历史上的今天:06月20日

Today's Highlight in History:
On June 20th, 1967, boxer¹ Muhammad Ali was convicted in Houston of violating Selective Service laws by refusing to be drafted. (Ali's conviction was ultimately overturned by the Supreme² Court).
On this date:
In 1756, in India, a group of British soldiers was imprisoned³ in a suffocating⁴ 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 ascended⁵ 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 quell⁶ the violence that resulted in more than 30 deaths.

In 1947, Benjamin "Bugsy" Siegel was shot dead at the Beverly Hills, California, mansion⁷ of his girlfriend, Virginia Hill, apparently⁸ at the order of mob associates.

In 1963, the United States and Soviet⁹ 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 radar¹⁰ 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.