Associated Press
On June 11, 2004, Ronald Reagan, the 40th president of the United States, was laid to rest in California following a state funeral in Washington, D.C.
On this date in:
1509 England’s King Henry VIII married Catherine of Aragon.
1913 Football coach Vince Lombardi was born in New York City.
1919 Sir Barton became horse racing’s first Triple Crown winner by winning the Belmont Stakes.
1942 The United States and the Soviet Union signed a lend lease agreement to aid the Soviet war effort in World War II.
1963 Gov. George Wallace confronted federal troops at the University of Alabama in an effort to defy a federal court order to allow two black students to enroll at the school.
1963 Buddhist monk Quang Duc immolated himself on a Saigon street to protest the government of South Vietnamese President Ngo Dinh Diem.
1977 Seattle Slew won the Belmont Stakes, capturing the Triple Crown.
1987 British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher won a third consecutive term in office.
1990 The Supreme Court struck down a federal law prohibiting desecration of the American flag.
1993 The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that people who commit “hate crimes” motivated by bigotry may be sentenced to extra punishment.
2001 Timothy McVeigh was executed by injection for the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing that killed 168 people.
2002 Rock musician Paul McCartney married Heather Mills in a remote Irish castle. (The couple divorced in 2008.)
2002 The singing competition “American Idol” debuted on Fox.
2009 The World Health Organization declared the swine flu outbreak a pandemic.
2010 The FIFA World Cup opened in South Africa, the first time soccer’s biggest tournament was held on that continent.
2012 Rafael Nadal won his record seventh French Open title, defeating Novak Djokovic 6-4, 6-3, 2-6, 7-5.
Today’s Birthdays:
Actor Hugh Laurie (“House M.D.”) turns 56 years old today.
Charles Rangel, U.S. congressman, D-N.Y. 85
Gene Wilder, Actor, 82
Jackie Stewart, Auto racer, 76
Adrienne Barbeau, Actress, 70
Frank Beard, Rock musician (ZZ Top), 66
Peter Bergman, Actor (“The Young and the Restless”), 62
Joe Montana, Football Hall of Famer, 59
Dr. Mehmet Oz, Talk show host, 55
Peter Dinklage, Actor, 46
Joshua Jackson, Actor (“Dawson’s Creek”), 37
Diana Taurasi, Basketball player, 33
Jose Reyes, Baseball player, 32
Actor Shia LaBeouf turns 29 years old today.