1962

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Today in History 06/11/17

Country singer Hank Williams poses for a portrait circa 1950 in Nashville, Tennessee (© Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images)(1949) Hank Williams makes his rapturous Grand Ole Opry debut
‘Lovesick Blues’ is a huge hit and is Hank Williams’ ticket to country music’s Mecca, the Grand Ole Opry, where Hank and his Drifting Cowboys wow the crowd and play a record six encores. Williams’ meteoritic rise will flame out when he dies, due in part to alcohol abuse, at the age of 29.

Hiram King “Hank” Williams (September 17, 1923 – January 1, 1953) was an American country music singer-songwriter and musician. Regarded as one of the most significant and influential American singers and songwriters of the 20th century, Williams recorded 35 singles (five released posthumously) that reached the Top 10 of the Billboard Country & Western Best Sellers chart, including 11 that ranked number one (three posthumously).

Born in Mount Olive, Butler County, Alabama, Williams moved to Georgiana, where he met Rufus Payne, who gave him guitar lessons in exchange for meals or money. Payne had a major influence on Williams’ later musical style, along with Roy Acuff and Ernest Tubb. During this time, Williams informally changed his name to Hank, believing it to be a better name for country music. He moved to Montgomery, where he began his music career in 1937, when producers at radio station WSFA hired him to perform and host a 15-minute program. He formed as backup the Drifting Cowboys band, which was managed by his mother, and dropped out of school to devote his time to his career.

When several of his band members were conscripted into military service during World War II, Williams had trouble with their replacements, and WSFA terminated his contract because of his alcohol abuse. Williams eventually married Audrey Sheppard, who was his manager for nearly a decade. After recording “Never Again” and “Honky Tonkin'” with Sterling Records, he signed a contract with MGM Records. In 1947 he released “Move It on Over”, which became a hit, and also joined the Louisiana Hayride radio program. One year later, he released a cover of “Lovesick Blues”

recorded at Herzog Studio in Cincinnati, which carried him into the mainstream of music. After an initial rejection, Williams joined the Grand Ole Opry. He was unable to read or notate music to any significant degree. Among the hits he wrote were “Your Cheatin’ Heart”, “Hey, Good Lookin'”, and “I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry”.

In 1952, he divorced Sheppard and was dismissed by the Grand Ole Opry because of his unreliability and alcohol abuse. On January 1, 1953, he suffered heart failure while traveling to perform at a concert in West Virginia, and died as a result. His death came in the wake of many years of back pain, alcoholism and prescription drug abuse which lead to his poor health and death. Despite his short life, Williams is one of the most celebrated and influential musicians of the 20th century, especially country music. The songs he wrote and recorded have been covered by numerous artists and have been hits in various genres. He has been inducted into multiple music halls of fame, such as the Country Music Hall of Fame (1961), the Songwriters Hall of Fame (1970), and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (1987).


wiki/Hank_Williams
Spectators flee the searing flames of a smashed Mercedes racing car after an accident at the Le Mans, France, race that killed more than 80 people, June 11, 1955 (© AP)(1955) Europe’s prestigious Le Mans car race turns deadly
In the worst accident in the history of motorsports, the collision between a Mercedes-Benz and an Austin-Healy in France’s 24 Hours of Le Mans catapults one car onto an embankment where it breaks apart, sending debris hurtling into the crowd, killing 83 and injuring upwards of 100.
The 1955 Le Mans disaster occurred during the 24 Hours of Le Mans motor race in Le Mans, France on 11 June 1955, when a major crash caused large fragments of debris to fly into the crowd. Eighty-three spectators and French driver Pierre Bouillin, who raced under the name Pierre Levegh, were killed and nearly 180 more sustained injuries in the most catastrophic accident in motorsport history which led Mercedes-Benz to retire from motor racing until 1989.
wiki/1955_Le_Mans_disaster
Aerial view of Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary in San Francisco Bay, shown June 12, 1962, the day three prisoners escaped (© AP)(1962) Inmates escape from ‘The Rock’ and disappear into the bay
The infamous Alcatraz Island penitentiary has been thought escape-proof, but The Rock loses three of its inmates today as they pose dummy heads in their bunks, crawl through spoon-dug holes, scale the prison fence, and shove off into San Francisco Bay on rafts made with prison raincoats.
The June 1962 Alcatraz escape may have been the only successful escape from Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary in that facility’s history. Late on the night of June 11 or early morning of June 12, inmates Clarence Anglin, John Anglin, and Frank Morris tucked papier-mâché heads resembling their own likenesses into their beds, broke out of the main prison building via an unused utility corridor, and departed Alcatraz Island aboard an improvised inflatable raft to an uncertain fate.
Date: Jun 11, 1962

