Today in History
Today is Thursday, June 8, the 159th day of 2023. There are 206 days left in the year.
Today’s Highlight in History:
On June 8, 1864, Abraham Lincoln was nominated for another term as president during the National Union (Republican) Party’s convention in Baltimore.
On this date:
In A.D. 632, the prophet Muhammad died in Medina.
In 1867, modern American architect Frank Lloyd Wright was born in Richland Center, Wisconsin.
In 1953, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled unanimously that restaurants in the District of Columbia could not refuse to serve Blacks.
In 1966, a merger was announced between the National and American Football Leagues, to take effect in 1970.
In 1967, during the six-day Middle East war, 34 American servicemen were killed when Israel attacked the USS Liberty, a Navy intelligence-gathering ship in the Mediterranean Sea. (Israel later said the Liberty had been mistaken for an Egyptian vessel.)
In 1968, authorities announced the capture in London of James Earl Ray, the suspected assassin of civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
In 1978, a jury in Clark County, Nevada, ruled the so-called “Mormon will,” purportedly written by the late billionaire Howard Hughes, was a forgery.
In 1995, U.S. Marines rescued Capt. Scott O’Grady, whose F-16C fighter jet had been shot down by Bosnian Serbs on June 2.
In 2008, the average price of regular gas crept up to $4 a gallon.
In 2009, North Korea’s highest court sentenced American journalists Laura Ling and Euna Lee to 12 years’ hard labor for trespassing and “hostile acts.” (The women were pardoned in early August 2009 after a trip to Pyongyang by former President Bill Clinton.)
In 2015, siding with the White House in a foreign-policy power struggle with Congress, the Supreme Court ruled 6-3 that Americans born in the disputed city of Jerusalem could not list Israel as their birthplace on passports.
In 2020, thousands of mourners gathered at a church in Houston for a service for George Floyd, as his death during an arrest in Minneapolis stoked protests in America and beyond over racial injustice.
Ten years ago: President Barack Obama and Chinese leader Xi Jinping (shee jihn-peeng) concluded a two-day summit in the California desert that ended with few policy breakthroughs but the prospect of closer personal ties. Serena Williams won her 16th Grand Slam title and her first French Open championship since 2002, beating Maria Sharapova 6-4, 6-4. Palace Malice took charge on the turn for home and won the Belmont Stakes, holding off Preakness winner Oxbow and Kentucky Derby winner Orb.
Five years ago: President Donald Trump joined longtime U.S. allies at the Group of Seven summit in Canada after insisting that the other countries “have been taking advantage of the United States on trade;” Trump also said Russia should be brought back into the group. Special counsel Robert Mueller brought new obstruction charges against former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort and a longtime associate, Konstantin Kilimnik, who prosecutors said had ties to Russian intelligence. Celebrity chef, author and CNN host Anthony Bourdain was found dead in his hotel room in eastern France in what authorities determined was a suicide. The Golden State Warriors beat the Cleveland Cavaliers in Game 4 of the NBA finals to complete a sweep; it was their second straight title and third in four years.
One year ago: An 11-year-old girl who survived the mass shooting at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, told members of Congress how she covered herself in her dead classmate’s blood and played dead to avoid being shot. Her account came on the second day of testimony from families of the victims and survivors of mass shootings weeks earlier in Buffalo, New York, and Uvalde. Ukrainian and Russian forces battled for control of a key eastern city, while fears of a global food crisis escalated as millions of tons of grain piled up inside the besieged country, unable to be exported because of the war. Olympian Simone Biles and dozens of other women who say they were sexually assaulted by Larry Nassar filed a lawsuit seeking more than $1 billion from the FBI for failing to stop the sports doctor when the agency first received allegations against him.
Today’s Birthdays: Actor Millicent Martin is 89. Actor James Darren is 87. Singer Nancy Sinatra is 83. Singer Chuck Negron is 81. Musician Boz Scaggs is 79. Author Sara Paretsky is 76. Actor Sonia Braga is 73. Actor Kathy Baker is 73. Rock singer Bonnie Tyler is 72. Actor Griffin Dunne is 68. “Dilbert” creator Scott Adams is 66. Actor-director Keenen Ivory Wayans is 65. Singer Mick Hucknall (Simply Red) is 63. Musician Nick Rhodes (Duran Duran) is 61. R&B singer Doris Pearson (Five Star) is 57. Actor Julianna Margulies is 56. Actor Dan Futterman is 56. Actor David Sutcliffe is 54. Actor Kent Faulcon is 53. R&B singer Nicci Gilbert is 53. Actor Kelli Williams is 53. Former U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, D-Ariz., is 53. Actor Mark Feuerstein is 52. Contemporary Christian musician Mike Scheuchzer (MercyMe) is 48. Actor Eion Bailey is 47. Former tennis player Lindsay Davenport is 47. Rapper Ye (YAY) (formerly Kanye (KAHN’-yay) West) is 46. TV personality-actress Maria Menounos is 45. Country singer-songwriter Sturgill Simpson is 45. Blues-rock musician Derek Trucks (The Derek Trucks Band) is 44. Rock singer Alex Band (The Calling) is 42. Folk-bluegrass singer-musician Sara Watkins (Nickel Creek, I’m With Her) is 42. Former tennis player Kim Clijsters is 40. Actor Torrey DeVitto is 39. Tennis player Jelena Ostapenko is 26. U.S. Olympic track gold medalist Athing Mu (uh-THING moh) is 21.
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