TODAY IN HISTORY
TODAY IS SUNDAY, JUNE 19,
the 171st day of 2016. There are 195 days left in the year. This is Father’s Day.
TODAY’S HIGHLIGHT IN HISTORY:
On this date in 1910, the first Father’s Day was celebrated in Spokane, Wash. The idea for the observance is credited to Sonora Louise Smart Dodd.
In 1764,
Jose Gervasio Artigas, considered the father of Uruguayan independence, was born in Montevideo.
In 1865,
Union troops arrived in Galveston, Texas, with news that the Civil War was over and that all remaining slaves in Texas were free — an event celebrated to this day as “Juneteenth.”
In 1934,
the Federal Communications Commission was created; it replaced the Federal Radio Commission.
In 1944,
during World War II, the two-day Battle of the Philippine Sea began, resulting in a decisive victory for the Americans over the Japanese.
In 1953,
Julius Rosenberg, 35, and his wife, Ethel, 37, convicted of conspiring to pass U.S. atomic secrets to the Soviet Union, were executed at Sing Sing Prison in Ossining, N.Y.
In 1964,
the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was approved by the U.S. Senate, 73-27, after surviving a lengthy filibuster.
In 1972,
Hurricane Agnes, blamed for at least 122 deaths, made landfall over the Florida Panhandle.
In 1975,
former Chicago organized crime boss Sam Giancana was shot to death in the basement of his home in Oak Park, Ill.; the killing has never been solved.
In 1986,
University of Maryland basketball star Len Bias, the first draft pick of the Boston Celtics, suffered a fatal cocaine-induced seizure. Artificial heart recipient Murray P. Haydon died in Louisville, Ky., after 16 months on the manmade pump.
In 1999,
author Stephen King was seriously injured when he was struck by a van driven by Bryan Smith in North Lovell, Maine.
TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS:
Pop singer Tommy DeVito (The Four Seasons) is 88. Actress Gena Rowlands is 86. Hall of Fame race car driver Shirley Muldowney is 76. Singer Spanky McFarlane (Spanky and Our Gang) is 74. Nobel peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi is 71. Author Salman Rushdie is 69. Actress Phylicia Rashad is 68. Rock singer Ann Wilson (Heart) is 66. Musician Larry Dunn is 63. Actress Kathleen Turner is 62. Country singer Doug Stone is 60. Singer-dancer-choreographer Paula Abdul is 54. Actor Andy Lauer is 53. Rock singermusician Brian Vander Ark (Verve Pipe) is 52. Actor Samuel West is 50. Actress Mia Sara is 49. Rock musician Brian “Head” Welch is 46. Actor Jean Dujardin and actress Robin Tunney are 44. Actor Bumper Robinson is 42. Actress Poppy Montgomery is 41. Alt-country singer-musician Scott Avett (The Avett Brothers) and actor Ryan Hurst are 40. Actress Zoe Saldana is 38. Actress Lauren Lee Smith is 36. Actor Paul Dano is 32. Actor Atticus Shaffer is 18.