June 21
Today is the first day of summer.
1377 - King Edward III died after ruling England for 50 years; he was succeeded by his grandson, Richard II.
1788 - The U.S. Constitution was declared in effect when New Hampshire became the ninth state to ratify it.
1834 - Cyrus McCormick received a patent for his mechanical reaper.
1942 - An Imperial Japanese submarine fired shells at Fort Stevens on the Oregon coast, causing little damage.
1954 - The American Cancer Society presented a study to the American Medical Association meeting in San Francisco which found that men who regularly smoked cigarettes died at a considerably higher rate than non-smokers.
1963 - Cardinal Giovanni Battista Montini was chosen to succeed the late Pope John XXIII as head of the Roman Catholic Church, taking the name Paul VI.
1964 - Three civil rights workers -- James E. Chaney, Andrew Goodman and Michael Schwerner -- disappeared in Philadelphia, Mississippi; their bodies were found buried in an earthen dam six weeks later. (In 2005, 41 years after the disappearance, Edgar Killen was convicted of their murders.)
1973 - The Supreme Court ruled that states may ban materials found to be obscene according to local standards.
1977 - Menachem Begin became Israel's sixth prime minister.
1982 - John Hinckley was found not guilty by reason of insanity for the attempted assassination of President Ronald Reagan.
1985 - Scientists announced that skeletal remains exhumed in Brazil were those of Nazi war criminal Josef Mengele.
1989 - A sharply divided U.S. Supreme Court ruled that burning the U.S. flag as a form of political protest was protected under the First Amendment.
2004 - Michael Melvill pilots the first privately-developed spacecraft, SpaceShipOne, into space.
2005 - Edgar Ray Killen, an 80-year-old former Ku Klux Klansman, was found guilty of manslaughter in the deaths of three civil rights workers in Philadelphia, Mississippi, 41 years to the day earlier. (Killen was sentenced to 60 years in prison; he died in January 2018.)
2010 - Faisal Shahzad, a Pakistan-born U.S. citizen, pleaded guilty to charges of plotting a failed car bombing in New York's Times Square. (He was later sentenced to life in prison.)
2011 - The Food and Drug Administration announced that cigarette packs in the U.S. would have to carry macabre images that included rotting teeth and gums, diseased lungs and a sewn-up corpse of a smoker as part of a graphic campaign aimed at discouraging Americans from lighting up.
2012 - The U.S. Supreme Court unanimously threw out penalties against Fox and ABC television stations that violated the Federal Communications Commission policy regulating curse words and nudity on television, but the justices declined to issue a broader constitutional ruling.
2021 - The town council in Amherst, Massachusetts, created a fund to pay reparations to Black residents; the move came as communities and institutions looked for ways to atone for slavery, discrimination and past wrongs amid the nation’s ongoing racial reckoning.
Birthdays
23 - Kylee Renee (singer)
23 - Natalie Alyn Lind (actress)
25 - Rebecca Black (singer)
33 - Jascha Washington (actress)
37 - Lana Del Rey (singer)
37 - Kris Allen (singer)
39 - Michael Malarkey (actor)
40 - Benjamin Walker (actor)
40 - Jussie Smollett (actor)
40 - Prince William (member of British royal family)
41 - Brandon Flowers (singer)
43 - Chris Pratt (actor)
48 - Maggie Siff (actress)
49 - Juliette Lewis (actress)
50 - Allison Moorer (singger)
55 - Carrie Preston (actress)
57 - Michael Dolan (actor)
58 - Doug Savant (actor)
60 - Marc Copage (actor)
63 - Kathy Mattea (singer)
64 - Josh Pais (actor)
67 - Leigh McCloskey (actress)
70 - Robyn Douglass (actress)
75 - Michael Gross (actor)
75 - Meredith Baxter (actress)
81 - Joe Flaherty (comedian)
82 - Mariette Hartley (actress)
87 - Monte Markham (actor)
89 - Bernie Kopell (actor)
==============================
Today in Sports History - June 21
1932 - Heavyweight boxer Max Schmeling lost a title fight by decision to Jack Sharkey. Schmeling's manager, Joe Jacobs, exclaimed "We was robbed!"
