Leon Richard Kass is an American physician, biochemist, educator, and public intellectual. Kass is best known as a proponent of liberal arts education via the "Great Books," as a critic of human cloning, life extension, euthanasia and embryo research, and for his tenure as chairman of the President's Council on Bioethics from 2001 to 2005. Although Kass is often referred to as a bioethicist, he eschews the term and refers to himself as "an old-fashioned humanist. A humanist is concerned broadly with all aspects of human life, not just the ethical."

1939Ray Manzarek, American singer-songwriter, keyboard player, and producer (died 2013)^[†]

Raymond Daniel Manzarek Jr. was an American keyboardist. He is best known as a member of the rock band the Doors, co-founding the group in 1965 with fellow UCLA Film School graduate Jim Morrison. Manzarek is credited for his innovative playing and abilities on organ-style keyboard instruments.

Headlines from February 12, 1939

CARDINALS EMBARK ON VOYAGE TO ROME; TWO OF THE THREE AMERICAN PRINCES OF THE CHURCH SAIL FOR ROME

POPE'S BODY IN ST. PETER'S AFTER SOLEMN PROCESSION; AMERICAN CARDINALS SAIL; SERVICES TO BEGIN Public Will Pay Homage to Pius in Basilica Starting Today HUMBERT PRAYS AT BIER Cardinals Hold First Meeting to Plan Conclave for the Election of New Pontiff

JAPANESE RUSHING TO SOVIET BORDER; QUIT CHINA FRONTS; 600,000 Troops Are Already Near Frontier--Weak Forces Face Chiang Kai-shek GERMAN ASSISTANCE SEEN Tokyo Is Believed to Have Had Assurance That Russia Will Be Threatened in Spring

FUSION OF JOBLESS AND AGED PLANNED; Workers Alliance to Back $60 Pensions at 60 to Win Aid of Townsend Supporters

Aid to the Needy in 1938 Totaled $2,995,705,000

Notable Births