On This Day, June 25: U.S. Supreme Court bars prayer in public schools

On this date in history:

In 1876, U.S. Army Lt. Col. George Custer, a major general in the volunteer army, and his force of 208 men were killed by Chief Sitting Bull's Sioux warriors at Little Big Horn in Montana.

In 1942, U.S. Army Gen. Dwight Eisenhower took command of the U.S. World War II forces in Europe.

In 1950, North Korean forces invaded South Korea, beginning the Korean War.

In 1951, CBS aired the first color television broadcast. At the time, no color TV sets were owned by the public.

In 1962, the U.S. Supreme Court handed down a decision interpreted as barring prayer in public schools.

In 1973, White House attorney John Dean told a U.S. Senate committee that U.S. President Richard Nixon joined in a plot to cover up the Watergate break-in.

File Photo by Kevin Dietsch/UPI

In 1991, Slovenia and Croatia declared independence from Yugoslavia, sparking civil war.

In 1993, Kim Campbell was sworn in as Canada's first woman prime minister, taking the post after the retirement of Brian Mulroney. Campbell was prime minister until November, leaving office after her Progressive Conservative Party was defeated in the federal election.

In 1994, Japanese Prime Minister Tsutomu Hata resigned two months after taking office rather than face a no-confidence vote by Parliament.

In 1997, about half of Mir's power supply was knocked out when an unmanned cargo ship collided with the Russian space station and put a hole in it.

In 2005, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was elected president of Iran.

File Photo by Reza Madadi/UPI

In 2006, Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit was kidnapped by militants from the Gaza Strip. He was released Oct. 18, 2011.

In 2009, entertainment superstar Michael Jackson, known as "the king of pop," a vast influence on the music scene of his day, died of cardiac arrest at age 50 while preparing a comeback.

In 2012, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 5-4 that mandatory sentencing of teenage killers to life without parole is unconstitutional.

In 2019, San Francisco became the first U.S. city to ban the sale of electronic cigarettes.

In 2021, a Minnesota judge sentenced former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin to 270 months in prison for killing George Floyd during an arrest in 2020.