Updated July 11, 2012, 2:28 pm
On July 12, 1984, Democratic presidential candidate Walter F. Mondale named New York Congresswoman Geraldine A. Ferraro his running mate, making her the first woman to run on a major party ticket.
On July 12, 1865, George Washington Carver, the African-American scientist whose discoveries helped to improve agriculture in the South, was born. Following his death on Jan. 5, 1943, his obituary appeared in The Times.
Go to obituary » | Other birthdays »
On This Date
By The Associated Press
100 B.C. Julius Caesar was born in Rome. 1543 England’s King Henry VIII married his sixth and last wife, Catherine Parr. 1690 Protestant forces led by William of Orange defeated the Roman Catholic army of James II at the Battle of the Boyne in Ireland. 1862 Congress authorized the Medal of Honor. 1895 Broadway lyricist Oscar Hammerstein II was born in New York City. 1908 Comedian Milton Berle was born Mendel Berlinger in New York City. 1972 George McGovern won the Democratic presidential nomination at the party’s convention in Miami Beach. 2001 Abner Louima, a Haitian immigrant tortured in a New York City police station, agreed to an $8.7 million settlement. 2005 Prince Albert II of Monaco acceded to the throne. 2006 Hezbollah guerrillas kidnapped two Israeli soldiers and killed eight others in a cross-border raid; Israel sent ground troops into Lebanon in response. 2010 Roman Polanski was declared a free man, no longer confined to house arrest in his Alpine villa, after Swiss authorities rejected a U.S. request for the Oscar-winning director’s extradition because of a 32-year-old sex conviction. Current Birthdays
By The Associated Press
Actor-comedian Bill Cosby turns 75 years old today.
AP Photo/Richard Drew
Actress Michelle Rodriguez (“Avatar,” “Lost”) turns 34 years old today.
AP Photo/Chris Pizzello
1934 Van Cliburn, Pianist, turns 78 1943 Christine McVie, Rock singer, musician (Fleetwood Mac), turns 69 1948 Walter Egan, Singer, turns 64 1948 Richard Simmons, Fitness guru, turns 64 1948 Jay Thomas, Actor, turns 64 1951 Brian Grazer, Producer, turns 61 1951 Cheryl Ladd, Actress (“Charlie’s Angels”), turns 61 1956 Mel Harris, Actress, turns 56 1969 Lisa Nicole Carson, Actress (“Ally McBeal”), turns 43 1971 Kristi Yamaguchi, Figure skater, turns 41 1976 Anna Friel, Actress, turns 36 1978 Topher Grace, Actor (“That 70’s Show”), turns 34 1991 Erik Per Sullivan, Actor (“Malcom in the Middle”), turns 21
Historic Birthdays
George Washington Carver ?/1864 – 1/5/1943 African-American scientist.Go to obituary »
55 Julius Caesar 7/12/c100 BC – 3/15/44BC
Roman imperial general and statesman44 Henry David Thoreau 7/12/1817 – 5/6/1862
American essayist, poet and philosopher74 Eugene Boudin 7/12/1824 – 8/8/1898
French landscape painter73 Benjamin Altman 7/12/1840 – 10/7/1913
American merchant; founded B. Altman department store chain77 George Eastman 7/12/1854 – 3/14/1932
American manufacturer; founded Eastman Kodak Company58 Frederick Birkenhead 7/12/1872 – 9/30/1930
English lord chancellor (1919-22)35 Amedeo Modigliani 7/12/1884 – 1/24/1920
Italian painter and sculptor67 Kirsten Flagstad 7/12/1895 – 12/7/1962
Norwegian soprano88 Buckminster Fuller 7/12/1895 – 7/1/1983
American engineer and architect65 Oscar Hammerstein ll 7/12/1895 – 8/23/1960
American lyricist and producer of musical theater69 Pablo Neruda 7/12/1904 – 9/23/1973
Chilean Nobel Prize-winning poet (1971) and politician
