Monday, June 20

This Day In History

• 1782   The Great Seal of the United States was adopted by Congress. William Barton designed the seal which consists of an eagle, an olive branch and 13 arrows -- one for each of the original 13 colonies.
• 1791   King Louis XVI of France attempted to flee the country in the so-called Flight to Varennes, but was caught.
• 1837   Queen Victoria ascended the British throne following the death of her uncle, King William IV.
• 1863   The National Bank of Philadelphia, PA received a charter from the U.S. Congress. It was the first bank to receive one.
• 1863   Virginia’s cessation from the Union gave reason for the birth of West Virginia. 40 western counties of Virginia did not secede, and instead, formed their own government, officially entering the United States of America this day as the 35th state. Charleston is the capital of the Mountain State which boasts of having the most rugged terrain of any state east of the Mississippi. Throughout the forested hills of West Virginia, you’ll also find many cardinals (the state bird) and multitudes of the state flower, the big rhododendron.
• 1893   A jury in New Bedford, Mass., found Lizzie Borden innocent of the ax murders of her father and stepmother.
• 1943   Race-related rioting erupted in Detroit; federal troops were sent in two days later to quell the violence that left more than 30 dead.
• 1947   Benjamin ''Bugsy'' Siegel was shot dead in Beverly Hills, Calif., at the order of mob associates angered over the soaring costs of his pet project, the Flamingo resort in Las Vegas.
• 1948   The variety series ''Toast of the Town,'' hosted by Ed Sullivan, debuted on CBS-TV.
• 1963   The United States and Soviet Union signed an agreement to set up a hot line communication link between the two superpowers.
• 1979   ABC News correspondent Bill Stewart was shot to death in Managua, Nicaragua, by a member of President Anastasio Somoza's national guard.
• 1994   O.J. Simpson pleaded innocent in Los Angeles to the killing of his ex-wife, Nicole, and her friend Ronald Goldman.
• 1997   The tobacco industry agreed to a massive settlement in exchange for major relief from mounting lawsuits and legal bills.
• 1999   As the last of 40,000 Yugoslav troops left Kosovo, NATO declared a formal end to its bombing campaign against Yugoslavia.
• 2001   Andrea Yates drowned her five children in the bathtub in her family's home in Houston. She was later sentenced to life in prison.
• 2001   American Lori Berenson was convicted and sentenced to 20 years in prison by a Peruvian court for collaborating with leftist guerrillas.
• 2001   Billy Collins was named the 11th U.S. poet laureate.
• 2002   The U.S. Supreme Court declared that executing mentally retarded murderers was unconstitutionally cruel.

Happy Birthday To

• 1909   Errol (Leslie Thomson) Flynn (actor)
• 1924   Audie Murphy (American hero: most decorated GI of WWII [27 US decorations including Medal of Honor plus 5 decorations from France and Belgium]; actor: The Red Badge of Courage, The Unforgiven, Arizona Raiders, To Hell and Back; killed in plane crash May 28, 1971)
• 1946   Bob Vila (TV host/fixer-upper: This Old House)
• 1949   Lionel Richie (musician: tenor sax, songwriter, singer)
• 1952   John Goodman (actor: Roseanne)
• 1964   Michael Landon Jr. (actor)
• 1967   Nicole (Mary) Kidman (actress)