Today’s Highlight in History:<br>
On June 20, 1837, Queen Victoria acceded to the British throne following the death of her uncle, King William IV.
On this date:
In 1782, Congress approved the Great Seal of the United States, featuring the emblem of the bald eagle.
In 1863, West Virginia became the 35th state.
In 1893, a jury in New Bedford, Massachusetts, found Lizzie Borden not guilty of the ax murders of her father and stepmother.
In 1943, race-related rioting erupted in Detroit; federal troops were sent in two days later to quell the violence that resulted in more than 30 deaths.
In 1944, during World War II, Japanese naval forces retreated in the Battle of the Philippine Sea after suffering heavy losses to the victorious American fleet.
In 1947, President Harry S. Truman vetoed the Taft-Hartley Act, which was designed to restrict the power of labor unions, but had his veto overriden by Congress. Gangster Benjamin “Bugsy” Siegel was shot dead at the Beverly Hills, California, home of his girlfriend, Virginia Hill, apparently at the order of mob associates.
In 1967, boxer Muhammad Ali was convicted in Houston of violating Selective Service laws by refusing to be drafted and was sentenced to five years in prison. (Ali’s conviction was ultimately overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court).
In 1972, three days after the arrest of the Watergate burglars, President Richard Nixon met at the White House with his chief of staff, H.R. Haldeman; the secretly made tape recording of this meeting ended up with the notorious 18 1/2-minute gap.
In 1974, the film noir “Chinatown,” starring Jack Nicholson and Faye Dunaway, was released by Paramount Pictures.
In 1990, South African Black nationalist Nelson Mandela and his wife, Winnie, arrived in New York City for a ticker-tape parade in their honor as they began an eight-city U.S. tour.
In 2012, Republican-controlled House committee voted along party lines, 23-17, to hold Attorney General Eric Holder in contempt of Congress for failing to turn over Justice Department documents related to Operation Fast and Furious. (The full House voted in favor of the contempt citation eight days later.) Pittsburgh Penguins center Evgeni Malkin won the Hart Trophy as the NHL’s most valuable player. Painter and sketch artist LeRoy Neiman, best known for evoking the kinetic energy of the world’s biggest sporting and leisure events with bright quick strokes, died in New York at age 91.
In 2014, the Obama administration granted an array of new benefits to same-sex couples, including those living in states where gay marriage was against the law; the new measures ranged from Social Security and veterans benefits to work leave for caring for sick spouses.
In 2016, a divided U.S. Supreme Court bolstered police powers, ruling 5-3 that evidence of a crime in some cases may be used against a defendant even if the police did something wrong or illegal in obtaining it.
In 2017, a runoff election between Republican Karen Handel and Democrat Jon Ossoff was held in Georgia’s 6th Congressional District; Handel was declared the winner with 52 percent of the vote to Ossoff’s 48. Uber CEO Travis Kalanick resigned under pressure from investors and Uber’s board. Rapper Prodigy, a member of the hardcore New York hip-hop duo Mobb Deep, died in Las Vegas at age 42.
In 2021, a tornado packing 140 mph winds swept through communities in heavily populated suburban Chicago, damaging more than 100 homes and causing multiple injuries. Jon Rahm birdied the last two holes to win the U.S. Open by one shot over Louis Oosthuizen at Torrey Pines in San Diego.
In 2022, the nation’s youngest children got their first chance at vaccines for COVID-19. Roughly 18 million kids under 5 became eligible, and shots began at a few locations. Two Florida deputies were suspended for leaking news about actor and comedian Bob Saget’s death before his family was alerted. Clela Rorex, a former Colorado county clerk considered a pioneer in the gay rights movement for being the first public official to issue a same-sex marriage license in 1975, died at age 78.
Celebrity Birthdays: June 20, Actor Bonnie Bartlett (“St. Elsewhere,” ″Once and Again”) is 94. Actor James Tolkan (“Back to the Future” films) is 92. Musician Brian Wilson of the Beach Boys is 81. Actor John McCook (“The Bold and the Beautiful”) is 79. Singer Anne Murray is 78. Home repair show host Bob Vila is 77. Classical pianist Andre Watts is 77. Actor Candy Clark (“American Graffiti”) is 76. Singer Lionel Richie is 74. Actor John Goodman is 71. Bassist Michael Anthony (Van Halen, Chickenfoot) is 69. Bassist John Taylor of Duran Duran is 63. Keyboardist Mark degli Antoni (Soul Coughing) is 61. Guitarist Jerome Fontamillas of Switchfoot is 56. Bassist Murphy Karges of Sugar Ray is 56. Actor Nicole Kidman is 56. Singer Dan Tyminski of Alison Krauss and Union Station is 56. Actor Peter Paige (“Queer as Folk”) is 54. Actor Josh Lucas (“Sweet Home Alabama,” ″A Beautiful Mind”) is 52. Bassist Twiggy Ramirez (Marilyn Manson) is 52. Singer Chino Moreno is 50. Singer Amos Lee is 46. Actor Tika Sumpter (“The Have and the Have Nots”) is 43. Drummer Chris Thompson of The Eli Young Band is 43. Singer-actor Alisan Porter (“The Voice,” ″Curly Sue”) is 42. Keyboardist Chris Dudley of Underoath is 40. Singer Grace Potter of Grace Potter and the Nocturnals is 40. Actor Mark Saul (“Grey’s Anatomy”) is 38. Actor Dreama Walker (film’s “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood,” TV’s “Gossip Girl”) is 37. Actor Chris Mintz-Plasse (“Superbad”) is 34. Actor Maria Lark (TV’s “Medium”) is 26.