1912

Events from the year **1912 in the United States**.

* Vice President: James S. Sherman (R-NY) (until October 30), *vacant* (starting October 30)
* Chief Justice: Edward Douglass White (LA)
* Speaker of the House of Representatives: Champ Clark (D-MO)
* Congress: 62nd

Governors
* Governor of Alabama: Emmet O'Neal (Democratic)
* Governor of Arizona: Richard Elihu Sloan (Republican) (until February 14), George W. P. Hunt (Democratic) (starting February 14)
* Governor of Arkansas: George Washington Donaghey (Democratic)
* Governor of California: Hiram Johnson (Republican)
* Governor of Colorado: John F. Shafroth (Democratic)
* Governor of Connecticut: Simeon E. Baldwin (Democratic)
* Governor of Delaware: Simeon S. Pennewill (Republican)
* Governor of Florida: Albert W. Gilchrist (Democratic)
* Governor of Georgia: John M. Slaton (Democratic) (until January 25), Joseph M. Brown (Democratic) (starting January 25)
* Governor of Idaho: James H. Hawley (Democratic)
* Governor of Illinois: Charles S. Deneen (Republican)
* Governor of Indiana: Thomas R. Marshall (Democratic)
* Governor of Iowa: Beryl F. Carroll (Republican)
* Governor of Kansas: Walter R. Stubbs (Republican)
* Governor of Kentucky: James B. McCreary (Democratic)
* Governor of Louisiana: Jared Young Sanders Sr. (Democratic) (until May 14), Luther Egbert Hall (Democratic) (starting May 14)
* Governor of Maine: Frederick W. Plaisted (Democratic)
* Governor of Maryland: Austin Lane Crothers (Democratic) (until January 10), Phillips Lee Goldsborough (Republican) (starting January 10)
* Governor of Massachusetts: Eugene Noble Foss (Democratic)
* Governor of Michigan: Chase Osborn (Republican)
* Governor of Minnesota: Adolph O. Eberhart (Republican)
* Governor of Mississippi: Edmond Noel (Democratic) (until January 16), Earl L. Brewer (Democratic) (starting January 16)
* Governor of Missouri: Herbert S. Hadley (Republican)
* Governor of Montana: Edwin L. Norris (Democratic)
* Governor of Nebraska: Chester Hardy Aldrich (Republican)
* Governor of Nevada: Tasker L. Oddie (Republican)
* Governor of New Hampshire: Robert P. Bass (Republican)
* Governor of New Jersey: Woodrow Wilson (Democratic)
* Governor of New Mexico: William C. McDonald (Democratic) (starting January 6)
* Governor of New York: John Alden Dix (Democratic)
* Governor of North Carolina: William Walton Kitchin (Democratic)
* Governor of North Dakota: John Burke (Democratic)
* Governor of Ohio: Judson Harmon (Democratic)
* Governor of Oklahoma: Lee Cruce (Democratic)
* Governor of Oregon: Oswald West (Democratic)
* Governor of Pennsylvania: John K. Tener (Republican)
* Governor of Rhode Island: Aram J. Pothier (Republican)
* Governor of South Carolina: Coleman Livingston Blease (Democratic)
* Governor of South Dakota: Robert S. Vessey (Republican)
* Governor of Tennessee: Ben W. Hooper (Republican)
* Governor of Texas: Oscar Branch Colquitt (Democratic)
* Governor of Utah: William Spry (Republican)
* Governor of Vermont: John A. Mead (Republican) (until October 3), Allen M. Fletcher (Republican) (starting October 3)
* Governor of Virginia: William Hodges Mann (Democratic)
* Governor of Washington: Marion E. Hay (Republican)
* Governor of West Virginia: William E. Glasscock (Republican)
* Governor of Wisconsin: Francis E. McGovern (Republican)
* Governor of Wyoming: Joseph M. Carey (Democratic)