1939 - Lou Gehrig quit baseball due to illness.
1942 - Ben Hogan recorded the lowest score (to that time) in a major golf tournament. Hogan shot a 271 for 72 holes in Chicago.
1964 - Jim Bunning of the Philadelphia Phillies pitched a perfect game in a 6-0 victory over the New York Mets.
1970 - Tony Jacklin became the second British golfer in 50 years to win the U.S. Open golf tournament.
1970 - Brazil defeated Italy 4-1 in Mexico City to win their third World Cup title.
1986 - Heisman Trophy-winning running back Bo Jackson signs a three-year contract to play baseball with the Kansas City Royals.
1988 - The Los Angeles Lakers defeat the Detroit Pistons in seven games to win the NBA championship.
1991 - Denis Potvin and Mike Bossy are elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame.
1994 - Steffi Graf becomes the first defending champion to lose in the first round of a major tournament as she falls to American Lorrie McNeal at Wimbledon.
1997 - The WNBA made its debut; the inaugural game saw the New York Liberty defeat the Los Angeles Sparks, 67-57.
2002 - Lennox Lewis records an 8th round KO over Mike Tyson to retain the WBC heavyweight championship.
2012 - The Miami Heat defeated the Oklahoma City Thunder in five games to win the NBA championship.
2015 - At age 21, Jordan Spieth becomes the youngest winner of the U.S. Open since 1923.
2021 - Raiders defensive lineman Carl Nassib became the first active player in NFL history to publicly declare that he was gay. (Nassib would get support from his teammates and the Raiders, but was cut in March 2022 in a salary cap move.)
2021 - Major League Baseball umpires began doing regular checks of all pitchers for tacky substances that could be used to doctor baseballs.
Today is the first day of summer.
1377 - King Edward III died after ruling England for 50 years; he was succeeded by his grandson, Richard II.
1788 - The U.S. Constitution was declared in effect when New Hampshire became the ninth state to ratify it.
1834 - Cyrus McCormick received a patent for his mechanical reaper.
1942 - An Imperial Japanese submarine fired shells at Fort Stevens on the Oregon coast, causing little damage.
1954 - The American Cancer Society presented a study to the American Medical Association meeting in San Francisco which found that men who regularly smoked cigarettes died at a considerably higher rate than non-smokers.
1963 - Cardinal Giovanni Battista Montini was chosen to succeed the late Pope John XXIII as head of the Roman Catholic Church, taking the name Paul VI.
1964 - Three civil rights workers -- James E. Chaney, Andrew Goodman and Michael Schwerner -- disappeared in Philadelphia, Mississippi; their bodies were found buried in an earthen dam six weeks later. (In 2005, 41 years after the disappearance, Edgar Killen was convicted of their murders.)
1973 - The Supreme Court ruled that states may ban materials found to be obscene according to local standards.
1977 - Menachem Begin became Israel's sixth prime minister.
1982 - John Hinckley was found not guilty by reason of insanity for the attempted assassination of President Ronald Reagan.
1985 - Scientists announced that skeletal remains exhumed in Brazil were those of Nazi war criminal Josef Mengele.
1989 - A sharply divided U.S. Supreme Court ruled that burning the U.S. flag as a form of political protest was protected under the First Amendment.
2004 - Michael Melvill pilots the first privately-developed spacecraft, SpaceShipOne, into space.
2005 - Edgar Ray Killen, an 80-year-old former Ku Klux Klansman, was found guilty of manslaughter in the deaths of three civil rights workers in Philadelphia, Mississippi, 41 years to the day earlier. (Killen was sentenced to 60 years in prison; he died in January 2018.)
