Today in News History

On June 21, several notable moments in the history of News stand out. In 1864, American Civil War: The Battle of Jerusalem Plank Road begins. In 1898, The United States captures Guam from Spain. The few warning shots fired by the U.S. naval vessels are misinterpreted as salutes by the Spanish garrison, which was unaware that the two nations were at war. In 1929, An agreement brokered by U.S. Ambassador Dwight Whitney Morrow ends the Cristero War in Mexico. In 1930, Gerald Kaufman, English journalist and politician, Shadow Foreign Secretary (died 2017) was born. In 1940, World War II: Italy begins an unsuccessful invasion of France. In 1942, Togo D. West Jr., American soldier, lawyer, and politician, 3rd United States Secretary of Veterans Affairs (died 2018) was born. In 1942, World War II: A Japanese submarine surfaces near the Columbia River in Oregon, firing 17 shells at Fort Stevens in one of only a handful of attacks by Japan against the United States mainland. In 1945, World War II: The Battle of Okinawa ends when the organized resistance of Imperial Japanese Army forces collapses in the Mabuni area on the southern tip of the main island. In 1986, Assi Rahbani, Lebanese singer-songwriter and producer (born 1923) passed away. In 2001, A federal grand jury in Alexandria, Virginia, indicts 13 Saudis and a Lebanese in the 1996 bombing of the Khobar Towers in Saudi Arabia that killed 19 American servicemen. Together, these milestones provide historical context for today's news news and ongoing narratives.