Today in History
Today is Sunday, June 18, the 169th day of 2023. There are 196 days left in the year. This is Father’s Day.
TODAY’S HIGHLIGHT
On June 18, 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
› In 1778, American forces entered Philadelphia as the British withdrew during the Revolutionary War.
› In 1812, the War of 1812 began as the United States Congress approved, and President James Madison signed, a declaration of war against Britain.
› In 1940, during World War II, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill urged his countrymen to conduct themselves in a manner that would prompt future generations to say, “This was their finest hour.”
› In 1971, Southwest Airlines began operations, with flights between Dallas and San Antonio, and Dallas and Houston.
› In 1979, President Jimmy Carter and Soviet President Leonid I. Brezhnev signed the SALT II strategic arms limitation treaty in Vienna.
› In 1986, 25 people were killed when a twin-engine plane and helicopter carrying sightseers collided over the Grand Canyon.
› In 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.
› In 2010, death row inmate Ronnie Lee Gardner died in a barrage of bullets as Utah carried out its first firing squad execution in 14 years. (Gardner had been sentenced to death for fatally shooting attorney Michael Burdell during a failed escape attempt from a Salt Lake City courthouse.)
› In 2011, Clarence Clemons, the saxophone player for the E Street Band who was one of the key influences in Bruce Springsteen’s life and music, died in Florida at age 69.
TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS
Former Sen. Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., is 86. Sir Paul McCartney is 81. Actor Constance McCashin is 76. Actor Linda Thorson is 76. Former Sen. Mike Johanns, R-Neb., is 73. Actor Isabella Rossellini is 71. Actor Carol Kane is 71. Actor Brian Benben is 67. Actor Andrea Evans is 66. Rock singer Alison Moyet is 62. Rock musician Dizzy Reed (Guns N’ Roses) is 60. Figure skater Kurt Browning is 57. R&B singer Nathan Morris (Boyz II Men) is 52. Actor Mara Hobel is 52. Rapper Silkk the Shocker is 48. Actor Alana de la Garza is 47. Country singer Blake Shelton is 47. Rock musician Steven Chen (Airborne Toxic Event) is 45. Actor David Giuntoli is 43. Drummer Josh Dun (Twenty One Pilots) is 35. Actor Renee Olstead is 34. Actor Jacob Anderson is 33. Actor Willa Holland is 32.