Today is Thursday, July 12, the 194th day of 2012. There are 172 days left in the year.
1543 ― England's King Henry VIII weds Catherine Parr (sixth & last wife)
1859 ― Paper bag manufacturing machine patented by William Goodale, Mass.
1906 ― Alfred Dreyfus found innocent in France
1914 ― Babe Ruth makes his baseball debut, pitches for the Red Sox
1960 ― Congo, Chad and Central African Republic declare independence
1962 ― First time two manned crafts in space (USSR)
1962 ― Rolling Stones first performance (Marquee Club, London)
1970 ― Janis Joplin debuts in Kentucky
1984 ― Geraldine Ferraro, N.Y., became first woman major-party V.P. candidate
1985 ― Doctors discover a cancerous growth in President Reagan's colon