wiki/June_1962_Alcatraz_escape
(From left) Matthew Broderick, Mia Sara & Alan Ruck publicity portrait for 'Ferris Bueller's Day Off' (© Paramount/Getty Images)(1986) ‘Ferris Bueller’s Day Off’ released
John Hughes’ comedy about a high school student’s elaborate plan to skip school hits theaters. It will become a box office success and produce quotes and catch phrases that will permeate pop culture for years to come. It’s over. Go home. Go.
Ferris Bueller is a clever and tricky fast talker, a legend in his own time. He decides to call out sick from school, feigning illness, to embark on a wild adventure involving his girlfriend, Sloane Peterson, his best friend Cameron Frye, and a Ferrari. From Wrigley Field to the Art Institute of Chicago to a Polish Pride parade, Bueller and friends intend on making the most of their day off. However, Ferris’ sister and the school dean, Ed Rooney, suspect that Ferris is simply pretending to be ill. Both Rooney and Ferris’ sister Jeanie are hot on Ferris’ trail and are determined to catch him and his friends in the act of class-cutting.
Release date: Jun 11, 1986 (United States)
Director: John Hughes
Gross revenue: $70.10 million USD
Estimated budget: $6 million USD
Featured songs: Love Missile F1-11 · BAD · Twist and Shout · Danke Schoen · Taking the Day Off · I’m Afraid · Oh Yeah · The Edge of Forever · Main Title · Please Please Please Let Me Get What I Want (instrumental) · Jeannie · Rebel Blockade Runner · March of the Swivelheads · Beat City · Radio People
Screenwriter: John Hughes

wiki/Ferris_Bueller’s_Day_Off
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Today in History 03/19/17

Sydney Harbour Bridge, Australia, 1936 (© Fox Photos/Getty Images)(1932) Australia’s Sydney Harbour Bridge opens
Up to 1 million citizens celebrate the opening of the magnificent new bridge spanning Sydney Harbour. Nicknamed ‘the coat hanger,’ it’s the world’s tallest steel arch bridge and the widest long-span bridge.
The Sydney Harbour Bridge is a steel through arch bridge across Sydney Harbour that carries rail, vehicular, bicycle, and pedestrian traffic between the Sydney central business district and the North Shore. The dramatic view of the bridge, the harbour, and the nearby Sydney Opera House is an iconic image of Sydney, and Australia. The bridge is nicknamed “The Coathanger” because of its arch-based design.
Address: Cumberland Street, Sydney, New South Wales 2000
Opened: Mar 19, 1932
Length: 3,770 feet (1,149 m)
Width: 161 feet (49 m)
Longest span: 1,650 feet (503 m)
Clearance below: 161 feet (49 m)

wiki/Sydney_Harbour_Bridge
Tuskegee Airmen studying maps before flying a fighter plane at Tuskegee Army Flying School, Tuskegee, Alabama, in 1942 (© Afro American Newspapers/Gado/Getty Images)(1941) Tuskegee Airmen squadron is activated
The 99th Pursuit Squadron is the first all-black unit in the US Army Air Corps. The squad of enlisted men will become the core of other black squadrons, collectively nicknamed the Tuskegee Airmen, that will go on to serve with great distinction in World War II’s North African and Italian campaigns.

The Tuskegee Airmen /tʌsˈkiːɡiː/ is the popular name of a group of African-American military pilots (fighter and bomber) who fought in World War II. Officially, they formed the 332nd Fighter Group and the 477th Bombardment Group of the United States Army Air Forces. The name also applies to the navigators, bombardiers, mechanics, instructors, crew chiefs, nurses, cooks and other support personnel for the pilots.

All black military pilots who trained in the United States trained at Moton Field, the Tuskegee Army Air Field, and were educated at Tuskegee University, located near Tuskegee, Alabama; the group included five Haitians from the Haitian Air Force (Alix Pasquet, Raymond Cassagnol, Pelissier Nicolas, Ludovic Audant, and Eberle Guilbaud). There was also one pilot from Port of Spain, Trinidad, Eugene Theodore.

