Today's Highlight in History:
On June 10, 1963, President John F. Kennedy signed into law the Equal Pay Act of 1963, aimed at eliminating wage disparities based on gender. The same day, Kennedy delivered a commencement address at American University in Washington, D.C., in which he declared, "If we cannot end now our differences, at least we can make the world safe for diversity."
On this date:
In 1692, the first official execution resulting from the Salem witch trials in Massachusetts took place as Bridget Bishop was hanged.
In 1861, during the Civil War, Confederate troops routed Union soldiers in the Battle of Big Bethel in Virginia.
In 1907, eleven men in five cars set out from the French embassy in Beijing on a race to Paris. (Prince Scipione Borghese of Italy was the first to arrive in the French capital two months later.)
In 1921, President Warren G. Harding signed into law the Budget and Accounting Act, which created the Bureau of the Budget and the General Accounting Office.
In 1922, singer-actress Judy Garland was born Frances Ethel Gumm in Grand Rapids, Minn.
In 1935, Alcoholics Anonymous was founded in Akron, Ohio by Dr. Robert Holbrook Smith and William Griffith Wilson.
In 1940, Italy declared war on France and Britain; Canada declared war on Italy.
In 1942, during World War II, German forces massacred 173 male residents of Lidice, Czechoslovakia, in retaliation for the killing of Nazi official Reinhard Heydrich.
In 1967, the Middle East War ended as Israel and Syria agreed to observe a United Nations-mediated cease-fire.
In 1971, President Richard M. Nixon lifted a two-decades-old trade embargo on China.
In 1985, socialite Claus von Bulow was acquitted by a jury in Providence, R.I., at his retrial on charges he'd tried to murder his heiress wife, Martha "Sunny" von Bulow.
In 1991, 11-year-old Jaycee Dugard of South Lake Tahoe, Calif. was abducted by Phillip and Nancy Garrido; Jaycee was held by the couple for 18 years before she was found by authorities.
Ten years ago: Israeli helicopters fired missiles at a car carrying Abdel Aziz Rantisi, a senior Hamas leader, wounding him and killing two others. (Israel succeeded in killing Rantisi in April 2004.) ImClone chief Sam Waksal was sentenced to more than seven years in prison in connection with a stock-trading scandal. (He was released in 2009.) A rocket holding the first of two Mars rovers, Spirit, blasted off from Cape Canaveral, Fla. (Spirit arrived on Mars in Jan. 2004.) Former Treasury Secretary and White House chief of staff Donald T. Regan died in Williamsburg, Va., at age 84.
Five years ago: A Sudanese jetliner skidded off a runway and crashed into airport lights after landing in Khartoum, killing 30 of the 214 people on board.
One year ago: Parts of northern Colorado and southern New Mexico battled wildfires that were spreading rapidly through mountainous forest land, forcing hundreds of evacuations. Shanshan Feng won the LPGA Championship to become the first Chinese player to win an LPGA Tour title and a major event, closing with a 5-under 67 for a two-stroke victory. The bittersweet "Once" won eight Tony Awards, including best musical; "Clybourne Park" won best play.
Today's Birthdays: Britain's Prince Philip is 92. Columnist Nat Hentoff is 88. Attorney F. Lee Bailey is 80. Actress Alexandra Stewart is 74. Singer Shirley Alston Reeves (The Shirelles) is 72. Actor Jurgen Prochnow is 72. Football Hall of Famer Dan Fouts is 62. Media commentator Jeff Greenfield is 70. Country singer-songwriter Thom Schuyler is 61. Former Sen. John Edwards, D-N.C., is 60. Actor Andrew Stevens is 58. Singer Barrington Henderson is 57. Former New York Governor-turned-media commentator Eliot Spitzer is 54. Rock musician Kim Deal is 52. Singer Maxi Priest is 52. Actress Gina Gershon is 51. Actress Jeanne Tripplehorn is 50. Rock musician Jimmy Chamberlin is 49. Actress Kate Flannery is 49. Model-actress Elizabeth Hurley is 48. Rock musician Joey Santiago is 48. Actor Doug McKeon is 47. Rock musician Emma Anderson is 46. Country musician Brian Hofeldt (The Derailers) is 46. Rapper The D.O.C. is 45. Rock singer Mike Doughty is 43. Rhythm-and-blues singer JoJo is 42. Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal is 42. Rhythm-and-blues singer Faith Evans is 40. Actor Hugh Dancy is 38. Rhythm-and-blues singer Lemisha Grinstead (702) is 35. Actor DJ Qualls is 35. Actor Shane West is 35. Country singer Lee Brice is 34. Singer Hoku is 32. Actress Leelee Sobieski is 31. Olympic gold medal figure skater Tara Lipinski is 31. Model-actress Kate Upton is 21. Presidential daughter Sasha Obama is 12.
Thought for Today: "I am firm. You are obstinate. He is a pig-headed fool." — Katharine Whitehorn, British newspaper columnist.
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