March 12 (UPI) — On this date in history:
In 1912, Juliette Gordon Low organized the first Girl Scouts of America troop in Savannah, Ga.
In 1933, U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt made the first of his Sunday evening “fireside chats” — informal radio addresses from the White House to the American people. The first address explained why he recently ordered a bank holiday.
In 1938, Nazi Germany invaded and occupied Austria.
In 1947, in a speech to Congress, U.S. President Harry Truman outlined what became known as the Truman Doctrine, calling for U.S. aid to countries threatened by communist revolution.
Lori Loughlin walks past reporters as she exits the John Joseph Moakley United States Courthouse in Boston on August 27, 2019. On March 12, 2019, she and dozens of others were charged in a college admissions scheme. File Photo by Matthew Healey/UPI
In 1993, more than 250 people were killed and at least 700 injured in 13 coordinated terrorist bombings in Mumbai.
In 1994, the Church of England ordained its first female priests.
Elizabeth Smart attends a ceremony in the Rose Garden of the White House on April 30, 2003. On March 12, 2003, Smart, who had been kidnapped from her Salt Lake City home in June 2002, was found. File Photo by Roger L. Wollenberg/UPI
In 1999, former Soviet allies Hungary, Poland and the Czech Republic joined NATO.
File Photo by Toms Kalnins/EPA-EFE
Madame Tussauds Museum unveils the wax figure of Girl Scout founder Juliette Gordon Low on May 9, 2012, in Washington, D.C. On March 12, 1912, Low organized the first Girl Scouts of America troop in Savannah, Ga. File Photo by Mike Theiler/UPI
In 2003, Elizabeth Smart, 15, who had been kidnapped from her Salt Lake City home in June 2002, was found in the custody of a panhandler and his wife in nearby Sandy, Utah.
In 2008, New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer resigned after being caught in a high-priced prostitution scandal.
President Franklin Delano Roosevelt addresses the nation during a radio broadcast from the White House on May 8, 1933. He gave his first so-called “fireside chat” on March 12, 1933. UPI File Photo
In 2018, a Bangladeshi passenger plane — a Bombardier Dash 8 Q400 — crashed at Kathmandu International Airport in Nepal, killing 49 people.
In 2019, dozens of parents and college officials — including actors Lori Loughlin and Felicity Huffman — were charged in a college admissions scandal in which parents paid bribes to help their children get into college.
On March 12, 2008, New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer resigned after being caught in a high-priced prostitution scandal. UPI File Photo
In 2020, the NHL paused its season, and the NCAA canceled its men’s and women’s tournaments as COVID-19 spread throughout the United States.
In 2024, Romanian authorities detained social media personality Andrew Tate and his brother Tristan Tate on a British warrant for sexual aggression.
File Photo by Robert Ghement/EPA-EFE