Today’s Highlight in History:
On July 16, 1969, Apollo 11 blasted off from Cape Kennedy on the first manned mission to the surface of the moon.
On this date:
In 1790, a site along the Potomac River was designated the permanent seat of the United States government; the area became Washington, D.C.
In 1862, Flag Officer David G. Farragut became the first rear admiral in the United States Navy.
In 1945, the United States exploded its first experimental atomic bomb in the desert of Alamogordo (ahl-ah-moh-GOHR’-doh), New Mexico; the same day, the heavy cruiser USS Indianapolis left Mare (mar-AY’) Island Naval Shipyard in California on a secret mission to deliver atomic bomb components to Tinian Island in the Marianas.
In 1951, the novel “The Catcher in the Rye” by J.D. Salinger was first published by Little, Brown and Co.
In 1957, Marine Corps Maj. John Glenn set a transcontinental speed record by flying a Vought F8U Crusader jet from California to New York in 3 hours, 23 minutes and 8.4 seconds.
In 1964, as he accepted the Republican presidential nomination in San Francisco, Barry M. Goldwater declared that “extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice” and that “moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue.”
In 1980, former California Gov. Ronald Reagan won the Republican presidential nomination at the party’s convention in Detroit.
In 1999, John F. Kennedy Jr., his wife, Carolyn, and her sister, Lauren Bessette (bih-SEHT’), died when their single-engine plane, piloted by Kennedy, plunged into the Atlantic Ocean near Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts.
In 2004, Martha Stewart was sentenced to five months in prison and five months of home confinement by a federal judge in New York for lying about a stock sale.
In 2008, Florida resident Casey Anthony, whose 2-year-old daughter, Caylee, had been missing a month, was arrested on charges of child neglect, making false official statements and obstructing a criminal investigation. (Casey Anthony was later acquitted at trial of murdering Caylee, whose skeletal remains were found in December 2008; she was convicted of lying to police.)
In 2012: Singer Kitty Wells, whose hits such as “Making Believe” and “It Wasn’t God Who Made Honky Tonk Angels” made her the first female superstar of country music, died at age 92.
In 2015, a jury in Centennial, Colorado, convicted James Holmes of 165 counts of murder, attempted murder and other charges in the 2012 Aurora movie theater rampage that left 12 people dead. A gunman unleashed a barrage of fire at a recruiting center and another U.S. military site a few miles apart in Chattanooga, Tennessee, killing four Marines and a sailor before he was shot to death by police; authorities identified the gunman as Kuwaiti-born Muhammad Youssef Abdulazeez of Tennessee.
In 2016, Republican presidential nominee-apparent Donald Trump formally introduced his running mate, Mike Pence, during an event in New York, hailing the Indiana governor as his “first choice” and his “partner in the campaign” a day after announcing the selection on Twitter.
In 2017: Ten people died at a popular swimming hole in Arizona’s Tonto National Forest after a rainstorm unleashed a flash flood. Roger Federer won a record-breaking 8th Wimbledon title, beating Marin Cilic (CHIHL’-ihch) 6-3, 6-1, 6-4. British actor Jodie Whittaker was announced as the next star of the long-running science fiction series “Doctor Who” — the first woman to take a role that had been played by a dozen men over six decades.
In 2021: A federal judge in Texas ruled illegal an Obama-era program that prevented the deportation of thousands of immigrants who were brought into the U.S. as children. Rapper and DJ Biz Markie, known for the 1989 song “Just a Friend,” died at the age of 57. The Eiffel Tower reopened to tourists for the first time in nearly nine months, even as France introduced new rules aimed at warding off a fourth surge; they included mandatory COVID-19 passes to enter restaurants and tourist venues.
Celebrity Birthdays June 16: Actor Eileen Atkins (“The Crown,” ″Doc Martin”) is 89. Actor Bill Cobbs is 89. Country singer Billy “Crash” Craddock is 85. Singer Eddie Levert of The O’Jays is 81. Actor Joan Van Ark is 80. Actor Geoff Pierson (“Splitting Up Together,” “Designated Survivor”) is 74. Singer James Smith (The Stylistics) is 73. Singer Gino Vannelli is 71. Actor Laurie Metcalf (“Roseanne,” ″Norm”) is 68. Actor Arnold Vosloo (“The Mummy”) is 61. Actor Danny Burstein (“Boardwalk Empire”) is 59. Model-actor Jenny Shimizu is 56. Actor James Patrick Stuart (TV’s “The Closer”) is 55. Rapper MC Ren of N.W.A is 54. Actor Clifton Collins Jr. (“Westworld”) is 53. Actor John Cho (2009′s “Star Trek,” ″Harold and Kumar” movies) is 51. Actor Eddie Cibrian (“Third Watch”) is 50. Actor Fred Koehler (“Kate and Allie”) is 48. Actor China Shavers (“Boston Public”) is 46. Actor Daniel Bruhl (“Captain America: Civil War”) is 45. Actor Sibel Kekilli (“Game of Thrones”) is 43. Actor Missy Peregrym (“Rookie Blue”) is 41. Actor Olivia Hack is 40. “American Idol” runner-up Diana DeGarmo is 36. Bassist Ian Keaggy of Hot Chelle Rae is 36. Broadway actor Ali Stroker is 36.