Today in History

[katcarasella]

Today in History - May 30

Today is Friday, May 30, the 151st day of 2008. There are 215 days left in the year.
Today's Highlight in History:
On May 30, 1958, unidentified American service members killed in World War II and the Korean War were interred in the Tomb of the Unknowns at Arlington National Cemetery.
On this date:
In 1431, Joan of Arc, condemned as a heretic, was burned at the stake in Rouen, France.
In 1854, the territories of Nebraska and Kansas were established.
In 1883, 12 people were trampled to death when a rumor that the recently opened Brooklyn Bridge was in imminent danger of collapsing triggered a stampede.
In 1908, "the man of a thousand voices," Mel Blanc, was born in San Francisco.
In 1911, Indianapolis saw its first long-distance auto race; Ray Harroun was the winner.
In 1922, the Lincoln Memorial was dedicated in Washington by President Harding, Chief Justice William Howard Taft and Robert Todd Lincoln.
In 1937, 10 people were killed when police fired on steelworkers demonstrating near the Republic Steel plant in South Chicago.
In 1943, American forces secured the Aleutian island of Attu from the Japanese during World War II.
In 1971, the American space probe Mariner 9 blasted off from Cape Kennedy, Fla., on a journey to Mars.
In 1986, 21 elderly passengers were killed when a tour bus went out of control on a mountain road and plunged into the Walker River near the California-Nevada border.
Ten years ago: Northern Afghanistan was rocked by a powerful earthquake believed to have killed up to 5,000 people. A tornado tore through Spencer, S.D., killing six people. Pakistan set off another nuclear blast.
Five years ago: President Bush left for a weeklong tour of Europe and the Middle East. The U.N. Security Council unanimously authorized the deployment of a French-led international force in northeastern Congo, the scene of ethnic fighting.
One year ago: The Taliban claimed responsibility for shooting down a Chinook helicopter over southern Afghanistan, killing five U.S. soldiers, a Canadian and a Briton. A Saudi being held at the Guantanamo Bay prison since 2002 was found dead, an apparent suicide.
Today's Birthdays: Country musician Johnny Gimble is 82. Actor Clint Walker is 81. Actor Keir Dullea is 72. Actress Ruta Lee is 72. Actor Michael J. Pollard is 69. Rock musician Lenny Davidson (The Dave Clark Five) is 64. Actor Stephen Tobolowsky is 57. Actor Colm Meaney is 55. Actor Ted McGinley is 50. Actor Ralph Carter is 47. Actress Tonya Pinkins is 46. Country singer Wynonna Judd is 44. Rock musician Tom Morello (Audioslave; Rage Against The Machine) is 44. Movie director Antoine Fuqua is 43. Rock musician Patrick Dahlheimer (Live) is 37. Actress Idina Menzel is 37. Actor Trey Parker is 36. Rapper Cee-Lo is 34. Rapper Remy Ma is 28. Actor Blake Bashoff is 27.
Thought for Today: "There are two statements about human beings that are true: that all human beings are alike, and that all are different. On those two facts all human wisdom is founded." — Mark Van Doren, American poet (1894-1972).

TODAY: 1st Annual 4 WT Meet-up

[goofywife]

1966: Surveyor lands on moon

Surveyor 1 landed on the moon's surface today, marking the United States' first successful soft landing on the moon.. The spacecraft was launched from Cape Canaveral on May 30 and landed on the moon 63 hours and a quarter million miles later.

"Surveyor 1, defying longshot odds against a first-try success, televised earthward today striking photos of the lunar landscape after a seemingly perfect gentle landing on the moon,” reported the Modesto Bee and News-Herald on June 2, 1966. “The pictures indicated to scientific viewers at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory that the Sea of Storms target area has a relatively smooth, hard surface apparently suitable as a possible descent point for future astronauts."

NOTE: The spacecraft carried two television cameras and transmitted more than 11,000 images to the Earth. It continued to send data from the moon until July 14, 1966. For more information about space

1953: Elizabeth II is crowned queen

On a damp and cool day in London, Elizabeth II was crowned Great Britain's queen during a coronation ceremony full of pomp and pageantry at Westminster Abbey. As the Archbishop of Canterbury placed the five-pound jewel-encrusted crown of St. Edward upon her head, symbolizing her formal accession, four-year-old Charles watched his mother with awe as he sucked his thumb. "The coronation of Elizabeth II was the mightiest pageant of our generation, and it was many other things: It was the Middle Ages marching confidently through the 20th Century, an old way of life holding its own in a new way of life, the weaving of ancient threads into a fresh pattern," explained The Ada Evening News on June 2, 1953.

