Today is Tuesday, June 28, the 179th day of 2005. There are 186 days left in the year.
Today’s Highlight in History:
On June 28, 1914, Austrian Archduke Francis Ferdinand and his wife, Sofia, were assassinated in Sarajevo by a Serb nationalist — the event which triggered World War I.
On this date:
In 1491, England’s King Henry VIII was born at Greenwich.
In 1778, “Molly Pitcher” (Mary Ludwig Hays) carried water to American soldiers at the Revolutionary War Battle of Monmouth, N.J.
In 1836, the fourth president of the United States, James Madison, died in Montpelier, Va.
In 1838, Britain’s Queen Victoria was crowned in Westminster Abbey.
In 1919, the Treaty of Versailles was signed in France, ending the First World War.
In 1939, Pan American Airways began regular trans-Atlantic air service.
In 1944, the Republican national convention in Chicago nominated New York Gov. Thomas E. Dewey for president and Ohio Gov. John W. Bricker for vice president.
In 1950, North Korean forces captured Seoul, South Korea.
In 1978, the Supreme Court ordered the University of California at Davis Medical School to admit Allan Bakke, a white man who had argued he was a victim of reverse racial discrimination.
In 1996, The Citadel voted to admit women, ending a 153-year-old men-only policy at the South Carolina military school.
Ten years ago: The House overwhelmingly approved a constitutional amendment to protect the American flag from desecration (however, the amendment was defeated in the Senate). Webster Hubbell, the former No. 3 official at the Justice Department, was sentenced to 21 months in prison for bilking clients of the law firm where he and Hillary Rodham Clinton were partners.
Five years ago: Seven months after he was cast adrift in the Florida Straits, Elian Gonzalez was returned to his native Cuba. The Supreme Court struck down Nebraska’s so-called “partial-birth” abortion law. The Supreme Court ruled the Boy Scouts can bar homosexuals from serving as troop leaders.
One year ago: The U.S.-led coalition transferred sovereignty to the interim Iraqi government two days ahead of schedule. The Supreme Court ruled that the war on terrorism did not give the government a “blank check” to hold a U.S. citizen and foreign-born terror suspects in legal limbo. The United States resumed direct diplomatic ties with Libya after a 24-year break.
Today’s Birthdays: Comedian-movie director Mel Brooks is 79. Actor Pat Morita is 73. Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich.) is 71. Former White House chief of staff Leon Panetta is 67. Rock musician Dave Knights (Procul Harum) is 60. Actor Bruce Davison is 59. Actress Kathy Bates is 57. Actress Alice Krige is 51. Football Hall of Famer John Elway is 45. Record company chief executive Tony Mercedes is 43. Actress Jessica Hecht is 40. Rock musician Saul Davies (James) is 40. Actress Mary Stuart Masterson is 39. Actor John Cusack is 39. Actor Gil Bellows is 38. Actress-singer Danielle Brisebois is 36. Jazz musician Jimmy Sommers is 36. Actor Alessandro Nivola is 33.
Thought for Today: “Heresy is what the minority believe; it is the name given by the powerful to the doctrines of the weak.” — Robert G. Ingersoll, American lawyer and statesman (1833-1899).