History for July 12

History for July 12 - On-This-Day.com
Henry David Thoreau 1817, Oscar Hammerstein II 1895, Milton Berle 1908 - Actor


Bill Cosby 1937 - Actor, comedian, Richard Simmons 1948 - Fitness guru, Cheryl Ladd 1951 - Actress ("Charlie's Angels")


1862 - The U.S. Congress authorized the Medal of Honor.


1870 - The first rotary can opener with a cutting wheel was patented by William W. Lyman.


1933 - A minimum wage of 40 cents an hour was established in the U.S.


1941 - Moscow was bombed by the German Luftwaffe for the first time.


1954 - U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower proposed a highway modernization program, with costs to be shared by federal and state governments.


1957 - The U.S. surgeon general, Leroy E. Burney, reported that there was a direct link between smoking and lung cancer.


1960 - Manufacturing began for the Etch A Sketch®.


1982 - The last of the distinctive-looking Checker taxicabs rolled off the assembly line in Kalamazoo, MI.