Today in History - November 12th

1775 - On this day in history, General Washington forbade recruiting officers enlisting blacks.
1900 - World's Fair in Paris opened to 50 million visitors.
1910 - Man jumped into the Hudson River from a burning balloon, to give us the first stunt in history.
1927 - Today in history, Trotsky was expelled from the Communist Party and Stalin became the ruler of the Soviet Union.
1936 - Nobel Prize for literature was awarded to Eugene O'Neill.
1946 - On this day in history, the first "autobank" (banking by car) formed in Chicago.

1954 - Ellis Island stopped serving as the chief immigration station for the United States. Twenty million immigrants went through Ellis Island in its 62 years of operation.
1968 - Supreme Court declared Arkansas law banning teaching evolution in public schools unconstitutional.
1979 - President Carter announced immediate halt to all imports of Iranian oil, today in history.
1980 - NYC Mayor Ed Koch admitted to having tried marijuana.
1997 - Ramzi Yousef, the man behind the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, was convicted in New York.
1998 - The then Vice President of the United States Al Gore symbolically signed the Kyoto Protocol.

SCIENCE, INVENTIONS, PATENTS - Today in History, November 12th

1970 - Scientists performed first artificial synthesis of a live cell, today in history.

1966 - Today in history, Donovan's "Mellow Yellow" was released.
1970 - The Doors made their last appearance with Jim Morrison in New Orleans.
1984 - On this day in history, Madonna released the album "Like a Virgin."
1984 - Paul McCartney released "We All Stand Together"
1987 - Sly Stone was arrested for nonpayment of child support when he arrived an hour late for his "comeback" concert in LA.
1993 - Michael Jackson canceled a world tour, saying that he had a dependence on painkillers, today in history.
1996 - The album "Evita: The Complete Motion Picture Music Soundtrack" was released.
1996 - On this day in history, Eminem's first studio album "Infinite" was released.