Gilmer Free Press
Today: 06.18.yyyy
Today is Thursday, June 18, the 169th day of 2009. There are 196 days left in the year.
Thought for Today: “The basic discovery about any people is the discovery of the relationship between its men and women.“-Pearl S. Buck, American author (1892-1973).
Today’s Highlight in History:
On June 18, 1940, during World War II, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill urged his countrymen to conduct themselves in a manner that would prompt future generations to say, “This was their finest hour.“
In 1778, American forces entered Philadelphia as the British withdrew during the Revolutionary War.
In 1812, the United States declared war against Britain.
In 1815, Napoleon Bonaparte met his Waterloo as British and Prussian troops defeated the French in Belgium.
In 1873, suffragist Susan B. Anthony was found guilty by a judge in Canandaigua, N.Y., of breaking the law by casting a vote in the 1872 presidential election. (The judge fined Anthony $100, but she never paid the penalty.)
In 1908, William Howard Taft was nominated for president by the Republican national convention in Chicago.
In 1945, William Joyce, known as “Lord Haw-Haw,“ was charged in London with high treason for his English-language wartime broadcasts on German radio. (He was hanged the following January.)
In 1959, actress Ethel Barrymore died in Los Angeles at age 79.
In 1979, President Jimmy Carter and Soviet President Leonid I. Brezhnev signed the SALT II strategic arms limitation treaty in Vienna.
In 1983, astronaut Sally K. Ride became America’s first woman in space as she and four colleagues blasted off aboard the space shuttle Challenger.
In 1984, Alan Berg, a Denver radio talk show host, was shot to death outside his home. (Two white supremacists were later convicted of civil rights violations in the slaying.)
Ten years ago: The House rejected gun control legislation, 280-147, with many Democrats rebelling against National Rifle Association-backed provisions in the bill. The Group of 7 nations opened a three-day summit in Cologne, Germany. Arsonists struck three synagogues in the Sacramento, Calif., area. (Two white supremacist brothers were later convicted of federal charges and received sentences of 21 to 30 years in prison.)
Five years ago: An al-Qaida cell in Saudi Arabia beheaded American engineer Paul M. Johnson Jr., posting grisly photographs of his severed head; hours later, Saudi security forces tracked down and killed the alleged mastermind of the kidnapping and murder. European Union leaders agreed on the first constitution for the bloc’s 25 members.
One year ago: With gasoline topping $4 a gallon, President George W. Bush urged Congress to lift its long-standing ban on offshore oil and gas drilling, saying the United States needed to increase its energy production; Democrats quickly rejected the idea. French filmmaker Jean Delannoy died in Guainville, France, at age 100.
Today’s Birthdays:
Actor Ian Carmichael is 89
Columnist Tom Wicker is 83
Rock singer-composer-musician Paul McCartney is 67
Movie critic Roger Ebert is 67
Actress Constance McCashin is 62
Actress Linda Thorson is 62
Actress Isabella Rossellini is 57
Actress Carol Kane is 57
Rock singer Alison Moyet is 48
Country singer-musician Tim Hunt is 42
Rock singer-musician Sice (The Boo Radleys) is 40
R&B singer Nathan Morris (Boyz II Men) is 38
Actress Mara Hobel is 38. Rapper Silkk the Shocker is 34
Actress Alana de la Garza is 33
Country singer Blake Shelton is 33
San Diego Chargers tight end Antonio Gates is 29
Actress Renee Olstead is 20