Today in History

Today is Friday, June 25, the 176th day of 2021. There are 189 days left in the year.

Today's Highlight in History:

On June 25, 1962, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that recitation of a state-sponsored prayer in New York State public schools was unconstitutional.

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 1942, Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower was designated Commanding General of the European Theater of Operations during World War II. Some 1,000 British Royal Air Force bombers raided Bremen, Germany.

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

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 1981, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that male-only draft registration was constitutional.

In 1990, the U.S. Supreme Court, in its first "right-to-die" decision, ruled that family members could be barred from ending the lives of persistently comatose relatives who had not made their wishes known conclusively.

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

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

In 2009, death claimed Michael Jackson, the "King of Pop," in Los Angeles at age 50 and actor Farrah Fawcett in Santa Monica, California, at age 62.

In 2015, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld nationwide tax subsidies under President Barack Obama's health care overhaul in a 6-3 ruling that preserved health insurance for millions of Americans.

Ten years ago: A suicide car bomber blasted a small clinic in eastern Afghanistan, causing the building to collapse and killing some three dozen people.

Five years ago: Pope Francis visited Armenia, where he recognized the Ottoman-era slaughter of Armenians as a genocide, prompting a harsh rebuttal from Turkey.

One year ago: Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said the state would "pause" its aggressive reopening as it dealt with a surge in coronavirus cases and hospitalizations. A government watchdog found that nearly 1.1 million relief payments totaling some $1.4 billion in the government's coronavirus aid program went to dead people. Two U.S. warships, the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower and the USS San Jacinto, notched their 161st consecutive day at sea, breaking the previous Navy record, as ships were ordered to avoid port visits because of the coronavirus. Restaurant chain Chuck E. Cheese filed for bankruptcy protection. Disney said it would recast its "Splash Mountain" theme park ride to remove its ties to "Song of the South," a 1946 movie that many viewed as racist. The Grammy-winning country group The Dixie Chicks dropped the word Dixie from its name. Census Bureau figures showed that for the first time, nonwhites and Hispanics were a majority of people under age 16 in 2019.

Today's Birthdays: Actor June Lockhart is 96. Civil rights activist James Meredith is 88. R&B singer Eddie Floyd is 84. Actor Barbara Montgomery is 82. Actor Mary Beth Peil is 81. Basketball Hall of Famer Willis Reed is 79. Singer Carly Simon is 76. Rock musician Ian McDonald (Foreigner; King Crimson) is 75. Actor-comedian Jimmie Walker is 74. Actor-director Michael Lembeck is 73. Rock singer Tim Finn is 69. Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor is 67. Rock musician David Paich (Toto) is 67. Actor Michael Sabatino is 66. Actor-writer-director Ricky Gervais is 60. Actor John Benjamin Hickey is 58. Actor Erica Gimpel is 57. Basketball Hall of Famer Dikembe Mutombo is 55. Rapper-producer Richie Rich is 54. Actor Angela Kinsey is 50. Rock musician Mike Kroeger (Nickelback) is 49. Rock musician Mario Calire is 47. Actor Linda Cardellini is 46. Actor Busy Philipps is 42. Jazz musician Joey Alexander is 18.