Today in History

Today is Thursday, June 18, the 169th day of 2015. There are 196 days left in the year.

Today's Highlight in History:

On June 18, 1815, Napoleon Bonaparte met his Waterloo as British and Prussian troops defeated the French in Belgium.

On this date:

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

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

In 1873, suffragist Susan B. Anthony was found guilty by a judge in Canandaigua, New York, 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 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, Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower received a tumultuous welcome in Washington D.C., where he addressed a joint session of Congress. 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 1953, a U.S. Air Force Douglas C-124 Globemaster II crashed near Tokyo, killing all 129 people on board. Egypt's 148-year-old Muhammad Ali Dynasty came to an end with the overthrow of the monarchy and the proclamation of a republic.

In 1964, President Lyndon B. Johnson and Japanese Prime Minister Hayato Ikeda spoke to each other by telephone as they inaugurated the first trans-Pacific cable completed by AT&T between Japan and Hawaii.

In 1975, NBC launched its News and Information Service, an all-news radio network. (NIS lasted until May 1977.)

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 on a six-day mission.

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, California, at age 48.

Ten years ago: U.S. Marines and Iraqi forces battled insurgents in a restive western Iraqi province, killing about 50 militants in the military's latest campaign to stop foreign fighters who were infiltrating from neighboring Syria. In his Saturday radio address, President George W. Bush said pulling out of Iraq immediately was not an option. Former Texas Congressman J.J. "Jake" Pickle died in Austin at age 91.

Five years ago: Death row inmate Ronnie Lee Gardner died in a barrage of bullets as Utah carried out its first firing squad execution in 14 years. (Gardner had been sentenced to death for fatally shooting attorney Michael Burdell during a failed escape attempt from a Salt Lake City courthouse.)

One year ago: President Barack Obama met with senior lawmakers in the Oval Office for over an hour to discuss options for responding to the crumbling security situation in Iraq; afterward, congressional leaders said the president believed he did not need authorization from Congress for some steps he might take to quell the al-Qaida-inspired insurgency. The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office ruled that the Washington Redskins' name was "disparaging of Native Americans" and should be stripped of trademark protection. Clayton Kershaw pitched his first no-hitter as the Los Angeles Dodgers defeated the Colorado Rockies 8-0.

Today's Birthdays: Former Sen. Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., is 78. Baseball Hall of Famer Lou Brock is 76. Rock singer-composer-musician Sir Paul McCartney is 73. Actress Constance McCashin is 68. Actress Linda Thorson is 68. Rock musician John Evans is 67. Former Sen. Mike Johanns, R-Neb., is 65. Actress Isabella Rossellini is 63. Actress Carol Kane is 63. Actor Brian Benben is 59. Actress Andrea Evans is 58. Rock singer Alison Moyet is 54. Rock musician Dizzy Reed (Guns N' Roses) is 52. Figure skater Kurt Browning is 49. Country singer-musician Tim Hunt is 48. Rock singer-musician Sice (The Boo Radleys) is 46. Rhythm-and-blues singer Nathan Morris (Boyz II Men) is 44. Actress Mara Hobel is 44. Singer-songwriter Ray LaMontagne is 42. Rapper Silkk the Shocker is 40. Actress Alana de la Garza is 39. Country singer Blake Shelton is 39. Rock musician Steven Chen (Airborne Toxic Event) is 37. Actor David Giuntoli is 35. Actress Renee Olstead is 26. Actor Jacob Anderson (TV: "Game of Thrones") is 25. Actress Willa Holland is 24.

Thought for Today: "Frailty, thy name is no longer woman." -- Victor Riesel, American labor journalist (1913-1995).

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