Today in History

Today in History

Today is Sunday, June 18, the 169th day of 2017. There are 196 days left in the year. This is Father's Day.

Today's Highlights in History:

On June 18, 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.

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

In 1817, London's original Waterloo Bridge, commemorating Britain's victory over France two years earlier, was opened by the Prince Regent (the future King George IV) and the Duke of Wellington.

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 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 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 1986, 25 people were killed when a twin-engine plane and helicopter carrying sightseers collided over the Grand Canyon.

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: Nine firefighters died in a fire at a furniture store and warehouse in Charleston, South Carolina. 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. Hank Medress, lead singer for The Tokens and their hit "The Lion Sleeps Tonight," died in New York at 68.

Five years ago: In a scene captured on cellphone video, Karen Klein, a school bus monitor from Rochester, New York, was verbally abused by seventh-graders, prompting outrage as well as donations to the 68-year-old grandmother. Former baseball star Roger Clemens was acquitted in Washington, D.C. on all charges that he'd obstructed and lied to Congress when he denied using performance-enhancing drugs. R.A. Dickey became the first major league pitcher in 24 years to throw consecutive one-hitters in the New York Mets' 5-0 victory over the Baltimore Orioles. (The previous pitcher to throw consecutive one-hitters was Dave Stieb for Toronto in Sept. 1988.) Actor Victor Spinetti, 82, died in Monmouth, Monmouthshire, Wales.

One year ago: With California's Yosemite Falls as a backdrop, President Barack Obama said that climate change was already damaging America's national parks, with rising temperatures causing Yosemite's meadows to dry out and raising the prospect of a glacier preserve without its glaciers someday. During an appearance in Las Vegas, Donald Trump railed against efforts by some frustrated Republicans planning a last-ditch effort to try to thwart him from becoming the party's nominee, threatening at one point to stop fundraising if Republicans didn't rally around him.

Today's Birthdays: Former Sen. Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., is 80. Baseball Hall of Famer Lou Brock is 78. Rock singer-composer-musician Sir Paul McCartney is 75. Actress Constance McCashin is 70. Actress Linda Thorson is 70. Rock musician John Evans is 69. Former Sen. Mike Johanns, R-Neb., is 67. Actress Isabella Rossellini is 65. Actress Carol Kane is 65. Actor Brian Benben is 61. Actress Andrea Evans is 60. Rock singer Alison Moyet is 56. Rock musician Dizzy Reed (Guns N' Roses) is 54. Figure skater Kurt Browning is 51. Country singer-musician Tim Hunt is 50. Rock singer-musician Sice (The Boo Radleys) is 48. Rhythm-and-blues singer Nathan Morris (Boyz II Men) is 46. Actress Mara Hobel is 46. Singer-songwriter Ray LaMontagne is 44. Rapper Silkk the Shocker is 42. Actress Alana de la Garza is 41. Country singer Blake Shelton is 41. Rock musician Steven Chen (Airborne Toxic Event) is 39. Actor David Giuntoli is 37. Drummer Josh Dun (Twenty One Pilots) is 29. Actress Renee Olstead is 28. Actor Jacob Anderson is 27. Actress Willa Holland is 26.

Thought for Today: "Every great dream begins with a dreamer." -- Harriet Tubman, American abolitionist (1820-1913).