Although the 477th Bombardment Group trained with North American B-25 Mitchell bombers, they never served in combat. The 99th Pursuit Squadron (later, 99th Fighter Squadron) was the first black flying squadron, and the first to deploy overseas (to North Africa in April 1943, and later to Sicily and Italy). The 332nd Fighter Group, which originally included the 100th, 301st, and 302nd Fighter Squadrons, was the first black flying group. The group deployed to Italy in early 1944. In June 1944, the 332nd Fighter Group began flying heavy bomber escort missions, and in July 1944, the 99th Fighter Squadron was assigned to the 332nd Fighter Group, which then had four fighter squadrons.

The 99th Fighter Squadron was initially equipped with Curtiss P-40 Warhawk fighter-bomber aircraft. The 332nd Fighter Group and its 100th, 301st and 302nd Fighter Squadrons were equipped for initial combat missions with Bell P-39 Airacobras (March 1944), later with Republic P-47 Thunderbolts (June–July 1944), and finally with the aircraft with which they became most commonly associated, the North American P-51 Mustang (July 1944). When the pilots of the 332nd Fighter Group painted the tails of their P-47s and later, P-51s, red, the nickname “Red Tails” was coined. The red markings that distinguished the Tuskegee Airmen included red bands on the noses of P-51s as well as a red rudder; the P-51B and D Mustangs flew with similar color schemes, with red propeller spinners, yellow wing bands and all-red tail surfaces.

The Tuskegee Airmen were the first African-American military aviators in the United States Armed Forces. During World War II, black Americans in many U.S. states were still subject to the Jim Crow laws[N 1] and the American military was racially segregated, as was much of the federal government. The Tuskegee Airmen were subjected to discrimination, both within and outside the army.


wiki/Tuskegee_Airmen
Best Actress winner Shirley Booth for 'Come Back, Little Sheba,' with host Fredric March, at the 25th Annual Academy Awards New York ceremony in New York City on March 19, 1953 (© NBC/NBCU Photo Bank via Getty Images)(1953) The Oscars are first broadcast on TV
The 25th Annual Academy Awards are held in Los Angeles and beamed into living rooms across the country as NBC televises the ceremony for the first time. ‘The Greatest Show on Earth’ is awarded the Best Picture award.
The 25th Academy Awards ceremony was held on March 19, 1953. It took place at the RKO Pantages Theatre in Hollywood, California, and the NBC International Theatre in New York City. It was the first Academy Awards ceremony to be televised, and the first ceremony to be held in Hollywood and New York City simultaneously. It was also the only year that the New York ceremonies were to be held in the NBC International Theatre on Columbus Circle, which was shortly thereafter demolished and replaced by the New York Coliseum convention center.
Date: Mar 19, 1953

wiki/25th_Academy_Awards
Bob Dylan recording his first album in 1961 at Columbia Studio in New York City (© Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images)(1962) Bob Dylan’s first album is released
A 21-year-old folk singer from Minnesota sees his self-titled debut LP, filled mostly with his Woody Guthrie-inspired takes on folk standards, released on Columbia Records. The album will not sell well and most critics are left unimpressed. Dylan’s fortunes, however, will soon be a-changin’ for the better.
Bob Dylan is the debut studio album by American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan, released on March 19, 1962 by Columbia Records. Produced by Columbia’s legendary talent scout John H. Hammond, who signed Dylan to the label, the album features folk standards, plus two original compositions, “Talkin’ New York” and “Song to Woody”.
Release year: 1962
Genre: Blues / Folk, Contemporary Folk
Label: Columbia
Artist: Bob Dylan

wiki/Bob_Dylan_(album)
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Today in History 03/18/17

