June eighth

Today's Highlight in History:
On June eighth, A.D. 632, the prophet Mohammed died.

On this date:
In 1845, Andrew Jackson, seventh president of the United States, died in Nashville, Tennessee.

In 1861, Tennessee seceded from the Union.

In 1876, author George Sand died in Nohant, France.

In 1915, Secretary of State William Jennings Bryan resigned in a disagreement over US handling of the sinking of the Lusitania.

In 1942, Bing Crosby recorded "Adeste Fideles" and "Silent Night" in Los Angeles for Decca Records.

In 1953, the Supreme Court ruled that restaurants in the District of Columbia could not refuse to serve blacks.

In 1967, 34 US servicemen were killed when Israeli forces raided the Liberty, a Navy ship stationed in the Mediterranean. (Israel called the attack a tragic mistake.)

In 1968, authorities announced the capture in London of James Earl Ray, the suspected assassin of civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King Junior.

In 1978, a jury in Clark County, Nevada, ruled the so-called "Mormon will," purportedly written by the late billionaire Howard Hughes, was a forgery.

In 1982, President Reagan became the first American chief executive to address a joint session of the British Parliament.

Ten years ago: Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir announced he had succeeded in forming a new right-wing coalition government, ending a three-month-old political crisis.

Five years ago: US Marines rescued Captain Scott O'Grady, whose F-16C fighter jet had been shot down by Bosnian Serbs on June second. Mickey Mantle received a liver transplant at a Dallas hospital; however, the baseball great succumbed to disease two months later.

One year ago: The United States, Russia and six leading democracies authorized a text calling for a peacekeeping force in Kosovo. President Clinton announced new restrictions aimed at making it tougher for teens to sneak into R-rated movies.

"Love hath no physic for a grief too deep."

-- Robert Nathan, American author and composer (1894-1985).