1935: Babe Ruth retires

Babe Ruth announced his retirement from baseball today. He quit the Braves after having an argument with the president of the team, Judge Emil Fuchs. "A seething mountain of a man was George Herman Ruth today, but all the arguments in the world, all the hot words, bitter recriminations that have passed between him and the Boston Braves couldn't hide this epochal line for baseball's history: Babe Ruth is all done," reported The Oshkosh Northwestern on June 4, 1935.

1886: President Cleveland marries in White House

U.S. President Grover Cleveland became the only president to wed in the White House today. He married 21-year-old Frances Folsom, the daughter of his former law partner. On June 4, 1886, The Semi Weekly Age explained, "It was a great event because of the exalted position of the groom - the Chief Magistrate of a nation of 60,000,000 people, and because it was the first wedding of the kind that has ever occurred under the roof of the Executive Mansion."

[goofywife]

1969: Last Star Trek episode airs

The last original Star Trek segment aired today. "In it a scorned woman (and you know all about them), trades bodies with Captain Kirk and convinces the crew that he (or should it be she?) is insane. If it sounds complicated, it is. But count on William Shatner to give a good performance," reported The Valley Independent on June 3, 1969.

While Star Trek fans were able to save Gene Roddenberry's 1968-1969 season of the show after thousands of letters protested the cancellation, network authorities said letters would not bring the show back for the 1969-1970 season. The show became one of the most successful rerun syndications in television history.

"Since that dark day in 1969 when NBC brought the programming hammer down on 'Star Trek,' there probably hasn't been a 24-hour period when the original program, one of the original episodes, wasn't being broadcast somewhere," explained the Chronicle Telegram on December 20, 1987.

1968: Andy Warhol is shot

Artist and filmmaker Andy Warhol was shot in his New York studio today by actress Valerie Solanas, who starred in Warhol's film I, A Man. "Doctors said today Warhol had a '50-50' chance of surviving," informed the Bucks County Courier Times on June 4, 1968. "Miss Solanas, who last year placed an ad in a Greenwich Village weekly, The Village Voice, announcing formation of 'The Society for Cutting up Men' (SCUM), said she shot Warhol because he 'had too much control of my life.'" NOTE: Although Warhol recovered, his injuries and the trauma of the event continue to affect him for the rest of his life. Solanas pleaded guilty to attempted murder, was sentenced to three years in prison, on her release was again prosecuted for harassing Warhol, and spent the rest of her life in and out of mental hospitals.

1965: White walks in space

Connected to Gemini 4 by a tether, astronaut Edward H. White II became the first American to walk in space today. "Part of today's plan called for White and his command pilot, James A. McDivitt to pretend they are returning from a moon trip and try to orient themselves visually by spotting landmarks such as the Florida Peninsula," reported The Post Crescent on June 4, 1965. "White stayed alone in space for 20 minutes, double the time spent by a Soviet cosmonaut last March, and had to be coaxed back into the capsule by McDivitt, who followed peremptory commands barked into space from mission control in Houston."

1963: Pope John XXIII dies of stomach cancer

Less than five years into his papacy, Pope John XXIII, born Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli, died of stomach cancer today at age 81. "The tributes to Pope John XXIII came today from the high and the humble, the religious and the not so religious - and they all sounded the same basic theme. He was a good man," explained The Daily Messenger on June 4, 1963. NOTE: In the fall of 1962, Pope John XXIII convened the first general council of the Church - known as Vatican II - in almost a century. He was succeeded by Pope Paul VI.

[goofywife]

1998: Nichols sentenced for bombing
Terry Nichols, accomplice to Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh, was sentenced to life in prison today after he was convicted of manslaughter for the 1995 terrorist attack., which killed 168 people on April 19, 1995.

"The jury deadlocked over whether to give him the death penalty on the conspiracy conviction, so sentencing fell to [Judge] Matsch, who under law could impose no more than the sentence he did," reported the Syracuse Herald Journal on June 5, 1998. "The judge didn't just impose a sentence. As Nichols sat without visible emotion, Matsch called him an 'enemy of the Constitution' and ridiculed the bombing plot as a vain attempt to throw the nation into chaos."

