Today in history
Today is Sunday, June 24, the 175th day of 2018. There are 190 days left in the year.
Today’s Highlight in History:
On June 24, 1968, “Resurrection City,” a shantytown constructed as part of the Poor People’s March on Washington, D.C., was closed down by authorities.
On this date:
In 1497, the first recorded sighting of North America by a European took place as explorer John Cabot spotted land, probably in presentday Canada.
In 1509, Henry VIII was crowned king of England; his wife, Catherine of Aragon, was crowned queen consort.
In 1793, the first republican constitution in France was adopted.
In 1807, a grand jury in Richmond, Virginia, indicted former Vice President Aaron Burr on charges of treason and high misdemeanor (he was later acquitted).
In 1908, Grover Cleveland, the 22nd and 24th president of the United States, died in Princeton, New Jersey, at age 71.
In 1939, the Southeast Asian country Siam changed its name to Thailand. (It went back to being Siam in 1945, then became Thailand once again in 1949.)
In 1947, what’s regarded as the first modern UFO sighting took place as private pilot Kenneth Arnold, an Idaho businessman, reported seeing nine silvery objects flying in a “weaving formation” near Mount Rainier in Washington.
In 1948, Communist forces cut off all land and water routes between West Germany and West Berlin, prompting the western allies to organize the Berlin Airlift. The Republican National Convention, meeting in Philadelphia, nominated New York Gov. Thomas E. Dewey for president.
In 1957, the U.S. Supreme Court, in Roth v. United States, ruled 6-3 that obscene materials were not protected by the First Amendment.
In 1975, 113 people were killed when Eastern Airlines Flight 66, a Boeing 727 carrying 124 people, crashed while attempting to land during a thunderstorm at New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport.
In 1983, the space shuttle Challenger — carrying America’s first woman in space, Sally K. Ride — coasted to a safe landing at Edwards Air Force Base in California.
In 1997, the U.S. Air Force released a report on the so-called “Roswell Incident,” suggesting the “alien bodies” that witnesses reported seeing in 1947 were actually life-sized dummies. Actor Brian Keith was found dead in his Malibu home, an apparent suicide; he was 75.
Ten years ago: Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe (moo-GAH’-bay) refused to give in to pressure from Africa and the West, saying the world could “shout as loud as they like” but he would not cancel an upcoming runoff election even though his opponent had quit the race. Leonid Hurwicz, who shared the Nobel Prize in economics in 2007, died in Minneapolis at age 90.
Five years ago: Opening statements took place in the Sanford, Florida, trial of George Zimmerman, accused of murdering 17-year-old Trayvon Martin. (Zimmerman was acquitted.) The Chicago Blackhawks won the Stanley Cup with a stunning 3-2 comeback victory in Game 6 over the Boston Bruins. In one of Wimbledon’s greatest upsets, an ailing Rafael Nadal (rahfay-ehl nah-DAHL’) was knocked out in straight sets by 135th-ranked Steve Darcis of Belgium, 7-6 (4), 7-6 (8), 6-4.