Today in History

Today is Sunday, Aug. 12, the 225th day of 2012. There are 141 days left in the year.

Today's Highlight in History:

On Aug. 12, 1912, comedy producer Mack Sennett founded the Keystone Pictures Studio in Edendale, Calif.

On this date:

In 1867, President Andrew Johnson sparked a move to impeach him as he defied Congress by suspending Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton.

In 1898, fighting in the Spanish-American War came to an end.

In 1902, International Harvester Co. was formed by a merger of McCormick Harvesting Machine Co., Deering Harvester Co. and several other manufacturers.

In 1937, President Franklin D. Roosevelt nominated Hugo Black to the U.S. Supreme Court.

In 1944, during World War II, Joseph P. Kennedy Jr., eldest son of Joseph and Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy, was killed with his co-pilot when their explosives-laden Navy plane blew up over England.

In 1953, the Soviet Union conducted a secret test of its first hydrogen bomb.

In 1960, the first balloon communications satellite -- the Echo 1 -- was launched by the United States from Cape Canaveral.

In 1962, one day after launching Andrian Nikolayev into orbit, the Soviet Union also sent up cosmonaut Pavel Popovich; both men landed safely Aug. 15.

In 1978, Pope Paul VI, who had died Aug. 6 at age 80, was buried in St. Peter's Basilica.

In 1981, IBM introduced its first personal computer, the model 5150, at a press conference in New York.

In 1985, the world's worst single-aircraft disaster occurred as a crippled Japan Air Lines Boeing 747 on a domestic flight crashed into a mountain, killing 520 people. (Four people survived.)

In 1992, after 14 months of negotiations, the United States, Mexico and Canada announced in Washington that they had concluded the North American Free Trade Agreement. Avant-garde composer John Cage died in New York at age 79.

Ten years ago: Iraq's information minister, Mohammed Saeed al-Sahhaf, told the Arabic satellite television station Al-Jazeera that there was no need for U.N. weapons inspectors to return to Baghdad and branded as a "lie" allegations that Saddam Hussein still had weapons of mass destruction.

Five years ago: A gunman opened fire in the sanctuary of a southwest Missouri church, killing a pastor and two worshippers. (Suspect Eiken Elam Saimon later pleaded guilty to three counts of murder and four counts of assault, and received three life sentences without parole, plus four 30-year sentences for the assaults.) Tiger Woods captured the PGA Championship to win at least one major for the third straight season and run his career total to 13. Crooner, talk show host and game show producer Merv Griffin died in Los Angeles at age 82.

One year ago: A divided three-judge panel of the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta struck down the centerpiece of President Barack Obama's sweeping health care overhaul, the so-called individual mandate. Tiger Woods missed the cut at the PGA Championship at Atlanta Athletic Club with a 3-over 73, finishing out of the top 100 for the first time ever in a major.

Today's Birthdays: Former Senator Dale Bumpers, D-Ark., is 87. Actor George Hamilton is 73. Actress Dana Ivey is 71. Actress Jennifer Warren is 71. Rock singer-musician Mark Knopfler (Dire Straits) is 63. Actor Jim Beaver is 62. Singer Kid Creole is 62. Jazz musician Pat Metheny is 58. Actor Sam J. Jones is 58. Actor Bruce Greenwood is 56. Country singer Danny Shirley is 56. Pop musician Roy Hay (Culture Club) is 51. Rapper Sir Mix-A-Lot is 49. Actor Peter Krause is 47. International Tennis Hall of Famer Pete Sampras is 41. Actor-comedian Michael Ian Black is 41. Actress Yvette Nicole Brown is 41. Actress Rebecca Gayheart is 41. Actor Casey Affleck is 37. Rock musician Bill Uechi (Save Ferris) is 37. Actress Maggie Lawson is 32. Actress Dominique Swain is 32. Actress Imani Hakim ("Everybody Hates Chris") is 19.

Thought for Today: "A person without a sense of humor is like a wagon without springs. It's jolted by every pebble on the road." -- Henry Ward Beecher, American clergyman (1813-1887).

Copyright 2012, The Associated Press. All rights reserved.