November 12, 1920: Judge <a href="/ce6/people/A0828763.html">Kenesaw Mountain Landis</a> was elected the first commissioner of baseball.

November 12, 1927: <p><a href="/ce6/people/A0849499.html">Leon Trotsky</a> was expelled from the Communist Party and <a href="/ce6/people/A0846453.html">Joseph Stalin</a> became the ruler of the <a href="/ce6/world/A0850044.html">Soviet Union</a>.</p>

November 12, 1942: The <a href="/ce6/history/A0852743.html">World War II</a> battle of <a href="/ce6/world/A0821991.html">Guadalcanal</a> begins.

November 12, 1954: <a href="/ce6/us/A0817159.html">Ellis Island</a> stopped serving as the chief immigration station for the United States. Twenty million immigrants went through Ellis Island in its 62 years of operation.

November 12, 1970: A <a href="/node/10100">cyclone and tidal wave</a> hit East Pakistan, killing over 200,000 people.

November 12, 1981: The <a href="/node/171702">space shuttle <i>Columbia</i></a> was launched for the second time. It was the first time a space vehicle was used more than once.

November 12, 1990: <a href="/ce6/people/A0802945.html">Akihito</a> becomes emperor of <a href="/node/70519">Japan</a>.

November 12, 1997: Ramzi Yousef, the man behind the 1993 <a href="/ce6/history/A0852740.html">World Trade Center</a> bombing, was convicted in New York.

More events from This Day in History: November 12