion, died aged 66. He held the world title for a record 12 years and won 68 of his 71 professional fights.
1989 – U.S. boxer Sugar Ray Robinson, five-time winner of the world middleweight crown and unbeaten welterweight champion, died.
1997 – Albania’s King Leka I returned home after 58 years in exile.
1999 – Fourteen people were killed when a NATO missile hit a train on a bridge over the Grdelica ravine in southeast Serbia during the conflict over Kosovo.
2001 – China released all 24 crew of a U.S. spy plane after Washington apologised for the aircraft’s entry into Chinese airspace and for the death of a Chinese pilot.
2002 – Yadollah Sahabi, veteran Iranian opposition leader, died aged 96. He fought against U.S. and British domination and later against Islamic extremism.
2003 – Hungarian vote on EU membership.
2017 – Opposition protesters in South Africa hold “Zuma Must Fall” demonstrations.
(Reuters)
