On June 20, 1967, boxer Muhammad Ali was convicted in Houston of violating Selective Service laws by refusing to be drafted and was sentenced to five years in prison. (Ali’s conviction was ultimately overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court).
On this date:
- In 1782, Congress approved the Great Seal of the United States, featuring the emblem of the bald eagle.
- In 1791, King Louis XVI of France and his family attempted to flee in the so-called “Flight to Varennes,” but were caught.
- In 1837, Queen Victoria acceded to the British throne following the death of her uncle, King William IV.
- In 1863, West Virginia became the 35th state.
- In 1893, a jury in New Bedford, Massachusetts, found Lizzie Borden not guilty of the ax murders of her father and stepmother.
- In 1921, U.S. Rep. Alice Mary Robertson, R-Okla., became the first woman to preside over a session of the House of Representatives.
- In 1947, President Harry S. Truman vetoed the Taft-Hartley Act, which was designed to restrict the power of labor unions, but had his veto overridden by Congress. Gangster Benjamin “Bugsy” Siegel was shot dead at the Beverly Hills, California, home of his girlfriend, Virginia Hill, apparently at the order of mob associates.
- In 1966, the Beatles album “Yesterday and Today” was released by Capitol Records, initially with its notorious “butcher” cover photo which ended up being replaced.
- In 1977, the first oil began flowing through the recently completed Trans-Alaska Pipeline from Prudhoe Bay to Valdez (val-DEEZ’).
- In 1988, the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously upheld a New York City law making it illegal for private clubs with more than 400 members to exclude women and minorities.
- In 1990, South African black nationalist Nelson Mandela and his wife, Winnie, arrived in New York City for a ticker-tape parade in their honor as they began an eight-city U.S. tour.
- In 2001, Houston resident Andrea Yates drowned her five children in the family bathtub, then called police. (Yates was later found guilty of murder, but had her conviction overturned; she was acquitted by reason of insanity in a retrial.)
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Ten years ago: For the second time, President George W. Bush vetoed an embryonic stem cell bill as he urged scientists toward what he termed “ethically responsible” research. Sammy Sosa, playing for the Texas Rangers after a year out of baseball, hit his 600th home run, making him the fifth player to reach the milestone; the round-tripper came in the fifth inning of Texas’ 7-3 victory over Sosa’s former team, the Chicago Cubs.
Five years ago: A Republican-controlled House committee voted along party lines, 23-17, to hold Attorney General Eric Holder in contempt of Congress for failing to turn over Justice Department documents related to Operation Fast and Furious. (The full House voted in favor of the contempt citation eight days later.) Pittsburgh Penguins center Evgeni Malkin won the Hart Trophy as the NHL’s most valuable player. Painter and sketch artist LeRoy Neiman, best known for evoking the kinetic energy of the world’s biggest sporting and leisure events with bright quick strokes, died in New York at age 91. Movie critic Andrew Sarris, 83, died in New York.
One year ago: Donald Trump abruptly fired campaign manager Corey Lewandowski in a dramatic shake-up designed to calm panicked Republican leaders and end an internal power struggle plaguing the billionaire businessman’s White House bid. A divided U.S. Supreme Court bolstered police powers, ruling 5-3 that evidence of a crime in some cases may be used against a defendant even if the police did something wrong or illegal in obtaining it.
via NAIJA Society
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