Today in U.S. History, February 12: Red-letter day for Abraham Lincoln, Bill Clinton

Today in history holds immense significance because of two former Presidents -- Bill Clinton and Abraham Lincoln. On February 12, in 1809, Abraham Lincoln, the 16th president of the United States, was born in a log cabin at Sinking Spring Farm near Hodgenville, Kentucky. On February 12, 1999, the Senate voted to acquit President Bill Clinton in his impeachment trial on charges of perjury and obstruction of justice. Also on this day, in 1914, groundbreaking took place for the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C.

In 1554, Lady Jane Grey, who had claimed the throne of England for nine days, and her husband, Guildford Dudley, were beheaded after being condemned for high treason.

In 1909, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) was founded in New York City. In 1912, Pu Yi, the last emperor of China, abdicated, marking the end of the Qing Dynasty.


In 2002, former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milošević went on trial in The Hague, charged with genocide and war crimes. (Milošević died in 2006 before the trial could conclude).

In 2016, Pope Francis embraced Patriarch Kirill in the first meeting between a pontiff and the head of the Russian Orthodox Church. The meeting in Havana was a landmark development in the 1,000-year schism that has divided Christianity.

In 2019, Mexico’s most notorious drug lord, Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán, was convicted in New York of running an industrial-scale drug smuggling operation, murder and money laundering. (Guzman is currently serving a life sentence at the federal supermax prison facility in Florence, Colorado.)

Today’s birthdays: Film director Costa-Gavras is 93. Author Judy Blume is 88. Former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak is 84. Country singer Moe Bandy is 82. Musician Michael McDonald is 74. Actor-talk show host Arsenio Hall is 70. Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh is 61. Actor Josh Brolin is 58. Filmmaker Darren Aronofsky is 57. Actor Christina Ricci is 46. Rapper Gucci Mane is 46. Actor Jennifer Stone is 33. Pro wrestler Jaida Parker is 27.