“Let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself.”

Roosevelt, who led America through the Great Depression and most of World War II, served a record 12 years in office. Vice President Harry Truman succeeds Roosevelt in the White House.

1861Start of the American Civil War. Confederate forces fire on the union garrison at Fort Sumter in Charleston, South Carolina. Fighting between the North and South lasts four years with more than half a million deaths.

1961Soviet Cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin becomes the first man to fly in space orbiting the earth once before making a safe landing.

1981America's first space shuttle named Columbia blasts off from Cape Canaveral, Florida on its maiden flight. More than two decades later, Columbia meets a tragic end. It disintegrates on re-entry killing its seven passenger crew.

And 1947“My name is Dave Letterman, I'm the host of Late Show America's most successful C-student.”

David Letterman, the Late Night TV talk show host, is born in Indianapolis.

Today in History, April 12th, Mike Gracia, the Associated Press.