Today in History
On June 23, 1888, abolitionist Frederick Douglass received one vote from the Kentucky delegation at the Republican convention in Chicago, effectively making him the first black candidate to have his name placed in nomination for U.S. president. (The nomination went to Benjamin Harrison.)
On this date:
In 1757, forces of the East India Company led by Robert Clive won the Battle of Plassey, which effectively marked the beginning of British colonial rule in India.
In 1812, Britain, unaware that America had declared war against it five days earlier, rescinded its policy on neutral shipping, a major issue of contention between the two countries.
In 1860, a congressional resolution authorized creation of the United States Government Printing Office, which opened the following year.
In 1931, aviators Wiley Post and Harold Gatty took off from New York on a round-the-world flight that lasted eight days and 15 hours.
In 1938, the Civil Aeronautics Authority was established.
In 1947, the Senate joined the House in overriding President Harry S. Truman's veto of the Taft-Hartley Act, designed to limit the power of organized labor.
In 1956, Gamal Abdel Nasser was elected president of Egypt.
In 1967, President Lyndon B. Johnson and Soviet Premier Alexei Kosygin (ah-LEK'-say koh-SEE'-gihn) held the first of two meetings at Glassboro State College in New Jersey.
In 1969, Warren E. Burger was sworn in as chief justice of the United States by the man he was succeeding, Earl Warren.
In 1988, James E. Hansen, a climatologist at the Goddard Institute for Space Studies, told a Senate panel that global warming of the earth caused by the "greenhouse effect" was a reality.
In 1993, in a case that drew widespread attention, Lorena Bobbitt of Prince William County, Va., sexually mutilated her husband, John, after he'd allegedly raped her. (John Bobbitt was later acquitted of marital sexual assault; Lorena Bobbitt was later acquitted of malicious wounding by reason of insanity.) Canada's Senate ratified the North American Free Trade Agreement.
Ten years ago: A divided Supreme Court, in a 5-4 decision, allowed the nation's colleges and universities to select students based in part on race, as long as race was not the determining factor. The Supreme Court said the government could require public libraries to equip computers with anti-pornography filters. Democrat Howard Dean formally announced his presidential campaign. Maynard Jackson Jr., the first black mayor of Atlanta, died in Arlington, Va., at age 65.
In entertainment, on June 23rd,
In 1975, Alice Cooper broke six ribs after falling off the stage during a concert in Vancouver.
In 1989, New Kids on the Block were nearly thrown out of a hotel in Anaheim, California. They were caught throwing balloons filled with Kool-Aid at guests.
In 1994, Barry Manilow's first musical, "Copacabana" -- based on his 1976 hit song -- opened in London.
In 1996, actor Robert Downey Junior was arrested on drug charges after authorities found crack cocaine, heroin and an unloaded .357 Magnum revolver in his truck during a traffic stop in Malibu, California.