TIM MAGUIRE

North Korea invaded South Korea initiating the Korean War on this
day in 1950.

On this day in 1876, Lt. Col. Custer and the 210 men of U.S. 7th
Cavalry were killed by Sioux and Cheyenne Indians at Little Big
Horn in Montana. The event is known as "Custer’s Last Stand."

George Armstrong Custer
(December 5, 1839 – June 25, 1876)

On this day in 1973, White House Counsel John Dean admitted that
U.S. President Nixon took part in the Watergate cover-up.

The Watergate Complex in Washington, D.C.

Eric Arthur Blair (June 25, 1903 – January 21, 1950)

Orwell wrote literary criticism, poetry, fiction and polemical journalism. He
is best known for the allegorical novella Animal Farm (1945) and the novel 
Nineteen Eighty-Four (1949).

Jacques-Yves Cousteau (June 11, 1910 – June 25, 1997) 

Jacques Cousteau was a French naval officer, explorer,
conservationist, filmmaker, scientist, photographer,
author and researcher who studied the sea and all
forms of life in water. He co-developed the Aqua-lung,
pioneered marine conservation. Jacques-Yves Cousteau
died of a heart attack on 25 June 1997 in Paris, two weeks
after his 87th birthday.

TIM MAGUIRE

An exchange between Sen. Joseph McCarthy (right) and Joseph
Welch (left) took place on this day in 1954. Sen. McCarthy was
confronted by Welch over his anti-communist stance. Welch
represented the Army during the Army-McCarthy hearings.   

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Charles John Huffam Dickens
(February 7, 1812 – June 9, 1870) 

Charles Dickens was an English writer and social
critic. He created some of the world’s best-known
fictional characters and is regarded by many as
the greatest novelist of the Victorian era. His works
enjoyed unprecedented popularity during his lifetime,
and by the 20th century critics and scholars had
recognized him as a literary genius. His novels and
short stories enjoy lasting popularity. Dickens
suffered stroke at his home after a full day’s work
on his final novel Edwin Drood and never regained
consciousness. His ending for the unfinished book
remains unknown.

Comedian/actor Richard Pryor was severely burned by a "free-base" mixture that exploded in his home on this day in 1980. He was hospitalized more than two months.

On this day in 1973, Secretariat won the 105th Belmont Stakes by 31 lengths and ran the fastest 1 1/2 miles on dirt at 2:24.

Les Paul (Lester William Polsfuss) (June 9, 1915 – August 12, 2009)

Les Paul  was one of the pioneers of the solid-body electric guitar. He
taught himself how to play guitar, and while he is mainly known for jazz
and popular music, he had an early career in country music. Paul is
credited with many recording innovations. Although he was not the first
to use the technique, his early experiments with overdubbing (also known
as sound on sound), delay effects such as tape delay phasing effects and multitrack recording were among the first to attract widespread attention

Les Paul is the only person to be included in both the Rock and Roll Hall
of Fame and the National Inventors Hall of Fame.

 

He recorded with his wife Mary Ford in the 1950s, and together 
they sold millions of records.

SANDY KOZEL

On this day in 1972, Alabama Gov. George C. Wallace was shot by
Arthur Bremer (below) in Laurel, MD while campaigning for the
United States presidency. Wallace was paralyzed by the shot.

On this day in 1948, Israel was attacked by Transjordan, Egypt, Syria,
Iraq and Lebanon only hours after declaring its independence. 

    
    
    
   

Defenders of Kibbutz Nirim in southern Israel after the battle.

On this day in 1911, the U.S. Supreme Court ordered the dissolution
of Standard Oil Company, ruling it was in violation of the Sherman Antitrust Act.

Standard Oil Refinery No. 1 in Cleveland, Ohio, 1897.

Lyman Frank Baum, author of "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz," was
born on this day in 1856. He wrote a total of 14 novels in the Oz
series, plus 41 other novels, 83 short stories, over 200 poems,
and at least 42 scripts.

June Carter Cash (Valerie June Carter)
June 23, 1929 – May 15, 2003)

June Carter Cash was a singer, songwriter, actress, dancer,
comedian, and author who was a member of the Carter
Family and the second wife of singer Johnny Cash.

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Johnny and June Carter Cash.

MIKE GRACIA

Explorer I was put into orbit around the earth on this day in 1958. It
was the first U.S. earth satellite.

From left: William Picketing, James Van Allen, and German scientist Wernher von Braun hold a model of Explorer 1.

On this day in 2001, a Scottish court in the Netherlands convicted
one Libyan )above) and acquitted a second in the bombing of Pan
Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, that occurred in 1988.

On this day in 1945, Private Eddie Slovik became the only U.S.
soldier since the Civil War to be executed for desertion.

Norman Kingsley Mailer (January 31, 1923 – November 10, 2007)

Norman Mailer was a novelist, journalist, essayist, playwright, film-maker,
actor, and political activist. His novel The Naked and the Dead, published
in 1948 brought him fame. His best-known work is widely considered to
be The Executioner’s Song (1979) winner of the Pulitzer Prize for fiction
and Armies of the Night won the Pulitzer Prize for non-fiction and the
National Book Award.

Franz Peter Schubert (January 31, 1797 – November 19, 1828)

Austrian composer was extremely prolific during his lifetime, which was only
31 years. His work consists of over 600 secular vocal works, seven complete
symphonies, sacred music, operas, incidental music and a large amount of
chamber and piano music. Schubert is ranked among the greatest composers
of the late Classical and early Romantic eras and is one of the most frequently
performed composers of the early 19th century.

Franz Schubert at the piano by Rudolf Klingsbögl.

CAMILLE BOHANNON

During World War II in this day in 1943, the Soviets announced that
they had broken the Nazi siege of Leningrad, which had began in September of 1941.

Royal Navy Captain Robert Falcon Scott led two expeditions to the Antarctic regions: the Discovery Expedition (1901–1904) and the ill-
fated Terra Nova Expedition (1910–1913). On the second venture,
Scott led a party of five which reached the South Pole on this day
in 1912, four weeks after Amundsen‘s Norwegian expedition. Scott
and his companions perished on the return trip to camp.

Captain Robert Scott (June 6, 1868 – March 29, 1912)

On this day in 1967, Albert DeSalvo, who claimed to be the "Boston Strangler," was convicted in Cambridge, MA, of armed robbery,
assault and sex offenses. He was sentenced to life in prison where
he was killed in 1973 by a fellow inmate.
 

Joseph Rudyard Kipling (December 30, 1865 – January 18, 1936) 

Kipling was one of the most popular writers in the United Kingdom. He is
regarded as a major innovator in the art of the short story. His children’s
books are classics of children’s literature, and one critic described his
work as exhibiting "a versatile and luminous narrative gift”.