WHAT HAPPENED ON 12. OCTOBER
Want to find out what all happened on 12. October

President Theodore Roosevelt officially renames the "Executive Mansion" to the White House. (12. October 1901)

World War I: British nurse Edith Cavell is executed by a German firing squad for helping Allied soldiers escape from Belgium (12. October 1915)

World War I: The First Battle of Passchendaele takes place resulting in the largest single day loss of life in New Zealand history. (12. October 1917)

A massive forest fire kills 453 people in Minnesota. (12. October 1918)

An iron lung respirator is used for the first time at Children's Hospital, Boston (12. October 1928)

The United States Army Disciplinary Barracks on Alcatraz Island, is acquired by the United States Department of Justice (12. October 1933)

World War II: Japanese ships retreat after their defeat in the Battle of Cape Esperance with the Japanese commander, Aritomo Gotō dying from wounds suffered in the battle and two Japanese destroyers sunk by Allied air attack. (12. October 1942)

World War II: The Liberation of Athens from the German invaders. (12. October 1944)

World War II: Desmond Doss is the first conscientious objector to receive the U.S. Medal of Honor. (12. October 1945)

"The Caine Mutiny Court Martial" opens at Plymouth Theatre, New York City (12. October 1953)

At the national congress of APRA in Peru a group of leftist radicals are expelled from the party. They will later form APRA Rebelde. (12. October 1959)

Cold War: Nikita Khrushchev pounds his shoe on a desk at United Nations General Assembly meeting to protest a Philippine assertion of Soviet Union colonial policy being conducted in Eastern Europe (12. October 1960)

Television viewers in Japan unexpectedly witness the assassination of Inejiro Asanuma, leader of the Japan Socialist Party, when he is stabbed and killed during a live broadcast. (12. October 1960)

Infamous Columbus Day Storm strikes the U.S. Pacific Northwest with record wind velocities; 46 dead and at least U.S. $230 million in damages (12. October 1962)

The Soviet Union launches the Voskhod 1 into Earth orbit as the first spacecraft with a multi-person crew and the first flight without space suits (12. October 1964)

Vietnam War: US Secretary of State Dean Rusk states during a news conference that proposals by the U.S. Congress for peace initiatives are futile because of North Vietnam's opposition (12. October 1967)

Equatorial Guinea becomes independent from Spain (12. October 1968)

Vietnam War: US President Richard Nixon announces that the United States will withdraw 40,000 more troops before Christmas (12. October 1970)

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, the first of five books in the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy comedy science fiction series by Douglas Adams is published. (12. October 1979)

The lowest recorded non-tornadic atmospheric pressure, 87.0 kPa (870 mbar or 25.69 inHg), occurred in the Western Pacific during Typhoon Tip. (12. October 1979)