Today is Sunday, June 14, the 165th day of 2015. There are 200 days left in the year. This is Flag Day.
Today’s highlight:
On June 14, 1777, the Continental Congress, meeting in Philadelphia, adopted the original design of the Stars and Stripes, specifying a flag containing thirteen red and white stripes and thirteen stars.
On this date:
In 1775, the Continental Army, forerunner of the United States Army, was created.
In 1801, former American Revolutionary War general and notorious turncoat Benedict Arnold died in London.
In 1922, Warren G. Harding became the first president heard on radio, as Baltimore station WEAR broadcast his speech dedicating the Francis Scott Key memorial at Fort McHenry.
In 1934, Max Baer defeated Primo Carnera with an 11th round TKO to win the world heavyweight boxing championship in Long Island City, New York.
In 1940, German troops entered Paris during World War II; the same day, the Nazis began transporting prisoners to the Auschwitz (OWSH’-vitz) concentration camp in German-occupied Poland.
In 1943, the U.S. Supreme Court, in West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette, ruled 6-3 that children in public schools could not be forced to salute the flag of the United States.
In 1954, President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed a measure adding the phrase “under God” to the Pledge of Allegiance.
In 1965, Paul McCartney recorded the main track for his song “Yesterday” at EMI Studios on Abbey Road in London.
In 1972, the Environmental Protection Agency ordered a ban on domestic use of the pesticide DDT, to take effect at year’s end.
In 1982, Argentine forces surrendered to British troops on the disputed Falkland Islands.
In 1985, the 17-day hijack ordeal of TWA Flight 847 began as a pair of Lebanese Shiite (SHEE’-eyet) Muslim extremists seized the jetliner shortly after takeoff from Athens, Greece.
In 1990, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld, 6-3, police checkpoints that examined drivers for signs of intoxication.
Today’s birthdays: Actress Marla Gibbs is 84. House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer, D-Md., is 76. Country-rock musician Spooner Oldham is 72. Rock singer Rod Argent (The Zombies; Argent) is 70. Real estate mogul and TV personality Donald Trump is 69. Singer Janet Lennon (The Lennon Sisters) is 69. Rock musician Alan White (Yes) is 66. Actor Will Patton is 61. Olympic gold-medal speed skater Eric Heiden is 57. Singer Boy George is 54. Actress Yasmine Bleeth is 47. International Tennis Hall of Famer Steffi Graf is 46. Screenwriter Diablo Cody is 37. Actor Torrance Coombs is 32. Actor J.R. Martinez is 32. Actor-singer Kevin McHale is 27. Actress Lucy Hale is 26. Actor Daryl Sabara is 23.
Thought for today: “The flag of the United States has not been created by rhetorical sentences in declarations of independence and in bills of rights. It has been created by the experience of a great people, and nothing is written upon it that has not been written by their life. It is the embodiment, not of a sentiment, but of a history.” — President Woodrow Wilson (1856-1924), in an address delivered on June 14, 1915.
Associated Press
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