Also on this date
In 1775, George Washington was commissioned by the Continental Congress as commander in chief of the Continental Army.
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 1944, during World War II, the Battle of the Philippine Sea began, resulting in a decisive victory for the Americans over the Japanese.
In 1952, the U.S. Army Special Forces, the elite unit of fighters known as the Green Berets, was established at Fort Bragg, North Carolina.
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, New York.
In 1975, former Chicago organized crime boss Sam Giancana was shot to death in the basement of his home in Oak Park, Illinois; the killing has never been solved.
In 2009, Texas billionaire R. Allen Stanford was indicted and jailed on charges his banking empire was really just a Ponzi scheme built on lies, bluster and bribery. (Stanford was sentenced to 110 years in prison after being convicted of bilking investors in a $7.2 billion scheme involving the sale of fraudulent certificates of deposits.)
Ten years ago: President Barack Obama used his weekly radio and Internet address to pin blame on Republicans for making life harder for the unemployed and for those who could lose their jobs without new federal intervention.
Five years ago: The Obama administration released its annual terrorism report, which said Iran’s support for international terrorist groups had remained undiminished in the last year and even expanded in some respects.
One year ago: The Trump administration ordered a reversal of on Obama-era efforts to fight climate change, easing restrictions on coalfired power plants.