On This Day - May 12

Once again, it should be reiterated, that this does not pretend to be a very extensive history of what happened on this day (nor is it the most original - the links can be found down below). If you know something that I am missing, by all means, shoot me an email or leave a comment, and let me know!


http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history


On this day in 1957, race car driver A.J. Foyt (1935- ) scores his first professional victory, in a U.S. Automobile Club (USAC) midget car race in Kansas City, Missouri.

A tough-as-nails Texan, Anthony Joseph Foyt, Jr. raced midget cars--smaller vehicles designed to be driven in races of shorter distances--and stock cars before moving up to bigger things in 1958, when he entered his first Indianapolis 500 race. Foyt won his first Indy 500 crown in 1961, when rival Eddie Sachs was forced to make a tire change in the final laps, giving Foyt the chance to overtake him and win with a then-record average speed of 139.13 mph.

The 1964 season saw Foyt earn a record-setting winning percentage of .769 with 10 wins in 13 races. His most important win that year came in the Indy 500, which he finished with an average speed of 147.45 mph. After a near-fatal crash in a stock car race in 1965--in which he broke his back, fractured his ankle and suffered severe chest injuries--Foyt came back to continue his string of impressive achievements. In 1967, he won his third Indy 500 in a car he had designed himself, with his father Tony as chief mechanic. Two weeks later, he traveled to France and won the 24 Hours of LeMans international competition with teammate Don Gurney. With a win at the Daytona 500 in 1972, Foyt became the first driver to win all three major races in motor sports: the Indy 500, the Daytona 500 and the 24 Hours of LeMans.

In addition to the records for most total victories (67), most national championships (7) and most victories in one season (10), Foyt also has the most consecutive Indy 500 starts: He competed in the race for 35 straight years. His fourth win came in 1977, when the 42-year-old Foyt screamed around the track at an average speed of 161.331 mph. Only two other men have equaled his record of four Indy 500 wins.

In 1989, Foyt became the first driver inducted into the brand-new Motor Sports Hall of Fame in Novi, Michigan. He practiced at the Indy 500 track in 1993, but retired on the first day of qualifying races. Apart from auto racing teams, Foyt's later business interests have included car dealerships, funeral homes, oil investments and thoroughbred racehorses.



254 - Stephan I replaces Lucius I as Catholic Pope

919 - Duke Henry of Saxon becomes king Henry I of Oostfrankische rich

1082 - Battle at Mailberg: Vratislav II of Bohemia beats Leopold II of Austr

1215 - English barons serve ultimatum on king John without Country

1328 - Holy Roman Emperor Louis IV and assembly of priests select P Rainalducci as anti-Pope Nicolaas V

1328 - Antipope Nicholas V, a claimant to the papacy, is consecrated in Rome by the Bishop of Venice.

1459 - Sun City India founded by Rao Jodhpur

1525 - Battle at Biblingen: Zwabische Union beats rebel Wurttembergse farmers

1534 - Wurttemberg becomes Lutherian

1551 - San Marcos University in Lima Peru, opens

1588 - Catholic League under duke Henri de Guise occupies Paris. King Henry III fled Paris after Henry of Guise triumphantly entered the city.

1604 - Spanish garrison of Aardenburg surrenders to Mauritius

1640 - Uprising against Spanish king Philip IV

1689 - England & Netherlands form League of Augsburg

1695 - English king Willem III departs to Netherlands

1701 - Drenthe adopts Gregorian calendar (yesterday is 4/29/1701)

1733 - Maria Theresa crowned queen of Bohemia in Prague

1776 - Turgot, French minister of Finance, resigns

1777 - First ice cream advertisement (Philip Lenzi-NY Gazette)

1780 - Charleston, South Carolina fell to the British forces that would occupy it. (Revolutionary War)

1789 - Society of St Tammany is formed by Revolutionary War soldiers. It later becomes an infamous group of NYC political bosses

1792 - Toilet that flushes itself at regular intervals is patented

1797 - First Coalition: Napoleon I of France conquers Venice.

1821 - The first big battle of the Greek War of Independence against the Turks occurs in Valtetsi.

1831 - Edward Smith became the first indicted bank robber in the U.S.

1832 - Gaetano Donizetti's opera "L'elisir d'amore," premieres in Milan

1835 - Charles Darwin visits copper mines in North Chile

1847 - William Clayton invented the odometer.

