Today’s Highlight in History:<br>
On June 19, 1865, Union troops arrived in Galveston, Texas, with news that the Civil War was over, and that all remaining slaves in Texas were free — an event celebrated to this day as “Juneteenth.”
On this date:
In 1775, George Washington was commissioned by the Continental Congress as commander in chief of the Continental Army.
In 1910, the first-ever Father’s Day was celebrated in Spokane, Washington. (The idea for the observance is credited to Sonora Louise Smart Dodd.)
In 1911, Pennsylvania became the first state to establish a motion picture censorship board.
In 1917, during World War I, King George V ordered the British royal family to dispense with German titles and surnames; the family took the name “Windsor.”
In 1934, the Federal Communications Commission was created; it replaced the Federal Radio Commission.
In 1944, during World War II, the two-day Battle of the Philippine Sea began, resulting in a decisive victory for the Americans over the Japanese.
In 1953, Julius Rosenberg, 35, and his wife, Ethel, 37, convicted of conspiring to pass U.S. atomic secrets to the Soviet Union, were executed at Sing Sing Prison in Ossining, New York.
In 1964, the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was approved by the U.S. Senate, 73-27, after surviving a lengthy filibuster.
In 1975, former Chicago organized crime boss Sam Giancana was shot to death in the basement of his home in Oak Park, Illinois; the killing has never been solved.
In 1986, University of Maryland basketball star Len Bias, the first draft pick of the Boston Celtics, suffered a fatal cocaine-induced seizure.
In 1987, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down a Louisiana law requiring any public school teaching the theory of evolution to teach creation science as well.
In 2012, WikiLeaks chief Julian Assange took refuge at Ecuador’s Embassy in London, seeking to avoid extradition to Sweden, where he faced questioning about alleged sex crimes. (Sweden dropped its inquiry in May 2017; Assange remains in custody in Britain, where a judge has approved a U.S. request to extradite him so he can stand trial on espionage charges.)
In 2014, Rep. Kevin McCarthy of California won election as House majority leader as Republicans shuffled their leadership in the wake of Rep. Eric Cantor’s primary defeat in Virginia.
In 2017, Otto Warmbier (WARM’-beer), a 22-year-old American college student released by North Korea in a coma after more than a year in captivity, died in a Cincinnati hospital.
In 2021, Eight children in a van from a youth home for abused or neglected children were killed in a multi-vehicle crash on a wet interstate in Alabama; they were among the 13 killed in the state as a tropical depression caused flash floods and tornadoes that destroyed dozens of homes
Celebrity Birthdays:
Actor Gena Rowlands is 93. Singer Spanky McFarlane of Spanky and Our Gang is 81. Actor Phylicia Rashad is 75. Singer Ann Wilson of Heart is 73. Keyboardist Larry Dunn (Earth, Wind and Fire) is 70. Actor Kathleen Turner is 69. Country singer Doug Stone is 67. Singer Mark “Marty” DeBarge of DeBarge is 64. Singer-dancer Paula Abdul is 61. Actor Andy Lauer (“Caroline in the City”) is 60. Singer-guitarist Brian Vander Ark of The Verve Pipe is 59. Actor Mia Sara (“Ferris Bueller’s Day Off”) is 56. “Good Morning America” host Lara Spencer is 54. Guitarist Brian “Head” Welch of Korn is 53. Actor Jean Dujardin (“The Artist”) is 51. Actor Robin Tunney is 51. Actor Bumper Robinson (“Sabrina the Teenage Witch”) is 49. Actor Poppy Montgomery (“Unforgettable,” ″Without a Trace”) is 48. Singer-banjoist Scott Avett of The Avett Brothers is 47. Actor Ryan Hurst (“The Walking Dead,” “Sons of Anarchy”) is 47. Actor Zoe Saldana is 45. Actor Neil Brown Jr. (“SEAL Team”) is 43. Actor Lauren Lee Smith (“CSI”) is 43. Singer Macklemore of Macklemore and Ryan Lewis is 41. Actor Paul Dano is 39. Actor Giacomo Gianniotti (“Grey’s Anatomy”) is 34. Actor Chuku Modu (“The Good Doctor”) is 33. Actor Atticus Shaffer (“The Middle”) is 25.