Today in History

On June 27, 1957, Hurricane Audrey slammed into coastal Louisiana and Texas as a Category 4 storm, causing as many as 600 deaths.

On this date

1844: Mormon leader Joseph Smith and his brother, Hyrum, were killed by a mob in Carthage, Illinois.

1950: The U.N. Security Council passed a resolution calling on member nations to help South Korea repel an invasion from the North.

1991: U.S. Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall, the first Black jurist to sit on the nation’s highest court, announced his retirement.

2006: A constitutional amendment to ban desecration of the American flag died in a U.S. Senate cliff-hanger, falling one vote short of the 67 needed to send it to states for ratification.

2018: U.S. Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy, whose vote often decided cases on abortion, gay rights and other contentious issues, announced his retirement.

2022: In Kennedy v. Bremerton School District, the Supreme Court ruled that a high school football coach who sought to kneel and pray on the field after games was protected by the First Amendment.

Today’s birthdays

Musician Bruce Johnston is 83. Fashion designer Vera Wang is 76. Actor Julia Duffy is 74. Cinematographer Janusz Kaminski is 66. Country singer Lorrie Morgan is 66. Actor Tony Leung Chiu-wai is 63. Writer-producer-director J.J. Abrams is 59. Actor Tobey Maguire is 50. Reality TV star Khloé Kardashian is 41. Actor Sam Claflin is 39. Actor Ed Westwick is 38. NFL linebacker Bobby Wagner is 35. Actor Madylin Sweeten (“Everybody Loves Raymond”) is 34. Actor Chandler Riggs (“The Walking Dead”) is 26.