1849 - Willem Alexander PFL crowned king Willem III in Amsterdam

1862 - Federal troops occupies Baton Rouge Louisiana

1863 - Battle of Raymond, Miss

1864 - Battle of Drewry's Bluff, VA (Ft Darling)

1864 - Battle of Spotsylvania Courthouse, Virginia

1864 - Battle of Todd's Tavern, VA (Sheridan's Raid)

1864 - Butler attacks Drewry's Bluff on James River

1864 - US Union colonel Emory Upton (24) promoted to brigade-general

1865 - Last land action of Civil war at Palmito Ranch, Texas

1870 - Manitoba entered the Confederation as a Canadian province.

1871 - Segregated street cars integrated in Louisville, Kentucky

1873 - Oscar II of Sweden-Norway is crowned King of Sweden.

1874 - US Assay Office in Helena, Montana authorized

1875 - First recorded shutout in pro baseball, Chicago 1, St Louis 0

1877 - Ottawa Rough Riders first outside competition vs Britannia

1881 - Treaty of Bardo, Tunisia becomes a French protectorate

1885 - In the Battle of Batoche, French Canadians rebelled against the Canadian government.

1888 - Charles Sherrill of the Yale track team became the first runner to use the crouching start for a fast break in a foot race.

1890 - Louisiana legalized prize fighting

1890 - The first-ever official County Championship match begins. Yorkshire beats Gloucestershire by eight wickets at Bristol. George Ulyett scores the first century in the competition.

1891 - Riot against tax increase in Paramaribo Suriname

1894 - Ludwig Englander's musical "Passing Show," premieres in NYC

1897 - 1800-1900 year old fossil of "girl of Yde" found in Drente Neth

1897 - Battle at Thessalie: Turkish army defeated the Greeks

1898 - Louisiana adopts new constitution with "grandfather clause" designed to eliminate black voters

1900 - Boer attack under Sarel Eloff, about 70 killed

1900 - Lord Roberts' troops occupies Crown city

1901 - Pres McKinley visits San Francisco

1908 - George Bernard Shaws' "Getting Married," premieres in London

1908 - Wireless Radio Broadcasting is patented by Nathan B Stubblefield

1909 - 34th Preakness: Willie Doyle aboard Effendi wins in 1:39.8

1910 - Second NAACP conference (NYC)

1910 - Phil A's Chief Bender no-hits Cleveland Indians, 4-0

1913 - Harry Green runs world record marathon (2:38:16.2)

1915 - Croatians plunder Armenia, killing 250

1915 - Franklin K Mathiews, presents idea of "Book Week"

1917 - 42nd Preakness: E Haynes aboard Kalitan wins in 1:54.4

1917 - 43rd Kentucky Derby: Charles Borel on Omar Khayyam wins in 2:04.6

1919 - Yanks & Senators play 2nd straight extra inning tie, 4-4 in 15

1921 - National Hospital Day 1st observed

1923 - 49th Preakness: Benny Marinelli aboard Vigil wins in 1:53.6

1924 - 50th Preakness: John Merimee aboard Nellie Morse wins in 1:57.2

1925 - Uzbekistan & Kirgizistan become autonomous Soviet republics

1926 - The airship Norge is the first vessel to fly over North Pole

1926 - In Britain, a general strike by trade unions ended. The strike began on May 3, 1926.

1926 - Dmitri Sjostakovitch's 1st Symphony, premieres in Leningrad

1926 - Gen Pilsudski sets coup on premier Witos compared

1926 - Umberto Nobile flies airship over North Pole

1928 - Benito Mussolini ends woman's rights in Italy

1928 - Opium laws enforced

1929 - Pulitzer prize awarded to Julia Peterkin (Scarlet Sister Mary)

1930 - Pulitzer prize awarded to Marc Connelly (Green Pastures)

1932 - Body of kidnapped son of Charles and Anne Lindbergh is found in Hopewell NJ

1933 - Federal Emergency Relief Administration & Agricultural Adjustment Administration form to help the needy & farmers

1934 - "Cocktails For Two," by Duke Ellington hits #1

1934 - 60th Preakness: Robert Jones aboard High Quest wins in 1:58.2

1936 - Ralph Vaughan Williams' "Poisoned Kiss," premieres in London

1937 - Coronation of King George VI of Britain at Westminster Abbey in London

1938 - Sandoz Labs manufactures LSD (lysergic acid diethylamide)

1940 - French mariners occupy St Maarten

1940 - German tanks conquer Moerdijkbrug

1940 - Nazi blitzkrieg conquest of France began by the crossing of the Muese River by the German Army.

