In 1928, Amelia Earhart embarked on a trans-Atlantic flight from Newfoundland to Wales with pilots Wilmer Stultz and Louis Gordon, becoming the first woman to make the trip as a passenger. This 1937 photo shows Earhart before takeoff in Miami for an attempted round-the-world flight. (The Miami Herald via AP)
In 1953, U.S. Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas stayed the execution of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, originally set for the next day, the couple’s 14th wedding anniversary. (They were put to death June 19.) In this 1951 file photo, Ethel and Julius Rosenberg, center, are shown during their trial for espionage in New York. The couple is accused of conspiring to recruit her brother, David Greenglass, into gathering “classified information concerning the atomic bomb for the Soviet Union.” (AP Photo, File)
In 1972, President Richard M. Nixon’s eventual downfall began with the arrest of five burglars inside Democratic national headquarters in Washington, D.C.’s Watergate complex. In this 1972 photo, President Nixon speaks near Orlando, Fla. to the Associated Press Managing Editors annual meeting. Nixon told the APME “I am not a crook.” (AP Photo)
In 1994, after leading police on a slow-speed chase on Southern California freeways, O.J. Simpson was arrested and charged with murder in the slayings of his ex-wife, Nicole, and her friend, Ronald Goldman. (Simpson was later acquitted in a criminal trial, but held liable in a civil trial.) Here, a white Ford Bronco, driven by Al Cowlings and carrying O.J. Simpson, is trailed by police cars as it travels on a southern California freeway in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Joseph Villarin)
Today is Monday, June 17, the 168th day of 2019.
Today’s Highlight in History:
On June 17, 1994, after leading police on a slow-speed chase on Southern California freeways, O.J. Simpson was arrested and charged with murder in the slayings of his ex-wife, Nicole, and her friend, Ronald Goldman. (Simpson was later acquitted in a criminal trial, but held liable in a civil trial.)
On this date:
In 1579, Sir Francis Drake arrived in present-day northern California, naming it New Albion and claiming English sovereignty.
In 1775, the Revolutionary War Battle of Bunker Hill resulted in a costly victory for the British, who suffered heavy losses.
In 1928, Amelia Earhart embarked on a trans-Atlantic flight from Newfoundland to Wales with pilots Wilmer Stultz and Louis Gordon, becoming the first woman to make the trip as a passenger.
In 1930, President Herbert Hoover signed the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act, which boosted U.S. tariffs to historically high levels, prompting foreign retaliation.
In 1953, U.S. Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas stayed the execution of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, originally set for the next day, the couple’s 14th wedding anniversary. (They were put to death June 19.)
In 1963, the U.S. Supreme Court, in Abington (Pa.) School District v. Schempp, struck down, 8-1, rules requiring the recitation of the Lord’s Prayer or reading of Biblical verses in public schools.
In 1967, China successfully tested its first thermonuclear (hydrogen) bomb.
In 1972, President Richard Nixon’s eventual downfall began with the arrest of five burglars inside the Democratic headquarters in Washington, D.C.’s Watergate complex.
In 2002, A judge in San Francisco tossed out the second-degree murder conviction of Marjorie Knoller for the dog-mauling death of neighbor Diane Whipple, but let stand Knoller’s conviction for involuntary manslaughter. (However, Knoller’s murder conviction was reinstated in 2008.)
In 2013, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 7-2 that states can’t demand proof of citizenship from people registering to vote in federal elections unless they get federal or court approval to do so.
In 2015, nine people were shot to death in a historic African-American church in Charleston, South Carolina; suspect Dylann Roof was arrested the following morning. (Roof has since been convicted of federal hate crimes and sentenced to death; he later pleaded guilty to state murder charges and was sentenced to life in prison without parole.)
In 2017, the jury in Bill Cosby’s sexual assault case was declared hopelessly deadlocked, resulting in a mistrial for the 79-year-old TV star charged with drugging and groping a woman more than a decade earlier; prosecutors immediately announced they would pursue a second trial, which resulted in Cosby’s conviction. The Navy destroyer USS Fitzgerald was damaged in a collision with a Philippine-flagged container ship off Japan that killed seven sailors.
Ten years ago: President Barack Obama extended some benefits to same-sex partners of federal employees. Nevada Sen. John Ensign resigned from the GOP leadership a day after admitting an affair with a former campaign staffer.
Five years ago: The Obama administration announced that U.S. special forces had seized Ahmed Abu Khattala, described as a “key leader” in the deadly Benghazi, Libya, attack, and that he was on his way to face trial in the U.S. for the fiery assault that killed the U.S. ambassador and three other Americans. (Abu Khattala was convicted in 2017 of terrorism-related counts but acquitted of murder; he was sentenced to 22 years in prison.) Johann “Hans” Breyer, an 89-year-old retired toolmaker, was arrested in Philadelphia on a German arrest warrant charging him with aiding and abetting the killing of 216,000 Jewish men, women and children while serving as a guard at the Auschwitz death camp. (Breyer died just over a month later before he could be extradited.)
One year ago: Former first lady Laura Bush, writing in the Washington Post, said the policy of separating immigrant parents and children along the nation’s southern border was “cruel” and “immoral.” Conservative Ivan Duque was elected Colombia’s next president, after promising to change parts of a peace accord with leftist rebels. Brooks Koepka (KEHP’-kuh) won the U.S. Open for the second straight year, becoming the seventh golfer to win the event back-to-back.
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