Lieutenant Governors
* Lieutenant Governor of Alabama: Walter D. Seed Sr. (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of California: A. J. Wallace (Republican)
* Lieutenant Governor of Colorado: Stephen R. Fitzgarrald (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of Connecticut: Dennis A. Blakeslee (Republican)
* Lieutenant Governor of Delaware: John M. Mendinhall (Republican)
* Lieutenant Governor of Idaho: Lewis H. Sweetser (Republican)
* Lieutenant Governor of Illinois: John G. Oglesby (Republican)
* Lieutenant Governor of Indiana: Frank J. Hall (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of Iowa: George W. Clarke (Republican)
* Lieutenant Governor of Kansas: Richard Joseph Hopkins (Republican)
* Lieutenant Governor of Kentucky: Edward J. McDermott (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of Louisiana: vacant (until month and day unknown), Thomas C. Barret (Democratic) (starting month and day unknown)
* Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts: Louis A. Frothingham (Republican) (until month and day unknown), Robert Luce (Republican) (starting month and day unknown)
* Lieutenant Governor of Michigan: John Q. Ross (Republican)
* Lieutenant Governor of Minnesota: Samuel Y. Gordon (Republican)
* Lieutenant Governor of Mississippi: Luther Manship (Democratic) (until January 16), Theodore G. Bilbo (Democratic) (starting January 16)
* Lieutenant Governor of Missouri: Jacob Friedrich Gmelich (Republican)
* Lieutenant Governor of Montana: William R. Allen (Republican)
* Lieutenant Governor of Nebraska: vacant
* Lieutenant Governor of Nevada: Gilbert C. Ross (political party unknown)
* Lieutenant Governor of New Mexico: Ezequiel Cabeza De Baca (Democratic) (starting January 6)
* Lieutenant Governor of New York: Thomas F. Conway (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of North Carolina: William C. Newland (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of North Dakota: Usher L. Burdick (Republican)
* Lieutenant Governor of Ohio: Hugh L. Nichols (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of Oklahoma: J. J. McAlester (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of Pennsylvania: John Merriman Reynolds (Republican)
* Lieutenant Governor of Rhode Island: Zenas Work Bliss (Republican)
* Lieutenant Governor of South Carolina: Charles Aurelius Smith (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of South Dakota: Frank M. Byrne (Republican)
* Lieutenant Governor of Tennessee: Nathaniel Baxter Jr. (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of Texas: Asbury Bascom Davidson (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of Vermont: Leighton P. Slack (Republican) (until October 3), Frank E. Howe (Republican) (starting October 3)
* Lieutenant Governor of Virginia: James Taylor Ellyson (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of Washington: vacant
* Lieutenant Governor of Wisconsin: Thomas Morris (Republican)

## Events

### January

* January 6 – New Mexico admitted becomes the 47th U.S. state.
* January 11 – 1912 Lawrence textile strike ("Bread and Roses" strike) begins: Immigrant textile workers in Lawrence, Massachusetts, strike in response to a pay cut corresponding to a new law shortening the working week.
* January 22 – The Overseas Railroad opens: the first train arrives in Key West, Florida, at 10:43 a.m. with Henry M. Flagler, the railroad's creator and owner, aboard.

### February

* February 14 – Arizona admitted becomes the 48th U.S. state, and the last of contiguous states to be admitted into the Union.

### March

* March 1 – Albert Berry makes the world's first or second parachute jump from an airplane in flight, at Jefferson Barracks Military Post in Missouri.
* March 6 – Oreo cookies introduced.
* March 12
	+ The Girl Scouts of the USA are founded by Juliette Gordon Low, in Savannah, Georgia.
	+ 1912 Lawrence textile strike ("Bread and Roses" strike) ends.
* March 27 – Mayor Yukio Ozaki of Tokyo gives 3,000 cherry blossom trees to be planted in Washington, D.C., to symbolize the friendship between the two countries.

