Today is Tuesday, June 18, the 170th day of 2024 with 196 to follow.
The moon is waxing. Morning stars are Jupiter, Mars, Mercury, Neptune and Saturn.
Those born on this date are under the sign of Gemini. They include Cyrus Curtis, founder/publisher of the Ladies’ Home Journal, in 1850; journalist/publisher Edward W. Scripps in 1854; mountain climber George Mallory in 1886; Russian Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna in 1901; musician/actor Jeanette MacDonald in 1903; actor Keye Luke in 1904; vintner Robert Mondavi in 1913; financial journalist Sylvia Porter in 1913; actor Richard Boone in 1917; author Gail Godwin in 1937 (age 87); baseball Hall of Fame member Lou Brock in 1939; film critic Roger Ebert in 1942; musician Paul McCartney (Beatles) in 1942 (age 82); actor Carol Kane in 1952 (age 72); actor Isabella Rossellini in 1952 (age 72); musician Dizzy Reed (Guns N’ Roses) in 1963 (age 61); actor Kim Dickens in 1965 (age 59); musician Nathan Morris (Boyz II Men) in 1971 (age 53); musician Ray LaMontagne in 1973 (age 51); musician Blake Shelton in 1976 (age 48); Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas in 1977 (age 47); actor David Giuntoli in 1980 (age 44); actor Richard Madden in 1986 (age 38); musician Josh Dun (twenty one pilots) in 1988 (age 36); actor Jacob Anderson in 1990 (age 34); actor Jeremy Irvine in 1990 (age 34); actor Monica Barbaro in 1990 (age 34); actor Willa Holland in 1991 (age 33); actor Bailey Bass in 2003 (age 21).
On this date in history:
In 1812, the United States declared war on Britain, beginning the War of 1812.
In 1815, England’s Duke of Wellington and Prussian Field Marshal Gebhard von Blucher defeated Napoleon at Waterloo in Belgium.
In 1975, Saudi Arabian Prince Museid was publicly beheaded in Riyadh for the assassination of King Faisal.
In 1979, U.S. President Jimmy Carter and Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev signed a strategic arms control treaty (SALT II) in Vienna.
In 1983, Sally Ride became the first American woman in space after the shuttle Challenger was launched from Cape Canaveral, Fla.
In 1990, gunman James Edward Pough, 42, whose car had been repossessed, killed nine people and wounded four before killing himself at a General Motors Acceptance Corp. loan office in Jacksonville, Fla. Investigators said he had killed two people and injured two others a day earlier.
In 1997, Turkish Prime Minister Necmettin Erbakan resigned under pressure after his governing coalition lost its majority in Parliament.
In 2004, U.S. hostage Paul Johnson Jr., 49, was killed by his Saudi captors despite pleas from senior Muslim clerics.
In 2014, Spanish King Juan Carlos abdicated the throne amid scandal, massive unemployment and regional separatism. His son was crowned King Felipe VI one day later.
In 2018, President Donald Trump directed the Department of Defense to create a sixth branch of the military — a Space Force.
In 2023, the U.S. Coast Guard announced that the Titan, a small submersible with five people on board, went missing off the coast of Newfoundland during an expedition to visit the site of the sunken Titanic. After days of searching, it was determined the submersible imploded, killing pilot and OceanGate founder Stockton Rush, crew member Paul-Henri Nargeolet, and tourists Hamish Harding, Shahzada Dawood and Suleman Dawood.
“Show me a guy who’s afraid to look bad, and I’ll show you a guy you can beat every time.” — American baseball player Lou Brock