Wednesday, June 17th
The 168th day of 2009.
There are 197 days left in the year.
Today's Highlights in History
On June 17, 1928, Amelia Earhart embarked on the first trans-Atlantic flight by a woman. She flew from Newfoundland to Wales in about 21 hours.
On June 17, 1882, Igor Stravinsky, the Russian composer, was born.
On this date in:
1775 - The Battle of Bunker Hill took place near Boston during the Revolutionary War.
1789 - The Third Estate in France declared itself a national assembly and undertook to frame a constitution.
1856 - The Republican Party opened its first convention, in Philadelphia.
1885 - The Statue of Liberty arrived in New York City aboard the French ship Isere.
1940 - France asked Germany for terms of surrender in World War II.
1944 - The republic of Iceland was established.
1961 - Soviet ballet dancer Rudolf Nureyev defected to the West while his troupe was in Paris.
1963 - The Supreme Court struck down rules requiring the recitation of the Lord's Prayer or the reading of Biblical verses in public schools.
1972 - President Richard Nixon's downfall began with the arrest of five burglars inside Democratic national headquarters in Washington's Watergate complex.
1994 - After leading police on a chase through Southern California, O.J. Simpson was arrested and charged with murder in the slayings of his ex-wife, Nicole, and Ronald Goldman.
2005 - Former Tyco CEO Dennis Kozlowski and a second executive, Mark H. Swartz, were convicted of looting their company of more than $600 million. (Each was later sentenced to 8-1/3 to 25 years in prison.)
2008 - Hundreds of same-sex couples got married across California on the first full day that gay marriage became legal by order of the state's highest court. (However, California voters passed Proposition 8 in November, once again banning gay marriage.)