June 20th

Today's Highlight in History:
On June 20th, 1967, boxer Muhammad Ali was convicted in Houston of violating Selective Service laws by refusing to be drafted. (Ali's conviction was ultimately overturned by the Supreme Court).

On this date:
In 1756, in India, a group of British soldiers was imprisoned in a suffocating cell that gained notoriety as the "Black Hole of Calcutta"; most died.

In 1782, Congress approved the Great Seal of the United States.

In 1837, Queen Victoria ascended the British throne following the death of her uncle, King William the Fourth.

In 1863, West Virginia became the 35th state.

In 1893, a jury in New Bedford, Massachusetts, found Lizzie Borden innocent of the ax murders of her father and stepmother.

In 1898, during the Spanish-American War, the US cruiser "Charleston" captured the Spanish-ruled island of Guam.

In 1943, race-related rioting erupted in Detroit; federal troops were sent in two days later to quell the violence that resulted in more than 30 deaths.

In 1947, Benjamin "Bugsy" Siegel was shot dead at the Beverly Hills, California, mansion of his girlfriend, Virginia Hill, apparently at the order of mob associates.

In 1963, the United States and Soviet Union signed an agreement to set up a "hot line" between the two superpowers.

In 1979, ABC News correspondent Bill Stewart was shot to death in Managua, Nicaragua, by a member of President Anastasio Somoza's national guard.

Ten years ago: South African black nationalist Nelson Mandela and his wife, Winnie, arrived in New York City for a ticker-tape parade in their honor as they began an eight-city US tour.

Five years ago: US Air Force Captain Jim Wang, a radar officer, was cleared of wrongdoing in a friendly fire attack on two US helicopters over northern Iraq in 1994 that resulted in 26 deaths.

One year ago: As the last of 40-thousand Yugoslav troops rolled out of Kosovo, NATO declared a formal end to its bombing campaign against Yugoslavia. Golfer Payne Stewart won his second US Open title, by one stroke over Phil Mickelson.

"The highest purpose is to have no purpose at all."

-- John Cage, American composer (1912-1992).