TODAY IN HISTORY
should commit its lf to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to the earth.”
In 1964, the U.S. Supreme On May 25, 2020, George Court, in Griffin v. County Floyd, a Black man, was School Board of Prince killed when a white Minne- Edward County, ordered apolis police officer pressed the Virginia county to his knee on Floyd’s neck for reopen its public schools, about nine minutes while which officials had closed Floyd was handcuffed and in an attempt to circumvent pleading that he couldn’t the Supreme Court’s 1954 breathe; Floyd’s death, Brown v. Board of Educaca tured on video by a tion of Topeka desegregabystander, would lead to tion ruling. worldwide protests, some of In 1968, the Gateway Arch which turned violent, and a in St. Louis was dedicated reexamination of racism and by Vice President Hubert policing in the U.S. Humphrey and Interior Sec- retary Stewart Udall.
In 1977, the first “Star
In 1787, the Constitutional Wars” film (later retitled Convention began at the “Star Wars: Episode IV - A Pennsylvania State House New Hope”) was released (Independence Hall) in Phil- by 20th Century Fox. adelphia after enough delIn 1979, 273 people died egates had shown up for a when an American Airlines quorum. DC-10 crashed just after take-
In 1946, Transjord an off from Chicago’s O’Hare (now Jordan) became a king- Airport. dom as it proclaimed its new In 2008, NASA’s Phoenix monarch, Abdullah I. Mars Lander arrived on the
In 1961, President John Red Planet to begin search- F. Kennedy told Congress: ing for evidence of water; “I believe that this nation the spacecraft confirmed
Today is Thursday, May 25, the 145th day of 2023. There are 220 days left in the year.
Today’s Highlight in History:
pOn this date:
ethe presence of water ice at its landing site.
In 2011, a judge in Salt Lake City sentenced street preacher Brian David Mitch- ell to life in prison for kidnapping and raping Elizabeth Smart, who was 14 at the time of her abduction in 2002.
In 2016, actor Johnny Depp’s wife, Amber Heard, filed for divorce in Los Angeles, citing irreconcilable dif- ferences after 15 months of marriage.
In 2020, a white woman, Amy Cooper, called 911 to claim she was being threatened by “an African Amer- ican man,” Christian Cooper, who had confronted her for walking her dog without a leash in New York’s Central Park. (After a video of the confrontation was widely circulated, Amy Cooper lost her job with invest- ment firm Franklin Temple- ton and was charged with filing a false police report; the charge was dismissed after she completed a counseling program.)
Ten years ago: Making his first official trip to sub-Saha- ran Africa, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry demanded that Nigeria respect human rights as it cracked down on Islamist extremists and pledged to work hard in the coming months to ease tensions between Sudan and South Sudan. A French soldier, Cedric Cordier, was wounded in the throat in a busy commercial district outside Paris; a suspect was later arrested. Marshall Lytle, 79, the original bass player for Bill Haley & His Comets, died in New Port Richey, Florida.
Five years ago: Harvey Weinstein was charged in New York with rape and another sex felony in the first prosecution to result from the wave of allegations against him; the once-powerful movie producer turned himself in to face the charges and was released on $1 mil- lion bail after a court appear- ance. A student opened fire in a classroom at a subur- ban Indianapolis middle school; the student was tackled and disarmed by a teacher, Jason Seaman, who was shot three times as he ended the shooting, which also seriously wounded a 13-year-old girl. President Donald Trump signed a trio of executive orders to overhe had shot his grandmother haul the federal bureaucracy and was going to shoot up by making it easier to fire a school. Ramos was killed federal workers for poor by police. Former reality performance and miscon- TV star Josh Duggar was duct. By a two-to-one mar- sentenced to more than gin, voters in Ireland chose 12 years in prison on child to repeal a constitutional pornography charges. Harban on abortion. old Billow, the last known
One year ago: Texas Govsurvivor of a World War II ernor Greg Abbott said that POW massacre during the 18-year-old Salvador Ramos, Battle of the Bulge, died at the gunman who massacred age 99. Johnny Depp called 19 children and two teachhis ex-wife’s accusations of ers at an Uvalde elementary sexual and physical abuse school a day earlier, warned “insane” as he returned to in online messages sent minthe witness stand in his libel utes before the attack that suit against Amber Heard.