BC-History-June 4,0540
Today in History
By The Associated Press
Today is Monday, June 4, the 155th day of 2007. There are 210 days left in the year.
Today’s highlight in history:
On June 4, 1942, the Battle of Midway began during World War II.
On this date:
In 1783, the Montgolfier brothers first publicly demonstrated their hot-air balloon, which did not carry any passengers, over Annonay, France.
In 1784, Elizabeth Thible became the first woman to fly aboard a Montgolfier hot-air balloon, over Lyon, France.
In 1878, the Ottoman Empire turned over control of Cyprus to the British.
In 1892, the Sierra Club was incorporated in San Francisco.
In 1896, Henry Ford made a successful pre-dawn test run of his horseless carriage, called a “quadricycle,” through the streets of Detroit.
In 1940, the Allied military evacuation from Dunkirk, France, ended.
In 1947, the House of Representatives overwhelmingly approved a House-Senate conference report on the Taft-Hartley Act.
In 1954, French Premier Joseph Laniel and Vietnamese Premier Buu Loc signed treaties in Paris according “complete independence” to Vietnam.
In 1979, Joe Clark of the Progressive Conservatives became the 16th prime minister of Canada.
In 1989, hundreds, possibly thousands, of people died as Chinese army troops stormed Beijing to crush a pro-democracy movement.
Ten years ago: At the Oklahoma City bombing trial, prosecutors urged the jury to sentence Timothy McVeigh to death, calling relatives of the victims to testify about their agonizing loss.
Five years ago: President Bush said the CIA and FBI had failed to communicate adequately before the Sept. 11 terror attacks; Congress began extraordinary closed-door hearings into intelligence lapses. A panel of U.S. Roman Catholic bishops called for a zero-tolerance policy against priests who molest children in the future and a two-strikes-he’s-out policy for those guilty of past abuse. Japan ratified the Kyoto Protocol, aimed at cutting emissions of heat-trapping gases.
One year ago: Peru’s former president, Alan Garcia, won the country’s presidential runoff election. A Palestinian standoff intensified after Hamas rejected an ultimatum from President Mahmoud Abbas to endorse a plan implicitly recognizing Israel.
Today’s Birthdays: Former Sen. Howard Metzenbaum, D-Ohio, is 90. Actor Bruce Dern is 71. Musician Roger Ball is 63. Jazz musician Anthony Braxton is 62. Singer Gordon Waller (Peter and Gordon) is
62. Rock musician Danny Brown (The Fixx) is 56. Actor Parker Stevenson is 55. Actor Keith David is 51. Actress Julie Gholson is
49. Actor Eddie Velez is 49. Singer-musician El DeBarge is 46. Actress Julie White is 46. Tennis player Andrea Jaeger is 42. Actor Scott Wolf is 39. Actor Noah Wyle is 36. Rock musician Stefan Lessard (The Dave Matthews Band) is 33. Comedian Horatio Sanz is
33. Actress Angelina Jolie is 32. Rock musician JoJo Garza (Los Lonely Boys) is 27.
Thought for Today: “When you betray somebody else, you also betray yourself.” — Isaac Bashevis Singer, Polish-born American Nobel Prize-winning author (1904-1991).