Today in History: June 12

Today is Monday, June 12, the 163rd day of 2017. There are 202 days left in the year.

Today’s highlight: On June 12, 1967, the U.S. Supreme Court, in Loving v. Virginia, unanimously struck down state laws prohibiting interracial marriages.

On this date:

In 1776, Virginia’s colonial legislature adopted a Declaration of Rights.

In 1898, Philippine nationalists declared independence from Spain.

In 1920, the Republican national convention, meeting in Chicago, nominated Warren G. Harding for president on the tenth ballot; Calvin Coolidge was nominated for vice president.

In 1924, President Calvin Coolidge was nominated for a term of office in his own right at the Republican national convention in Cleveland. (Coolidge had become president in 1923 upon the sudden death of Warren G. Harding.)

In 1939, the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum was dedicated in Cooperstown, New York.

In 1942, Anne Frank, a German-born Jewish girl living in Amsterdam, received a diary for her 13th birthday, less than a month before she and her family went into hiding from the Nazis.

In 1957, bandleader Jimmy Dorsey died in New York at age 53.

In 1963, civil rights leader Medgar Evers, 37, was shot and killed outside his home in Jackson, Mississippi. (In 1994, Byron De La Beckwith was convicted of murdering Evers and sentenced to life in prison; he died in 2001.)

In 1967, the James Bond film “You Only Live Twice,” starring Sean Connery, premiered in London, a day before its U.S. opening.

In 1979, 26-year-old cyclist Bryan Allen flew the human-powered Gossamer Albatross across the English Channel.

In 1987, President Ronald Reagan, during a visit to the divided German city of Berlin, exhorted Soviet leader Mikhail S. Gorbachev to “tear down this wall.”

In 1997, baseball began regular-season interleague play, ending a 126-year tradition of separating the major leagues until the World Series. (In the first game played under this arrangement, the San Francisco Giants defeated the Texas Rangers 4-3.) The Treasury Department unveiled a new 50-dollar bill meant to be more counterfeit-resistant.

Ten years ago: President George W. Bush went to Capitol Hill, where he prodded rebellious Senate Republicans to help resurrect legislation that could provide eventual citizenship for millions of immigrants without legal status. Afghan police mistook U.S. troops for Taliban fighters and opened fire, prompting U.S. forces to return fire, killing seven Afghan police officers. Justin Verlander pitched a no-hitter to lead the Detroit Tigers over the Milwaukee Brewers 4-0. Don Herbert, television’s “Mr. Wizard,” died in Bell Canyon, California, at age 89.

Five years ago: Attorney General Eric Holder fended off Republican demands during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing that he appoint a special counsel outside of the Justice Department to look into national security leaks. Democrat Ron Barber, who almost lost his life in the Arizona shooting rampage that seriously wounded former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, won a special election to succeed her. Elinor Ostrom, 78, an Indiana University political scientist who to date is the only woman to have been awarded a Nobel Prize in economics, died in Bloomington, Indiana. Former mobster Henry Hill, the subject of the movie “Goodfellas,” died in Los Angeles a day after his 69th birthday.

One year ago: An American-born Muslim opened fire at the Pulse nightclub, a gay establishment in Orlando, Florida, leaving 49 people dead and 53 wounded before being shot dead by police. The mass shooting cast a pall over that evening’s Tony Awards, where “Hamilton,” the hip-hop stage biography of Alexander Hamilton, won the 2016 prize for best new musical. Former Republican U.S. senator and two-term Ohio governor George Voinovich, 79, died in Cleveland. Actress Janet Waldo, the voice of Judy Jetson, died in Encino, California, at age 96. The Pittsburgh Penguins won the fourth Stanley Cup in franchise history by beating the San Jose Sharks 3-1 in Game 6 of the final.

Today’s birthdays: Former President George H.W. Bush is 93. Singer Vic Damone is 89. Songwriter Richard M. Sherman is 89. Actor-singer Jim Nabors is 87. Jazz musician Chick Corea is 76. Sportscaster Marv Albert is 76. Singer Roy Harper is 76. Pop singer Len Barry is 75. Actor Roger Aaron Brown is 68. Rock musician Bun E. Carlos (Cheap Trick) is 66. Country singer-musician Junior Brown is 65. Singer-songwriter Rocky Burnette is 64. Actor Timothy Busfield is 60. Singer Meredith Brooks is 59. Actress Jenilee Harrison is 59. Rock musician John Linnell (They Might Be Giants) is 58. Rapper Grandmaster Dee (Whodini) is 55. Actor Paul Schulze is 55. Actor Eamonn Walker is 55. Actress Paula Marshall is 53. Actress Frances O’Connor is 50. Actor Rick Hoffman is 47. Actor Mel Rodriguez is 44. Actor Jason Mewes is 43. Actor Michael Muhney is 42. Blues musician Kenny Wayne Shepherd is 40. Actor Timothy Simons (TV: “Veep”) is 39. Actor Wil Horneff is 38. Singer Robyn is 38. Actor Dave Franco is 32. Country singer Chris Young is 32. Actor Luke Youngblood is 31. Rap group MC Jay Are is 28. Actor Ryan Malgarini is 25.

Thought for today: “It is impossible to defeat an ignorant man in argument.” — William Gibbs McAdoo, American government official (1863-1941).

Associated Press