TODAY IN HISTORY
the 168th day of 2017. There are 197 days left in the year.
TODAY’S HIGHLIGHT IN HISTORY:
On this date in 1972, President Richard Nixon’s eventual downfall began with the arrest of five burglars inside Democratic national headquarters in Washington, D.C.’s Watergate complex.
In 1775, the Revolutionary War Battle of Bunker Hill resulted in a costly victory for the British, who suffered heavy losses.
In 1885, the Statue of Liberty arrived in New York Harbor aboard the French ship Isere.
In 1928, Amelia Earhart embarked on a trans-Atlantic flight from Newfoundland to Wales with pilots Wilmer Stultz and Louis Gordon, becoming the first woman to make the trip as a passenger.
In 1957, mob underboss Frank Scalice was shot to death at a produce market in the Bronx, N.Y. In 1967, China successfully tested its first thermonuclear (hydrogen) bomb.
In 1992, President George H.W. Bush and Russian President Boris Yeltsin signed a breakthrough arms-reduction agreement.
In 1994, after leading police on a slowspeed chase on Southern California freeways, O.J. Simpson was arrested
and charged with murder in the slayings of his ex-wife, Nicole, and her friend, Ronald Goldman. Simpson was later acquitted in a criminal trial, but held liable in a civil trial.
In 2015, nine people were shot to death in a historic African-American church in Charleston, S.C.; suspect Dylann Roof was arrested the following morning. Roof has since been convicted of federal hate crimes and sentenced to death; he later pleaded guilty to state murder charges and was sentenced to life in prison without parole.
TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS: Actor Peter Lupus is 85. Movie director Ken Loach is 81. Actor William Lucking is 76. Singer Barry Manilow and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich are 74. Comedian Joe Piscopo is 66. Actor Mark Linn-Baker is 63. Actor Jon Gries is 60. Rock singer Jello Biafra and movie producer-director-writer Bobby Farrelly are 59. Actor Thomas Haden Church is 56. Actor Greg Kinnear is 54. Actress Kami Cotler and Olympic gold medal speed skater Dan Jansen are 52. Actor Jason Patric is 51. Rhythmand-blues singer Kevin Thornton is 48. Actor-comedian Will Forte is 47. Latin pop singer Paulina Rubio is 46. Tennis player Venus Williams is 37. Country singer Mickey Guyton is 34. Actor Damani Roberts is 21.