Today In History

Today is Thursday, June 18, the 170th day of 2020. There are 196 days left in the year.

TODAY’S HIGHLIGHT

› 1983: Astronaut Sally K. Ride became America’s first woman in space as she and four colleagues blasted off aboard the space shuttle Challenger on a six-day mission.

ON THIS DATE

› 1812: The War of 1812 began as the United States Congress approved, and President James Madison signed, a declaration of war against Britain.

› 1964: President Lyndon B. Johnson and Japanese Prime Minister Hayato Ikeda spoke to each other by telephone as they inaugurated the first trans-Pacific cable completed by AT&T between Japan and Hawaii.

› 1971: Southwest Airlines began operations, with flights between Dallas and San Antonio, and Dallas and Houston.

› 1979: President Jimmy Carter and Soviet President Leonid I. Brezhnev signed the SALT II strategic arms limitation treaty in Vienna.

› 1992: The U.S. Supreme Court, in Georgia v. McCollum, ruled that criminal defendants could not use race as a basis for excluding potential jurors from their trials.

› 2018: President Donald Trump announced that he was directing the Pentagon to create the “Space Force” as an independent service branch.

TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS

Former Sen. Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., is 83. Baseball Hall of Famer Lou Brock is 81. Sir Paul McCartney is 78. Actress Constance McCashin is

73. Actress Linda Thorson is 73. Rock musician John Evans is 72. Former Sen. Mike Johanns, R-Neb., is

70. Actress Isabella Rossellini is 68. Actress Carol Kane is 68. Actor Brian Benben is 64. Actress Andrea Evans is 63. Rock singer Alison Moyet is

59. Rock musician Dizzy Reed (Guns N’ Roses) is

57. Rock singer-musician Sice (The Boo Radleys) is 51. R&B singer Nathan Morris (Boyz II Men) is

49. Singer-songwriter Ray LaMontagne is 47. Rapper Silkk the Shocker is 45. Actress Alana de la Garza is 44. Country singer Blake Shelton is 44. Rock musician Steven Chen (Airborne Toxic Event) is

42. Actor David Giuntoli is 40. Drummer Josh Dun (Twenty One Pilots) is 32. Actress Renee Olstead is

31. Actor Jacob Anderson is 30. Actress Willa Holland is 29.