TODAY IN HISTORY
Today is Wednesday, June 9, the 160th day of 2021. There are 205 days left in the year.
ON THIS DATE IN HISTORY
On June 9, 1969, the Senate confirmed Warren Burger to be the new chief justice of the United States, succeeding Earl Warren.
1870 — Author Charles Dickens died in Gad’s Hill Place, England.
1940 — During World War II, Norway decided to surrender to the Nazis, effective at midnight.
1954 — During the Senate Army-McCarthy hearings, Army special counsel Joseph N. Welch berated Sen. Joseph R. McCarthy, R-Wisconsin, asking: “Have you no sense of decency, sir? At long last, have you left no sense of decency?”
1972 — Heavy rains triggered record flooding in the Black Hills of South Dakota; the resulting disaster left at least 238 people dead and $164 million in damage.
1983 — Britain’s Conservatives, led by Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, won a decisive election victory.
2008 — Retail gas prices rose above $4 per gallon.
Ten years ago — The entire top echelon of Newt Gingrich’s presidential campaign resigned in a mass exodus that left his bid for the Republican nomination in tatters.
Five years ago — President Barack Obama endorsed Hillary Clinton to succeed him and urged Democrats in a web video to line up behind her.
One year ago — Hundreds of mourners packed a Houston church for the funeral of George Floyd, a Black man whose death during a Minneapolis arrest inspired a worldwide reckoning over racial injustice. In a primary election plagued by hours-long lines, voting machine malfunctions and provisional ballot shortages, Georgia Democrats chose Jon Ossoff to face Republican Sen. David Perdue in November. (Perdue finished 88,000 votes ahead of
Ossoff in November, forcing a January runoff that was won by Ossoff.)
TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS
Comedian Jackie Mason is 93. Former baseball manager and player Bill Virdon is 90. Sports commentator Dick Vitale is 82. Author Letty Cottin Pogrebin is 82. Rock musician Mick Box (Uriah Heep) is 74. Retired MLB AllStar Dave Parker is 70. Film composer James Newton Howard is 70. Mystery author Patricia Cornwell is 65. Actor Michael J. Fox is 60. Writer-producer Aaron Sorkin is 60. Actor Johnny Depp is 58. Actor Gloria Reuben is 57. Gospel singer-actress Tamela Mann is 55. Rock musician Dean Felber (Hootie & the Blowfish) is 54. Rock musician Dean Dinning is 54. Musician Ed Simons is 51. Actor Keesha Sharp is 48. Bluegrass singer-musician Jamie Dailey (Dailey & Vincent) is 46. Actor Michaela Conlin is 43. Actor Natalie Portman is 40. Actor Mae Whitman is 33. Actor Lucien Laviscount is 29.