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 Today's
highlight in history:
On June 18, 1983, astronaut Sally K. Ride became America's first woman in space as she and four colleagues blasted off aboard the space shuttle Challenger.
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 1858, the United States and China signed a treaty promoting "peace, amity and commerce."
In 1908, William Howard Taft was nominated for president by the Republican national convention in Chicago.
In 1928, Amelia Earhart became the first woman to fly across the Atlantic Ocean as she completed a journey with pilots Wilmer Stultz and Louis Gordon from Newfoundland to Wales in about 21 hours.
In 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."
In 1948, a United Nations commission finished drafting what would become the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
In 1958, President Eisenhower expressed support for his chief of staff, Sherman Adams, who was accused of improperly accepting gifts from a businessman. (Adams resigned in September 1958.)
In 1979, President Carter and Soviet President Leonid I. Brezhnev signed the SALT II strategic arms limitation treaty in Vienna.
Ten years ago: President Clinton tapped U.N. Ambassador Bill Richardson to replace Energy Secretary Federico Pena and named diplomatic troubleshooter Richard Holbrooke as the new representative to the United Nations. (However, Holbrooke's nomination was held up for a year because of an ethics investigation.) Three people were killed when a Chicago-bound commuter train rammed a tractor-trailer in Portage, Ind.
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Five years ago: Convicted rapist Andrew Luster, heir to the Max Factor fortune, was arrested in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, after five months on the run. Baseball Hall-of-Famer Larry Doby, who broke the American League's color barrier in 1947, died in Montclair, N.J.; he was believed to be 79.
One year ago: Nine firefighters died in a fire at a furniture store and warehouse in Charleston, S.C. Yahoo Inc. Chairman Terry Semel ended his six-year tenure as chief executive officer, handing over the reins to co-founder Jerry Yang. Vilma Espin Guillois, wife of acting President Raul Castro and a former rebel fighter, died in Havana, Cuba, at age 77.
Today's birthdays: Actor Ian Carmichael is 88. Columnist Tom Wicker is 82. Rock singer-composer-musician Sir Paul McCartney is 66. Movie critic Roger Ebert is 66. Actress Constance McCashin is 61. Actress Linda Thorson is 61. Actress Isabella Rossellini is 56. Actress Carol Kane is 56. Rock singer Alison Moyet is 47. Country singer-musician Tim Hunt is 41. Rock singer-musician Sice (The Boo Radleys) is 39. Rhythm-and-blues singer Nathan Morris (Boyz II Men) is 37. Actress Mara Hobel is 37. Rapper Silkk the Shocker is 33. Actress Alana de la Garza is 32. Country singer Blake Shelton is 32. Actress Renee Olstead is 19.
Thought for today: "Women must try to do things as men have tried. When they fail, their failure must be but a challenge to others."
-- Amelia Earhart, American aviator (1897-1937?)
[Associated Press]
Copyright 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This
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