NOTE: Six years after his federal sentencing, Nichols was also found guilty of 161 counts of first-degree murder by the state of Oklahoma. He received 161 consecutive life terms without parole for these crimes.

2003: Martha Stewart is indicted
Claiming her innocence and promising to fight to "clear my name," 61-year-old Martha Stewart and her stockbroker Peter Bacanovic were indicted on nine criminal counts today, including obstruction of justice, securities fraud, and conspiracy in relation to the ImClone stock scandal. Just hours later, Stewart announced her resignation. "The queen of home décor resigned late Wednesday as chairwoman and CEO of Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, the company she used to stamp her style on everything from magazines and TV screens to bed linens and bath towels," informed The Valley Independent on June 5, 2003. NOTE: Stewart spent five months in prison after being convicted on March 5, 2004.

1989: Tiananmen Square Massacre
The student protests in Tiananmen Square in Beijing, China, were brought to a violent halt this morning by the Chinese military. Martial law was originally declared on May 20, but the sheer number of protesters halted the army’s entry into Beijing. Soldiers and tanks were finally ordered to take the city, moving in late at night on June 3 and early on June 4. Soldiers arriving on armored personnel carriers began the attack, firing into crowds and clearing the square with fixed bayonets. Tiananmen Square was emptied by 6:00 a.m., after the death of hundreds of protesters. NOTE: The true number of dead is not known; the Chinese government reported between 200 and 300, while the Chinese Red Cross reported the loss of 2,000 to 3,000.

1984: Springsteen releases best-selling album
Bruce Springsteen released Born in the U.S.A. today, his seventh studio album. Just one month after its release, the album reached number one on Billboard's 200 Chart. Although it would become Springsteen's best-selling album, newspaper reviews were mixed. "Springsteen's great talents as a storyteller and wordsmith are not evident in his new songs; what he says he has said before – and better – on previous albums," explained one review in The Post-Standard on June 22, 1984. NOTE: The album went on to sell more than 15 million copies in the United States alone.

1944: Rome falls to Allies
The Allied forces captured their first Axis capital, Rome, today. “American troops entered the city limits of Rome yesterday while the whole civilized world waited to see whether the Germans would seriously defend it and so make a battleground of the venerated capital,” reported the London Stars and Stripes on June 5, 1944. NOTE: The Germans declared Rome an “open city,” meaning that it would not be defended. Allied forces marched through the city and pursued the Axis forces north.

1919: U.S. Congress approves 19th Amendment
The 19th Amendment to the United States Constitution was approved by Congress today. "With the passage by the Senate of the resolution proposing the Susan B. Anthony suffrage amendment to the Constitution, the 40 years' fight for universal suffrage is brought to an end, so far as Congress is concerned," reported The Washington Post on June 6, 1919. "The final decision now rests with the States, and it is confidently predicted that the legislatures of the necessary three-fourths of the States will ratify the amendment within a comparatively short time." NOTE: The amendment was ratified just over one year later, on August 18, 1920.

[goofywife]

1968: Robert Kennedy is shot

Sen. Robert F. Kennedy, U.S. presidential candidate, was shot in the head and neck at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles, California, today. Kennedy was leaving a campaign rally when assassin Sirhan Sirhan fired the shots.

"The 42-year-old brother of the late President Kennedy was shot from about three feet away by a swarthy man in his 20's who was subdued by three Kennedy aides but not until he had emptied all eight bullets from a .22 caliber revolver toward the senator," reported the Bucks County Courier Times on June 5, 1968. "Kennedy's wife Ethel, who is expecting their 11th child, was not hurt."

NOTE: Kennedy died the day after the shooting occurred, and Sirhan was convicted in 1969 and sentenced to life in prison. After Kennedy's death, the U.S. Secret Service extended its protection to include presidential candidates.

2004: Ronald Reagan dies

"Ronald Reagan, the cheerful crusader who devoted his presidency to winning the Cold War, trying to scale back government and making people believe it was 'morning again in America,' died Saturday after a long twilight struggle with Alzheimer's disease," informed The Intelligencer on June 6, 2004. NOTE: Since Reagan’s death, his widow Nancy Reagan has been a staunch advocate of stem-cell research, stating that she believes that it could lead to a cure for Alzheimer’s disease.

