TODAY IN HISTORY

Today is Saturday, June 20.

TODAY'S HIGHLIGHT

On June 20, 1837, Queen Victoria acceded to the British throne following the death of her uncle, King William IV.

ON THIS DATE

In 1782, Congress approved the Great Seal of the United States, featuring the emblem of the bald eagle.

In 1893, a jury in New Bedford, Massachusetts, found Lizzie Borden not guilty of the ax murders of her father and stepmother.

In 1921, U.S. Rep. Alice Mary Robertson, R-Okla., became the first woman to preside over a session of the House of Representatives.

In 1943, race-related rioting erupted in Detroit; federal troops were sent in two days later to quell the violence that resulted in more than 30 deaths.

In 1967, boxer Muhammad

Ali was convicted in Houston of violating Selective Service laws by refusing to be drafted and was sentenced to five years in prison. (Ali’s conviction was ultimately overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court).

In 1972, three days after the arrest of the Watergate burglars, President Richard Nixon met at the White House with his chief of staff, H.R. Haldeman; the secretly made tape recording of this meeting ended up with the notorious 18½-minute gap.

In 1990, South African black nationalist Nelson Mandela and his wife, Winnie, arrived in New York City for a ticker-tape parade in their honor as they began an eight-city U.S. tour. In 1994, O.J. Simpson pleaded not guilty in Los Angeles to the killings of his ex-wife, Nicole, and her friend, Ronald Goldman. Former airman Dean Allen Mellberg went on a shooting rampage at Fairchild Air Force Base near Spokane, Washington, killing four people and wounding 22 others before being killed by a military police sharpshooter. In 2001, Houston resident Andrea Yates drowned her five children in the family bathtub, then called police. (Yates was later convicted of murder, but had her conviction overturned; she was acquitted by reason of insanity in a retrial.)

In 2014, the Obama administration granted an array of new benefits to same-sex couples, including those living in states where gay marriage was against the law; the new measures ranged from Social Security and veterans benefits to work leave for caring for sick spouses.

Ten years ago: Juan Manuel Santos, a former defense minister from a political powerful clan who oversaw a major weakening of leftist rebels, won Colombia’s presidency.

Five years ago: Max Scherzer pitched a no-hitter, losing his perfect game with two outs in the ninth inning when he hit a batter in the Washington Nationals’ 6-0 win over the Pittsburgh Pirates.

One year ago: Iran’s Revolutionary Guard shot down a U.S. surveillance drone in the Strait of Hormuz; it was the first time the Islamic Republic had directly attacked the U.S. military amid tensions over the unraveling nuclear deal.

THOUGHT FOR TODAY

“Anyone who keeps the ability to see beauty never grows old.” — Franz Kafka, Austrian author and poet (1883-1924).