June 17th

Today's Highlight in History:
On June 17th, 1775, the Revolutionary War Battle of Bunker Hill took place near Boston.

On this date:
In 1856, in Philadelphia, the Republican Party opened its first convention.

In 1885, the Statue of Liberty arrived in New York City aboard the French ship "Isere."

In 1928, Amelia Earhart embarked on a trans-Atlantic flight from Newfoundland to Wales -- the first by a woman.

In 1940, France asked Germany for terms of surrender in World War Two.

In 1948, a United Air Lines DC-6 crashed near Mount Carmel, Pennsylvania, killing all 43 people on board.

In 1963, the Supreme Court struck down rules requiring the recitation of the Lord's Prayer or reading of Biblical verses in public schools.

In 1969, the raunchy musical review "Oh! Calcutta!" opened in New York.

In 1971, the United States and Japan signed a treaty under which the US would return control of the island of Okinawa.

In 1972, President Nixon's eventual downfall began with the arrest of five burglars inside Democratic national headquarters in Washington DC's Watergate complex.

In 1986, President Reagan announced the retirement of US Chief Justice Warren Earl Burger.

Ten years ago: South African black nationalist Nelson Mandela and his wife, Winnie, arrived in Ottawa, Canada, en route to an eleven-day tour of the United States.

Five years ago: Russian commandos stormed a hospital where Chechen rebels were holding more than 1,000 hostages, but the Chechens beat the Russians back.

One year ago: The Republican-controlled House narrowly voted to loosen restrictions on sales at gun shows, marking a victory for the National Rifle Association. Joseph Stanley Faulder, a former auto mechanic who killed a woman during a 1975 burglary, became the first Canadian to be executed in the United States in almost half a century as he was lethally injected in Huntsville, Texas.

"During my eighty-seven years I have witnessed a whole succession of technological revolutions. But none of them has done away with the need for character in the individual or the ability to think."

-- Bernard M. Baruch, American businessman and statesman (1870-1965).