1981: Report introduces first recognized AIDS case

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued a report today announcing that rare cases of pneumonia were found among five homosexual men in Los Angeles, California. "The AIDS epidemic - a wave of death spread by sex, blood, birth and dirty drug needles - officially began," explained North Hills News Record on June 5, 1996, referring to the report that was issued 15 years earlier. "And social observers were making bold predictions. The sexual revolution was over, early marriage and premarital virginity would come back into vogue and the drug war would be transformed."

1967: Six-Day War begins in Mideast

"For the third time in 20 years, war broke out today in the Middle East and gunfire sounded in Israel and in three of its Arab neighbors - Egypt, Jordan and Syria. The Arabs, sworn to destroy Israel, were battling the Jewish state's forces on two fronts, at Egypt's Sinai frontier and on the Syria and Jordan borders. Each side accused the other of lighting the fuse for the explosion which, as in 1956, threatened to involve the major powers," reported the Oshkosh Daily Northwestern on June 5, 1967. NOTE: By the end of the war, Israel had gained control of the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, two areas under disputed ownership to this day.

1947: Marshall Plan speech is given

U.S. Secretary of State George Marshall gave a speech at Harvard University today asking for economic aid to be sent to war-torn Europe. On June 5, 1947, the Middletown Times Herald reported, "Secretary of State George C. Marshall, in a thinly-veiled attack on communist tactics, warned today that the United States would oppose firmly any governments or groups that sought to 'perpetuate human misery' for political purposes. At the same time, Marshall declared that this country must extend Europe additional financial help for the next three or four years to prevent crises of 'grave character.'"

[Janet]

You know Michelle, I love these posts so much. Some things of course, I remember, but they just don't seem like they happened soooo long ago. Other things seemed like just a few weeks.

[goofywife]

I totally agree. As I posted the one on the Bombing, it seems like it was just last year. I am getting old!

Originally Posted by Janet

You know Michelle, I love these posts so much. Some things of course, I remember, but they just don't seem like they happened soooo long ago. Other things seemed like just a few weeks.

[goofywife]

1944: D-Day
Allied forces launched one of the largest amphibious assaults in history on the northern coast of France today, beginning the final chapter in the World War II defeat of Nazi Germany. The military operation (named Overlord) was postponed on June 5 due to poor weather.

"The British, Canadian and American assault forces which stormed the beaches of Normandy were being reinforced constantly by hundreds of gliders and by surface craft sailing in to the coast from which the Germans had been driven," reported the Winnipeg Free Press on June 7, 1944.

NOTE: The 130,000 troop Normandy landing was the largest single-day invasion in history. By August 25, Allied forces liberated Paris.

1985: Nazi "Angel of Death" found in Brazil
Police in Brazil reported today that they unearthed a body in Embu, 17 miles from Sao Paulo, which they believe is Josef Mengele, the Nazi "Angel of Death" during World War II. "Robert Mengele, 41, broke years of silence last week to announce that his father, implicated in the death of more than 400,000 concentration camp inmates, had died in 1979. He said he was certain that remains exhumed June 6 near Sao Paulo, Brazil, are his father's," explained The Daily Intelligencer on June 19, 1985. NOTE: In 1992, DNA tests confirmed the conclusions of the police report.

1971: The Ed Sullivan Show ends
The Ed Sullivan Show ended today with a re-run, but not without a few personal comments from Ed Sullivan before the show's close. "Not for its artistic quality, but for its historical interest, The Ed Sullivan Show is worth seeing. It's the last. Ed exits, smiling, with a repeat of a typical Ed Sullivan mish-mash of acts, perhaps a bit better than usual but still the same old vaudeville turns," informed The Odessa American on June 6, 1971.


1968: Robert Kennedy dies
Senator Robert F. Kennedy died at 1:44 a.m. PDT today, a little more than 24 hours after he was shot at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles. "Robert Kennedy, 42, never regained consciousness, never showed signs of recovery after a savage burst of revolver fire sent a bullet plunging into his brain – at the pinnacle of his own campaign for the White House," reported the Panama City Herald on June 6, 1968. NOTE: President Johnson called for a national day of mourning, while Gov. Ronald Reagan proclaimed a state of mourning in California.

1966: Meredith is shot during civil rights march
James Meredith, the first African-American to attend the University of Mississippi, was shot during a civil rights march from Memphis to Jackson today. "An unemployed white hardware clerk from Memphis, Aubrey James Norvell, 40, was trapped in the woods with a shotgun in his hand and admitted to the shooting. He was jailed overnight and was scheduled for a hearing today on charges of assault and battery with intent to murder," The Valley Independent reported on June 7, 1966. NOTE: The photograph of Meredith after being shot won the Pulitzer Prize for Photography in 1967. Meredith fully recovered.

