Today in History

Today is Monday, June 18, the 170th day of 2012. There are 196 days left in the year.

Today's Highlight in History:

On June 18, 1812, the War of 1812 began as the United States Congress approved, and President James Madison signed, a declaration of war against Britain.

On this date:

In 1778, American forces entered Philadelphia as the British withdrew during the Revolutionary War.

In 1815, Napoleon Bonaparte met his Waterloo as British and Prussian troops defeated the French in Belgium.

In 1873, suffragist Susan B. Anthony was found guilty by a judge in Canandaigua, N.Y., of breaking the law by casting a vote in the 1872 presidential election. (The judge fined Anthony $100, but she never paid the penalty.)

In 1908, William Howard Taft was nominated for president by the Republican National Convention in Chicago.

In 1912, the Republican National Convention, which would nominate President William Howard Taft for another term of office, opened in Chicago.

In 1940, during World War II, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill urged his countrymen to conduct themselves in a manner that would prompt future generations to say, "This was their finest hour." Charles de Gaulle delivered a speech on the BBC in which he rallied his countrymen after the fall of France to Nazi Germany.

In 1945, William Joyce, known as "Lord Haw-Haw," was charged in London with high treason for his English-language wartime broadcasts on German radio. (He was hanged in January 1946.)

In 1958, President Dwight D. Eisenhower expressed support for his chief of staff, Sherman Adams, who was accused of improperly accepting gifts from a businessman. (Adams resigned in September 1958.)

In 1972, 118 people were killed in the crash of a Brussels-bound British European Airways Hawker Siddeley Trident 1C shortly after takeoff from London Heathrow Airport.

In 1979, President Jimmy Carter and Soviet President Leonid I. Brezhnev signed the SALT II strategic arms limitation treaty in Vienna.

In 1983, astronaut Sally K. Ride became America's first woman in space as she and four colleagues blasted off aboard the space shuttle Challenger.

In 1992, the U.S. Supreme Court, in Georgia v. McCollum, ruled that criminal defendants could not use race as a basis for excluding potential jurors from their trials. Entertainer Peter Allen died in San Diego County, Calif., at age 48.

Ten years ago: A Palestinian detonated a nail-studded bomb in a Jerusalem bus, killing 19 passengers and himself. President George W. Bush sent to Congress his detailed proposal for creation of a new Homeland Security Department. Minnesota Gov. Jesse Ventura announced he would not seek a second term.

Five years ago: Nine firefighters died in a fire at a furniture store and warehouse in Charleston, S.C. Yahoo Inc. Chairman Terry Semel ended his 6-year tenure as chief executive officer, handing over the reins to co-founder Jerry Yang. Vilma Espin Guillois, wife of acting President Raul Castro and a former rebel fighter, died in Havana, Cuba, at age 77.

One year ago: President Hamid Karzai acknowledged that the U.S. and Afghan governments had held talks with Taliban emissaries in a bid to end the nation's nearly 10-year war. British singer Amy Winehouse was heavily booed for being late and displaying erratic behavior on stage during a concert in Belgrade, Serbia. Yelena Bonner, 88, a Russian rights activist and widow of Nobel Peace Prize winner Andrei Sakharov, died in Boston. Clarence Clemons, the saxophone player for the E Street Band who was one of the key influences in Bruce Springsteen's life and music, died in Florida at age 69.

Today's Birthdays: Rock singer-composer-musician Sir Paul McCartney is 70. Movie critic Roger Ebert is 70. Actress Constance McCashin is 65. Actress Linda Thorson is 65. Rock musician John Evans (The Box Tops) is 64. Actress Isabella Rossellini is 60. Actress Carol Kane is 60. Actor Brian Benben is 56. Actress Andrea Evans is 55. Rock singer Alison Moyet is 51. Rock musician Dizzy Reed (Guns N' Roses) is 49. Country singer-musician Tim Hunt is 45. Rock singer-musician Sice (The Boo Radleys) is 43. Rhythm-and-blues singer Nathan Morris (Boyz II Men) is 41. Actress Mara Hobel is 41. Rapper Silkk the Shocker is 37. Actress Alana de la Garza is 36. Country singer Blake Shelton is 36. Rock musician Steven Chen (Airborne Toxic Event) is 34. Actor David Giuntoli TV: "Grimm") is 32. Actress Renee Olstead is 23.

Thought for Today: "Most of the successful people I've known are the ones who do more listening than talking." -- Bernard M. Baruch, American businessman and statesman (1870-1965).

Copyright 2012, The Associated Press. All rights reserved.