On this date
In 1939, Britain’s King George VI and his consort, Queen Elizabeth, arrived in Washington, D.C., where they were received at the White House by President Franklin D. Roosevelt.
In 1942, Bing Crosby recorded “Silent Night” and “Adeste Fideles” (O Come All Ye Faithful) in Los Angeles for Decca Records.
In 1953, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled unanimously that restaurants in the District of Columbia could not refuse to serve blacks.
In 1967, during the six-day Middle East war, 34 American servicemen were killed when Israel attacked the USS Liberty, a Navy intelligence-gathering ship in the Mediterranean Sea. (Israel later said the Liberty had been mistaken for an Egyptian vessel.)
In 1972, during the Vietnam War, an Associated Press photographer took a picture of a screaming 9-year-old girl, Phan Thi Kim Phuc, as she ran naked and severely burned from the scene of a South Vietnamese napalm attack.
In 1987, Fawn Hall began testifying at the Iran-Contra hearings, describing how, as secretary to National Security aide Oliver L. North, she had helped to shred some documents and spirit away others.
In 1995, U.S. Marines rescued Capt. Scott O’Grady, whose F-16C fighter jet had been shot down by Bosnian Serbs on June 2.
Ten years ago: The space shuttle Atlantis blasted off on a mission to the international space station.
Five years ago: In Cairo, Egypt, a mob of hundreds of men assaulted women holding a march demanding an end to sexual harassment.
One year ago: Maria Sharapova was suspended for two years by the International Tennis Federation for testing positive for meldonium at the Australian Open. (The ban, which was backdated to Jan. 26, 2016, was later reduced to 15 months.)