Today is Tuesday, June 18th, the 170th day of 2024. There are 196 days left this year. Today is Father’s Day.
Today’s History Highlights:
On June 18, 1983, astronaut Sally K. Ride and four colleagues boarded the Space Shuttle Challenger for a six-day mission, becoming America’s first astronaut in space.
In 1778, American troops entered Philadelphia after the British withdrew during the Revolutionary War.
In 1812, the War of 1812 began when the United States Congress authorized a declaration of war against Great Britain, which was signed by President James Madison.
In 1815, Napoleon Bonaparte was defeated at Waterloo, and British and Prussian armies defeated the French in Belgium.
In 1940, during the Second World War, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill urged his citizens to act in a way that would cause future generations to say “this was their finest hour.”
In 1971, Southwest Airlines began service between Dallas and San Antonio and Dallas and Houston.
In 1979, President Jimmy Carter and Soviet President Leonid I. Brezhnev signed the SALT II Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty in Vienna.
In 1986, 25 people were killed when a twin-engine plane collided with a helicopter carrying tourists over the Grand Canyon.
In 1992, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Georgia v. McCollum that a criminal defendant could not use race as a basis to exclude potential jurors in his or her trial.
In 2003, Larry Doby, the Hall of Fame baseball player who broke the American League’s racial segregation laws in 1947, died in Montclair, New Jersey, at age 79.
In 2010, Utah carried out its first firing squad execution in 14 years, killing death row inmate Ronnie Lee Gardner in a barrage of bullets. (Gardner was on death row for shooting and killing his attorney, Michael Badell, during a failed escape from a Salt Lake City courthouse.)
In 2011, Clarence Clemons, the E Street Band saxophonist who had a profound influence on Bruce Springsteen’s life and music, died in Florida at the age of 69.
In 2012, former baseball star Roger Clemens was acquitted in Washington, D.C., of obstructing Congress and giving false testimony while denying that he used performance-enhancing drugs.
In 2018, President Donald Trump announced he would direct the Department of Defense to create a “Space Force” as a separate military branch.
In 2020, the Supreme Court, in a 5-4 decision, rejected President Donald Trump’s attempt to end legal protections for 650,000 young immigrants.
Today’s birthdays: Former Senator Jay Rockefeller (D-VA) is 87. Sir Paul McCartney is 82. Actor Constance McCashin is 77. Actor Linda Thorson is 77. Former Senator Mike Johans (R-NE) is 74. Actor Isabella Rossellini is 72. Actor Carol Kane is 72. Actor Brian BenBen is 68. Rock singer Alison Moyet is 63. Rock musician Dizzy Reed (Guns N’ Roses) is 61. Figure skater Kurt Browning is 58. R&B singer Nathan Morris (Boyz II Men) is 53. Actor Marla Hoebel is 53. Singer-songwriter Ray LaMontagne is 51. Rapper Silk the Shocker is 49. Actor Alana de la Garza is 48. Country singer Blake Shelton is 48. Rock musician Steven Cheng (Airborne Toxic Event) is 46. Actor David Giuntoli is 44. Drummer Josh Dun (Twenty One Pilots) is 36. Actor Rene Olsted is 35. Actor Jacob Anderson is 34. Actor Willa Holland is 33.
