HIGHLIGHTS IN HISTORY
Today’s highlight:
On June 16, 1963, The world’s first female space traveler, Valentina Tereshkova, 26, was launched into orbit by the Soviet Union aboard Vostok 6; Tereshkova spent 71 hours in flight, circling the Earth 48 times before returning safely.
On this date:
1567: Mary, Queen of Scots, was imprisoned in Lochleven Castle in Scotland. She escaped almost a year later but ended up imprisoned again. 1779: The nearly four-year Great Siege of Gibraltar began as Spain declared war on Britain.
1858: Accepting the Illinois Republican Party’s nomination for the U.S. Senate, Abraham Lincoln said the slavery issue had to be resolved, declaring, “A house divided against itself cannot stand.” 1903: Ford Motor Co. was incorporated.
1933: The National Industrial Recovery Act became law with President Franklin
D. Roosevelt’s signature. The Act was later struck down by the U.S. Supreme Court. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. was founded as President Roosevelt signed the Banking Act of 1933. 1943: Comedian Charles Chaplin, 54, married his fourth wife, Oona O’Neill, the 18-year-old daughter of playwright Eugene O’Neill, in Carpinteria, California. 1944: George Stinney, a 14-year-old black youth, was electrocuted by the state of South Carolina for the murders of two white girls, Betty June Binnicker, 11, and Mary Emma
Thames, 7. 1958: The Supreme Court, in Kent v. Dulles, ruled that artist Rockwell Kent could not be denied a passport because of his communist affiliations. Imre Nagy, premier of Hungary during the 1956 rebellion, was executed in Budapest for treason. 1978: President Jimmy Carter and Panamanian leader Omar Torrijos signed the instruments of ratification for the Panama Canal treaties during a ceremony in Panama City. 1988: Impeached and ousted Arizona Governor Evan Mecham and his brother, Willard, were acquitted by a Phoenix jury of concealing a $350,000 campaign loan.
2015: Real estate mogul Donald Trump launched his successful campaign to become President of the United States with a speech at Trump Tower in Manhattan.
Ten years ago:
A California Supreme Court ruling that overturned the state’s bans on same-sex marriage became final at 5:01 p.m. Pacific time, prompting dozens of gay couples to tie the knot.
Five years ago:
Riot police firing tear gas and water cannons repelled thousands of anti-government protesters attempting to converge on Istanbul’s central Taksim Square while Prime Minister
Recep Tayipp Erdogan defended the crackdown at a rally of his supporters.