### April

* April 10 – The British ocean liner RMS *Titanic* leaves Southampton, England on her maiden voyage for New York City.
* April 15 – Sinking of the RMS *Titanic*: RMS *Titanic* strikes an iceberg in the northern Atlantic Ocean and sinks with the loss of between 1,517 and 1,636 lives. The wreck will not be discovered until 1985.
* April 18 – The Cunard liner RMS *Carpathia* arrives in New York City with *Titanic'*s 706 survivors.
* April 19 – The United States Senate initiates an official inquiry into the *Titanic* disaster, hastily issuing subpoenas for White Star personnel before they can return to the United Kingdom.
* April 20
	+ Tiger Stadium as Navin Field.
	+ Fenway Park, home of the Boston Red Sox.

### May

* May 6 – Suffragettes and their supporters parade in New York City.
* May 8 – Adolph Zukor founds Famous Players Film Company, now Paramount Pictures.
* May 11 – Alaska is constituted as a territory of the U.S.
* May 18 – The Detroit Tigers go on strike to protest the suspension of Ty Cobb. A replacement team recruited from the coaching staff and local colleges is fielded to avoid a forfeiture to the Philadelphia A's in a lopsided loss.
* May 30 – Joe Dawson wins the 1912 Indianapolis 500-Mile Race for automobiles (the second held) after Ralph DePalma's Mercedes breaks down within sight of the finish.

### June

* June 5 – U.S. Marines land in Cuba.
* June 6 – Mount Novarupta erupts in Alaska.
* June 8 – Carl Laemmle founds Universal Studios as the Universal Film and Manufacturing Company in New York City, moving production to Hollywood by the end of the year
* June 9 – The Villisca axe murders take place in Villisca, Iowa
* June 18 – The Republican National Convention nominates incumbent President William Howard Taft in Chicago, defeating a challenge by former President Theodore Roosevelt, whose delegates bolt the convention.
* June 25 – The Democratic National Convention nominates New Jersey Governor Woodrow Wilson in Baltimore.

### July

* July 1 – Harriet Quimby, who set the record as the first woman to fly the English Channel only 2 months before, dies in Squantum, Massachusetts after her brand-new two-seat Bleriot monoplane crashes, killing both Quimby and her passenger.
* July 19 – A meteorite with an estimated mass of 190 kg explodes over the town of Holbrook in Navajo County, Arizona causing thousands of pieces of debris to rain down on the town.

### August

* August 4 – United States occupation of Nicaragua: U.S. Marines land from the USS *Annapolis* in Nicaragua, to support the conservative government at its request.
* August 5 – Dissident U.S. Republicans form the Progressive Party, also known as the Bull Moose Party, and nominate former President Theodore Roosevelt as their presidential candidate.
* August 21 – The first Eagle Scout earns his rank.

### September

* September 25 – The Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism is founded in New York City.
* September 28 – Composer W. C. Handy publishes his "Southern rag" "The Memphis Blues".

### October

* October 14 – While campaigning in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, former President Theodore Roosevelt is shot by saloonkeeper John Schrank. With a fresh flesh wound and the bullet still in him, Roosevelt delivers his scheduled speech. After finishing it, he goes to the hospital, where it is deduced that if he had not had his speech in his breast pocket when he was shot, he most likely would have died.
* October 16 – The Boston Red Sox, assisted by a famous error, defeat the New York Giants in extra innings to win the 1912 World Series in what is considered one of the greatest games of baseball ever played.
* October 30 – Vice President James S. Sherman dies of kidney failure just days prior to the U.S. presidential election.

### November

* November 5 – U.S. presidential election, 1912: Democratic challenger and Governor of New Jersey Woodrow Wilson wins a landslide victory over Republican incumbent William Howard Taft. Taft's base is undercut by Progressive Party candidate (and former Republican) Theodore Roosevelt, who finishes second, ahead of Taft.

