HISTORY TODAY: September 12

1992

The Space Shuttle Endeavor takes off on NASA’s 50th shuttle mission.

''Knowing the past, we can make wise 

choices for a brighter, and more positive future.''

490 BC		Athenian and Plataean Hoplites commanded by General Miltiades drive back a Persian invasion force under General Datis at Marathon.
1213		Simon de Montfort defeats Raymond of Toulouse and Peter II of Aragon at Muret, France.
1609		Henry Hudson sails into what is now New York Harbor aboard his sloop Half Moon.
1662		Governor Berkley of Virginia is denied his attempts to repeal the Navigation Acts.
1683		A combined Austrian and Polish army defeats the Turks at Kahlenberg and lifts the siege on Vienna, Austria.
1722		The Treaty of St. Petersburg puts an end to the Russo-Persian War.
1786		Despite his failed efforts to suppress the American Revolution, Lord Cornwallis is appointed governor general of India.
1836		Mexican authorities crush the revolt which broke out on August 25.
1918		British troops retake Havincourt, Moeuvres, and Trescault along the Western Front.
1919		Adolf Hitler joins the German Workers’ Party.
1939		In response to the invasion of Poland, the French Army advances into Germany. On this day they reach their furthest penetration-five miles.
1940		Italian forces begin an offensive into Egypt from Libya.
1940		The Lascaux Caves in France, with their prehistoric wall paintings, are discovered.
1944		American troops fight their way into Germany.
1945		French troops land in Indochina.
1969		President Richard Nixon orders a resumption in bombing North Vietnam.
1977		Steve Biko, a South African activist opposing apartheid, dies while in police custody.
1980		A military coup takes place in Turkey.
1990		East and West Germany, along with the UK, the US and the USSR—the Allied nations that had occupied post-WWII Germany—sign the final settlement for reunification of Germany.
1992		The Space Shuttle Endeavor takes off on NASA’s 50th shuttle mission; its crew includes the first African-American woman in space, the first married couple, and the first Japanese citizen to fly in a US spacecraft.
2003		The UN lifts sanctions against Libya in exchange for that country accepting responsibility for the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 in 1988 and paying recompense to victims’ families.
2007		Joseph Estrada, former president of the Philippines, is convicted of plunder.
2011		In New York City, the 9/11 Memorial Museum opens to the public.
Born on September 12
1812		Richard March Hoe, who built the first successful rotary printing press.
1829		Charles Dudley Warner, essayist and novelist who, with Mark Twain, wrote The Guilded Age.
1880		Henry L. Mencken, journalist and iconoclast known as the “Sage of Baltimore.”
1888		Maurice Chevalier, singer, dancer and actor.
1892		Alfred A. Knopf, American publisher.
1910		Alexander D. Langmuir, epidemiologist, created and led the U.S. Epidemic Intelligence Service.
1913		Jesse Owens, track and field athlete who won four medals at the Berlin Olympics in 1936.
1931		Kristin Hunter, author (God Bless the Child, The Survivors).
1931		George Jones, country singer.
1943		Michael Ondaatje, Canadian novelist and poet (The English Patient).
1949		Charles “Chic” Burlingame III, pilot of American Airlines Flight 77, that was hijacked and flown into the Pentagon on Sept. 11, 2001, by terrorists.
1956		Brian Robertson, singer, songwriter, musician (Thin Lizzy, Motorhead, Wild Horses bands).
1956		Richard “Ricky” Rudd, known as the “Iron Man” of NASCAR racing; he holds the record for the most consecutive NASCAR starts.
1981		Jennifer Hudson, singer, actress; her numerous awards include a Grammy (Jennifer Hudson, 2008), and an Oscar, a Golden Globe and a British Academy awards (Dreamgirls, 2006).

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