Today In History

Today is Monday, June 4, the 155th day of 2018. There are 210 days left in the year.

Today's Highlight in History:

On June 4, 1940, during World War II, the Allied military evacuation of some 338,000 troops from Dunkirk, France, ended. British Prime Minister Winston Churchill declared: "We shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender."

On this date:

In 1783, the Montgolfier brothers first publicly demonstrated their hot-air balloon, which did not carry any passengers, over Annonay, France.

In 1784, opera singer Elisabeth Thible became the first woman to make a non-tethered flight aboard a Montgolfier hot-air balloon, over Lyon, France.

In 1812, the Louisiana Territory was renamed the Missouri Territory, to avoid confusion with the recently admitted state of Louisiana. The U.S. House of Representatives approved, 79-49, a declaration of war against Britain.

In 1919, Congress approved the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, guaranteeing citizens the right to vote regardless of their gender, and sent it to the states for ratification.

In 1939, the German ocean liner MS St. Louis, carrying more than 900 Jewish refugees from Germany, was turned away from the Florida coast by U.S. officials.

In 1942, the World War II Battle of Midway began, resulting in a decisive American victory against Japan and marking the turning point of the war in the Pacific.

In 1943, the president of Argentina, Ramon Castillo, was overthrown in a military coup.

In 1954, French Premier Joseph Laniel and Vietnamese Premier Buu Loc signed treaties in Paris according "complete independence" to Vietnam.

In 1967, in the second air disaster to strike a British carrier in as many days, a British Midland Airways jetliner crashed in Stockport, England, killing 72 of the 84 people aboard. (A day earlier, a British charter crashed in France, killing 88.)

In 1972, a jury in San Jose, California, acquitted radical activist Angela Davis of murder and kidnapping for her alleged connection to a deadly Marin County courthouse shootout in 1970.

In 1986, Jonathan Jay Pollard, a former U.S. Navy intelligence analyst, pleaded guilty in Washington to conspiring to deliver information related to the national defense to Israel. (Pollard, sentenced to life in prison, was released on parole on Nov. 20, 2015.)

In 1998, a federal judge sentenced Terry Nichols to life in prison for his role in the 1995 bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City.

Ten years ago: Barack Obama, having clinched the Democratic presidential nomination, picked Caroline Kennedy to help him choose a running mate. Travis Alexander, 30, was stabbed to death at his suburban Phoenix home by his girlfriend, Jodi Arias, who claimed self-defense but was convicted of first-degree murder. The Detroit Red Wings won the Stanley Cup for the fourth time in 11 seasons with a 3-2 victory over the Pittsburgh Penguins in Game 6 of the finals.

Five years ago: Already heavily criticized for targeting conservative groups, the Internal Revenue Service suffered another blow as new details emerged in a report about senior officials enjoying luxury hotel rooms, free drinks and food at a $4.1 million training conference. France said it confirmed that nerve gas was used "multiple times in a localized way" in Syria. Joey Covington, 67, a former Jefferson Airplane drummer who co-wrote several of the group's songs, died in a car crash in Palm Springs, California.

One year ago: Alfredo del Mazo of the governing PRI (pree) party was elected governor of the state of Mexico in a hotly disputed contest marred by charges of irregularities. Elite rock climber Alex Honnold became the first to climb alone to the top of the massive granite wall known as El Capitan in Yosemite National Park without ropes or safety gear.

Today's Birthdays: Sex therapist and media personality Dr. Ruth Westheimer is 90. Actor Bruce Dern is 82. Musician Roger Ball is 74. Actress-singer Michelle Phillips is 74. Jazz musician Anthony Braxton is 73. Rock musician Danny Brown (The Fixx) is 67. Actor Parker Stevenson is 66. Actor Keith David is 62. Blues singer-musician Tinsley Ellis is 61. Actress Julie Gholson is 60. Actor Eddie Velez is 60. Singer-musician El DeBarge is 57. Actress Julie White is 57. Actress Lindsay Frost is 56. Actor Sean Pertwee is 54. Tennis player Andrea Jaeger is 53. Opera singer Cecilia Bartoli is 52. Rhythm and blues singer Al B. Sure! is 50. Actor Scott Wolf is 50. Actor-comedian Rob Huebel is 49. Comedian Horatio Sanz is 49. Actor James Callis is 47. Actor Noah Wyle is 47. Rock musician Stefan Lessard (The Dave Matthews Band) is 44. Actor-comedian Russell Brand is 43. Actress Angelina Jolie is 43. Actor Theo Rossi is 43. Alt-country singer Kasey Chambers is 42. Rock musician JoJo Garza (Los Lonely Boys) is 38. Country musician Dean Berner (Edens Edge) is 37. Model Bar Refaeli is 33. Olympic gold medal figure skater Evan Lysacek is 33. Americana singer Shakey Graves is 31. Rock musician Zac Farro is 28.

Thought for Today: "As people used to be wrong about the motion of the sun, so they are still wrong about the motion of the future. The future stands still; it is we who move in infinite space." -- Rainer Maria Rilke, German poet (1875-1926).