Today in History

Today is Tuesday, June 25, the 176th day of 2019. There are 189 days left in the year.

Today's Highlight in History:

On June 25, 1950, war broke out in Korea as forces from the communist North invaded the South.

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 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 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 1947, "The Diary of a Young Girl," the personal journal of Anne Frank, a German-born Jewish girl hiding with her family from the Nazis in Amsterdam during World War II, was first published.

In 1962, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that recitation of a state-sponsored prayer in New York State public schools was unconstitutional.

In 1967, the Beatles performed and recorded their new song "All You Need Is Love" during the closing segment of "Our World," the first-ever live international telecast which was carried by satellite from 14 countries.

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 1996, a truck bomb killed 19 Americans and injured hundreds at a U.S. military housing complex in Saudi Arabia.

In 1998, the U.S. Supreme Court rejected a line-item veto law as unconstitutional, and ruled that HIV-infected people were protected by the Americans with Disabilities Act.

In 2003, the Recording Industry Association of America threatened to sue hundreds of individual computer users who were illegally sharing music files online.

In 2013, 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.)

Ten years ago: 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. 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.

Five years ago: In an emphatic defense of privacy in the digital age, a unanimous Supreme Court ruled that police generally may not search the cellphones of people they arrest without first getting search warrants. Tim Lincecum pitched his second no-hitter against the San Diego Padres in less than a year, allowing only one runner and leading the San Francisco Giants to a 4-0 win. The NFL agreed to remove a $675 million cap on damages from thousands of concussion-related claims after a federal judge questioned whether there would be enough money to cover as many as 20,000 retired players.

One year ago: Facing rising costs from new tariffs, Harley-Davidson announced that it would begin shifting the production of motorcycles sold in Europe from the U.S. to factories overseas; President Donald Trump accused the company of waving a "White Flag" in the tariff dispute between the U.S. and the European Union. Britain's Prince William arrived in Israel for the first-ever official visit there by a member of the British royal family, ending the monarchy's mostly hands-off approach to one of the world's most sensitive regions.

Today's Birthdays: Actress June Lockhart is 94. Civil rights activist James Meredith is 86. Author-activist Larry Kramer is 84. Rhythm and blues singer Eddie Floyd is 82. Actress Barbara Montgomery is 80. Actress Mary Beth Peil (peel) is 79. Basketball Hall of Famer Willis Reed is 77. Singer Carly Simon is 74. Rock musician Ian McDonald (Foreigner; King Crimson) is 73. Actor-comedian Jimmie Walker is 72. Actor-director Michael Lembeck is 71. TV personality Phyllis George is 70. Rock singer Tim Finn is 67. Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor is 65. Rock musician David Paich (Toto) is 65. Actor Michael Sabatino is 64. Actor-writer-director Ricky Gervais is 58. Actor John Benjamin Hickey is 56. Actress Erica Gimpel is 55. Basketball Hall of Famer Dikembe Mutombo is 53. Rapper-producer Richie Rich is 52. Contemporary Christian musician Sean Kelly (formerly with Sixpence None the Richer) is 48. Actress Angela Kinsey is 48. Rock musician Mike Kroeger (Nickelback) is 47. Rock musician Mario Calire is 45. Actress Linda Cardellini is 44. Actress Busy Philipps is 40. Jazz musician Joey Alexander is 16.

Thought for Today: "A straight line is the shortest in morals as in mathematics." -- Maria Edgeworth, Anglo-Irish novelist (1767-1849).