Today in History

Today is Sunday, June 21, the 172nd day of 2015. There are 193 days left in the year. Summer arrives at 12:38 p.m. EDT. This is Father's Day.

Today's Highlight in History:

On June 21, 1788, the United States Constitution went into effect as New Hampshire became the ninth state to ratify it. On this date: In 1834, Cyrus Hall McCormick received a patent for his reaping machine.

In 1913, Georgia "Tiny" Broadwick became the first woman to parachute from an airplane as she jumped over Los Angeles.

In 1932, heavyweight Max Schmeling lost a title fight rematch in New York by decision to Jack Sharkey, prompting Schmeling's manager, Joe Jacobs, to exclaim: "We was robbed!"

In 1942, German forces led by Generaloberst (Colonel General) Erwin Rommel captured the Libyan city of Tobruk during World War II. (Following his victory, Rommel was promoted to Field Marshal; Tobruk was retaken by the Allies in November 1942.)

In 1955, the David Lean movie "Summertime" starring Katharine Hepburn and Rossano Brazzi opened in New York.

In 1963, Cardinal Giovanni Battista Montini was chosen during a conclave of his fellow cardinals to succeed the late Pope John XXIII; the new pope took the name Paul VI.

In 1964, civil rights workers Michael H. Schwerner, Andrew Goodman and James E. Chaney were slain in Philadelphia, Mississippi; their bodies were found buried in an earthen dam six weeks later.

In 1970, former Indonesian President Sukarno died at 69.

In 1973, the U. S. Supreme Court, in Miller v. California, ruled that states may ban materials found to be obscene according to local standards.

In 1982, a jury in Washington D.C. found John Hinckley Jr. not guilty by reason of insanity in the shootings of President Ronald Reagan and three other men.

In 1985, scientists announced that skeletal remains exhumed in Brazil were those of Nazi war criminal Josef Mengele ( MEN'-guhluh). The science-fiction fantasy "Cocoon," directed by Ron Howard, was released by Twentieth Century Fox.