[DianaB]

Today is Dae Lynn's birthday (26) and the anniversary of my Dad's death (2 years ago).

[Janet]

Well tell Dae Lynn ..Happy Birthday. Hopefully I'll be able to meet her and her mother someday. It's hard to believe but my dad has been gone 34 years come this August. I still miss him so much. He would be so amazed with the technology today. He didn't even like 'dialing' the phone..he would always ask me to do it for him.

[goofywife]

1982: Graceland opens to the public
Priscilla Presley allowed public tours into Graceland for the first time today, almost five years after Elvis' death. "Graceland officials readied the 14-acre estate for 21,000 visitors to take the two-hour tour this week, with peeks at the living, dining, jungle and television rooms, and on to the trophy room, where Presley's awards are housed," explained the Syracuse Herald Journal on June 7, 1982. "The tour ends in the meditation garden where the singer, his parents and grandmother are buried."


1966: Reagan receives nomination for California governor
"Actor Ronald Reagan won the Republican gubernatorial nomination in a landslide in his first try for political office and prepared today to battle California's two-term Democratic Gov. Edmund G. Brown in November," informed the Bucks County Courier on June 8, 1966. "Reagan, one of Hollywood's leading men in the 1940's and more recently a television personality, crushed former San Francisco Mayor George Christopher under a wave of votes from populous Southern California in Tuesday's primary." NOTE: Reagan went on to win the election, serving as the governor of California until 1975.

1965: Supreme Court recognizes contraceptive rights
In the case of Griswold v. Connecticut, the Supreme Court today struck down the Connecticut anti-birth control law, which disallowed all contraceptive use. "The vote was 7 to 2, with Justice William O. Douglas speaking for the majority. Douglas based his reasoning on the principle that 'a governmental purpose to control or prevent activities constitutionally subject to state regulation may not be achieved by means which sweep unnecessarily broadly and thereby invade the area of protected freedom,'" reported the Oshkosh Daily Northwestern on June 7, 1965.

1942: Battle of Midway ends
American planes defeated a Japanese fleet that was headed to invade the Midway Islands today. "The victory off Midway, ranking with the greatest in United States naval history, undoubtedly brought greatly nearer the zero hour for an all-out attack against Japan by the Allied Nations. This was made certain by crippling blows to the enemy fleet and its air arm. As in the battle of the Coral Sea, which opened the second phase of the war in the Pacific, air power played the principal part in repelling the attempted invasion of Midway," explained The Gleaner on June 9, 1942.

[goofywife]

1953: Court says D.C. restaurants must serve African-Americans
The Supreme Court ruled today that restaurants and bars in Washington D.C. are required to serve African-American customers. "The court ruled 8-0 that an 80-year-old District of Columbia law forbidding racial discrimination by cafes, bars and ice cream parlors is valid and still in effect," informed The Frederick Post on June 9, 1953. NOTE: The decision came after a restaurant operated by the Thompson chain refused to serve African-Americans.

1949: FBI report calls Hollywood celebrities communists
"Hollywood movie stars Fredric March, Edward G. Robinson and other major figures in the West Coast film colony were named in a secret FBI report today as alleged members of the Communist Party," explained The News in 1949. The FBI report became public at the espionage trial of Judith Coplon, who was a former Justice Department analyst. NOTE: March responded by saying that the communist charges in the report are "absurd."

1892: Outlaw Robert Ford killed
Deputy Sheriff Edward O'Kelly shot and killed Bob Ford, the outlaw who assassinated Jesse James, today. On June 9, 1892, the Decatur Daily Republican reported, "An unknown man was seen to hand Kelly a double-barreled shot gun when he stepped into the hall and called 'Bob!' Ford turned around when but five feet away and placed his hand on his hip pocket. Kelly raised his gun and fired a load of buckshot into Ford's neck, severing the windpipe and jugular vein and killing him instantly."

1789: Madison proposes Bill of Rights
James Madison proposed 12 amendments to the U.S. Constitution today, the final ten achieving approval to become what is now called the Bill of Rights. On September 21, 1934, 145 years later, The Soda Springs Sun noted in retrospect, "Certain members opposed all amendments until the Constitution had been longer established and the federal government more fully organized; others felt that even stronger safeguards were essential. But these objections were overcome, and Madison's proposals referred to a committee composed of one member from each state."