Minnie Hawkins sits amongst the wreckage of her home in Murphysboro, IL, in the wake of the tri-state tornado, March 1925 (© Topical Press Agency/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)(1925) Deadliest tornado in US history strikes three states
For seven hours, a massive tornado wreaks destruction over some 200 miles, the longest twister track in recorded history, roaring through Missouri, Illinois, and Indiana. The twister kills 695 people and causes an estimated $1.4 billion in damage.
The Tri-State Tornado of Wednesday, March 18, 1925 was the deadliest tornado in U.S. history. It was also the most exceptional tornado of a major outbreak of at least twelve known significant tornadoes across a large portion of the Midwestern and Southern U.S. It alone inflicted 695 fatalities, more than twice as many as the second deadliest, the Great Natchez Tornado of 1840. The 151 to 235 mi track left by the tornado was the longest ever recorded in the world as it crossed from southeastern Missouri, through southern Illinois, then into southwestern Indiana. Although not officially rated by NOAA, it is recognized by most experts as an F5 tornado, the maximum damage rating issued on the Fujita scale.
Date: Mar 18, 1925
Fatalities: 695

wiki/Tri-State_Tornado
An Algerian FLN (National Liberation Front) company on the move in 1958 (© ullstein bild/Getty Images)(1962) Algerian War ends in a truce
Seven years of war and 132 years of French rule come to an end in Algeria as the Front de Liberation Nationale (FLN) and France sign a peace agreement. Hundreds of thousands, mostly civilians, have died in the conflict.
The Algerian War, also known as the Algerian War of Independence or the Algerian Revolution was a war between France and the Algerian National Liberation Front from 1954 to 1962, which led to Algeria gaining its independence from France. An important decolonization war, it was a complex conflict characterized by guerrilla warfare, maquis fighting, and the use of torture by both sides. The conflict also became a civil war between loyalist Algerians supporting a French Algeria and their Algerian nationalist counterparts.
Start date: Nov 01, 1954
End date: Mar 19, 1962

wiki/Algerian_War
Russian astronaut Alexei Leonov steps from the spaceship Voskhod 2 to become the first human to walk in outer space, March 18, 1965 (© Central Press/Getty Images)(1965) USSR’s Alexey Leonov takes the first spacewalk
Soviet cosmonaut Alexey Leonov emerges from his spacecraft and spends 12 minutes suspended in outer space, with only a tether connecting him to his craft. It’s humankind’s first “extravehicular activity,” or EVA.
Alexey Arkhipovich Leonov is a retired Soviet/Russian cosmonaut, Air Force Major general, a writer and an artist. On 18 March 1965, he became the first human to conduct extravehicular activity, exiting the capsule during the Voskhod 2 mission for a 12-minute spacewalk.
Born: May 30, 1934 (age 82) · Listvyanka, Irkutsky District, Irkutsk Oblast, Russia
Height: 5′ 4″ (1.63 m)
Spouse: Svetlana Pavlovna Dozenko
Space missions: Voskhod 2 · Apollo–Soyuz Test Project
Movies and TV shows: From the Earth to the Moon · Tank on the Moon
Children: Oksana A. (Daughter) · Viktoria A. (Daughter)
Highlights
  • 1965: He was outside the spacecraft for 12 minutes and nine seconds on 18 March 1965, connected to the craft by a 5.35-meter tether.

  • 1965: On 18 March 1965, he became the first human to conduct extravehicular activity (EVA), exiting the capsule during the Voskhod 2 mission for a 12-minute spacewalk.

  • 1968: In 1968, Leonov was selected to be commander of a circumlunar Soyuz 7K-L1 flight.

  • 1984: Leonov, along with Rusty Schweickart, Vitaly Sevastyanov, and Georgi Grechko established the Association of Space Explorers in 1984.

  • 2001: Space and Time Perception by the Cosmonaut written by Alexey Leonov was first published on January 01, 2001.

  • 2005: Two Sides of the Moon: Our Story of the Cold War Space Race written by Alexey Leonov was first published on April 04, 2005.

wiki/Alexey_Leonov
The empty center frame, from which thieves cut Rembrandt's 'Storm on the Sea of Galilee,' remains on display at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston (© Josh Reynolds/AP)(1990) $500 million worth of art nabbed
Disguised as cops, brazen thieves enter Boston’s Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum and make off with 13 invaluable artworks, including paintings by Vermeer and Rembrandt. The crime will remain unsolved.
The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum or Fenway Court, as the museum was known during Isabella Stewart Gardner’s lifetime, is a museum in the Fenway-Kenmore neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts, located within walking distance of the Museum of Fine Arts and near the Back Bay Fens. The museum houses an art collection of world importance, including significant examples of European, Asian, and American art, from paintings and sculpture to tapestries and decorative arts. In 1990, thirteen of the museum’s works were stolen; the high-profile crime remains unsolved and the location of the artworks is still unknown.
Website: www.gardnermuseum.org
Address: 25 Evans Way, Boston, MA 02115
Phone: (617) 566-1401
Established: 1903
Architects: Willard T. Sears · William T. Sears
Founder: Isabella Stewart Gardner

wiki/Isabella_Stewart_Gardner_Museum
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Today in History 02/20/17

Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York in 1895 (© Geo. P. Hall & Son/The New York Historical Society/Getty Images)(1872) The Metropolitan Museum of Art opens in New York City
Founded two years previously, the Metropolitan officially unveils to the public its total collection: a Roman sarcophagus and 174 paintings. The museum will go on to become the largest in the United States, acquiring a staggering collection of more than 2 million works.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, colloquially “the Met”, is located in New York City and is the largest art museum in the United States, and is among the most visited art museums in the world. Its permanent collection contains over two million works, divided among seventeen curatorial departments. The main building, on the eastern edge of Central Park along Manhattan’s Museum Mile, is by area one of the world’s largest art galleries. A much smaller second location, The Cloisters at Fort Tryon Park in Upper Manhattan, contains an extensive collection of art, architecture, and artifacts from Medieval Europe. On March 18, 2016, the museum opened the Met Breuer museum at Madison Avenue in the Upper East Side; it extends the museum’s modern and contemporary art program.
Website: www.metmuseum.org/visit/met-fifth-avenue
Address: 1000 Fifth Avenue At 81st St, New York, NY 10028
Customer service: +1 8006623397
Hours: See opening and closing times on official site listed above
Established: Feb 20, 1872
Points of interest: Anna Wintour Costume Center
Director: Thomas P. Campbell

wiki/Metropolitan_Museum_of_Art
Norman Rockwell's 'Freedom of Speech' painting (© Corcoran Gallery/AP )(1943) The first of Rockwell’s ‘Four Freedoms’ is published
Inspired by President Franklin Roosevelt’s 1941 State of the Union speech, artist Norman Rockwell creates four iconic scenes of mid-20th-century American values. All will appear in The Saturday Evening Post.
The Four Freedoms is a series of four 1943 oil paintings by the American artist Norman Rockwell. The paintings—Freedom of Speech, Freedom of Worship, Freedom from Want, and Freedom from Fear—are each approximately 45.75 inches × 35.5 inches, and are now in the Norman Rockwell Museum in Stockbridge, Massachusetts. The four freedoms refer to President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s January 1941 Four Freedoms State of the Union address in which he identified essential human rights that should be universally protected. The theme was incorporated into the Atlantic Charter, and became part of the charter of the United Nations. The paintings were reproduced in The Saturday Evening Post over four consecutive weeks in 1943, alongside essays by prominent thinkers of the day. They became the highlight of a touring exhibition sponsored by The Post and the U.S. Department of the Treasury. The exhibition and accompanying sales drives of war bonds raised over $132 million.
Date started: 1943
Artist: Norman Rockwell
Artworks in series: Freedom from Want · Freedom of Speech · Freedom from Fear · Freedom of Worship

wiki/Four_Freedoms_(Norman_Rockwell)
Astronaut John Glenn boards the Friendship 7 capsule for the Mercury-Atlas 6 mission on Feb 20, 1962 (© NASA/Space Frontiers/Getty Images)(1962) First American orbits the earth
The Friendship 7 spacecraft and its pilot, Major John Glenn, make three orbits around the Earth and travel 65,763 nautical miles in just under five hours. Glenn’s flight, called the Mercury-Atlas 6, comes just months after Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin’s successful orbit of Earth on April 12, 1961.
Mercury-Atlas 6 was the third human spaceflight for the U.S. and part of Project Mercury. Conducted by NASA on February 20, 1962, the mission was piloted by astronaut John Glenn, who performed three orbits of the Earth, making him the first U.S. astronaut to orbit the Earth.
Mission start: Feb 20, 1962
Mission end: Feb 20, 1962
Astronaut: John Glenn
Space program: Project Mercury

wiki/Mercury-Atlas_6
The Custom House in Dublin, seat of the local government (© Desmond Morris Collection/UIG via Getty Images)(1985) Ireland legalizes sale of birth control
Defying the Catholic Church’s wishes on a social issue for the first time, Ireland’s government legislators reverse the ban on importation or sale of contraceptives.
Contraception was illegal in Ireland from 1935 until 1980, when it was legalised with strong restrictions, later loosened. The ban reflected Catholic teachings on sexual morality.
wiki/Contraception_in_the_Republic_of_Ireland
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Today in History 01/12/17

