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December 12, 1937

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Headlines from December 12, 1937

Notable Births

Connie Francis

1937Connie Francis, American singer, musician, and actress (died 2025)[†]

Concetta Rosa Maria Franconero, known professionally as Connie Francis, was an American singer, musician, author, and actress. One of the top-charting female vocalists of the late 1950s and early 1960s, she amassed over 100 million records sold, placing her among the best-selling music artists in history.

1937Philip Ledger, English pianist, composer, and academic (died 2012)[†]

Sir Philip Stevens Ledger, CBE, FRSE was an English classical musician, choirmaster and academic, best remembered as Director of the Choir of King's College, Cambridge from 1974 to 1982 and of the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama from 1982 until he retired in 2001. He also composed choral music and played the organ, piano and harpsichord.

Historical Events

Second Sino-Japanese War

1937Second Sino-Japanese War: USS Panay incident: Japanese aircraft bomb and sink U.S. gunboat USS Panay on the Yangtze river in China.[†]

The Second Sino-Japanese War was fought between the Republic of China and the Empire of Japan between 1937 and 1945, following a period of war localized to Manchuria that started in 1931. It is considered part of World War II, and often regarded as the beginning of World War II in Asia. It was the largest Asian war in the 20th century and has been described as The Asian Holocaust, in reference to the scale of Japanese war crimes against Chinese civilians, similar to the European ones. It is known in the Republic of China and People's Republic of China as the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression.