On This Day
What Happened on January 12 in History
8 events that happened on January 12, oldest first. Every entry is written in our own words and links to its source.
The Young Republic and the Civil War Era
1888
The Schoolchildren's Blizzard struck the northern Plains without warning, killing 235 people.
Many of the victims were children caught on their way home from school. Some accounts say temperatures fell nearly 100 degrees within a day.
Source: history.com
The Early 1900s and the World Wars
1932
Hattie Caraway of Arkansas became the first woman elected to the U.S. Senate.
Arkansas Governor Harvey Parnell had appointed her two months earlier to the seat left vacant by the death of her husband, Thaddeus Caraway. She won the special election to finish his term with support from Senator Huey Long of Louisiana, and was reelected in 1938.
Source: history.com; archives.gov
1943
Soviet troops launched an offensive that broke through the German siege of Leningrad.
The siege had lasted about a year and a half. The breach opened a land corridor near Lake Ladoga so supplies could reach the starving city.
Source: history.com
The Cold War
1969
Joe Namath's New York Jets upset the Baltimore Colts 16-7 in Super Bowl III.
Namath had guaranteed a win even though the Jets were 18-point underdogs. It was the first Super Bowl victory for the American Football League, which merged with the NFL the next year.
Source: history.com
1986
Franklin Chang-Diaz became the first Hispanic American in space aboard the shuttle Columbia.
The six-day STS-61C mission deployed a communications satellite and carried out astrophysics experiments. It was the first of seven spaceflights for the physicist and astronaut.
Source: history.com; nasa.gov
The Modern Era
1997
The space shuttle Atlantis lifted off on STS-81 to dock with the Russian space station Mir.
Astronaut Jerry Linenger replaced John Blaha, who had spent 118 days aboard Mir. The flight transferred more cargo than any earlier docking and brought home the first plants to complete a life cycle in space.
Source: nasa.gov
2005
NASA launched Deep Impact, a spacecraft built to fire a probe into a comet.
The spacecraft lifted off from Cape Canaveral on a Delta II rocket. On July 4, 2005, its impactor struck comet Tempel 1, blasting out material that scientists studied to learn what comets are made of.
Source: science.nasa.gov
2010
A massive earthquake devastated Haiti, destroying much of the capital, Port-au-Prince.
More than 200,000 people were killed. The disaster drew aid from around the world, but recovery in the small nation was slow.
Source: history.com; archive.nytimes.com