Today is Saturday, June 6, the 158th day of 2020. There are 208 days left in the year.
Today’s Highlight in History:
On June 6, 1968, Sen. Robert F. Kennedy died at Good Samaritan Hospital in Los Angeles, 25 1/2 hours after he was shot by Sirhan Bishara Sirhan.
On this date:
In 1799, American politician and orator Patrick Henry died at Red Hill Plantation in Virginia.
In 1816, a snowstorm struck the northeastern U.S., heralding what would become known as the “Year Without a Summer.”
In 1918, U.S. Marines suffered heavy casualties as they launched their eventually successful counteroffensive against German troops in the World War I Battle of Belleau Wood in France.
In 1933, the first drive-in movie theater was opened by Richard Hollingshead in Camden County, New Jersey. (The movie shown was “Wives Beware,” starring Adolphe Menjou.)
In 1939, the first Little League game was played as Lundy Lumber defeated Lycoming Dairy 23-8 in Williamsport, Pennsylvania.
In 1944, during World War II, Allied forces stormed the beaches of Normandy, France, on “D-Day” as they began the liberation of German-occupied Western Europe.
In 1966, black activist James Meredith was shot and wounded as he walked along a Mississippi highway to encourage black voter registration.
In 1982, Israeli forces invaded Lebanon to drive Palestine Liberation Organization fighters out of the country. (The Israelis withdrew in June 1985.)
In 2005, the Supreme Court ruled, 6-3, that people who smoked marijuana because their doctors recommended it to ease pain could be prosecuted for violating federal drug laws.
Today’s Birthdays: Singer-songwriter Gary “U.S.” Bonds is 81. Country singer Joe Stampley is 77. Jazz musician Monty Alexander is 76. Actor Robert Englund is 73. Folk singer Holly Near is 71. Singer Dwight Twilley is 69. Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., is 68. Playwright-actor Harvey Fierstein (FY’-ur-steen) is 68. Comedian Sandra Bernhard is 65. International Tennis Hall of Famer Bjorn Borg is 64. Actress Amanda Pays is 61. Comedian Colin Quinn is 61. Actor Paul Giamatti is 53. Rapper-rocker Uncle Kracker is 46.
Thought for Today: “A great man is one who leaves others at a loss after he is gone.” — Paul Valery, French poet and essayist (1871-1945).
