Today is Wednesday, June 9, the 160th day of 2021.
There are 205 days left in the year.
Today’s Highlight in History:
On June 9, 1969, the Senate confirmed Warren Burger to be the new chief justice of the United States, succeeding Earl Warren.
On this date:
In 1588, construction began on the present-day Rialto Bridge in Venice, Italy, with the laying of the first stone; the structure was completed in 1591.
In 1870, author Charles Dickens died in Gad’s Hill Place, England.
In 1940, during World War II, Norway decided to surrender to the Nazis, effective at midnight.
In 1943, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the Current Tax Payment Act of 1943, which reintroduced federal income tax withholding from paychecks.
In 1954, during the Senate Army-McCarthy hearings, Army special counsel Joseph N. Welch berated Sen. Joseph R. McCarthy, R-Wis., asking: “Have you no sense of decency, sir? At long last, have you left no sense of decency?”
In 1972, heavy rains triggered record flooding in the Black Hills of South Dakota; the resulting disaster left at least 238 people dead and $164 million in damage.
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In 1973, Secretariat won the Belmont Stakes, becoming horse racing’s first Triple Crown winner in 25 years.
In 1978, leaders of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints struck down a 148-year-old policy of excluding black men from the Mormon priesthood.
In 1980, comedian Richard Pryor suffered almost fatal burns at his San Fernando Valley, Calif., home while freebasing cocaine.
In 1983, Britain’s Conservatives, led by Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, won a decisive election victory.
In 2004, the body of Ronald Reagan arrived in Washington to lie in state in the U.S. Capitol Rotunda before the 40th president’s funeral.
In 2008, retail gas prices rose above $4 per gallon.