Today in History: November 12, Stalin takes control

Today is Saturday, Nov. 12, the 316th day of 2022. There are 49 days left in the year.

Today’s Highlight in History:

On Nov. 12, 1927, Josef Stalin became the undisputed ruler of the Soviet Union as Leon Trotsky was expelled from the Communist Party.

In 1920, baseball got its first “czar” as Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis was elected commissioner of the American and National Leagues.

In 1936, the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge opened as President Franklin D. Roosevelt pressed a telegraph key in Washington, D.C., giving the green light to traffic.

In 1942, the World War II naval Battle of Guadalcanal began. (The Allies ended up winning a major victory over Japanese forces.)

In 1948, former Japanese premier Hideki Tojo and several other World War II Japanese leaders were sentenced to death by a war crimes tribunal.

In 1970, the Bhola cyclone struck East Pakistan; it’s believed that as many as a half million people were killed.

In 1975, Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas retired because of failing health, ending a record 36-year term.

In 1982, Yuri V. Andropov (ahn-DROH’-pawf) was elected to succeed the late Leonid I. Brezhnev as general secretary of the Soviet Communist Party’s Central Committee.

In 1996, a Saudi Boeing 747 jetliner collided shortly after takeoff from New Delhi, India, with a Kazak Ilyushin (il-YOO’-shin)-76 cargo plane, killing 349 people.

In 2001, American Airlines Flight 587, an Airbus A300 headed to the Dominican Republic, crashed after takeoff from New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport, killing all 260 people on board and five people on the ground.

In 2009, Army psychiatrist Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan (nih-DAHL’ mah-LEEK’ hah-SAHN’) was charged with 13 counts of premeditated murder in the Fort Hood, Texas, shooting rampage. (Hasan was later convicted and sentenced to death; no execution date has been set.)

In 2019, Venice saw its worst flooding in more than 50 years, with the water reaching 6.14 feet above average sea level; damage was estimated in the hundreds of millions of dollars.

In 2020, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, a broad coalition of top government and industry officials, rejected President Donald Trump’s claims of election fraud, saying that the election was “the most secure in American history“ and that there was “no evidence that any voting system deleted or lost votes, changed votes or was in any way compromised.”

Ten years ago: The United States was re-elected to another three-year term on the U.N. Human Rights Council in the only contested election for the organization’s top human rights body.

Five years ago: President Donald Trump said he believed U.S. intelligence agencies, which concluded that Russia meddled in the 2016 U.S. presidential election, but that he also believed that Russia’s Vladimir Putin felt that Russia did not interfere. Trump exchanged taunts with North Korea’s leader, tweeting, “Why would Kim Jong-un insult me by calling me ‘old,’ when I would NEVER call him ‘short and fat?‘”

One year ago: Steve Bannon, a longtime ally to former President Donald Trump, was indicted on two counts of criminal contempt of Congress after he defied a subpoena from the House committee investigating the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol. (Bannon would be convicted and sentenced to four months in prison.) The government directed nursing homes to open their doors wide to visitors, easing many remaining pandemic restrictions while urging residents, families and facility staff to keep their guard up against coronavirus outbreaks. A judge in Los Angeles ended the conservatorship that had controlled the life and money of pop star Britney Spears for nearly 14 years.

Today’s Birthdays: Singer Brian Hyland is 79. Actor-playwright Wallace Shawn is 79. Rock musician Booker T. Jones (Booker T. & the MGs) is 78. Sportscaster Al Michaels is 78. Singer-songwriter Neil Young is 77. Rock musician Donald “Buck Dharma” Roeser (Blue Oyster Cult) is 75. Sen. Jack Reed, D-R.I., is 73. Country/gospel singer Barbara Fairchild is 72. Actor Megan Mullally is 64. Actor Vincent Irizarry is 63. Olympic gold medal gymnast Nadia Comaneci (koh-muh-NEECH’) is 61. Rock musician David Ellefson is 58. Retired MLB All-Star Sammy Sosa is 54. Figure skater Tonya Harding is 52. Actor Rebecca Wisocky is 51. Actor Radha Mitchell is 49. Actor Lourdes Benedicto is 48. Actor Tamala Jones is 48. Singer Tevin Campbell is 46. Actor Ashley Williams is 44. Actor Cote de Pablo is 43. Actor Ryan Gosling is 42. Contemporary Christian musician Chris Huffman is 42. Actor Anne Hathaway is 40. Pop singer Omarion is 38. NBA All-Star Russell Westbrook is 34. Folk-rock musician Griffin Goldsmith (Dawes) is 32. Actor Macey Cruthird is 30.