TODAY IN HISTORY

On June 16, 1858, accepting the Illinois Republican Party’s nomination for the U.S. Senate, Abraham Lincoln said the slavery issue had to be resolved, declaring, “A house divided against itself cannot stand.”

In 1903, Ford Motor Co. was incorporated.

In 1941, National Airport (now Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport) opened for business.

In 1963, the world’s first female space traveler, Valentina Tereshkova, 26, was launched into orbit by the Soviet Union; Tereshkova spent 71 hours in flight, circling the Earth

48 times before returning safely.

In 1999, Thabo Mbeki took the oath as president of South Africa.

In 2020, a statue of Christopher Columbus that stood in a St. Louis park for 134 years was removed; park officials said it had symbolized a “historical disregard for indigenous peoples.”