2010 - Faisal Shahzad, a Pakistan-born U.S. citizen, pleaded guilty to charges of plotting a failed car bombing in New York's Times Square. (He was later sentenced to life in prison.)
2011 - The Food and Drug Administration announced that cigarette packs in the U.S. would have to carry macabre images that included rotting teeth and gums, diseased lungs and a sewn-up corpse of a smoker as part of a graphic campaign aimed at discouraging Americans from lighting up.
2012 - The U.S. Supreme Court unanimously threw out penalties against Fox and ABC television stations that violated the Federal Communications Commission policy regulating curse words and nudity on television, but the justices declined to issue a broader constitutional ruling.
2021 - The town council in Amherst, Massachusetts, created a fund to pay reparations to Black residents; the move came as communities and institutions looked for ways to atone for slavery, discrimination and past wrongs amid the nation’s ongoing racial reckoning.
Birthdays
23 - Kylee Renee (singer)
23 - Natalie Alyn Lind (actress)
25 - Rebecca Black (singer)
33 - Jascha Washington (actress)
37 - Lana Del Rey (singer)
37 - Kris Allen (singer)
39 - Michael Malarkey (actor)
40 - Benjamin Walker (actor)
40 - Jussie Smollett (actor)
40 - Prince William (member of British royal family)
41 - Brandon Flowers (singer)
43 - Chris Pratt (actor)
48 - Maggie Siff (actress)
49 - Juliette Lewis (actress)
50 - Allison Moorer (singger)
55 - Carrie Preston (actress)
57 - Michael Dolan (actor)
58 - Doug Savant (actor)
60 - Marc Copage (actor)
63 - Kathy Mattea (singer)
64 - Josh Pais (actor)
67 - Leigh McCloskey (actress)
70 - Robyn Douglass (actress)
75 - Michael Gross (actor)
75 - Meredith Baxter (actress)
81 - Joe Flaherty (comedian)
82 - Mariette Hartley (actress)
87 - Monte Markham (actor)
89 - Bernie Kopell (actor)
==============================
Today in Sports History - June 21
1932 - Heavyweight boxer Max Schmeling lost a title fight by decision to Jack Sharkey. Schmeling's manager, Joe Jacobs, exclaimed "We was robbed!"
1939 - Lou Gehrig quit baseball due to illness.
1942 - Ben Hogan recorded the lowest score (to that time) in a major golf tournament. Hogan shot a 271 for 72 holes in Chicago.
1964 - Jim Bunning of the Philadelphia Phillies pitched a perfect game in a 6-0 victory over the New York Mets.
1970 - Tony Jacklin became the second British golfer in 50 years to win the U.S. Open golf tournament.
1970 - Brazil defeated Italy 4-1 in Mexico City to win their third World Cup title.
1986 - Heisman Trophy-winning running back Bo Jackson signs a three-year contract to play baseball with the Kansas City Royals.
1988 - The Los Angeles Lakers defeat the Detroit Pistons in seven games to win the NBA championship.
1991 - Denis Potvin and Mike Bossy are elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame.
1994 - Steffi Graf becomes the first defending champion to lose in the first round of a major tournament as she falls to American Lorrie McNeal at Wimbledon.
1997 - The WNBA made its debut; the inaugural game saw the New York Liberty defeat the Los Angeles Sparks, 67-57.
2002 - Lennox Lewis records an 8th round KO over Mike Tyson to retain the WBC heavyweight championship.
2012 - The Miami Heat defeated the Oklahoma City Thunder in five games to win the NBA championship.
2015 - At age 21, Jordan Spieth becomes the youngest winner of the U.S. Open since 1923.
2021 - Raiders defensive lineman Carl Nassib became the first active player in NFL history to publicly declare that he was gay. (Nassib would get support from his teammates and the Raiders, but was cut in March 2022 in a salary cap move.)
2021 - Major League Baseball umpires began doing regular checks of all pitchers for tacky substances that could be used to doctor baseballs.
