Today in History
Today’s highlight:
On June 11, 1776, the Continental Congress formed a committee to draft a Declaration of Independence calling for freedom from Britain.
On this date:
1770: Capt. James Cook, commander of the British ship Endeavour, “discovered” the Great Barrier Reef off Australia by running onto it.
1864: German composer Richard Strauss was born in Munich.
1936: Kansas Gov. Alfred “Alf” Landon was nominated for president at the Republican national convention in Cleveland.
1947: The government announced the end of sugar rationing for households and “institutional users,” e.g., restaurants and hotels, as of midnight.
1955: In motor racing’s worst disaster, more than 80 people were killed during the 24 Hours of Le Mans in France when two of the cars collided and crashed into spectators.
1962: Three prisoners at Alcatraz in San Francisco Bay staged an escape, leaving the island on a makeshift raft; they were never found or heard from again.
1970: The United States presence in Libya came to an end as the last detachment left Wheelus Air Base. The anniversary of this event is celebrated as a holiday in Libya.
1985: Karen Ann Quinlan, the comatose patient whose case prompted a historic right-to-die court decision, died in Morris Plains, New Jersey, at age 31.
1993: The U.S. Supreme Court unanimously ruled that people who commit “hate crimes” motivated by bigotry may be sentenced to extra punishment; the court also ruled religious groups had a constitutional right to sacrifice animals in worship services.
2001: Timothy Mcveigh, 33, was executed by injection at the federal prison in Terre Haute, Indiana, for the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing that killed 168 people.
2007: Sen. Larry Craig, R-idaho, was arrested at the Minneapolis-st. Paul International Airport in a restroom sex sting. Craig, who denied soliciting an undercover police officer, later pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct and paid a fine.
2009: With swine flu reported in more than 70 nations, the World Health Organization declared the first global flu pandemic in 41 years.
Ten years ago: Twenty campers in a southwestern Arkansas gorge died in a pre-dawn flash flood of the Little Missouri River.
Five years ago: Gen. Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said the U.S. military’s reach could extend even further into Iraq if the anti-islamic State campaign were to gain momentum, and held out the possibility of a greater role for U.S. troops on the ground.
One year ago: Nizar Zakka, a Lebanese man and permanent U.S. resident, was released after spending years in an Iranian prison on espionage charges; his release came amid heightened tensions between the U.S. and Iran over Iran’s nuclear program.