## Memoriam

* January 3 – Robley Dunglison Evans, admiral (aged 65; Washington, DC, USA)
* January 4 – Clarence Dutton, geologist (aged 70; Englewood, NJ, USA)
* February 6 – James B. Weaver, U.S. House of Representatives and two-time candidate (aged 78; Des Moines, IA, USA)
* March 19 – Thomas Harrison Montgomery Jr., zoologist and cell biologist (aged 39; Philadelphia, PA, USA)
* April 3 – Calbraith Perry Rodgers, aviation pioneer (aged 33; Long Beach, CA, USA)
* April 4 – Charles Brantley Aycock, 50th Governor of North Carolina (aged 52; Birmingham, AL, USA)
* April 12 – Clara Barton, nurse (aged 90; Glen Echo, MD, USA)
* April 15
	+ John Jacob Astor IV, businessman (aged 47; North Atlantic Ocean)
	+ Archibald Butt, presidential aide (aged 46; North Atlantic Ocean)
	+ Jacques Futrelle, mystery author (aged 37; North Atlantic Ocean)
	+ Benjamin Guggenheim, businessman (aged 46; North Atlantic Ocean)
	+ Francis Davis Millet, painter, sculptor and writer (aged 63; North Atlantic Ocean)
	+ Isidor Straus, owner of Macy's (aged 67; North Atlantic Ocean)
	+ Harry Elkins Widener, bibliophile (aged 27; North Atlantic Ocean)
* April 18 – Martha Ripley, physician (aged 68; Minneapolis, MN, USA)
* May 4 – Nettie Stevens, geneticist (aged 50; Baltimore, MD, USA)
* May 18 – Ferdinand Ludwig Herff, German-American physician (aged 91; San Antonio, TX, USA)
* May 25 – Austin Lane Crothers, politician (aged 52; Elkton, MD, USA)
* May 30 – Wilbur Wright, aviation pioneer (aged 45; Dayton, OH, USA)
* June 1
	+ Daniel Burnham, architect and urban planner (aged 65; Heidelberg, Germany)
	+ Philip Orin Parmalee, aviator (aged 25; North Yakima, WA, USA)
* June 16 – Thomas Pollock Anshutz, painter (aged 60; Philadelphia, PA, USA)
* June 20 – Edward S. Bragg, politician, lawyer, soldier, and diplomat (aged 85; Fond du Lac, WI, USA)
* June 26 – Anthony Higgins, U.S. Senator from Delaware from 1889 to 1895 (aged 71; New York City, NY, USA)
* June 27 – Frank Heyling Furness, Philadelphia architect (aged 72; Delaware County, PA, USA)
* July 1 – Harriet Quimby, aviator (aged 37; Squantum, MA, USA)
* July 7 – Sarah Platt-Decker, suffragist (aged 56; San Francisco, CA, USA)
* July 24 – Addison Peale Russell, essayist (aged 85; Wilmington, OH, USA)
* July 29 – William D. Washburn, U.S. Senator from Minnesota from 1889 to 1895 and businessman (aged 81; Minneapolis, MN, USA)
* August 8 – Ross Winn, anarchist writer and publisher (aged 40; Mount Juliet, TN, USA)
* August 13 – Horace Howard Furness, Shakespeare scholar (aged 78; Wallingford, PA, USA)
* September 18 – Hernando Money, U.S. Senator from Mississippi from 1897 to 1911 (aged 73; Biloxi, MS, USA)
* October 5 – Lewis Boss, astronomer (aged 65; Albany, NY, USA)
* October 6 – William A. Peffer, U.S. Senator from Kansas from 1891 to 1897 (aged 81; Grenola, KS, USA)
* October 30 – James S. Sherman, 27th Vice President of the United States from 1909 to 1912 (aged 57; Utica, NY, USA)
* November 3 – John Russell, Methodist preacher (aged 90; Detroit, MI, USA)
* November 25 – Isidor Rayner, U.S. senator from Maryland from 1905 to 1912 (aged 62; Washington, DC, USA)
* November 28 – Walter Benona Sharp, oil pioneer (aged 41; Chicago, IL, USA)
* December 15 – Whitelaw Reid, politician and newspaper editor (aged 75; London, England, UK)
* December 18 – Will Carleton, poet (aged 67; Brooklyn, NY, USA)
* December 29 – Philip H. Cooper, admiral (aged 68; Morristown, NJ, USA)