ROSS SIMPSON

The Spanish Civil War began on this day in 1936 as Gen. Francisco Franco (below) led an uprising of army troops based in Spanish
North Africa.

It was on this day in 1969.

Senator Ted Kennedy wearing a neck brace following the accident.

Senator Ted Kennedy ran his car off a bridge on Chappaquiddick Island,
killing his passenger Mary Jo Kopechne. He swam free, leaving the scene,
and did not report the accident to the police for ten hours.

Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela (July 18, 1918 – December 5, 2013)

South African revolutionary and politician who radically changed the
conditions of the Apartheid state of South Africa by addressing
institutionalized racism and inequality. He served 27 years in prison
and, upon his release in 1994, he became South Africa’s first black
chief executive, an office he served for five years.

Seven year old Ricky Skaggs on television in 1961.

Country and bluegrass singer Rickie Lee Skaggs is 64 today.

Ricky Skaggs was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame this 
year. He has achieved 12 #1 hits, 8 CMA awards, and 8 ACM awards. In
1982, he became a member of the Grand Ole Opry, the youngest to ever
be inducted at that time.

ROSS SIMPSON

It was on this day in 1996.

Wreckage from the front portion of the TWA Flight 800 Boeing 747 on display in its reconstructed state in 1997.

The cockpit of TWA Flight 800 is lowered at the U.S. Coast Guard
station at Shinnecock Inlet in Hampton Bays, N.Y.

The Russian Imperial Romanov family (Tsar Nicholas II, his
wife Tsarina Alexandra and their five children Olga, Tatiana,
Maria, Anastasia, and Alexei) and all those who chose to
accompany them into imprisonment were shot, bayoneted
and clubbed to death in Yekaterinburg on this day in 1918
by several Bolshevik troops under the orders of the Ural
Regional Soviet and according to instructions by Lenin.

A drawing of the execution of Tsar Nicholas II and his family.

The room in the Ipatiev House, Yekaterinburg, where the Russian
royal family was brutally murdered.

Disneyland opened in Anaheim, CA. on this day in 1955.

Disneyland theme park is now divided into 8 extravagantly themed
lands: Main Street, U.S.A., Tomorrowland, Fantasyland, Mickey’s
Toontown, Frontierland, Critter Country, New Orleans Square and
Adventureland.

Walter Elias Disney (December 5, 1901 – December 15, 1966)

Nicaraguan President Anastasio Somoza resigned and fled to
Miami, Florida in exile on this day in 1979.

Somoza talks to the press after fleeing to safety in Miami.

An Apollo spaceship (left) docked with a Soyuz spacecraft in orbit
on this day in 1975. It was the first link up between the U.S. and
Soviet Union.

It was on this day in 1961.

Coltrane’s first recordings were made when he was
a sailor.

John William Coltrane  (September 23, 1926 – July 17, 1967)

John Coltrane was an American jazz saxophonist and composer, also
known as "Trane". Working in the bebop and hard bop idioms early in
his career,Coltrane helped pioneer the use of modes and was later at
the forefront of free jazz. He died of liver cancer at a Hospital in New
York on July 17, 1967, at the age of 40.

CAMILLE BOHANNON

On this   day in 1972, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the death
penalty could constitute "cruel and unusual punishment." The
ruling prompted states to revise their capital punishment laws.

Israel removed barricades, re-unifying Jerusalem on this day in 1967.

On this day in 1995, the shuttle Atlantis and the Russian space
station Mir docked, forming the largest man-made satellite ever
to orbit the Earth.

Rosemary Clooney (May 23, 1928 – June 29, 2002)

Singer and actress Rosemary Clooney came to prominence
in the early 1950s with the song "Come On-a My House",
which was followed by other pop numbers such as "Botch-
a-Me", "Mambo Italiano", "Tenderly", "Half as Much", "Hey
There" and "This Ole House".

A long-time smoker, Clooney was diagnosed with lung cancer
at the end of 2001. Around this time, she gave one of her last
concerts in Hawaii, backed by the Honolulu Symphony Pops;
her last song was "God Bless America". Her final show was
at Red Bank New Jersey’s Count Basie Theater in December
2001. Despite surgery, she died six months later on June 29,
2002, at her Beverly Hills home. Her nephew, actor George
Clooney, was a pallbearer at her funeral, which was attended
by numerous stars.

Pallbearers carry the casket of Rosemary Clooney out of St. Patrick’s Church after funeral services in Maysville, Ky. Actor George Clooney,
at center.

Recorded live on November 16, 2001, Released on
November 19, 2001.

Katharine Houghton Hepburn (May 12, 1907 – June 29, 2003)

Actress Katharine Hepburn was a leading lady in Hollywood for more than
60 years. She appeared in a range of genres, from comedy to literary drama,
and she received four Academy Awards—a record for any performer—for
Best Actress. In 1999, Hepburn was named by the American Film Institute
as the greatest female star of Classic Hollywood Cinema.

In 1997, Katharine Hepburn had become very weak, was speaking and eating
very little, and it was feared she would die. She showed signs of dementia in
her final years. In May 2003, an aggressive tumor was found in Hepburn’s
neck. The decision was made not to medically intervene, and she died from
a cardiac arrest on June 29, 2003, a month after her 96th birthday at the
Hepburn family home in Fenwick, Connecticut.

1981

CAMILLE BOHANNON

Winston Churchill rallies Britain during World War 2 with his famous "finest hour" speech on this day in 1940.

On this day in 1815, at the Battle of Waterloo Napoleon was defeated
by an international army under the Duke of Wellington. Napoleon abdicated on June 22.

The War of 1812 began as the U.S. declared war against Great Britain
on this day in 1812. The conflict began over trade restrictions and
numerous other disputes between the two countries.

James Monroe (April 28, 1758 – July 4, 1831)

During the War of 1812, Monroe served in critical
roles as Secretary of State and the Secretary of
War under President James Madison (below).

James Madison Jr. (March 16, 1751 – June 28, 1836)

On this day in 1928, Amelia Earhart became the first woman to fly
across the Atlantic Ocean when she flew from Newfoundland to
Wales.

Dr. Sally Ride became the first American woman in space aboard the space shuttle Challenger on this day in 1983.

Sally Kristen Ride
(May 26, 1951 – July 23, 2012)

Sir James Paul McCartney is 76 years old today.

Singer and multi-instrumentalist of The Beatles, Paul McCartney 
wrote such hit songs for the band as "Penny Lane," "Blackbird"
and "Eleanor Rigby." After his time with The Beatles he formed
the band Wings and embarked upon a solo career. He has earned
21 Grammy Awards across his career. 

Abbey Road studio album by The Beatles, 1969.

TIM MAGUIRE

John William King

Jasper County Assistant District Attorney Pat Hardy displays the
chain allegedly used to drag James Byrd.

The Communists completed their takeover of Czechoslovakia on
this day in 1948.

Czechoslovakian Communist Party leader Klement Gottwald,
addressing the crowds in Wenceslas Square, Prague, on 25
February 1948.

Israeli F-16 fighter-bombers destroyed Iraq’s only nuclear reactor on
this day in 1981.

On this  day in 1972, the musical “Grease” opened
on Broadway. It had been playing off-Broadway for
about 4 months.

Prince Rogers Nelson (June 7, 1958 – April 21, 2016)

Prince released ten platinum-selling albums and won multiple Grammy
Awards for Purple Rain (1984), including Best Performance and Best
Soundtrack. He became known for releasing over thirty Top Forty single
hits.  He suffered from epilepsy as a child, and began writing music at
age seven. One of the first groups he worked with was 94 East.