THURSDAY IN HISTORY

Today is Thursday, June 8, the 159th day of 2017. There are 206 days left in the year.

Highlight in History:

On June 8, 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.)

On this date:

In A.D. 632, the prophet Muhammad died in Medina.

In 1042, Edward the Confessor became King of England, beginning a reign of 23 1/2 years.

In 1845, Andrew Jackson, seventh president of the United States, died in Nashville, Tennessee.

In 1917, the 1st Expeditionary Division (later the 1st Infantry Division) was organized at Fort Jay in New York.

In 1953, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled unanimously that restaurants in the District of Columbia could not refuse to serve blacks.

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: Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi told the U.S. Congress that the world’s two largest democracies could anchor stability and prosperity from the Indian Ocean to the Pacific.

Today’s Birthdays: Former first lady Barbara Bush is 92. Actor-comedian Jerry Stiller is 90. Actress Millicent Martin is 83. Singer Nancy Sinatra is 77. Rock singer Bonnie Tyler is 66. “Dilbert” creator Scott Adams is 60. Actor-director Keenen Ivory Wayans is 59. Rapper Kanye West is 40.

Thought for Today: “When we begin to take our failures non-seriously, it means we are ceasing to be afraid of them.” — Katherine Mansfield, New Zealander author (1888-1923).