Editorials

Today is Wednesday, June 12, the 163rd day of 2002. There are 202 days left in the year. 

Today’s Highlight in History: 

On June 12, 1939, the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum was dedicated in Cooperstown, N.Y. 

On this date: 

In 1776, Virginia’s colonial legislature became the first to adopt a Bill of Rights. 

In 1838, the Iowa Territory was organized. 

In 1898, Philippine nationalists declared independence from Spain. 

In 1963, civil rights leader Medgar Evers was fatally shot in front of his home in Jackson, Miss. 

In 1967, the Supreme Court struck down state laws prohibiting interracial marriages. 

In 1971, Tricia Nixon and Edward F. Cox were married in the White House Rose Garden. 

In 1979, 26-year-old cyclist Bryan Allen flew the manpowered Gossamer Albatross across the English Channel. 

In 1981, major league baseball players began a 49-day strike over the issue of free-agent compensation. (The season did not resume until Aug. 10.) 

In 1987, President Reagan, during a visit to the divided German city of Berlin, publicly challenged Soviet leader Mikhail S. Gorbachev to “tear down this wall.” 

In 1991, Russians went to the polls to elect Boris N. Yeltsin president of their republic. 

Ten years ago: President George H.W. Bush, addressing the Earth Summit in Brazil, declared America’s environmental record “second to none.” In a letter to U.S. senators, Russian President Boris N. Yeltsin said the Soviet Union had shot down nine U.S. planes in the early 1950s and held 12 American survivors. 

Five years ago: The Treasury Department unveiled a new $50 bill meant to be more counterfeit-resistant. Baseball began interleague play, ending a 126-year tradition of separating the major leagues until the World Series. 

One year ago: President Bush arrived in Madrid, Spain, on his first official trip to Europe. A federal court in New York sentenced Mohamed Rashed Daoud Al-’Owhali, a Saudi Arabian follower of Osama bin Laden, to life in prison without parole for his role in the deadly bombing of the U.S. Embassy in Kenya. 

Today’s Birthdays: Banker David Rockefeller is 87. Actress Uta Hagen is 83. Former President George Bush is 78. Singer Vic Damone is 74. Actor-singer Jim Nabors is 72. Jazz musician Chick Corea is 61. Sportscaster Marv Albert is 61. Rock musician Bun E. Carlos (Cheap Trick) is 51. Country singer-musician Junior Brown is 50.  

Thought for Today: “What intellectual snobs we have become! Virtue is now in the number of degrees you have — not in the kind of person you are or what you can accomplish in real-life situations.” — Eda J. LeShan, American educator.