1941 - Great British convoy marches into Alexandria

1941 - Konrad Zuse presents the Z3, the world's first working programmable, fully automatic computer, in Berlin.

1942 - 1,500 Jews gassed in Auschwitz

1942 - David Ben-Gurion leaves Jewish state in Palestine

1942 - Nazi U-boat sinks American cargo ship at mouth of Mississippi River

1942 - The Soviet Army launched its first major offensive of World War II and took Kharkov in the eastern Ukraine from the German army. They occupy it until Aug 23, 1943

1943 - Axis forces in North Africa surrender

1943 - British premier Winston Churchill arrives in US

1943 - German troops in Tunisia North Africa surrender

1944 - 900+ 8th Air Force bombers attack Zwikau, Bohlen & Brux

1944 - Krim purged of nazi troops

1944 - Secret Police arrest Gerrit Van de Peat

1948 - Queen Wilhelmina resigns

1949 - The Soviet announced an end to the blockade that prompted the Berlin airlift.

1949 - First foreign woman ambassador received in US (S V L Pandit India)

1950 - Darius Milhauds opera "Bolivar," premieres in Paris

1950 - The American Bowling Congress abolished its white males-only membership restriction after 34 years.

1951 - First H Bomb test, on Enewetak Atoll

1952 - Charlton Playground named in Bronx

1952 - Gaj Singh is crowned Maharaja of Jodhpur.

1953 - KUHT TV channel 8 in Houston, TX (PBS) begins broadcasting

1955 - Chicago Cub Sam Jones is first black to pitch no-hitter (Pirates, 4-0)

1956 - Bkln Dodger Carl Erskine's second no-hitter, beats NY Giants, 3-0

1956 - East Pakistan struck by cyclone & tidal waves

1957 - A.J. Foyt won his first auto racing victory in Kansas City, MO.

1958 - US performs atmospheric nuclear test at Enwetak

1959 - "Nervous Set" opens at Henry Miller's Theater NYC for 23 performances

1960 - Elvis Presley appears on a Frank Sinatra special

1961 - Botvinnik wins world chess championship for 3rd time

1962 - Grevelingendam closes

1962 - US performs atmospheric nuclear test at Christmas Island

1963 - Bob Dylan walks out of the "Ed Sullivan Show"

1963 - Race riot in Birmingham Alabama

1964 - Manlio Brosio chosen as sec-gen of NATO

1965 - Israel and West Germany exchange letters beginning diplomatic relations

1966 - St Louis' Busch Stadium opens, Braves lose to Cards 4-3 in 12 inns

1967 - H Rap Brown replaces Stokely Carmichael as chairman of Student

1967 - Provo disbands in Neth Nonviolent Coordinating Committee

1968 - "March of Poor" under rev Abernathy reach Washington, DC

1968 - WSKG TV channel 46 in Binghamton, NY (PBS) begins broadcasting

1969 - Kenneth H Wallis achieved record speed for an autogiro-179 KPH

1970 - Ernie Banks of the Chicago Cubs hits his 500th home run

1970 - Harry A Blackmun is confirmed as a justice on Supreme Court

1970 - KTVM TV channel 6 in Butte, MT (NBC/ABC) begins broadcasting

1970 - Race riots in Augusta Georgia; 6 blacks killed (5 by cops)

1970 - US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site

1972 - Milwaukee Brewers beat Minnesota Twins, 4-3, in 22 innings (completed 5/13)

1972 - Paul McCartney & Wings release "Mary Had a Little Lamb"

1973 - 6th ABA championship: Indiana Pacers beat Ky Colonels, 4 games to 3

1973 - Dueling Tubas by Martin Mull hits #92

1974 - 28th NBA Championship: Boston Celtics beat Milwaukee, 4 games to 3

1975 - US merchant ship Mayaguez seized by Cambodian forces

1976 - Bayern Munich wins 21st Europe Cup 1

1977 - First quadrophonic concert (Pink Floyd in London)

1977 - Emmy 4th Daytime Award presentation

1978 - The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced that they would no longer exclusively name hurricanes after women.

1979 - Chris Evert's 125-match winning streak on clay comes to an end

1980 - First nonstop crossing of US via balloon (Maxie Anderson & son Chris)

1980 - West Ham United wins the FA Cup, beating Arsenal 1-0 at Wembley Stadium. Midfield playmaker Trevor Brooking scores the winner with a rare header.