Soviet soldiers fighting during the Siege of Leningrad in Jan. 1943 (© Art Media/Print Collector/Getty Images)(1943) Soviets launch offensive against Germans at Leningrad
Soviet forces pierce through the Nazi encirclement that has left Leningrad citizens cut off from the rest of the world for the previous 18 months, and begin to offer relief to the starving population. The siege will continue for another year before it is finally lifted, resulting in the loss of 650,000 lives.
The Siege of Leningrad, also known as the Leningrad Blockade was a prolonged military blockade undertaken mainly by the German Army Group North against Leningrad, historically and currently known as Saint Petersburg, in the Eastern Front theatre of World War II. The siege started on 8 September 1941, when the last road to the city was severed. Although the Soviets managed to open a narrow land corridor to the city on 18 January 1943, the siege was only lifted on 27 January 1944, 872 days after it began. It was one of the longest and most destructive sieges in history and possibly the costliest in terms of casualties.
Start date: Sep 08, 1941
End date: Jan 27, 1944

wiki/Siege_of_Leningrad
US Military Advisory Group instructs Vietnamese infantrymen on boarding procedures for their airlift aboard the helicopter behind them in March 1962 in Vietnam (© US Army/Getty Images)(1962) First major American combat mission in Vietnam
US Army helicopters and personnel transport over 1,000 South Vietnamese paratroopers to engage enemies west of Saigon in Operation Chopper, America’s first battle mission of the Vietnam War.
Operation Chopper occurred on January 12, 1962 and was the first time US forces participated in major combat in the Vietnam War. In December 1961, the USNS Core docked in Saigon with 82 US Army Piasecki H-21 helicopters. A little more than 12 days later, Operation Chopper commenced.
Date: Jan 12, 1962

wiki/Operation_Chopper_(Vietnam)
HAL 9000, artificial intelligence unit, from '2001: A Space Odyssey' (© DSGpro/Getty Images)(1992) HAL 9000 becomes operational in Urbana, Illinois
In Arthur C. Clarke’s novel ‘2001: A Space Odyssey,’ the fictional HAL Lab debuts the HAL 9000, a supercomputer created to control the Discovery One spacecraft. Although polite, HAL’s operation of the pod bay door will prove to be unreliable.
HAL 9000 is a fictional character and the main antagonist in Arthur C. Clarke’s Space Odyssey series. First appearing in 2001: A Space Odyssey, HAL is a sentient computer that controls the systems of the Discovery One spacecraft and interacts with the ship’s astronaut crew. Part of HAL’s hardware is shown towards the end of the film, but he is mostly depicted as a camera lens containing a red dot, instances of which are located throughout the ship. HAL 9000 is voiced by Douglas Rain in the two film adaptations of the Space Odyssey series and a short film voiced by Andrew Stanton. HAL speaks in a soft, calm voice and a conversational manner, in contrast to the crewmen, David Bowman and Frank Poole.
Creators: Arthur C. Clarke · Stanley Kubrick
Related movies: 2001: A Space Odyssey
Appearances: 3001: The Final Odyssey · 2061: Odyssey Three · 2010: Odyssey Two · 2001: A Space Odyssey
Species: Artificial intelligence · Computer
Place of Birth: Urbana
Siblings: SAL 9000

wiki/HAL_9000
Sherider Anilus and her daughter, Monica, sit on the spot where her home collapsed during the Feb. 12, 2010, 7.0 earthquake in the Fort National neighborhood in Port-au-Prince, Haiti (© Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)(2010) A devastating earthquake strikes Haiti
The strongest earthquake to hit Haiti in 200 years strikes with an epicenter only 15 miles from the Caribbean nation’s capital, Port-au-Prince, killing 200,000 and leaving 895,000 homeless.
The 2010 Haiti earthquake was a catastrophic magnitude 7.0 Mw earthquake, with an epicenter near the town of Léogâne, approximately 25 kilometres west of Port-au-Prince, Haiti’s capital. The earthquake occurred at 16:53 local time on Tuesday, 12 January 2010.
Date: Jan 12, 2010
Fatalities: 200,000

wiki/2010_Haiti_earthquake
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