Associated Press
On June 12, 1987, during a visit to the divided German city of Berlin, President Ronald Reagan publicly challenged Soviet leader Mikhail S. Gorbachev to “tear down this wall.”
On this date in:
1776 Virginia’s colonial legislature became the first to adopt a Bill of Rights.
1898 Philippine nationalists declared independence from Spain.
1937 The Soviet Union under Josef Stalin executed eight army leaders during a purge.
1939 The National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum was dedicated in Cooperstown, N.Y.
1963 Civil rights activist Medgar Evers was fatally shot in front of his home in Jackson, Miss.
1971 President Richard M. Nixon’s daughter Tricia and Edward F. Cox were married in the White House Rose Garden.
1978 David Berkowitz was sentenced to 25 years to life in prison for each of the six “Son of Sam” .44-caliber killings in New York City.
1994 Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman were slashed to death outside her Los Angeles home. (Her former husband, football Hall of Famer O.J. Simpson, was later acquitted of the killings in a criminal trial, but held liable in a civil action.)
2002 The Los Angeles Lakers won a third straight NBA title and Shaquille O’Neal was named MVP of the finals for the third straight year.
2008 A deeply divided Supreme Court ruled that foreign detainees held for years at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba had the right to appeal to U.S. civilian courts to challenge their indefinite imprisonment without charges.
Today’s Birthdays:
Former President George H.W. Bush turns 91 years old today.
David Rockefeller, Banker, 100
Vic Damone, Singer, 87
Jim Nabors, Actor-singer (“Gomer Pyle, USMC”), 85
Marv Albert, Sportscaster, 74
Bun E. Carlos, Rock musician (Cheap Trick), 64
Timothy Busfield, Actor (“thirtysomething”), 58
Paula Marshall, Actress, 51
Frances O’Connor, Actress, 48
Hideki Matsui, Baseball player, 41
Jazz musician Chick Corea turns 74 years old today.