Today in History: June 13, first Pentagon Papers excerpts published

Today is Saturday, June 13, the 164th day of 2026. There are 201 days left in the year.

Today in history:

On June 13, 1971, The New York Times began publishing excerpts of the Pentagon Papers, a top secret study of America’s involvement in Vietnam since 1945 that had been leaked to the paper by military analyst Daniel Ellsberg.

Also on this date:

In 1942, during World War II, a four-man Nazi sabotage team arrived by submarine on Long Island, New York, three days before a second four-man team landed in Florida. (All eight men were arrested within weeks, after two members of the first group defected.)

In 1966, the Supreme Court ruled in Miranda v. Arizona that criminal suspects had to be informed of their constitutional rights to remain silent and to consult an attorney.

In 1967, President Lyndon B. Johnson nominated Solicitor General Thurgood Marshall to become the first non-white justice on the U.S. Supreme Court.

In 1983, the U.S. space probe Pioneer 10, launched in 1972, became the first spacecraft to leave the solar system as it crossed the orbit of Neptune.

In 1996, the 81-day-old Freemen standoff in Montana ended as the 16 remaining members of the anti-government group left their ranch and surrendered to the FBI.

In 2000, the first meeting between leaders of North Korea and South Korea since the Korean War began as South Korean President Kim Dae-jung met North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il in Pyongyang.

In 2013, the White House said it had conclusive evidence that Syrian President Bashar Assad’s government had used chemical weapons against opposition forces seeking to overthrow him.

In 2017, Otto Warmbier, a 22-year-old American college student, was released by North Korea in a coma and medically evacuated to the U.S. after 17 months in captivity, dying days later on June 19. The University of Virginia student had been accused of trying to steal a propaganda banner while visiting North Korea with a tour group and was convicted of subversion.

Today’s Birthdays: Actor Malcolm McDowell is 83. Actor Stellan Skarsgård is 75. Actor Richard Thomas is 75. Former heavyweight boxing champion Mike Weaver is 75. Actor-comedian Tim Allen is 72. Actor Ally Sheedy is 64. Musician Rivers Cuomo (Weezer) is 56. Actor-comedian Steve-O is 52. Actor Ethan Embry is 48. Actor Chris Evans is 45. Actor Kat Dennings is 40. Fashion designers and former actors Ashley Olsen and Mary-Kate Olsen are 39. Actor Aaron Taylor-Johnson is 36. Actor Kodi Smit-McPhee is 30. Actor Daniella Perkins is 26. NHL hockey player Macklin Celebrini is 20.

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