Today in History

Today is Wednesday, June 25, the 176th day of 2014. There are 189 days left in the year.

Today's Highlight in History:

On June 25, 2009, death claimed Michael Jackson, the "King of Pop," in Los Angeles at age 50 and actress Farrah Fawcett in Santa Monica, California, at age 62.

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 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.

In 1984, the Prince and the Revolution soundtrack album "Purple Rain" was released by Warner Bros. Records.

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.

Ten years ago: Republican Jack Ryan withdrew from the U.S. Senate race in Illinois after revelations of sex-club visits with his then-wife, actress Jeri Ryan. President George W. Bush and his wife, Laura, opened a European trip as they arrived in Ireland. Taliban fighters killed up to 17 people after learning they had registered for Afghanistan's U.S.-backed national elections.

Five years ago: North Korea vowed to enlarge its atomic arsenal and warned of a "fire shower of nuclear retaliation" in the event of a U.S. attack, as the regime marked the 1950 outbreak of the Korean War.

One year ago: President Barack Obama declared the debate over climate change and its causes obsolete as he announced at Georgetown University a wide-ranging plan to tackle pollution and prepare communities for global warming. Russian President Vladimir Putin confirmed the whereabouts of National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden at a Moscow airport, but promptly rejected a U.S. plea to turn him over. Democratic Texas State Senator Wendy Davis began a one-woman filibuster to block a GOP-led effort to impose stringent new abortion restrictions across the nation's second-most populous state. (Republicans voted to end the filibuster minutes before midnight, sparking a chaotic scene with demonstrators who succeeded in forcing lawmakers to miss the deadline for passing the bill.)

Today's Birthdays: Actress June Lockhart is 89. Civil rights activist James Meredith is 81. Rhythm-and-blues singer Eddie Floyd is 77. Actress Barbara Montgomery is 75. Actress Mary Beth Peil (peel) is 74. Basketball Hall-of-Famer Willis Reed is 72. Singer Carly Simon is 69. Rock musician Ian McDonald (Foreigner; King Crimson) is 68. Actor-comedian Jimmie Walker is 67. Actor-director Michael Lembeck is 66. TV personality Phyllis George is 65. Rock singer Tim Finn is 62. Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor is 60. Rock musician David Paich (Toto) is 60. Actor Michael Sabatino is 59. Celebrity chef Anthony Bourdain is 58. Actor-writer-director Ricky Gervais is 53. Actor John Benjamin Hickey is 51. Rock singer George Michael is 51. Actress Erica Gimpel is 50. Retired NBA All-Star Dikembe Mutombo is 48. Rapper-producer Richie Rich is 47. Rapper Candyman is 46. Contemporary Christian musician Sean Kelly (Sixpence None the Richer) is 43. Actress Angela Kinsey is 43. Rock musician Mike Kroeger (Nickelback) is 42. Rock musician Mario Calire is 40. Actress Linda Cardellini is 39. Actress Busy Philipps is 35.

Thought for Today: "Make your ego porous. Will is of little importance, complaining is nothing, fame is nothing. Openness, patience, receptivity, solitude is everything." -- Rainer Maria Rilke, Austrian poet-author (1875-1926).

Copyright 2014, The Associated Press. All rights reserved.