On this day...

1777 Reverand Benjamin Russen executed at Tyburn, England for rape
1787 Pennsylvania becomes 2nd state to ratify US constitution
1791 Bank of the US opens
1800 Washington DC established as capital of US
1899 George F. Grant of Boston patents the golf tee
1901 Marconi receives first transatlantic radio signal, England to US
1906 Oscar Straus, first Jewish cabinet member, appointed Sec. of Commerce
1913 "Mona Lisa," stolen from the Louvre Museum in 1911
1915 First all-metal aircraft (Junkers J.1) test flown at Dessau Germany
1917 French troop train derails in French Alps killing 543
1917 Rev. Edward Flanagan founded Boys Town outside Omaha, Nebraska
1925 Arthur Heinman coins term "motel," opens Motel Inn, San Luis Obispo
1925 Last Qajar Shah of Iran deposed; Rexa Shah Pahlavi takes over
1937 First mobile TV unit (NYC)
1937 Japanese aircraft shell & sink US gunboat Panay on Yangtze River in China
1941 German occupying army perform a house search in Paris looking for Jews
1946 UN accepts 6 Manhattan blocks as a gift from John D. Rockefeller, Jr.
1947 United Mine Workers union withdraw from AFL
1953 Chuck Yeager reaches Mach 2.43 in Bell X-1A rocket plane
1957 US announces manufacture of Borazon (harder than diamond)
1959 UN Committee on Peaceful Use of Outer Space is established
1961 Ham radio satellite Oscar 1 launched with military Discoverer 36
1961 Martin Luther King, Jr. & 700 demonstrators arrested in Albany GA
1963 Frank Sinatra, Jr. returned after being kidnapped
1963 Kenya gains independence from Britain (National Day)
1964 Shooting starts for Star Trek pilot, "The Cage" (Menagerie)
1965 Gale Sayers of Chicago Bears scores 6 TDs, ties NFL record
1967 US launches Pioneer 8 into solar orbit
1968 Rolling Stones film TV show "Rock 'n Roll Circus"-never aired
1973 San Diego files anti-trust against NL (stopping Padres move to DC)
1975 Gas stove explodes & starts fire killing 138 (Mecca Saudi Arabia)
1975 Sara Jane Moore pled guilty to trying to kill President Gerald Ford
1976 QB Joe Namath last game as a NY Jet
1979 Gold hits record $462.50 an ounce
1979 Rhodesia becomes the independent nation of Zimbabwe
1980 US's copyright law amended to include computer programs
1983 A truck bomb explodes at the US Embassy in Kuwait
1985 248 US soldiers & 8 crew members die in Arrow Air charter crash
1986 Bone Crusher Smith KO's WBA champ Tim Witherspoon in New York City
1986 Microlite aircraft circles world non-stop
1987 Mookie Blaylock sets NBA record of 13 steals in a game
1988 NYC Subway system adds new stations (the Z line)
1988 Sandra Miller of Queens sues Mike Tyson for sexual harassment
1991 Actor Richard Gere marries super model Cindy Crawford
1991 Orion Pictures files Chapter 11 for bankruptcy protection

Birthdays which occurred on December 12th:

1745 John Jay, diplomat (NY-Governor)
1805 Henry Wells, founder (American Express Co & Wells Fargo & Co)
1805 William Lloyd Garrison, abolitionist publisher (The Liberator)
1821 Gustave Flaubert, France, novelist (Madame Bovary)
1848 William Vanderbilt, yachtsman (donated Vanderbilt Cup)
1859 Edward Bradley, horse owner (First to own 4 Kentucky Derby winners)
1859 Maurice Donnay, French playwright (Lovers)
1863 Edvard Munch, Norway, painter/print maker (The Scream)
1893 Edward G. Robinson, Romania, actor (10 Commandments)
1913 Hal Dickinson, singer (Modernaires)
1913 Jesse Owens, US, track star (4 golds 1936), spoiled Hitler's Olympics
1915 Frank Sinatra, Hoboken, singer/actor 
1918 Joe Williams, jazz singer (Everyday I have the Blues)
1923 Bob Barker, Darrington Washington, game show emcee (Price is Right)
1924 Edward I. Koch, NYC, (Mayor-D-NYC, 1977-89)
1928 Helen Frankenthaler, NY, abstract expressionist artist (Arden)
1929 John Osborne, England, playwright (Look Back in Anger, Luther-TONY 1964)
1931 Lionel Blair, Montreal, choreographer (Spotlight)
1932 Robert Pettit, NBA star (St Louis Bombers/1959 MVP)
1938 Connie Francis, Newark NJ, singer/actress (Where the Boys Are)
1940 Dionne Warwick, East Orange NJ, singer (Solid Gold, Way to San Jose)
1941 Tim Hauser, jazz singer (Manhattan Transfer-Tuxedo Junction)
1943 Dicky Betts, rocker (Allman Brothers)
1943 Grover Washington, Jr., jazz artist (Mr Magic)
1946 Emerson Fittipaldi, Brazil, Indy-car racer
1946 George Santo Pietro, husband of Vanna White
1950 Billy Smith, Ontario, NHL goaltender (NY Islanders)
1951 Caren Kaye, NYC, actress (My Tutor, Blansky's Beauties)
1952 Cathy Rigby-Mason, US Olympic gymnast (Olympics 1968, 72)
1952 Sarah Douglas, England, actress (Conan, Superman II, Falcon Crest)
1956 Ana Alicia, Mexico City, actress (Melissa-Falcon Crest)
1957 Cy Curnin, rocker (The Fixx)
1958 Sheree J. Wilson, actress (Our Family Honor, April-Dallas)
1959 Belouis Some, rocker (Neville Keighley-Some People)
1962 Holly Gagnier, LA, actress (One Life to Live)
1964 Rockin' Jeff, rocker (The Pasadenas-Riding on a Train)
1970 Kirk Cameron, actor (Mike-Growing Pains, Teen Wolf II)
1972 Missy Francis, Los angeles, actress (Little House on the Prairie)
1975 Mayim Winkelman Bialik, San Diego, actress (Blossom, Beaches)

Deaths which occurred on December 12th:

1777 Rev Benjamin Russen, executed at Tyburn, England for rape
1889 Robert Browning, English poet
1962 Sid Saylor, actor (Wally-Waterfront), dies at 67
1965 Johnny Lee, actor (Calhoun-Amos 'n' Andy), dies at 67
1968 Tallulah Bankhead, actress (All Star Revue), dies at 66
1971 Jack Barnhill, a Northern Ireland senator, is assassinated
1976 Jack Cassidy, actor (Oscar/Jetman-He & She), dies at 49
1985 Anne Baxter, actress (Myra-Marcus Welby, Victoria-Hotel), dies at 62
1988 John Canning, NY Post managing editor, dies at 56