Today in History: June 28, Treaty of Versailles is signed

Today in History

Today is Tuesday, June 28, the 179th day of 2022. There are 186 days left in the year.

Today’s Highlights in History:

On June 28, 1919, the Treaty of Versailles (vehr-SY’) was signed in France, ending the First World War.

On this date:

In 1838, Britain’s Queen Victoria was crowned in Westminster Abbey.

In 1863, during the Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln appointed Maj. Gen. George G. Meade the new commander of the Army of the Potomac, following the resignation of Maj. Gen. Joseph Hooker.

In 1914, Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria and his wife, Sophie, were shot to death in Sarajevo (sah-ruh-YAY’-voh) by Serb nationalist Gavrilo Princip (gavh-REE’-loh PREEN’-seep) — an act that sparked World War I.

In 1939, Pan American Airways began regular trans-Atlantic air service with a flight that departed New York for Marseilles (mar-SAY’), France.

In 1940, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the Alien Registration Act, also known as the Smith Act, which required adult foreigners residing in the U.S. to be registered and fingerprinted.

In 1950, North Korean forces captured Seoul (sohl), the capital of South Korea.

In 1978, the Supreme Court ordered the University of California-Davis Medical School to admit Allan Bakke (BAH’-kee), a white man who argued he’d been a victim of reverse racial discrimination.

In 1994, President Bill Clinton became the first chief executive in U.S. history to set up a personal legal defense fund and ask Americans to contribute to it.

In 2000, seven months after he was cast adrift in the Florida Straits, Elian Gonzalez was returned to his native Cuba.

In 2010, the Supreme Court ruled, 5-4, that Americans had the right to own a gun for self-defense anywhere they lived.

In 2013, the four plaintiffs in the U.S. Supreme Court case that overturned California’s same-sex marriage ban tied the knot, just hours after a federal appeals court freed gay couples to obtain marriage licenses in the state for the first time in 4 1/2 years.

In 2019, avowed white supremacist James Alex Fields, who deliberately drove his car into a crowd of counterprotesters in Charlottesville, Virginia, killing a young woman and injuring dozens, apologized to his victims before being sentenced to life in prison on federal hate crime charges.

Ten years ago: The Affordable Care Act narrowly survived, 5-4, an election-year battle at the U.S. Supreme Court with the improbable help of conservative Chief Justice John Roberts. Attorney General Eric Holder became the first sitting Cabinet member held in contempt of Congress, a rebuke pushed by Republicans seeking to unearth the facts behind a bungled gun-tracking operation known as Fast and Furious. (The vote was 255-67, with more than 100 Democrats boycotting.) Katie Holmes filed for divorce from Tom Cruise after five years of marriage.

Five years ago: Republican donors paid $35,000 apiece to hear a familiar message from President Donald Trump: that the media, particularly CNN, kept trying to take him down, and yet Republicans just kept on winning elections. ABC and a South Dakota meat producer announced a settlement in a $1.9 billion lawsuit against the network over its reports on a beef product that critics dubbed “pink slime.”

One year ago: Temperatures in parts of the Pacific Northwest wiped out records that had been set the day before, with Seattle reaching 108 degrees by evening; meteorologists said the record-breaking heat was caused by a dome of high pressure, and worsened by human-caused climate change. Big-wave surfer Greg “Da Bull” Noll died at 84; he’d become a surfing legend by combining an outsized personality with the courage and skill to ride bigger, more powerful waves than anyone had attempted before.

Today’s Birthdays: Comedian-movie director Mel Brooks is 96. Comedian-impressionist John Byner is 85. Former Defense Secretary Leon Panetta is 84. Rock musician Dave Knights (Procul Harum) is 77. Actor Bruce Davison is 76. Actor Kathy Bates is 74. Actor Alice Krige is 68. College and Pro Football Hall of Famer John Elway is 62. Jazz singer Tierney Sutton is 59. Actor Jessica Hecht is 57. Rock musician Saul Davies (James) is 57. Actor Mary Stuart Masterson is 56. Actor John Cusack is 56. Actor Gil Bellows is 55. Actor-singer Danielle Brisebois is 53. Actor Tichina Arnold is 53. Actor Steve Burton is 52. Entrepreneur Elon Musk is 51. Actor Alessandro Nivola (nih-VOH’-luh) is 50. Actor Camille Guaty is 46. Rock musician Tim Nordwind (OK Go) is 46. Rock musician Mark Stoermer (The Killers) is 45. Country singer Big Vinny Hickerson (Trailer Choir) is 39. Country singer Kellie Pickler is 36. Jamaican Olympic track star Elaine Thompson-Herah is 30.

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