Today is Tuesday, June 21, the 172nd day of 2005. There are 193 days left in the year. Summer arrives at 2:46 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time.
Today’s Highlight in History:
One hundred years ago, on June 21, 1905, French philosopher, author and playwright Jean-Paul Sartre was born in Paris.
On this date:
In 1788, the United States Constitution went into effect as New Hampshire became the ninth state to ratify it.
In 1834, Cyrus Hall McCormick received a patent for his reaping machine.
In 1932, heavyweight Max Schmeling lost a title fight by decision to Jack Sharkey, prompting Schmeling’s manager, Joe Jacobs, to exclaim: “We was robbed!”
In 1945, during World War II, American soldiers on Okinawa found the body of the Japanese commander, Lt. General Mitsuru Ushijima, who had committed suicide.
In 1955, the David Lean movie “Summertime” starring Katharine Hepburn and Rossano Brazzi had its world premiere in New York.
In 1963, Cardinal Giovanni Battista Montini was chosen to succeed the late Pope John XXIII; the new pope took the name Paul VI.
In 1964, civil rights workers Michael H. Schwerner, Andrew Goodman and James E. Chaney disappeared in Philadelphia, Miss.; their bodies were found buried in an earthen dam six weeks later.
In 1973, the Supreme Court ruled that states may ban materials found to be obscene according to local standards.
In 1982, a jury in Washington, D.C., found John Hinckley Junior innocent by reason of insanity in the shootings of President Reagan and three other men.
In 1985, scientists announced that skeletal remains exhumed in Brazil were those of Nazi war criminal Josef Mengele.
Ten years ago: Dr. Henry Foster lost a crucial Senate vote in his bid to become surgeon general as only 57 senators voted to cut off debate, three short of the 60 needed. (One last vote the next day also fell short.)
Five years ago: North Korea promised to refrain from long-range missile tests after the United States lifted some economic sanctions against it. Some 55 years after World War II ended, 22 Asian-American veterans received the Medal of Honor for bravery on the battlefield during a White House ceremony.
One year ago: The SpaceShipOne rocket plane punched through Earth’s atmosphere, then glided to a landing in California’s Mojave Desert in the first privately financed manned spaceflight. Connecticut Gov. John Rowland resigned amid graft allegations and a federal investigation.
Today’s Birthdays: Actress Jane Russell is 84. Actress Maureen Stapleton is 80. Actor Bernie Kopell is 72. Actor Monte Markham is 70. Actor Ron Ely is 67. Actress Mariette Hartley is 65. Comedian Joe Flaherty is 64. Rock singer-musician Ray Davies (The Kinks) is 61. Singer Brenda Holloway is 59. Actress Meredith Baxter is 58. Actor Michael Gross is 58. Rock musician Joe Molland (Badfinger) is 58. Rock musician Don Airey (Deep Purple) is 57. Country singer Leon Everette is 57. Rock musician Joey Kramer (Aerosmith) is 55. Rock musician Nils Lofgren is 54. Actress Robyn Douglass is 52. Actor Leigh McCloskey is 50. Cartoonist Berke Breathed is 48. Country singer Kathy Mattea is 46. Actor Marc Copage is 43. Actress Sammi Davis is 41. Actor Doug Savant is 41. Country musician Porter Howell is 41. Actor Michael Dolan is 40. Country singer Allison Moorer is 33. Actress Juliette Lewis is 32. Musician Justin Cary is 30. Rock musician Mike Einziger (Incubus) is 29. Britain’s Prince William of Wales is 23.
Thought for Today: “Three o’clock is always too late or too early for anything you want to do.” — Jean-Paul Sartre, French philosopher (1905-1980).