Today in History

On June 22, 1938, in a rematch that bore the weight of both geopolitical symbolism and African American representation, American Joe Louis knocked out German Max Schmeling in just two minutes and four seconds to retain his heavyweight boxing title at New York’s Yankee Stadium.

On this date

1815: Napoleon Bonaparte abdicated for a second time as Emperor of the French.

1944: President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the Servicemen’s Readjustment Act of 1944, more popularly known as the “GI Bill of Rights,” which provided tuition coverage, unemployment support and low-interest home and business loans to returning veterans.

1970: President Richard Nixon signed an extension of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 that lowered the minimum voting age to 18.

1977: John N. Mitchell became the first former U.S. Attorney General to go to prison as he began serving a sentence for his role in the Watergate cover-up.

1981: Mark David Chapman pleaded guilty to killing rock star and former Beatle John Lennon.

1992: The U.S. Supreme Court, in R.A.V. v. City of St. Paul, unanimously ruled that “hate crime” laws that banned cross burning and similar expressions of racial bias violated free-speech rights.

Today’s birthdays

Actor Prunella Scales is 93. Musician-producer Peter Asher is 81. Actor Meryl Streep is 76. Actor Graham Greene is 73. Singer-songwriter Cyndi Lauper is 72. Actor Bruce Campbell is 67. Environmental activist Erin Brockovich is 65. Basketball Hall of Famer Clyde Drexler is 63. Football Hall of Famer Kurt Warner is 54. TV personality Carson Daly is 52. Actor Donald Faison is 51. Golfer Dustin Johnson is 41.