[goofywife]

1986: Report on Challenger disaster is released
The Challenger commission told President Reagan today in a 250 page report that seven astronauts died from "an accident that didn't have to happen." "The report will say the explosion of the Challenger, 73 seconds after liftoff on Jan. 28, was triggered by a flame that found a path between segments of the right booster rocket and that such a catastrophic failure was foreshadowed by a long history of known but unsolved problems," reported The Daily Intelligencer on June 9, 1986. NOTE: When preparing the report, the commission conducted 160 interviews and studied 122,000 pages of related documents.

1909: Woman begins auto trip across U.S.
Alice Ramsey, the president of the Women's Motoring Club of New York, set off on an automobile trip from New York to San Francisco today along with three other women. "From the start to the end, Mrs. Ramsey will do the driving and, furthermore, will have to make alone all tire repairs, tire changes and such for, while she will not be alone in the car she will be unaccompanied by man. It is this that makes the trip all the more interesting for it will be the first time that a woman has ever attempted the long journey between the two cities under these conditions. Unassisted she will have to pick the route, guide the car across the Rocky mountains, and in fact, will travel over roads and routes that would tax an expert male driver," The Atlanta Constitution reported on June 6, 1909. NOTE: She made it just fine.

1899: Jeffries wins heavyweight title
James Jeffries, born in Carroll, Ohio, was named heavyweight champion "in a contest for supremacy in pugilism of the world" when he won the Jeffries-Fitzsimmons fight at Coney Island today. "The idea of Fitzsimmons, the conqueror, being put to sleep by a man who had hitherto been regarded as a second-rater, was too much for the sports. Fitzsimmons soon got up on his feet and doggedly walked out of the ring," informed The Fort Wayne News on June 10, 1899.

1870: Charles Dickens dies
British author Charles Dickens was mourned today as "death struck him with sudden power, and in the midst of another work of genius, took him away," according to The Daily Gazette on June 11, 1870. On June 25 of the same year, the St. Joseph Herald reprinted comments made in the The London Times about Charles Dickens: "The ordinary expressions of regret are not cold and conventional. Millions of people feel it as a personal bereavement. Statesmen, savants and benefactors of the race, when they die, can leave no such void. They cannot, like this great novelist, have been an inmate of every house."

[goofywife]

1977: James Earl Ray escapes
James Earl Ray, the convicted assassin of civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., escaped from a maximum security prison in Tennessee today along with five other prisoners. It was the third time he tried to flee from his 99-year sentence.

"The prisoners went over the wall about 8 p.m. EDT using a makeshift ladder made of a metal conduit. Prison officials said the escape was covered by a mock fight between two prisoners in the yard of Brushy Mountain State Prison, the state's maximum security facility," reported the Oakland Tribune on June 11, 1977.

NOTE: Three days later, two bloodhounds found Ray hiding beneath a pile of leaves within 10 miles of the state prison. According to newspaper reports from 1977, he surrendered without a struggle once he was spotted.

2004: Ray Charles dies
Legendary musician Ray Charles died of acute liver disease today in Beverly Hills, California, at the age of 73. "Blind by age 7, and an orphan at 15, the gifted pianist and saxophonist spent his life shattering any notion of musical categories and defying easy definition," explained the Gettysburg Times on June 11, 2004.

1985: Socialite Claus von Bulow is acquitted
A jury in Providence, Rhode Island, found Danish-born socialite Claus von Bulow innocent of trying to kill his heiress wife, Martha 'Sunny' von Bulow, with insulin injections today. Von Bulow was on trial for a second time as his wife laid in an irreversible coma in a New York hospital. "After their 1966 marriage in an intimate chapel ceremony, Claus and Martha von Bulow seemed to have everything money could buy – palatial homes, limousines, servants and a reigning spot in the whirl of high society," informed The Post Standard on June 11, 1985. "But they became one of the world's best known couples because of their private unhappiness."

1945: Eisenhower receives Order of Victory
General Dwight D. Eisenhower and British Field Marshal Sir Bernard L. Montgomery were presented with the Soviet Order of Victory today. "It was the first time that Soviet Russia's highest award had been presented to any but Russians. Eisenhower was the eighth person to receive the award, and the British field marshal, the ninth," reported The Lowell Sun on June 11, 1945.

[katcarasella]

Saturday, June 10, 1972 My Daughter Kristine Leigh was born at 7:38 A.M.