TODAY IN HISTORY
the 170th day of 2017. There are 195 days left in the year.
TODAY’S HIGHLIGHTS IN HISTORY:
On this date in 1867, Maximilian I, emperor of Mexico since 1864, was executed by firing squad a month after being taken prisoner by the forces of President Benito Juarez. The inaugural running of the Belmont Stakes took place; the winner was a filly named Ruthless.
In 1865, Union troops arrived in Galveston, Texas, with news that the Civil War was over and that all remaining slaves in Texas were free — an event celebrated to this day as “Juneteenth.”
In 1917, during World War I, King George V ordered the British royal family to dispense with German titles and surnames; the family took the name “Windsor.”
In 1937, the city of Bilbao fell to the Nationalist Army during the Spanish Civil War.
In 1944, during World War II, the twoday Battle of the Philippine Sea began, resulting in a decisive victory for the Americans over the Japanese.
In 1952, the celebrity-panel game show “I’ve Got A Secret” made its debut on CBS-TV with Garry Moore as host.
In 1953, Julius Rosenberg, 35, and his wife, Ethel, 37, convicted of conspiring to pass U.S. atomic secrets to the Soviet Union, were executed at Sing Sing Prison in Ossining, N.Y.
In 1964, the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was approved by the U.S. Senate, 73-27, after surviving a lengthy filibuster.
In 1972, Hurricane Agnes, blamed for at least 122 deaths, made landfall over the Florida Panhandle.
In 1977, Pope Paul VI proclaimed a 19th-century Philadelphia bishop, John Neumann, the first male U.S. saint.
In 1982, Vincent Chin, a Chinese-American auto engineer, was fatally beaten in Highland Park, Mich., by two auto workers who later received probation for manslaughter in state court, and won acquittals in federal court.
In 1987, the U.S. Supreme Court, in Edwards v. Aguillard, struck down, 7-2, a Louisiana law requiring any public school teaching the theory of evolution to teach creationism as well.
In 1999, author Stephen King was seriously injured when he was struck by a van driven by Bryan Smith in North Lovell, Maine. Britain’s Prince Edward married commoner Sophie Rhys-Jones in Windsor, England.
TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS: Pop singer Tommy DeVito (The Four Seasons) is 89. Actress Gena Rowlands is 87. Hall of Fame race car driver Shirley Muldowney is 77. Singer Spanky McFarlane (Spanky and Our Gang) is 75. Nobel peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi is 72. Author Salman Rushdie is 70. Actress Phylicia Rashad is 69. Rock singer Ann Wilson (Heart) is 67. Musician Larry Dunn is 64. Actress Kathleen Turner is 63. Country singer Doug Stone is 61. Singer Mark DeBarge is 58. Singer-dancer-choreographer Paula Abdul is 55. Actor Andy Lauer is 54. Rock singer-musician Brian Vander Ark (Verve Pipe) is 53. Actor Samuel West is 51. Actress Mia Sara is 50. TV personality Lara Spencer is 48. Rock musician Brian “Head” Welch is 47. Actor Jean Dujardin and actress Robin Tunney are 45. Actor Bumper Robinson is 43. Actress Poppy Montgomery is 42. Altcountry singer-musician Scott Avett (The Avett Brothers) and actor Ryan Hurst are 41. Actress Zoe Saldana is 39. Actress Lauren Lee Smith is 37. Actor Paul Dano is 33. Actor Giacomo Gianniotti is 28. Actor Atticus Shaffer is 19.