Today in History

Today is Tuesday, June 25, the 176th day of 2013. There are 189 days left in the year.

Today's Highlight in History:

On June 25, 1973, former White House Counsel John W. Dean began testifying before the Senate Watergate Committee, implicating top administration officials, including President Richard Nixon as well as himself, in the Watergate scandal and cover-up.

On this date:

In 1788, Virginia ratified the U.S. Constitution.

In 1876, Lt. Col. Colonel George A. Custer and his 7th Cavalry were wiped out by Sioux and Cheyenne Indians in the Battle of the Little Bighorn in Montana.

In 1888, the Republican National Convention, meeting in Chicago, nominated Benjamin Harrison for the presidency. (Harrison went on to win the election, defeating President Grover Cleveland.)

In 1910, President William Howard Taft signed the White-Slave Traffic Act, more popularly known as the Mann Act, which made it illegal to transport women across state lines for "immoral" purposes.

In 1938, the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 was enacted.

In 1943, Congress passed, over President Franklin D. Roosevelt's veto, the Smith-Connally Anti-Strike Act, which allowed the federal government to seize and operate privately owned war plants facing labor strikes.

In 1950, war broke out in Korea as forces from the communist North invaded the South.

In 1962, the U.S. Supreme Court, in Engel v. Vitale, ruled 6-1 that recitation of a state-sponsored prayer in New York State public schools was unconstitutional.

In 1988, American-born Mildred Gillars, known as "Axis Sally" for her Nazi propaganda broadcasts during World War II, died in Columbus, Ohio, at age 87. (Gillars had served 12 years in prison for treason.)

In 1993, Kim Campbell was sworn in as Canada's 19th prime minister, the first woman to hold the post.

In 1998, the U.S. Supreme Court rejected a line-item veto law as unconstitutional, and ruled that HIV-infected people are protected by the Americans with Disabilities Act.

In 2009, death claimed Michael Jackson, the "King of Pop," in Los Angeles at age 50 and actress Farrah Fawcett in Santa Monica, Calif. at age 62.

Ten years ago: The Recording Industry Association of America threatened to sue hundreds of individual computer users who were illegally sharing music files online. Former Georgia Gov. Lester Maddox, a symbol of Old South segregation, died in Atlanta at age 87.

Five years ago: A divided U.S. Supreme Court struck down a Louisiana law that allowed capital punishment for people convicted of raping children under 12; the ruling also invalidated laws in five other states that allowed executions for child rape that did not result in the death of the victim. A jury in Woburn, Mass., convicted Neil Entwistle of first-degree murder in the deaths of his wife, Rachel, 27, and their 9-month-old baby, Lillian Rose. (Entwistle was sentenced the next day to two life prison terms without possibility of parole.) Wesley N. Higdon, 25, shot and killed five workers and himself at a western Kentucky plastics plant; a sixth victim survived.

One year ago: A divided U.S. Supreme Court threw out major parts of Arizona's tough crackdown on people living in the U.S. without legal permission, while unanimously upholding the law's most-discussed provision: requiring police to check the immigration status of those they stop for other reasons, but limiting the legal consequences. With BeBe Winans singing "God Bless America," a final steel beam was lifted atop a new World Trade Center skyscraper in New York City.

Today's Birthdays: Actress June Lockhart is 88. Civil rights activist James Meredith is 80. Rhythm-and-blues singer Eddie Floyd is 76. Actress Barbara Montgomery is 74. Actress Mary Beth Peil (peel) (TV: "The Good Wife") is 73. Basketball Hall-of-Famer Willis Reed is 71. Writer-producer-director Gary David Goldberg is 69. Singer Carly Simon is 68. Rock musician Allen Lanier (Blue Oyster Cult) is 67. Rock musician Ian McDonald (Foreigner; King Crimson) is 67. Actor-comedian Jimmie Walker is 66. Actor-director Michael Lembeck is 65. TV personality Phyllis George is 64. Rock singer Tim Finn is 61. Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor is 59. Rock musician David Paich (Toto) is 59. Actor Michael Sabatino is 58. Actor-writer-director Ricky Gervais is 52. Actor John Benjamin Hickey is 50. Rock singer George Michael is 50. Actress Erica Gimpel is 49. Former NBA player Dikembe Mutombo is 47. Rapper-producer Richie Rich is 46. Rapper Candyman is 45. Contemporary Christian musician Sean Kelly (Sixpence None the Richer) is 42. Actress Angela Kinsey is 42. Rock musician Mike Kroeger (Nickelback) is 41. Rock musician Mario Calire is 39. Actress Linda Cardellini is 38. Actress Busy Philipps is 34.

Thought for Today: "Four hostile newspapers are more to be feared than a thousand bayonets." -- Napoleon Bonaparte (1769-1821).

Copyright 2013, The Associated Press. All rights reserved.