Today is Friday, June 16th, the 167th day of 2006. There are 198 days left in the year.
Today’s Highlight in History:
On June 16th, 1858, in a speech in Springfield, Illinois, Senate candidate Abraham Lincoln said the slavery issue had to be resolved, declaring, “A house divided against itself cannot stand.”
On this date:
In 1897, the government signed a treaty of annexation with Hawaii.
In 1903, Ford Motor Company was incorporated.
In 1932, President Hoover and Vice President Charles Curtis were renominated at the Republican national convention in Chicago.
In 1933, the National Industrial Recovery Act became law. (It was later struck down by the Supreme Court.)
In 1943, comedian Charles Chaplin married his fourth wife, 18-year-old Oona O’Neill, daughter of playwright Eugene O’Neill, in Carpenteria, California.
In 1955, Pope Pius the 12th excommunicated Argentine President Juan Domingo Peron — a ban that was lifted eight years later.
In 1961, Soviet ballet dancer Rudolf Nureyev defected to the West while his troupe was in Paris.
In 1963, the world’s first female space traveler, Valentina Tereshkova, was launched into orbit by the Soviet Union aboard Vostok Six.
In 1976, riots broke out in the black South African township of Soweto.
In 1978, President Carter and Panamanian leader Omar Torrijos exchanged the instruments of ratification for the Panama Canal treaties.
Ten years ago: Russian voters went to the polls in their first independent presidential election; the result was a runoff between President Boris Yeltsin (the eventual winner) and Communist challenger Gennady Zyuganov. The Chicago Bulls won the NBA championship, beating the Seattle SuperSonics in game six, 87-to-75. Sportscaster Mel Allen died in Greenwich, Connecticut, at age 83.
Five years ago: Face to face for the first time, President Bush and Russian President Vladimir Putin pledged during a meeting in Slovenia to deepen their nations’ bonds and to explore the possibility of compromise on U.S. missile defense plans. City lawmakers elected Klaus Wowereit Berlin’s first openly gay mayor.
One year ago: On the eve of Iran’s presidential election, President Bush said the voting was designed to keep power in the hands of a few rulers “through an electoral process that ignores the basic requirements of democracy.” European Union leaders put on hold plans to unite their 25 nations under a single constitution. Masked gunmen took dozens of toddlers hostage at an international school in Siem Reap, Cambodia, killing a three-year-old Canadian boy before they were overpowered by the police.
Today’s Birthdays: Author Erich Segal is 69. Author Joyce Carol Oates is 68. Country singer Billy “Crash” Craddock is 67. Songwriter Lamont Dozier is 65. Rhythm-and-blues singer Eddie Levert is 64. Actress Joan Van Ark is 63. Rhythm-and-blues singer James Smith (The Stylistics) is 56. Boxer Roberto Duran is 55. Pop singer Gino Vannelli is 54. Actress Laurie Metcalf is 51. Model-actress Jenny Shimizu is 39. Actor Eddie Cibrian is 33. Actress China (chee-nah) Shavers is 29. Actress Missy Peregrym is 24. Actress Olivia Hack is 23. Singer Diana DeGarmo (“American Idol”) is 19.
Thought for Today: “We seldom stop to think how many people’s lives are entwined with our own. It is a form of selfishness to imagine that every individual can operate on his own or can pull out of the general stream and not be missed.” — Ivy Baker Priest, former U.S. treasurer (1905-1975).