Today is Sunday, June 16th, the 168th day of 2024. There are 198 days left this year.
Today’s History Highlights:
On June 16, 1858, when Abraham Lincoln accepted the Illinois Republican nomination for U.S. Senate, he said the issue of slavery must be resolved and proclaimed that “a house divided against itself cannot stand.”
On this date:
The Ford Motor Company was founded in 1903.
In 1933, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the National Industrial Recovery Act into law (although the act was later struck down by the U.S. Supreme Court).
In 1941, National Airport (now Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport) opened in a ceremony attended by President Franklin D. Roosevelt.
In 1963, the world’s first female astronaut, Valentina Tereshkova (26 years old), was launched into orbit aboard the Soviet Union’s Vostok 6, and returned safely after 48 orbits of the Earth during a 71-hour flight.
In 1970, Kenneth A. Gibson of Newark, New Jersey, became the first black politician elected mayor of a major Northeastern city. Chicago Bears running back Brian Piccolo, 26, died in a New York hospital after a battle with cancer.
In 1977, Leonid Brezhnev, General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, was appointed President, becoming the first person to hold both offices simultaneously.
In 1978, President Jimmy Carter and Panamanian leader Omar Torrijos signed the ratification of the Panama Canal Treaty in a ceremony in Panama City.
In 1999, Thabo Mbeki succeeded Nelson Mandela as President of South Africa.
In 2011, New York Rep. Anthony Weiner announced he was resigning from Congress following the uproar he caused by online disclosures of his sexual relationships with a former porn star and other women.
In 2013, Justin Rose won his first major championship with a final score of 70 and a total score of 1-over 281 at Merion Golf Club in Ardmore, Pennsylvania, becoming the first Briton to win the U.S. Open in 43 years.
In 2015, real estate mogul Donald Trump launched his successful campaign for the US presidency with a speech at Trump Tower in Manhattan.
The Walt Disney Company opened Shanghai Disneyland, its first theme park in mainland China, in 2016.
President Donald Trump first acknowledged in 2017 that he was under federal investigation as part of a broader probe into Russian election interference, and he sharply criticized Justice Department officials overseeing the probe.
In 2018, a 23-foot-long python swallowed a 54-year-old woman in central Indonesia, a highly unusual occurrence.
In 2020, federal authorities announced they would indict Air Force Sergeant Steven Carillo on murder and attempted murder charges in the shooting death of a U.S. marshal outside the U.S. Courthouse in Oakland, California. (Carillo, who had ties to the far-right, anti-government “boogaloo” movement, pleaded guilty to a federal murder charge after prosecutors agreed not to seek the death penalty.)
In 2022, witnesses testified before the committee on January 6 that Donald Trump’s aides viewed Trump’s last-ditch efforts to pressure Vice President Mike Pence to reject the state’s electoral count and overturn the results of the 2020 election as “insanity,” an “erratic” act and even considered it possible to incite a riot.
In 2023, Daniel Ellsberg, the government analyst and whistleblower who leaked Pentagon documents in 1971, died at age 92.
Today’s birthdays: Actor Eileen Atkins is 90. Actor Bill Cobbs is 90. Author Joyce Carol Oates is 86. Country singer Billy “Crash” Craddock is 86. R&B singer Eddie Levert is 82. Actor Joan Van Ark is 81. Actor Geoff Pearson is 75. Boxing Hall of Famer Roberto Duran is 73. Pop singer Gino Vannelli is 72. Actor Laurie Metcalf is 69. Actor Arnold Vosloo is 62. Actor Danny Burstein is 60. Model and actress Jenny Shimizu is 57. Actor James Patrick Stewart is 56. Rapper MC Ren is 55. Actor Clifton Collins Jr. is 54. Golfer Phil Mickelson is 54. Actor John Cho is 52. Actor Eddie Cibrian is 51. Actor Fred Koehler is 49. Actor China Shavers is 47. Actor Daniel Bruhl is 46. Bluegrass musician Caleb Smith (Balsam Range) is 46. Actor Sibel Kekilli is 44. Actor Missy Peregrym is 42. Actor Olivia Haq is 41. Singer Diana DeGarmo (TV: American Idol) is 37. Actor Ali Stroker is 37. Tennis player Bianca Andreescu is 24.
