Today is Monday, May 12, the 132nd day of 2025. There are 233 days left in the year.
Today in history:
On May 12, 2008, a devastating 7.9 magnitude earthquake in China’s Sichuan province left more than 87,000 people dead or missing.
Also on this date:
In 1780, the besieged city of Charleston, South Carolina, surrendered to British forces in one of the worst American defeats of the Revolutionary War.
In 1846, the pioneers of the Donner Party left Independence, Missouri, on the Oregon Trail, beginning their ill-fated attempt to migrate to California.
In 1932, the body of Charles Lindbergh Jr., the 20-month-old kidnapped son of Charles and Anne Lindbergh, was found in a wooded area near Hopewell, New Jersey.
In 1933, the Franklin D. Roosevelt administration established both the Federal Emergency Relief Administration, which provided federal funding to states for relief programs, and the Agricultural Adjustment Administration, which provided economic support to farmers through agricultural surplus reductions.
In 1949, the Soviet Union lifted the Berlin Blockade, which the Western powers had succeeded in circumventing with their Berlin Airlift.
In 1975, members of the new Khmer Rouge-led Cambodian government seized an American merchant ship, the SS Mayaguez, in international waters, sparking a three-day battle that resulted in the deaths of 41 Americans.
In 1982, in Fatima, Portugal, security guards overpowered a Spanish priest armed with a bayonet who attacked Pope John Paul II. (In 2008, the pope’s longtime private secretary revealed that the pontiff was slightly wounded in the assault.)
Today’s Birthdays:
- Hockey Hall of Famer Johnny Bucyk is 90.
- Musician Steve Winwood is 77.
- Actor Bruce Boxleitner is 75.
- Actor Gabriel Byrne is 75.
- Singer Billy Squier is 75.
- Basketball Hall of Fame coach George Karl is 74.
- Country musician Kix Brooks is 70.
- Actor Ving Rhames is 66.
- Actor-filmmaker Emilio Estevez is 63.
- Chef/TV personality Carla Hall is 61.
- Actor Stephen Baldwin is 59.
- Skateboarder Tony Hawk is 57.
- Actor Kim Fields is 56.
- Actor Rhea Seehorn is 53.
- Actor Malin Akerman is 47.
- Actor Jason Biggs is 47.
- Actor Rami Malek is 44.