| 116671 | October 12 | Event | 1892 – The Pledge of Allegiance is first recited by students in many US public schools, as part of a celebration marking the 400th anniversary of Columbus's voyage. |
| 116672 | October 12 | Event | 1901 – President Theodore Roosevelt officially renames the "Executive Mansion" to the White House. |
| 116673 | October 12 | Event | 1915 – World War I: British nurse Edith Cavell is executed by a German firing squad for helping Allied soldiers escape from Belgium |
| 116674 | October 12 | Event | 1917 – World War I: The First Battle of Passchendaele takes place resulting in the largest single day loss of life in New Zealand history. |
| 116675 | October 12 | Event | 1918 – A massive forest fire kills 453 people in Minnesota. |
| 116676 | October 12 | Event | 1928 – An iron lung respirator is used for the first time at Children's Hospital, Boston. |
| 116677 | October 12 | Event | 1933 – The military Alcatraz Citadel becomes the civilian Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary. |
| 116678 | October 12 | Event | 1942 – World War II: Japanese ships retreat after their defeat in the Battle of Cape Esperance with the Japanese commander, Aritomo Gotō dying from wounds suffered in the battle and two Japanese destroyers sunk by Allied air attack. |
| 116679 | October 12 | Event | 1944 – World War II: The Axis occupation of Athens comes to an end. |
| 116680 | October 12 | Event | 1945 – World War II: Desmond Doss is the first conscientious objector to receive the U.S. Medal of Honor. |
| 116681 | October 12 | Event | 1953 – The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial opens at Plymouth Theatre, New York City |
| 116682 | October 12 | Event | 1959 – At the national congress of APRA in Peru a group of leftist radicals are expelled from the party. They will later form APRA Rebelde. |
| 116683 | October 12 | Event | 1960 – Cold War: Nikita Khrushchev pounds his shoe on a desk at United Nations General Assembly meeting to protest a Philippine assertion of Soviet Union colonial policy being conducted in Eastern Europe |
| 116684 | October 12 | Event | 1960 – Television viewers in Japan unexpectedly witness the assassination of Inejiro Asanuma, leader of the Japan Socialist Party, when he is stabbed and killed during a live broadcast. |
| 116685 | October 12 | Event | 1962 – Infamous Columbus Day Storm strikes the U.S. Pacific Northwest with record wind velocities 46 dead and at least U.S. $230 million in damages |
| 116686 | October 12 | Event | 1963 – After nearly 23 years of imprisonment, Reverend Walter Ciszek, a Jesuit missionary, was released from the Soviet Union. |
| 116687 | October 12 | Event | 1964 – The Soviet Union launches the Voskhod 1 into Earth orbit as the first spacecraft with a multi-person crew and the first flight without space suits |
| 116688 | October 12 | Event | 1967 – Vietnam War: US Secretary of State Dean Rusk states during a news conference that proposals by the U.S. Congress for peace initiatives are futile because of North Vietnam's opposition |
| 116689 | October 12 | Event | 1968 – Equatorial Guinea becomes independent from Spain |
| 116690 | October 12 | Event | 1970 – Vietnam War: US President Richard Nixon announces that the United States will withdraw 40,000 more troops before Christmas |
| 116691 | October 12 | Event | 1979 – The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, the first of five books in the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy comedy science fiction series by Douglas Adams is published. |
| 116692 | October 12 | Event | 1979 – The lowest recorded non-tornadic atmospheric pressure, 87.0 kPa (870 mbar or 25.69 inHg), occurred in the Western Pacific during Typhoon Tip. |
| 116693 | October 12 | Event | 1983 – Japan's former Prime Minister Tanaka Kakuei is found guilty of taking a $2 million bribe from Lockheed and is sentenced to four years in jail. |
| 116694 | October 12 | Event | 1984 – Brighton hotel bombing: The Provisional Irish Republican Army attempt to assassinate Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and her cabinet. Thatcher escapes but the bomb kills five people and wounds 31. |
| 116695 | October 12 | Event | 1986 – Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh visit the People's Republic of China |
| 116696 | October 12 | Event | 1988 – Jaffna University Helidrop: Commandos of Indian Peace Keeping Force raided the Jaffna University campus to capture the LTTE chief and walked into a trap. |
| 116697 | October 12 | Event | 1988 – Two officers of the Victoria Police are gunned down execution-style in the Walsh Street police shootings, Australia. |
| 116698 | October 12 | Event | 1988 – Birchandra Manu massacre in Tripura, India |
| 116699 | October 12 | Event | 1991 – Askar Akayev, previously chosen President of Kyrgyzstan by republic's Supreme Soviet, is confirmed president in an uncontested poll. |
| 116700 | October 12 | Event | 1992 – A 5.8 earthquake occurred in Cairo, Egypt. At least 510 died. |