This day in history

[June 10, 2010]  (AP)  Today is Thursday, June 10, the 161st day of 2010. There are 204 days left in the year.

Today's highlight in history:

On June 10, 1935, Alcoholics Anonymous was founded in Akron, Ohio, by Dr. Robert Holbrook Smith and William Griffith Wilson.

On this date:

In 1610, Englishman Lord De La Warr arrived at the Jamestown settlement to take charge of the Virginia Colony.

In 1865, the Richard Wagner opera "Tristan und Isolde" premiered in Munich, Germany.

In 1907, eleven men in five cars set out from the French embassy in Beijing on a race to Paris. (Prince Scipione Borghese of Italy was the first to arrive in the French capital two months later.)

In 1940, Italy declared war on France and Britain; Canada declared war on Italy. President Franklin D. Roosevelt, speaking at the University of Virginia, said the U.S. stance toward the conflict was shifting from one of "neutrality" to "non-belligerency." Jamaican-born Pan-African nationalist Marcus Garvey died in London at 52.

In 1942, the Gestapo massacred 173 male residents of Lidice (LIH'-dyiht-zeh), Czechoslovakia, in retaliation for the killing of a Nazi official.

In 1964, the Senate voted to limit further debate on a proposed civil rights bill, shutting off a filibuster by Southern senators.

In 1967, the Middle East War ended as Israel and Syria agreed to observe a United Nations-mediated cease-fire.

In 1977, James Earl Ray, the convicted assassin of civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr., escaped from Brushy Mountain State Prison in Tennessee with six others; he was recaptured June 13.

In 1978, Affirmed won the Belmont Stakes and with it, horse racing's Triple Crown.

In 1985, socialite Claus von Bulow was acquitted by a jury in Providence, R.I. at his retrial on charges he'd tried to murder his heiress wife, Martha "Sunny" von Bulow.

Ten years ago: Syrian President Hafez Assad died at age 69; he was succeeded by his son, Bashar. The New Jersey Devils won their second Stanley Cup in six seasons with a 2-1 victory in double overtime over the Dallas Stars in Game 6 of the finals. Commendable won the Belmont Stakes. Frenchwoman Mary Pierce beat Conchita Martinez 6-2, 7-5 to win the French Open women's singles title.

Five years ago: President George W. Bush and visiting South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun pressed North Korea to rejoin deadlocked talks on its nuclear weapons program while trying to minimize their own differences over how hard to push the reclusive communist regime. Democrat Jim Exon, a two-term Nebraska governor and three-term senator, died at age 83.

One year ago: James von Brunn, an 88-year-old white supremacist, opened fire in the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington D.C., killing security guard Stephen T. Johns. (Von Brunn died at a North Carolina hospital in Jan. 2010 while awaiting trial.) Donald Trump fired Miss California USA Carrie Prejean.

Today's birthdays: Britain's Prince Philip is 89. Columnist Nat Hentoff is 85. Author Maurice Sendak is 82. Attorney F. Lee Bailey is 77. Actress Alexandra Stewart is 71. Singer Shirley Alston Reeves (The Shirelles) is 69. Actor Jurgen Prochnow is 69. Media commentator Jeff Greenfield is 67. Country singer-songwriter Thom Schuyler is 58. Former Sen. John Edwards is 57. Actor Andrew Stevens is 55. Singer Barrington Henderson is 54. Former New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer is 51. Rock musician Kim Deal is 49. Singer Maxi Priest is 49. Actress Gina Gershon is 48. Actress Jeanne Tripplehorn is 47. Rock musician Jimmy Chamberlin is 46. Actress Kate Flannery is 46. Model-actress Elizabeth Hurley is 45. Rock musician Joey Santiago is 45. Actor Doug McKeon is 44. Rock musician Emma Anderson is 43. Country musician Brian Hofeldt (The Derailers) is 43. Rapper The D.O.C. is 42. Rock singer Mike Doughty is 40. Rhythm-and-blues singer JoJo is 39. Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal is 39. Rhythm-and-blues singer Faith Evans is 37. Actor Hugh Dancy is 35. Rhythm-and-blues singer Lemisha Grinstead (702) is 32. Actor DJ Qualls is 32. Actor Shane West is 32. Singer Hoku is 29. Actress Leelee Sobieski is 28. Olympic gold medal figure skater Tara Lipinski is 28. Presidential daughter Sasha Obama is nine.

Thought for today: "It is impossible to make anything foolproof because fools are so ingenious." -- Corollary to "Murphy's Law"

[Associated Press]

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