Today is Tuesday, June 25th, the 177th day of 2024. There are 189 days left this year.
Today’s History Highlights:
On June 25, 1947, The Diary of Anne Frank, the personal diary of Anne Frank, a German-born Jewish girl who hid in Amsterdam with her family to escape the Nazis during World War II, was published for the first time.
This day too:
In 1938, the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 was enacted.
In 1942, General Dwight D. Eisenhower was appointed commander in chief of the European Theater of World War II. About 1,000 Royal Air Force bombers raided Bremen, Germany.
In 1950, troops from Communist North Korea invaded South Korea, starting the Korean War.
In 1962, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the recitation of state-sponsored prayers in New York public schools was unconstitutional.
In 1973, former White House counsel John W. Dean began testifying before the Senate Watergate Committee, alleging that President Richard Nixon and senior government officials, including himself, were involved in the Watergate scandal and its cover-up.
In 1990, the U.S. Supreme Court, in its first “right to die” case, ruled that families may be prohibited from ending the lives of relatives who are in permanent comas and have not clearly expressed their wishes.
In 1993, Kim Campbell became Canada’s 19th Prime Minister, and the first woman to hold that position.
In 1996, a truck bomb exploded at a U.S. military housing complex in Saudi Arabia, killing 19 Americans and wounding hundreds.
In 2009, the “King of Pop” Michael Jackson died in Los Angeles at age 50, and actor Farrah Fawcett died in Santa Monica, California at age 62.
In 2013, President Barack Obama announced a wide-ranging plan at Georgetown University to address pollution and prepare communities for global warming, declaring the debate about climate change and its causes outdated.
In 2015, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld nationwide tax breaks under President Barack Obama’s health care reform in a 6-3 decision, preserving health insurance for millions of Americans.
In 2016, Pope Francis visited Armenia and recognized the Ottoman-era Armenian massacres as genocide, drawing a strong response from Turkey.
In 2021, former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin was sentenced to 22 1/2 years in prison for the murder of George Floyd, whose death under Chauvin’s knee sparked the most violent racial justice protests in the United States in generations.
Today’s birthdays: Actress June Lockhart is 99. Civil rights activist James Meredith is 91. R&B singer Eddie Floyd (Knock on Wood) is 87. Actress Barbara Montgomery is 85. Singer Carly Simon is 81. Actor and comedian Jimmy Walker is 77. Rock musician Tim Finn is 72. Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor is 70. Actor, writer and director Ricky Gervais is 63. Author Yann Martel (Life of Pi) is 61. Actor Erica Gimpel is 60. Basketball Hall of Famer Dikembe Mutombo (The Camebay Moo Turbo) is 58. Actress Angela Kinsey (The Office) is 53.