1982 - FC Barcelona wins 22nd Europe Cup II

1982 - Pulitzer prize awarded to John Updike (Rabbit is Rich)

1982 - United States Football League (USFL) forms

1982 - In Fatima, Portugal, security guards overpowered a Spanish priest armed with a bayonet who was trying to reach Pope John Paul II.

1982 - South Africa unveiled a plan that would give voting rights to citizens of Asian and mixed-race descent, but not to blacks.

1984 - Discovery moves to Vandenberg AFB for mating of STS 41-D

1984 - France performs nuclear test 1984 - Joe Lucius scored his 13th hole-in-one on same hole

1984 - South African prisoner Nelson Mandela saw his wife for first time in 22 years

1984 - World of Rivers world exposition opens in New Orleans

1985 - Amy Eilberg is ordained in NY as 1st woman Conservative rabbi

1986 - Bicycle is pedaled 65 mph

1986 - President Reagan appoints Dr James C Fletcher NASA Administrator

1986 - Fred Markham (US), unpaced & unaided by wind, is 1st to pedal 65 mph on a level course, Big Sand Flat, Calif

1988 - "Carrie" opens at Virginia Theater NYC for 5 performances

1989 - "Entertainment Tonight" performs their 2,000th TV performance

1989 - Last graffiti covered NYC subway car retired

1989 - Retired Brit pilot Jack Mann is kidnapped by Islamic fundamentalists

1990 - Third time Saturday Night Live uses time delay (Andrew Dice Clay hosts)

1990 - Comic Relief '90 (4th one) raises $4.7 million

1990 - Nora Dunn & Sinead O'Connor boycott Saturday Night Live to protest Andrew "Dice" Clay's hosting

1991 - A new cancer drug is announced, which can only be found in bark of a rare tree in the Pacific Northwest

1992 - First Belgian woman (Ingrid Baeyens) to ascend Mount Everest

1992 - Four suspects were arrested in the beating of trucker Reginald Denny at the start of the Los Angeles riots.

1993 - Final episode of 6 year run of ABC's "Wonder Years" in Netherlands

1993 - Last broadcast of "Knots landing" on CBS

1993 - Last broadcast of "Cheers" on NBC-TV

1993 - Parma wins 33rd Europe Cup II

1995 - Dow Jones for fifth straight day of the week sets a new record (4430.59)

1995 - Jose Mesa gets 1st of his M.L. record 37 consecutive saves

1995 - Martin Brodeur ties NHL record getting his 3rd playoff shutout in 4

1996 - "Inherit the Wind" closes at Royale Theater NYC after 45 performances

1996 - "Night of the Iguana" closes at Criterion Theater NYC after 68 perfs

1997 - 14 North Koreans defect to South Korea

1997 - Angels scores 13 in 7th vs White Sox

1997 - Russia & Chechnya sign peace deal after 400 years of conflict

1997 - Susie Maroney, 22, of Australia, is 1st to swim from Cuba to Florida

1997 - Tornado narrowly misses downtown Miami

1999 - David Steel becomes the first Presiding Officer (speaker) of the modern Scottish Parliament.

1999 - Russian President Boris Yeltsin dismissed Prime Minister Yevgeny Primakov and named Interior Minister Sergei Stepashin as his successor.

2002 - Former US President Jimmy Carter arrives in Cuba for a five-day visit with Fidel Castro becoming first President of the United States, in or out of office, to visit the island since Castro's 1959 revolution.

2003 - The Riyadh compound bombings, carried out by Al Qaeda, kill 26.

2003 - Fifty-nine Democratic lawmakers bring the Texas Legislature to a standstill by going into hiding in a dispute over a Republican congressional redistricting plan.

2007 - 2007 Karachi riots , which killed over 50 people in Karachi and above 100 injured, on the arrival of Chief Justice of Pakistan; Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry in Karachi city.

2008 - 2008 Wenchuan earthquake (measuring around 8.0 magnitude) occurs in Sichuan, Gansu, and Yunnan Provinces in western China  killing over 69,000 people

2008 - In the U.S., the price for a one-ounce First-Class stamp increased from 41 to 42 cents.

2010 - An Afriqiyah Airways Flight crashes and kills everyone but one person on board.

2012 - The 2012 World Expo began in Yeosu, South Korea.

2012 - The discovery of a missing Mayan calender piece disproves 2012 Armageddon

http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history

http://www.infoplease.com/dayinhistory

http://www.historyorb.com/today/events.php

http://on-this-day.com/onthisday/thedays/alldays/may12.htm