Today in History

Today is Monday, June 17, the 169th day of 2024. There are 197 days left in the year.

Today’s Highlight in History:

On June 17, 1994, after leading police on a slow-speed chase on Southern California freeways, O.J. Simpson was arrested and charged with murder in the slayings of his ex-wife, Nicole, and her friend, Ronald Goldman. (Simpson was later acquitted in a criminal trial but held liable in a civil trial.)

On this date:

In 1775, the Revolutionary War Battle of Bunker Hill resulted in a costly victory for the British, who suffered heavy losses.

In 1885, the Statue of Liberty arrived in New York Harbor aboard the French ship Isere (ee-SEHR’).

In 1930, President Herbert Hoover signed the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act, which boosted U.S. tariffs to historically high levels, prompting foreign retaliation.

In 1963, the U.S. Supreme Court, in Abington (Pa.) School District v. Schempp, struck down, 8-1, rules requiring the recitation of the Lord’s Prayer or reading of Biblical verses in public schools.

In 1967, China successfully tested its first thermonuclear (hydrogen) bomb.

In 1972, President Richard Nixon’s eventual downfall began with the arrest of five burglars inside the Democratic headquarters in Washington, D.C.’s, Watergate complex.

In 2008, hundreds of same-sex couples got married across California on the first full day that gay marriage became legal by order of the state’s highest court.

In 2009, President Barack Obama extended some benefits to same-sex partners of federal employees.

In 2012, Rodney King, 47, whose 1991 videotaped beating by Los Angeles police sparked widespread outrage and who struggled with addiction and repeated arrests, died in Rialto, California, in an apparent accidental drowning.

In 2013, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 7-2 that states can’t demand proof of citizenship from people registering to vote in federal elections unless they get federal or court approval to do so.

In 2017, the jury in Bill Cosby’s sexual assault case declared itself hopelessly deadlocked, resulting in a mistrial for the 79-year-old TV star charged with drugging and groping a woman more than a decade earlier; prosecutors immediately announced they would pursue a second trial. (That trial resulted in Cosby’s conviction, but Pennsylvania’s highest court later overturned it.)

In 2019, Iran announced that it was breaking compliance with the international accord that kept it from making nuclear weapons; the announcement meant that Iran could soon start to enrich uranium to just a step away from weapons-grade levels. The Trump administration followed Iran’s announcement by ordering 1,000 more troops to the Middle East.

In 2021, the Supreme Court, in a 7-2 ruling, left intact the entire Affordable Care Act, rejecting the latest major Republican-led effort to kill the national health care law known as “Obamacare.”

Today’s Birthdays: Actor Peter Lupus is 92. Movie director Ken Loach is 88. Singer Barry Manilow is 81. Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich is 81. Comedian Joe Piscopo is 73. Actor Mark Linn-Baker is 70. Actor Jon Gries (gryz) is 67. Rock singer Jello Biafra is 66. Movie producer-director-writer Bobby Farrelly is 66. Actor Thomas Haden Church is 64. Actor Greg Kinnear is 61. Actor Kami Cotler is 59. Olympic gold medal speed skater Dan Jansen is 59. Actor Jason Patric is 58. Actor-comedian Will Forte is 54. Latin pop singer Paulina Rubio is 53. Tennis player Venus Williams is 44. Actor Arthur Darvill is 42. Actor Jodie Whittaker is 42. Actor Manish Dayal is 41. Country singer Mickey Guyton is 41. Actor Marie Avgeropoulos is 38. Rapper Kendrick Lamar is 37. NHL forward Nikita Kucherov is 31. Actor KJ Apa is 27.