UPI Almanac for Friday, June 19, 2020

Today is Friday, June 19, the 171st day of 2020 with 195 to follow.

The moon is waning. Morning stars are Jupiter, Mars, Neptune, Saturn, Uranus and Venus. Evening stars are Jupiter, Mercury and Saturn.

Those born on this date are under the sign of Gemini. They include British King James I in 1566; French philosopher/mathematician Blaise Pascal in 1623; Wallis Simpson, duchess of Windsor, in 1896; Moe Howard of the Three Stooges comedy act in 1897; bandleader Guy Lombardo in 1902; baseball Hall of Fame member Lou Gehrig in 1903; musician Lester Flatt in 1914; film critic Pauline Kael in 1919; actor Nancy Marchand in 1928; actor Gena Rowlands in 1930 (age 90); Nobel Peace Prize laureate/Myanmar politician Aung San Suu Kyi in 1945 (age 75); author Salman Rushdie in 1947 (age 73); actor Phylicia Rashad in 1948 (age 72); musician Nick Drake in 1948; musician Ann Wilson of Heart in 1950 (age 70); actor Kathleen Turner in 1954 (age 66); singer Paula Abdul in 1962 (age 58); political commentator Laura Ingraham in 1963 (age 57); British Prime Minister Boris Johnson in 1964 (age 56); actor Mia Sara in 1967 (age 53); TV personality Lara Spencer in 1969 (age 51); actor Robin Tunney in 1972 (age 48); actor Hugh Dancy in 1975 (age 45); NBA player Dirk Nowitzki in 1978 (age 42); actor Zoe Saldana in 1978 (age 42); rapper Macklemore, born Benjamin Hammond Haggery, in 1983 (age 37); actor Aidan Turner in 1983 (age 37); actor Paul Dano in 1984 (age 36); actor Giacomo Gianniotti in 1989 (age 31); actor Atticus Shaffer in 1998 (age 22).

On this date in history:

In 1846, two amateur baseball teams played under new rules at Hoboken, N.J., planting the first seeds of organized baseball. The New York Nine beat the Knickerbockers, 23-1.

In 1856, the first Republican national convention ended in Philadelphia with the nomination of explorer John Charles Fremont of California for president. James Buchanan, a Federalist nominated by the Democrats, was elected.

In 1865, nearly two and a half years after the Emancipation Proclamation, freedom from slavery was announced in Galveston, Texas, the most remote area of the country where slavery was still practiced. The day came to be celebrated annually as Juneteenth, Freedom Day, Jubilee Day and Liberation Day.

In 1867, Austrian Archduke Ferdinand Maximilian, installed as emperor of Mexico by French Emperor Napoleon III in 1864, was executed on the orders of Benito Juarez, president of the Mexican Republic.

In 1905, Pittsburgh showman Harry Davis opened the world's first nickelodeon, showing "The Great Train Robbery," a silent Western film. The storefront theater had 96 seats, charged 5 cents and prompted the advent of movie houses across the United States.

In 1910, Spokane, Wash., had the first Father's Day.

In 1944, World War II's Battle of the Philippine Sea began. Japanese forces tried unsuccessfully to prevent further Allied advancement in the South Pacific.

In 1953, convicted spies Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were executed by electric chair at Sing Sing Correctional Facility in Ossining, N.Y.

In 1965, Nguyen Cao Ky became the prime minister of South Vietnam, the ninth leader within the past 20 months.

In 1972, Hurricane Agnes made landfall in the Florida Panhandle, going on to kill 128 people along the eastern U.S. seaboard.

In 1987, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down a 1981 Louisiana law that required schools to teach the creationist theory of human origin espoused by fundamentalist Christians.

In 1991, Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar surrendered to police in Medellin in the wake of the assassination of Luis Carlos Galan. Authorities convinced him to give himself up in exchange for a lighter sentence for prior criminal activity -- activity which continued after his imprisonment.

In 1999, horror novelist Stephen King was hit by a car and severely injured while out for a walk in rural Maine.

In 2000, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that prayers led by students at public high school football games aren't permitted under the constitutional separation of church and state.

In 2008, U.S. Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, became the first candidate at that level to bypass public financing since the program was established.

In 2013, James Gandolfini, who starred in the gangster drama The Sopranos, died of a heart attack in Rome. He was 51.

In 2014, Felipe VI was proclaimed Spain's new king after his father, King Juan Carlos, abdicated the throne.

In 2019, Joy Harjo was named the first Native-American poet laureate of the United States.

A thought for the day: "You can't be too rich or too thin." -- Wallis Simpson, duchess of Windsor