January 12 - What happened today?

Home What happened today in history? Blamepro's Almanac for January 12
In the headlines today:

2007		US president George W. Bush signs a law making pretexting illegal. (photo credit: Tyndale House)
2003	Maurice Gibb, singer-keyboardist of the Bee Gees, dies of cardiac arrest at age 53 in Miami.
1991	Congress gives the go-ahead for US military action against Iraq in Operation Desert Storm.
1991	Key Luke, movie and TV actor best known as "Number One Son" in numerous Charlie Chan movies, dies of a stroke at age 86.
1986	The space shuttle Columbia blasts off with a crew of seven, including Dr. Franklin Chang-Diaz -- the first Hispanic-American astronaut.
1973	Yassar Arafat is re-elected to lead the Palestinian Liberation Organization.
1971	Carroll O'Connor stars in All In the Family, debuting on CBS-TV.
1966		Adam West (left) and Burt Ward star as the Dynamic Duo in Batman, which makes its colorful, action-packed debut on ABC-TV. (photo credit: 20th Century Fox)
1949	The children's show Kukla, Fran and Ollie, a Chicago regional TV favorite, makes its network debut on NBC.
1932	Oliver Wendell Holmes steps down from the US Supreme Court at age 90.
1932	Hattie Caraway becomes the first woman US Senator.
1928	Vladimir Horowitz debuts as a soloist with the New York Philharmonic at Carnegie Hall.
1915	The US Congress establishes the Rocky Mountain National Park in Colorado.
1896	H.L. Smith takes the world's first x-ray picture.
1773	The first public museum in the US is established in Charleston, SC.