Today in History

Today is Wednesday, June 28, the 179th day of 2023. There are 186 days left in the year.

Today's Highlights in History:

On June 28, 1919, the Treaty of Versailles was signed in France, ending the First World War.

On this date:

In 1838, Britain's Queen Victoria was crowned in Westminster Abbey.

In 1863, during the Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln appointed Maj. Gen. George G. Meade the new commander of the Army of the Potomac, following the resignation of Maj. Gen. Joseph Hooker.

In 1914, Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria and his wife, Sophie, were shot to death in Sarajevo by Serb nationalist Gavrilo Princip an act that sparked World War I.

In 1939, Pan American Airways began regular trans-Atlantic air service with a flight that departed New York for Marseilles, France.

In 1940, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the Alien Registration Act, also known as the Smith Act, which required adult foreigners residing in the U.S. to be registered and fingerprinted.

In 1950, North Korean forces captured Seoul, the capital of South Korea.

In 1978, the Supreme Court ordered the University of California-Davis Medical School to admit Allan Bakke, a white man who argued he'd been a victim of reverse racial discrimination.

In 1994, President Bill Clinton became the first chief executive in U.S. history to set up a personal legal defense fund and ask Americans to contribute to it.

In 2000, seven months after he was cast adrift in the Florida Straits, Elian Gonzalez was returned to his native Cuba.

In 2010, the Supreme Court ruled, 5-4, that Americans had the right to own a gun for self-defense anywhere they lived.

In 2019, avowed white supremacist James Alex Fields, who deliberately drove his car into a crowd of counterprotesters in Charlottesville, Virginia, killing a young woman and injuring dozens, apologized to his victims before being sentenced to life in prison on federal hate crime charges.

Ten years ago: Tens of thousands of supporters and opponents of President Mohammed Morsi rallied in Cairo, and both sides fought each other in Egypt's second-largest city of Alexandria, where two people - including an American - were killed and scores injured. The four plaintiffs in the U.S. Supreme Court case that overturned California's same-sex marriage ban tied the knot, just hours after a federal appeals court freed gay couples to obtain marriage licenses in the state for the first time in 4 1/2 years.

Five years ago: A man armed with a shotgun attacked a newspaper in Annapolis, Md., killing four journalists and a staffer before police stormed the building and arrested him; authorities said Jarrod Ramos had a long-running grudge against the newspaper for its reporting of a harassment case against him. Ramos was convicted and was given more than five life terms without the possibility of parole. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin firmed up plans to meet in Helsinki on July 16th.

One year ago: A key former White House aide told investigators that former President Donald Trump fought security officials for control of the presidential SUV as he struggled to get to the Capitol during the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection, even after he had been told that some of his supporters were armed. Ghislaine Maxwell was sentenced to 20 years in prison for helping the wealthy financier Jeffrey Epstein sexually abuse teenage girls. The sentencing was the culmination of a prosecution that detailed how Epstein and Maxwell flaunted their riches and associations with prominent people to groom vulnerable girls and then exploit them. Serena Williams lost her first singles match in nearly a year, getting beat by 115th-ranked Harmony Tan of France in three sets to get knocked out of Wimbledon.

Today's Birthdays: Comedian-movie director Mel Brooks is 97. Comedian-impressionist John Byner is 86. Former Defense Secretary Leon Panetta is 85. Rock musician Dave Knights (Procul Harum) is 78. Actor Bruce Davison is 77. Actor Kathy Bates is 75. Actor Alice Krige is 69. College and Pro Football Hall of Famer John Elway is 63. Jazz singer Tierney Sutton is 60. Actor Jessica Hecht is 58. Rock musician Saul Davies (James) is 58. Actor Mary Stuart Masterson is 57. Actor John Cusack is 57. Actor Gil Bellows is 56. Actor-singer Danielle Brisebois is 54. Actor Tichina Arnold is 54. Actor Steve Burton is 53. Entrepreneur Elon Musk is 52. Actor Alessandro Nivola is 51. Actor Camille Guaty is 47. Rock musician Tim Nordwind (OK Go) is 47. Rock musician Mark Stoermer (The Killers) is 46. Country singer Big Vinny Hickerson (Trailer Choir) is 40. Country singer Kellie Pickler is 37. Jamaican Olympic track star Elaine Thompson-Herah is 31.