May 12 Birthday
The Soviet Union lifted the Berlin Blockade on May 12, 1949. The blockade had begun on June 24, 1948, when the Soviets cut off all road, rail, and canal access to West Berlin in response to the Western Allies' introduction of the new Deutsche Mark. The American response was the Berlin Airlift: for 327 days, American and British planes landed every ninety seconds at Templehof Airport, delivering food, coal, and supplies to 2.2 million West Berliners. The planes flew 278,000 missions and delivered 2.3 million tons of cargo. Seventy-eight pilots died. The airlift was the first major confrontation of the Cold War and established the United States as West Berlin's protector. George VI was crowned on May 12, 1937, in Westminster Abbey. He had become king in December 1936, when his brother Edward VIII abdicated. The coronation had been planned for Edward; George simply took his brother's place. It was the first coronation to be broadcast on radio, and the first to be televised. The broadcast was the BBC's first major outside broadcast. An estimated 10,000 people watched on television sets — most in London, where television service had just begun. George was shy and stammered. The speech therapist Lionel Logue, depicted in The King's Speech, helped him overcome it. George led Britain through World War II and died of lung cancer in 1952 at fifty-six. The Wenchuan earthquake on May 12, 2008, measured 7.9 magnitude and killed 87,587 people in Sichuan, China. 374,000 were injured and 18,222 were missing. Over 5 million buildings collapsed, including 7,000 schools. The school collapses were particularly controversial — parents who questioned shoddy construction were detained by police. The Chinese government initially refused foreign aid, then accepted it. The earthquake exposed the weakness of China's school construction, which had been documented by activists but ignored by officials. The government suppressed protests by grieving parents. The earthquake also demonstrated the power of Chinese social media, which bypassed state controls to share information. Florence Nightingale, born this day in 1820, reduced mortality at a military hospital in Scutari from 42% to 2% during the Crimean War — not primarily through nursing but through sanitation. She cleaned the water supply, removed dead animals from the basement, and washed the linen. She returned to England as a hero, used her fame to push for sanitation reform, and became the first woman elected to the Royal Statistical Society. People born on May 12 fall under the zodiac sign of Taurus. The birthstone is Emerald and the birth flower is Lily of the Valley. Historical events on May 12 include 1937: George VI crowned King of England (first coronation televised), 1949: Soviet Union lifts Berlin Blockade after 327 days, 2008: Wenchuan earthquake in China kills 87,587. Famous people born on May 12 include Florence Nightingale (1820), Katharine Hepburn (1907), Yogi Berra (1925).