1922: George Leigh Mallory and two British climbers reached a height of 25,800 feet on Mount Everest without the aid of oxygen; the highest point ever achieved. Two years later, this same month, Mallory made another attempt with Andrew Irvine. Less than 1,000 feet from the summit, they were trapped by bad weather and were never seen alive again. (His body was eventually found on 3rd May 1999).
1931: Gangster Al Capone and 68 of his henchmen are indicted for violating Prohibition laws.
1960: Namibia liberation leader Sam Nujoma makes his case before the U.N. for the necessity of Namibian independence from South African rule. In order to travel to New York to make his address, he had to elude South Africa’s attempts to detain him.
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1964: Anti-apartheid leaders Nelson Mandela and Walter Sisulu (pic: at Robben Island Prison in 1966) are sentenced to life imprisonment along with six other defendants as the Rivonia Trial ends in Pretoria, South Africa. One defendant is acquitted. Mandela will spend the next 27 years as a political prisoner, with the international community pressuring the apartheid regime for his and the others’ release.
1975: Indira Gandhi convicted of election fraud. Indira Gandhi, the prime minister of India, is found guilty of electoral corruption in her successful 1971 campaign. Despite calls for her resignation, Gandhi refused to give up India’s top office and later declared martial law in the country when public demonstrations threatened to topple her administration.
1982: One million people demonstrate in New York City against nuclear weapons. A stunningly large and diverse crowd descends upon New York City’s Central Park on June 12, 1982, demanding nuclear disarmament and an end to the Cold War arms race. By the end of the day, estimates place the number of attendees at over a million, making it the largest disarmament rally in American history.
1987: Ronald Reagan challenges Mikhail Gorbachev to “tear down this wall”
The U.S. President held his famous speech near the Berlin Wall, one of the most important symbols for the division between East and West during the Cold War. The wall was dismantled in 1989, but many observers doubt that Reagan’s famous catchphrase had any impact on this decision.
1991: Election of Boris Yeltsin. On this day in 1991, Boris Yeltsin was easily elected president of Russia (then part of the Soviet Union) in the republic’s first direct, popular elections, and he was president of independent Russia until the eve of 2000.
1993: National Electoral Commission (NEC) conducts presidential elections in defiance of the Abuja High Court Order. Nigerians and foreign observers describe the elections as the freest and fairest the country has ever experienced.
The presidential election was won by Moshood Kashimawo Olawale Abiola but later annulled by General Ibrahim Babangida.
1994: The world’s largest twinjet takes off on its maiden flight
The Boeing 777, or Triple Seven, typically transports up to 451 passengers. It is one of Boeing’s commercially most successful planes.
2006: Cameroon and Nigeria sign the Greentree Agreement that ends a border dispute involving the petroleum-rich Bakassi Peninsula. The dispute began in 1913, and has been settled in Cameroon’s favour by the International Court of Justice. (pic: Cameroon President Paul Biya, U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan, Nigeria President Olusegun Obasanjo)
2016: Mass Shooting at Pulse Nightclub in Orlando, Florida Kills 49 People. In what is now thought to be one of the deadliest incidents of violence against LGBTQ people in history, the shooting committed by 29-year old Omar Mateen is also the second deadliest terrorist attack on US soil since the September 11, 2001 attacks.
2020: Rafiki, Uganda’s beloved and best-known gorilla, is killed by poachers. The rare silverback gorilla was 25. Four men are arrested. In a landmark ruling that will come in January 2021, the man found responsible for the killing will be sentenced to 11 years in prison.
BIRTHS ON THIS DAY: June 12
Mark Henry, 53 years
Mark Jerrold Henry is an American former powerlifter, Olympic weightlifter, strongman, and retired professional wrestler. He is best known for his 25-year career in WWE. Henry is a two-time Olympian and a gold, silver, and bronze medalist at the Pan American Games in 1995.
George H. W. Bush (12 June 1924 – 30 November 2018)
George Herbert Walker Bush was an American politician, diplomat, and businessman who served as the 41st president of the United States of America from 1989 to 1993. He was born on 12 June 1924 and died at the age of 94.
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