This day in history

[June 18, 2010]  (AP)  Today is Friday, June 18, the 169th day of 2010. There are 196 days left in the year.

Today's highlight in history:

On June 18, 1940, during World War II, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill urged his countrymen to conduct themselves in a manner that would prompt future generations to say, "This was their finest hour."

On this date:

In 1778, American forces entered Philadelphia as the British withdrew during the Revolutionary War.

In 1812, the United States declared war against Britain.

In 1815, Napoleon Bonaparte met his Waterloo as British and Prussian troops defeated the French in Belgium.

In 1873, suffragist Susan B. Anthony was found guilty by a judge in Canandaigua, N.Y., of breaking the law by casting a vote in the 1872 presidential election. (The judge fined Anthony $100, but she never paid the penalty.)

In 1908, William Howard Taft was nominated for president by the Republican national convention in Chicago.

In 1910, former President Theodore Roosevelt was honored with a ticker-tape parade in New York following his return from visits to Europe and Africa.

In 1945, William Joyce, known as "Lord Haw-Haw," was charged in London with high treason for his English-language wartime broadcasts on German radio. (He was hanged the following January.)

In 1979, President Jimmy Carter and Soviet President Leonid I. Brezhnev signed the SALT II strategic arms limitation treaty in Vienna.

In 1983, astronaut Sally K. Ride became America's first woman in space as she and four colleagues blasted off aboard the space shuttle Challenger.

In 1984, Alan Berg, a Denver radio talk show host, was shot to death outside his home. (Two white supremacists were later convicted of civil rights violations in the slaying.)

Ten years ago: Tiger Woods won the U.S. Open by a record 15 strokes. Ethiopia and Eritrea agreed to cease hostilities in a two-year-old border war. Emmy-winning actress Nancy Marchand died in Stratford, Conn. a day before her 72nd birthday.

Five years ago: U.S. Marines and Iraqi forces battled insurgents in a restive western Iraqi province, killing about 50 militants in the military's latest campaign to stop foreign fighters who were infiltrating from neighboring Syria. In his Saturday radio address, President George W. Bush said pulling out of Iraq immediately was not an option. Former Texas Congressman J.J. "Jake" Pickle died in Austin at age 91.

One year ago: Tens of thousands of protesters filled the streets of Tehran again, joining opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi (meer hoh-SAYN' moo-SAH'-vee) to mourn demonstrators killed in clashes over Iran's disputed election. Hortensia Bussi, the widow of Chilean President Salvador Allende who helped lead opposition to the military dictatorship that ousted her husband, died at 94. Washington Capitals forward Alex Ovechkin was named the NHL's most valuable player for the second straight year after leading the league with 56 goals.

Today's birthdays: Columnist Tom Wicker is 84. Rock singer-composer-musician Sir Paul McCartney is 68. Movie critic Roger Ebert is 68. Actress Constance McCashin is 63. Actress Linda Thorson is 63. Rock musician John Evans (The Box Tops) is 62. Actress Isabella Rossellini is 58. Actress Carol Kane is 58. Rock singer Alison Moyet is 49. Country singer-musician Tim Hunt is 43. Rock singer-musician Sice (The Boo Radleys) is 41. Rhythm-and-blues singer Nathan Morris (Boyz II Men) is 39. Actress Mara Hobel is 39. Rapper Silkk the Shocker is 35. Actress Alana de la Garza is 34. Country singer Blake Shelton is 34. Football player Antonio Gates is 30. Actress Renee Olstead is 21.

Thought for today: "The way of a superior man is three-fold; virtuous, he is free from anxieties; wise, he is free from perplexities; bold, he is free from fear." -- Confucius, Chinese philosopher (551-479 B.C.)

[Associated Press]

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