History for August 12

History for August 12 - On-This-Day.com:
Cecil B. DeMille 1881, Buck Owens 1929, William Goldman 1931 


Parnelli Jones 1933, George Hamilton 1939, Pete Sampras 1971 


1676 - "King Phillip's War" came to an end with the killing of Indian chief King Phillip. The war between the Indians and the Europeans lasted for two years. 


1851 - Isaac Singer was issued a patent on the double-headed sewing machine. 


1865 - Disinfectant was used for the first time during surgery by Joseph Lister. 


1867 - U.S. President Andrew Johnson sparked a move to impeach him when he defied Congress by suspending Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton. 


1877 - Thomas Edison invented the phonograph and made the first sound recording. 


1898 - The Spanish-American War was ended with the signing of the peace protocol. The U.S. acquired Guam, Puerto Rico and the Philippines. Hawaii was also annexed. 


1953 - The Soviet Union secretly tested its first hydrogen bomb. 


1981 - IBM unveiled its first PC. 


1985 - A Japan Air Lines Boeing 747 crashed into a mountain killing 520 people. 


1992 - The U.S., Canada, and Mexico announced that the North American Free Trade Agreement had been created after 14 months of negotiations.