Today in History
June 12
1987: In Berlin, Germany, U.S. President Ronald Reagan delivered his famous speech at the Brandenburg Gate, a barrier that separated East Berlin from West Berlin. In his speech, he famously said: "Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall." Mr. Gorbachev was the leader of the Soviet Union that occupied East Germany and built the wall.
1929: Anne Frank, young Jewish girl who, with her family, hid from the Nazis for two years in Amsterdam before being deported to the Auschwitz concentration camp, was born in Germany. She kept a diary that Otto Frank, her father, published after World War II. The Diary of Anne Frank has been translated into more than 60 languages.
1806: John A. Roebling, civil engineer and designer of the Brooklyn Bridge, was born in Muhlhausen, Prussia. Completed in 1883, the Brooklyn Bridge spans New York's East River to connect Manhattan with Brooklyn. (Source: Library of Congress)
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