Today in History

Today in History

Today is Tuesday, June 18, the 169th day of 2019. There are 196 days left in the year.

Today's Highlight in History:

On June 18, 1979, President Jimmy Carter and Soviet President Leonid I. Brezhnev signed the SALT II strategic arms limitation treaty in Vienna.

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 defeat at Waterloo as British and Prussian troops defeated the French in Belgium.

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, 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 1948, Columbia Records publicly unveiled its new long-playing phonograph record in New York.

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 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.

In 1996, Richard Allen Davis was convicted in San Jose, California, of the 1993 kidnap-murder of 12-year-old Polly Klaas of Petaluma. (Davis remains on death row.)

In 2004, an al-Qaida cell in Saudi Arabia beheaded American engineer Paul M. Johnson Jr., 49, posting grisly photographs of his severed head; hours later, Saudi security forces tracked down and killed the alleged mastermind of the kidnapping and murder.

Ten years ago: Tens of thousands of protesters filled the streets of Tehran again, joining opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi to mourn demonstrators killed in clashes over Iran's disputed presidential election. Hortensia Bussi, the widow of Chilean President Salvador Allende who helped lead opposition to the military dictatorship that ousted her husband, died at 94. Washington Capitals forward Alex Ovechkin was named the NHL's most valuable player for the second straight year after leading the league with 56 goals.

Five years 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.

One year ago: President Donald Trump announced that he was directing the Pentagon to create the "Space Force" as an independent service branch. Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton described as a "moral and humanitarian crisis" the Trump administration's "zero tolerance" policy that had separated children from their parents at the southern U.S. border. Trump defended his administration's border policies, saying the country "will not be a migrant camp" on his watch. The Supreme Court allowed electoral maps that were challenged as excessively partisan to remain in place for now, declining to rule on the bigger issue of whether to limit redistricting for political gain. Troubled rapper-singer XXXTentacion was shot and killed in Florida in what police called an apparent robbery attempt.

Today's Birthdays: Former Sen. Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., is 82. Baseball Hall of Famer Lou Brock is 80. Sir Paul McCartney is 77. Actress Constance McCashin is 72. Actress Linda Thorson is 72. Rock musician John Evans is 71. Former Sen. Mike Johanns, R-Neb., is 69. Actress Isabella Rossellini is 67. Actress Carol Kane is 67. Actor Brian Benben is 63. Actress Andrea Evans is 62. Rock singer Alison Moyet is 58. Rock musician Dizzy Reed (Guns N' Roses) is 56. Figure skater Kurt Browning is 53. Country singer-musician Tim Hunt is 52. Rock singer-musician Sice (The Boo Radleys) is 50. Rhythm and blues singer Nathan Morris (Boyz II Men) is 48. Actress Mara Hobel is 48. Singer-songwriter Ray LaMontagne is 46. Rapper Silkk the Shocker is 44. Actress Alana de la Garza is 43. Country singer Blake Shelton is 43. Rock musician Steven Chen (Airborne Toxic Event) is 41. Actor David Giuntoli is 39. Drummer Josh Dun (Twenty One Pilots) is 31. Actress Renee Olstead is 30. Actor Jacob Anderson is 29. Actress Willa Holland is 28.

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