History Today
In 1732, James Oglethorpe received a royal charter from King George II of England to establish the Colony of Georgia.
In 1870, author Charles Dickens died at Gad’s Hill Place in England.
Guitarist, songwriter and inventor Les Paul was born in Waukesha, Wisconsin in 1915.
In 1940, during World War II, Norway decided to surrender to the Nazis in the middle of the night.
During the 1954 Senate Army-McCarthy hearings, Army Special Adviser Joseph N. Welch rebuked Senator Joseph R. McCarthy, R-Wisconsin, asking, “Have you lost your sense of decency? Have you finally lost your sense of decency?”
In 1969, the Senate appointed Warren Burger to succeed Earl Warren as Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court.
In 1972, heavy rains caused record flooding in the Black Hills of South Dakota, killing at least 238 people and causing $164 million in damages.
In 1978, leaders of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints ended a 148-year-old policy that excluded black men from the Mormon priesthood.
In 1983, British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher’s Conservative Party won a landslide victory in the election.
In 1986, the Rogers Commission released its report on the Challenger disaster, criticizing management problems at NASA and rocket manufacturer Morton Thiokol for leading to the explosion that killed seven astronauts.
In 1993, Steven Spielberg’s sci-fi film “Jurassic Park” had its world premiere in Washington, DC.
In 2004, Ronald Reagan’s body arrived in Washington to lie in state in the U.S. Capitol Rotunda ahead of the 40th President’s funeral.
In 2013, Rafael Nadal defeated fellow Spaniard David Ferrer in the French Open final to become the first man to win eight titles at the same Grand Slam tournament.
In 2017, Batman TV actor Adam West died in Los Angeles at the age of 88.
In 2018, Justify, ridden by jockey Mike Smith and trained by Bob Baffert, won the Belmont Stakes, becoming the 13th horse in racing history to win the Triple Crown and the second in four years.
Hundreds of mourners gathered at a Houston church for the funeral of George Floyd, a Black man who died during an arrest in Minneapolis in 2020. Floyd’s death prompted a global reckoning on racism.
In their first public hearing on the matter, the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 storming of the U.S. Capitol has firmly placed the blame on President Donald Trump, saying the attack was not spontaneous but an “attempted coup” and the direct result of the defeated president’s attempt to overturn the results of the 2020 election.
According to a 2023 felony indictment, Donald Trump improperly stored classified documents about nuclear capabilities at his Florida mansion, repeatedly hired aides and lawyers to conceal records sought by investigators, and cavalierly displayed Pentagon “attack plans” and classified maps.
birthday
Media analyst Marvin Kalb is 94 years old.
Sports commentator Dick Vitale is 85 years old.
Author Letty Cotton Pogrebin is 85 years old.
Rock musician Mick Box (Uriah Heep) is 77 years old.
Retired MLB All-Star Dave Parker is 73 years old.
Film composer James Newton Howard is 73 years old.
Mystery writer Patricia Cornwell is 68 years old.
Actor Michael J. Fox is 63 years old.
Writer and producer Aaron Sorkin is 63 years old.
Actor Johnny Depp is 61 years old.
Actress Gloria Reuben is 60 years old.
Gospel singer and actress Tamela Mann is 58 years old.
Rock musician Dean Felber (Hootie and the Blowfish) is 57 years old.
Rock musician Dean Dinning is 57 years old.
Musician Ed Simmons is 54 years old.
Actress Keisha Sharp is 51 years old.
Bluegrass singer and musician Jamie Daly (Daly & Vincent) is 49 years old.
Actress Michaela Conlin is 46 years old.
Actress Natalie Portman is 43 years old.
Actress Mae Whitman is 36 years old.
Actor Lucien Laviscount is 32 years old.
