TODAY IN HISTORY

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Today is Thursday, June 4, the 156th day of 2020. There are 210 days left in the year.

Today’s Highlight in History:

On June 4, 1998, a federal judge sentenced Terry Nichols to life in prison for his role in the 1995 bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City.

On this date:

In 1812, the Louisiana Territory was renamed the Missouri Territory, to avoid confusion with the recently admitted state of Louisiana. The U.S. House of Representatives approved, 79-49, a declaration of war against Britain.

In 1919, Congress approved the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, guaranteeing citizens the right to vote regardless of their gender, and sent it to the states for ratification.

In 1940, during World War II, the Allied military evacuation of some 338,000 troops from Dunkirk, France, ended. British Prime Minister Winston Churchill declared: “We shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender.”

In 1942, the World War II Battle of Midway began, resulting in a decisive American victory against Japan and marking the turning point of the war in the Pacific.

In 1972, a jury in San Jose, California, acquitted radical activist Angela Davis of murder and kidnapping for her alleged connection to a deadly courthouse shootout in Marin County in 1970.

In 1990, Dr. Jack Kevorkian carried out his first publicly assisted suicide, helping Janet Adkins, a 54-year-old Alzheimer’s patient from Portland, Oregon, end her life in Oakland County, Michigan.

In 2000, President Bill Clinton and Russian President Putin ended their summit by conceding differences on missile defense, agreeing to dispose of weapons-grade plutonium and pledging early warning of missile and space launches.

Today’s Birthdays: Sex therapist and media personality Dr. Ruth Westheimer is 92. Actor Bruce Dern is 84. Musician Roger Ball is 76. Actress-singer Michelle Phillips is 76. Actor Parker Stevenson is 68. Actress Julie White is 59. Actress Lindsay Frost is 58. Actor Sean Pertwee is 56. Former tennis player Andrea Jaeger is 55. Comedian Horatio Sanz is 51. Actor James Callis is 49. Actor Noah Wyle is 49. Rock musician Stefan Lessard (The Dave Matthews Band) is 46. Actor-comedian Russell Brand is 45. Actress Angelina Jolie is 45.

Thought for Today: “If America forgets where she came from, if the people lose sight of what brought them along, if she listens to the deniers and mockers, then will begin the rot and dissolution.” — Carl Sandburg, American writer (1878-1967).

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