This day in history

[April 20, 2010]  (AP)  Today is Monday, April 12, the 102nd day of 2010. There are 263 days left in the year.

Today's highlight in history:

On April 12, 1945, President Franklin D. Roosevelt died of a cerebral hemorrhage in Warm Springs, Ga., at age 63; he was succeeded by Vice President Harry S. Truman.

On this date:

In 1606, England's King James I decreed the design of the original Union Flag, which combined the flags of England and Scotland.

In 1861, the American Civil War began as Confederate forces bombarded Fort Sumter in South Carolina.

In 1877, the catcher's mask was first used in a baseball game, by James Tyng of Harvard in a game against the Lynn Live Oaks.

In 1910, American educator and social critic William Graham Sumner died at age 69 in Englewood, N.J.

In 1934, "Tender Is the Night," by F. Scott Fitzgerald, was first published in book form after being serialized in Scribner's Magazine.

In 1955, the Salk vaccine against polio was declared safe and effective.

In 1960, Candlestick Park in San Francisco first opened, with Vice President Richard Nixon throwing the ceremonial first pitch before a game between the San Francisco Giants and St. Louis Cardinals, which the Giants won, 3-1.

In 1961, Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin became the first man to fly in space, orbiting the earth once before making a safe landing.

In 1981, the space shuttle Columbia blasted off from Cape Canaveral on its first test flight.

In 1985, Sen. Jake Garn, R-Utah, became the first sitting member of Congress to fly in space as the shuttle Discovery lifted off.

Ten years ago: Attorney General Janet Reno met in Miami with the U.S. relatives of Elian Gonzalez, after which she ordered them to bring the 6-year-old boy to an airport the next day so he could be taken to a reunion with his father in Washington. Elian was seized by federal agents ten days after Reno's order to turn him over.

Five years ago: Three men with suspected al-Qaida ties, already in British custody, were charged with a yearslong plot to attack the New York Stock Exchange and other East Coast financial institutions. Seven men were eventually convicted in British court and received sentences ranging up to 26 years; the leader of the group, Dhiren Barot, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit murder and received life in prison. President George W. Bush visited soldiers at Fort Hood, Texas, marking the two-year anniversary of the end of Saddam Hussein's regime.

One year ago: American cargo ship captain Richard Phillips was rescued from Somali pirates by U.S. Navy snipers who shot and killed three of the hostage-takers. Angel Cabrera became the first Argentine to win the Masters. In Hameenlinna, Finland, the United States won its second straight women's World Hockey Championship title, beating Canada 4-1. Actress Marilyn Chambers, 56, who'd starred in the explicit 1972 movie "Behind the Green Door," was found dead at her home in Canyon Country, Calif.

Today's birthdays: Country singer Ned Miller is 85. Actress Jane Withers is 84. Opera singer Montserrat Caballe is 77. Actor Charles Napier is 74. Playwright Alan Ayckbourn (AYK'-bohrn) is 71. Jazz musician Herbie Hancock is 70. Actor Frank Bank ("Leave It to Beaver") is 68. Rock singer John Kay (Steppenwolf) is 66. Actor Ed O'Neill is 64. Author Tom Clancy is 63. Actor Dan Lauria is 63. Talk show host David Letterman is 63. Author Scott Turow is 61. Singer David Cassidy is 60. Actor-playwright Tom Noonan is 59. Rhythm-and-blues singer JD Nicholas (The Commodores) is 58. Singer Pat Travers is 56. Actor Andy Garcia is 54. Movie director Walter Salles (SAL'-ihs) is 54. Country singer Vince Gill is 53. Actress Suzzanne (cq) Douglas is 53. Rock musician Will Sergeant (Echo & the Bunnymen) is 52. Rock singer Art Alexakis (al-ex-AH'-kis) (Everclear) is 48. Country singer Deryl Dodd is 46. Folk-pop singer Amy Ray (Indigo Girls) is 46. Actress Alicia Coppola is 42. Rock singer Nicholas Hexum (311) is 40. Actor Nicholas Brendon is 39. Actress Shannen Doherty is 39. Actress Marley Shelton is 36. Actress Jordana Spiro is 33. Rock musician Guy Berryman (Coldplay) is 32. Actress Claire Danes is 31. Actress Jennifer Morrison is 31. Contemporary Christian musician Joe Rickard (Red) is 23. Rock singer-musician Brendon Urie (Panic at the Disco) is 23. Actress Saoirse (SUR'-shuh) Ronan ("Atonement") is 16.

Thought for today: "All history is only one long story to this effect: Men have struggled for power over their fellow men in order that they might win the joys of earth at the expense of others, and might shift the burdens of life from their own shoulders upon those of others." -- William Graham Sumner (1840-1910)

[Associated Press]

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