Today is Wednesday, June 19, the 171st day of 2024. There are 195 days left in the year. This is Juneteenth.
Today's most prominent events in history:
On June 19, 1975, former Chicago organized crime boss Sam Giancana was shot to death in the basement of his home in Oak Park, Illinois; The murder was never solved.
On this date:
In 1775, George Washington was commissioned by the Continental Congress as Commander-in-Chief of the Continental Army.
In 1865, Union forces arrived in Galveston, Texas, bearing news that the Civil War had ended and that all remaining slaves in Texas were free—an event commemorated to this day as “Juneteenth Day.”
In 1910, Father's Day was celebrated for the first time in Spokane, Washington. (The idea for the celebration is credited to Sonora Louise Smart Dodd.)
In 1911, Pennsylvania became the first state to establish a motion picture censorship board.
In 1917, during World War I, King George V ordered the British royal family to dispense with German titles and titles; The family took the name “Windsor”.
In 1934, the Federal Communications Commission was created. It replaced the Federal Radio Commission.
In 1944, during World War II, the two-day Battle of the Philippine Sea began, resulting in a decisive victory for the Americans over the Japanese.
In 1953, Julius Rosenberg, 35, and his wife Ethel, 37, convicted of conspiring to transfer American atomic secrets to the Soviet Union, were executed at Sing Sing Prison in Ossining, New York.
In 1964, the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was approved by the US Senate, by a vote of 73 to 27, after surviving a long filibuster.
In 1986, University of Maryland basketball star Len Bias, the first draft pick of the Boston Celtics, suffered a fatal cocaine-induced attack.
In 1987, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down a Louisiana law that required any public school that taught evolution to also teach creationism.
In 2013, actor James Gandolfini died while on vacation in Rome at the age of 51, and country singer Slim Whitman died in Orange Park, Florida, at the age of 90.
In 2014, Rep. Kevin McCarthy of California won election as House Majority Leader as Republicans reshuffled their leadership in the wake of Rep. Eric Cantor's defeat in the Virginia primary.
In 2018, Koko, a western lowland gorilla who learned sign language at an early age as a science test subject and eventually learned more than 1,000 words, died at the Gorilla Foundation Sanctuary in California's Santa Cruz Mountains at the age of 46.
In 2023, a submarine known as the Titan explodes in the Atlantic Ocean near the wreck of the Titanic, killing all five people on board.
Today's Birthday: Actress Gena Rowlands turns 94. Hall of Fame race car driver Shirley Muldowney is 84 years old. Singer Elaine “Spanky” MacFarlane (“Spanky and Our Gang”) is 82. Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi is 79 years old. And author Sir Salman Rushdie is 77. Actress Phylicia Rashad is 76. Rock singer Ann Wilson (Heart) turns 74. Musician Larry Dunn is 71 years old. Actress Kathleen Turner is 70 years old. Country singer Doug Stone is 68 years old. Singer Mark “Marty” DeBarge turns 65. Choreographer Paula Abdul is 62, actor Andy Lauer is 61, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is 60, rock singer and musician Brian Vander Ark (Verve Pipe) is 60, actor Samuel West is 58, actress Mia Sara is 57, and TV personality Lara Spencer. He is 55 years old. Rock musician Brian “Head” Welch (Korn) is 54 years old. Actor Jean Dujardin is 52 years old. Actor Robin Tunney is 52 years old. Actor Bumper Robinson is 50 years old. Actor Bobby Montgomery is 49 years old. And singer and musician Scott Avett (The Alt Country) Singer and musician Scott Avett (The Actor Ryan Hurst is 48 years old, actor Zoe Saldana is 46 years old, former NBA star Dirk Nowitzki is 46 years old, and actor Neil Brown Jr. is 46 years old. Actor Lauren Lee Smith is 44 years old, rapper Macklemore (Macklemore and Ryan Lewis) is 42 years old. Actor Paul Dano is 40 years old. Texas Rangers player Jacob deGrom is 36 years old Actor Giacomo Gianniotti is 35 years old. Actor Choco Modu (TV: “The Good Doctor”) is 34 years old.
