Saturday, June 18

This Day In History

• 1621   The first duel in America reportedly took place in the Plymouth Colony in Massachusetts. Sorry, we have no line score.
• 1812   The United States declared war against Britain.
• 1815   British and Prussian troops defeated the French under Napoleon Bonaparte at Waterloo in Belgium.
• 1873   Suffragist Susan B. Anthony was fined $100 for attempting to vote in the 1872 presidential election.
• 1927   The U.S. Post Office offered a special 10-cent postage stamp for sale. The stamp honored Charles Lindbergh’s "Spirit of St. Louis". It was the first postage stamp to feature the name of a living American.
• 1928   Aviator Amelia Earhart became the first woman to fly across the Atlantic Ocean as she completed a flight from Newfoundland to Wales in about 21 hours.
• 1940   With the World War II Battle of Britain looming, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill urged his countrymen to persevere so that future generations would say, "This was their finest hour."
• 1945   Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower received a tumultuous welcome in Washington, where he addressed a joint session of Congress.
• 1948   Columbia Records unveiled its new long-playing phonograph record. The new disc turned at 33 1/3 revolutions per minute, offering sound quality that was superior to 78 rpm records.
• 1979   President Jimmy Carter and Soviet President Leonid I. Brezhnev signed the SALT II strategic arms limitation treaty in Vienna.
• 1983   Astronaut Sally K. Ride became America's first woman in space as she and four colleagues blasted off aboard the space shuttle Challenger.
• 1984   Denver radio talk show host Alan Berg was shot to death outside his home. Two white supremacists were convicted of civil rights violations in the slaying.
• 1996   Richard Allen Davis was convicted in San Jose, Calif., of the 1993 kidnap-murder of 12-year-old Polly Klaas of Petaluma.
• 2003   A Palestinian detonated a nail-studded bomb in a Jerusalem bus, killing 19 passengers and himself.

Happy Birthday To

• 1886   George Mallory (explorer, mountain climber: last seen in 1924 climbing Mt. Everest “Because it is there.”; Mallory’s body found on Everest at 27,000' May 1, 1999)
• 1901   Jeanette (Anna) MacDonald (singer with Nelson Eddy)
• 1917   Richard (Allen) Boone (actor: Have Gun Will Travel)
• 1942   Roger Ebert (film critic: of Siskel and Ebert fame)
• 1942   (James) Paul McCartney (Grammy Award-winning [1990] musician, songwriter, singer: group: The Beatles)