Today in History

[goofywife]

1953: Court says D.C. restaurants must serve African-Americans
The Supreme Court ruled today that restaurants and bars in Washington D.C. are required to serve African-American customers. "The court ruled 8-0 that an 80-year-old District of Columbia law forbidding racial discrimination by cafes, bars and ice cream parlors is valid and still in effect," informed The Frederick Post on June 9, 1953. NOTE: The decision came after a restaurant operated by the Thompson chain refused to serve African-Americans.

1949: FBI report calls Hollywood celebrities communists
"Hollywood movie stars Fredric March, Edward G. Robinson and other major figures in the West Coast film colony were named in a secret FBI report today as alleged members of the Communist Party," explained The News in 1949. The FBI report became public at the espionage trial of Judith Coplon, who was a former Justice Department analyst. NOTE: March responded by saying that the communist charges in the report are "absurd."

1892: Outlaw Robert Ford killed
Deputy Sheriff Edward O'Kelly shot and killed Bob Ford, the outlaw who assassinated Jesse James, today. On June 9, 1892, the Decatur Daily Republican reported, "An unknown man was seen to hand Kelly a double-barreled shot gun when he stepped into the hall and called 'Bob!' Ford turned around when but five feet away and placed his hand on his hip pocket. Kelly raised his gun and fired a load of buckshot into Ford's neck, severing the windpipe and jugular vein and killing him instantly."

1789: Madison proposes Bill of Rights
James Madison proposed 12 amendments to the U.S. Constitution today, the final ten achieving approval to become what is now called the Bill of Rights. On September 21, 1934, 145 years later, The Soda Springs Sun noted in retrospect, "Certain members opposed all amendments until the Constitution had been longer established and the federal government more fully organized; others felt that even stronger safeguards were essential. But these objections were overcome, and Madison's proposals referred to a committee composed of one member from each state."

[goofywife]

1986: Report on Challenger disaster is released
The Challenger commission told President Reagan today in a 250 page report that seven astronauts died from "an accident that didn't have to happen." "The report will say the explosion of the Challenger, 73 seconds after liftoff on Jan. 28, was triggered by a flame that found a path between segments of the right booster rocket and that such a catastrophic failure was foreshadowed by a long history of known but unsolved problems," reported The Daily Intelligencer on June 9, 1986. NOTE: When preparing the report, the commission conducted 160 interviews and studied 122,000 pages of related documents.

1909: Woman begins auto trip across U.S.
Alice Ramsey, the president of the Women's Motoring Club of New York, set off on an automobile trip from New York to San Francisco today along with three other women. "From the start to the end, Mrs. Ramsey will do the driving and, furthermore, will have to make alone all tire repairs, tire changes and such for, while she will not be alone in the car she will be unaccompanied by man. It is this that makes the trip all the more interesting for it will be the first time that a woman has ever attempted the long journey between the two cities under these conditions. Unassisted she will have to pick the route, guide the car across the Rocky mountains, and in fact, will travel over roads and routes that would tax an expert male driver," The Atlanta Constitution reported on June 6, 1909. NOTE: She made it just fine.

1899: Jeffries wins heavyweight title
James Jeffries, born in Carroll, Ohio, was named heavyweight champion "in a contest for supremacy in pugilism of the world" when he won the Jeffries-Fitzsimmons fight at Coney Island today. "The idea of Fitzsimmons, the conqueror, being put to sleep by a man who had hitherto been regarded as a second-rater, was too much for the sports. Fitzsimmons soon got up on his feet and doggedly walked out of the ring," informed The Fort Wayne News on June 10, 1899.

1870: Charles Dickens dies
British author Charles Dickens was mourned today as "death struck him with sudden power, and in the midst of another work of genius, took him away," according to The Daily Gazette on June 11, 1870. On June 25 of the same year, the St. Joseph Herald reprinted comments made in the The London Times about Charles Dickens: "The ordinary expressions of regret are not cold and conventional. Millions of people feel it as a personal bereavement. Statesmen, savants and benefactors of the race, when they die, can leave no such void. They cannot, like this great novelist, have been an inmate of every house."

