TODAY IN HISTORY
TODAY IS TUESDAY, JUNE 27, the 178th day of 2017. There are 187 days left in the year. TODAY’S HIGHLIGHT IN HISTORY: On this date in 1957, Hurricane Audrey slammed into coastal Louisiana and Texas as a Category 4 storm; the official death toll from the storm was 390, although other estimates put fatalities between 400 and 600.
In 1787, English historian Edward Gibbon completed work on his sixvolume work, “The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire.”
In 1844, Mormon leader Joseph Smith and his brother, Hyrum, were killed by a mob in Carthage, Ill.
In 1905, the Industrial Workers of the World was founded in Chicago.
In 1922, the first Newberry Medal, for excellence in children’s literature, was awarded to “The Story of Mankind” by Hendrik Willem van Loon.
In 1944, during World War II, American forces liberated the French port of Cherbourg from the Germans.
In 1966, the Gothic soap opera “Dark Shadows” premiered on ABC-TV.
In 1977, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down state laws and bar association rules that prohibited lawyers from advertising fees for routine services.
In 1986, the International Court of Justice at The Hague ruled the United
States had broken international law and violated the sovereignty of Nicaragua by aiding the contras. (The U.S. said it was not bound by the decision.)
In 1990, NASA announced that a flaw in the Hubble Space Telescope was preventing the instrument from achieving optimum focus. (A mirror had not been properly ground; corrective optics were later installed.)
In 1991, Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall, the court’s first black jurist, announced his retirement.
TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS: Business executive Ross Perot is 87. Former Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt is 79. Singer-musician Bruce Johnston (The Beach Boys) is 75. Fashion designer Vera Wang is 68. Actress Julia Duffy is 66. Actress Isabelle Adjani is 62. Country singer Lorrie Morgan is 58. Actor Brian Drillinger is 57. Writerproducer-director J.J. Abrams is 51. Olympic gold and bronze medal figure skater Viktor Petrenko is 48. Actor Edward “Grapevine” Fordham Jr. and TV personality Jo Frost are 47. Actor Yancey Arias is 46. Actor Christian Kane is 43. Actor Tobey Maguire is 42. Reality TV star Khloe Kardashian is 33. Actors Drake Bell and Sam Claflin are 31. Actress India de Beaufort and actor Ed Westwick are 30.