[goofywife]

1977: James Earl Ray escapes
James Earl Ray, the convicted assassin of civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., escaped from a maximum security prison in Tennessee today along with five other prisoners. It was the third time he tried to flee from his 99-year sentence.

"The prisoners went over the wall about 8 p.m. EDT using a makeshift ladder made of a metal conduit. Prison officials said the escape was covered by a mock fight between two prisoners in the yard of Brushy Mountain State Prison, the state's maximum security facility," reported the Oakland Tribune on June 11, 1977.

NOTE: Three days later, two bloodhounds found Ray hiding beneath a pile of leaves within 10 miles of the state prison. According to newspaper reports from 1977, he surrendered without a struggle once he was spotted.

2004: Ray Charles dies
Legendary musician Ray Charles died of acute liver disease today in Beverly Hills, California, at the age of 73. "Blind by age 7, and an orphan at 15, the gifted pianist and saxophonist spent his life shattering any notion of musical categories and defying easy definition," explained the Gettysburg Times on June 11, 2004.

1985: Socialite Claus von Bulow is acquitted
A jury in Providence, Rhode Island, found Danish-born socialite Claus von Bulow innocent of trying to kill his heiress wife, Martha 'Sunny' von Bulow, with insulin injections today. Von Bulow was on trial for a second time as his wife laid in an irreversible coma in a New York hospital. "After their 1966 marriage in an intimate chapel ceremony, Claus and Martha von Bulow seemed to have everything money could buy – palatial homes, limousines, servants and a reigning spot in the whirl of high society," informed The Post Standard on June 11, 1985. "But they became one of the world's best known couples because of their private unhappiness."

1945: Eisenhower receives Order of Victory
General Dwight D. Eisenhower and British Field Marshal Sir Bernard L. Montgomery were presented with the Soviet Order of Victory today. "It was the first time that Soviet Russia's highest award had been presented to any but Russians. Eisenhower was the eighth person to receive the award, and the British field marshal, the ninth," reported The Lowell Sun on June 11, 1945.

[katcarasella]

Saturday, June 10, 1972 My Daughter Kristine Leigh was born at 7:38 A.M.

[teri88]

hmmmm apparently,nothing happened in history on June 11th, 12th, 13th!

[Janet]

No, all the typewriters in the world were broken those days and the repair place was closed.

[katcarasella]

Today is Saturday, June 14, the 166th day of 2008. There are 200 days left in the year. This is Flag Day.
Today's Highlight in History:
On June 14, 1777, the Continental Congress in Philadelphia adopted the Stars and Stripes as the national flag.
On this date:
In 1775, the Continental Army, forerunner of the United States Army, was created.
In 1801, former American Revolutionary War General and notorious turncoat Benedict Arnold died in London.
In 1846, a group of U.S. settlers in Sonoma proclaimed the Republic of California.
In 1928, the Republican National Convention nominated Herbert Hoover for president on the first ballot.
In 1940, in German-occupied Poland, the Nazis opened their concentration camp at Auschwitz; the same day, German troops entered Paris.
In 1943, the Supreme Court, in West Virginia Board of Education v. Barnette, ruled that schoolchildren could not be compelled to salute the flag of the United States.
In 1954, the words "under God" were added to the Pledge of Allegiance.
In 1967, the space probe Mariner 5 was launched from Cape Kennedy, Fla., on a flight that took it past Venus.
In 1982, Argentine forces surrendered to British troops on the disputed Falkland Islands.
In 1985, the 17-day hijack ordeal of TWA Flight 847 began as a pair of Lebanese Shiite Muslim extremists seized the jetliner shortly after takeoff from Athens, Greece.
Ten years ago: The Chicago Bulls clinched their sixth NBA championship, defeating the Utah Jazz in Game 6 played in Salt Lake City, 87-86.