Category Archives: Today in history

June 9 Peace Love Art Activism

June 9 Peace Love Art Activism

Cultural Milestone

Automat Restaurant

June 9, 1902: the first restaurant with vending machine service was the Automat Restaurant at 818 Chestnut Street in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was Horn & Hardart, a cavernous, waiterless establishment that was a combination of fast-food, vending and a cafeteria. Horn & Hardart Automats expanded into a chain reaching Manhattan in 1912. With their uniform recipes and centralized commissary system of supplying their restaurants, the Automats were America’s first major fast-food chain. Customers put nickels into slots in the Automats and turned a knob. In the compartment next to the slot, food revolved into place for the customer to receive through a small glass door. [Smithsonian article] (see February 19, 1906)

June 9 Peace Love Art Activism

McCarthyism

June 9, 1954: Army counsel Joseph N. Welch confronted Sen. Joseph R. McCarthy during the Senate-Army Hearings over McCarthy’s attack on a member of Welch’s law firm, Frederick G. Fisher. Said Welch: “Have you no sense of decency, sir? At long last, have you left no sense of decency?” [Senate dot gov article]  (see July 28)

June 9 Peace Love Art Activism

BLACK HISTORY

Fannie Lou Hamer

June 9, 1963: while returning from a voter registration workshop in South Carolina, Fannie Lou Hamer and other civil rights activists were arrested in Winona, Mississippi. Hamer and the other activists had been traveling in the “white” section of a Greyhound bus despite threats from the driver that he planned to notify local police at the next stop. When the bus arrived at the Winona bus depot, the activists sat at the “white only” lunch counter inside the terminal. Winona Police Chief Thomas Herrod ordered the group to go to the “colored” side of the depot and arrested them when one of the activists tried to write down his patrol car license number.

At the county jail, white jailers forced two African American prisoners to savagely beat Ms. Hamer and she was nearly killed. As she regained consciousness, she overheard one of the white officers propose, “We could put them SOBs in [the] Big Black [River] and nobody would ever find them.”

Lawyers with the Student Non-violent Coordinating Committee filed suit against the Winona police who brutalized the activists but an all-white jury acquitted them. [PBS article] (see June 11)

Officer Eric Casebolt

June 9, 2015:  Eric Casebolt, the police officer seen in a video throwing a 14-year-old girl in a swimsuit to the ground and pointing his gun at other teenagers resigned from the police force in McKinney, Tex. Chief Greg Conley of the McKinney Police Department said during a news conference Casebolt had resigned while under investigation.

The resignation came two days after Officer Casebolt had been put on administrative leave and amid growing cries by religious and civic leaders in the Dallas suburb for him to be fired. [family sued Casebolt and Dallas]

BLACK & SHOT

June 9, 2015: re the Ezell Ford shooting (Washington Post article), the Los Angeles the Board of Police Commissioners ruled  that officer Villegas was justified in the shooting, but officer Wampler violated Ford’s civil rights by detaining him. The commission rejected Beck’s conclusion that Wampler had adhered to LAPD policy. The investigation found that Villegas did not have a good reason to initially draw his gun, and that Wampler did not have grounds to reasonably suspect that Ford had been in possession of drugs. Nine different determinations were issued: Wampler was found in violation of policy in four areas (tactics, drawing of weapon, use of non-lethal force, use of deadly force), while Villegas was within policy in three areas (tactics, use of non-lethal force, and use of deadly force) and one part of another area (drawing of weapon on the second occasion) but in violation of policy in another part of the same area (drawing of weapon on the first occasion).[48] The Board’s decision to consider the “totality of the circumstances, and not just the moment in which force was used” marked a departure from its previous approach to police shootings, which involved assessing only whether officers faced a deadly threat at the moment they opened fire (B & S, see June 11; Ford, see January 24, 2017)

STAND YOUR GROUND LAW

June 9, 2017: Florida Governor Rick Scott signed amended “stand your ground” legislation, making it easier for defendants in the state to successfully claim they were protecting themselves when they commit violence.

Previously, the law required defendants to prove that they were using force in self-defense. The new law shifts the burden of proof in pretrial hearings to prosecutors, rather than defendants, to prove whether force was used lawfully. [Reuters article] (see July 3)

June 9 Peace Love Art Activism

Vietnam

Domino Theory

June 9, 1964: in reply to a formal question submitted by President Lyndon B. Johnson–“Would the rest of Southeast Asia necessarily fall if Laos and South Vietnam came under North Vietnamese control?”–the CIA submitted a memo that effectively challenged the “domino theory.

The CIA concluded that Cambodia was probably the only nation in the area that would immediately fall. “Furthermore,” the report said, “a continuation of the spread of communism in the area would not be inexorable, and any spread which did occur would take time–time in which the total situation might change in any number of ways unfavorable to the communist cause.” The CIA report concluded that if South Vietnam and Laos also fell, it “would be profoundly damaging to the U.S. position in the Far East,” but Pacific bases and allies such as the Philippines and Japan would still wield enough power to deter China and North Vietnam from any further aggression or expansion. (see July 27)

Weather Underground

June 9 Peace Love Art ActivismJune 9, 1970: Jane Alpert and Weather Underground accomplices bombed the New York City Police headquarters  Weathermen stated that the bombing was in response to “police repression.”

They made the bomb with ten sticks of dynamite. The explosion was preceded by a warning about six minutes prior to the detonation and subsequently by a WUO claim of responsibility. [NYT article] (Vietnam & Cambodia, see June 13; WU, see July 28)

June 9 Peace Love Art Activism

June 9 Music et al

Another Side of Bob Dylan

June 9, 1964: during an evening session that Bob Dylan recorded all of the tracks for his Another Side of Bob Dylan album at Columbia Recording Studios in New York City, Dylan also Mr. Tambourine Man. Dylan recorded fourteen original compositions that night. Ultimately, he did not include Mr Tambourine Man album. (Dylan, see “in August 1964”; Tambourine Man, see January 20, 1965)

Brian Jones

June 9, 1969: Brian Jones announced he was leaving the Rolling Stones. He announced his departure at his home in Hartfield, Sussex, stating: “I want to play my kind of music, which is no longer the Stones music.” Jones died less than a month later by drowning in the swimming pool at his home. (see Rolling Stone magazine article) (see July 3)

The Road to Bethel

June 9, 1969: an unnamed Wallkill official visited the construction site and said that the group did not have permission for the festival. (see Chronology for expanded story)

Dr Dylan

June 9, 1970: with wife Sara and friend David Crosby, Princeton University gave an honorary Doctorate of Music to Dylan. Some criticized the recognition, but Princeton President Robert Goheen’s response was that it might be true that Dylan “is a bad or mediocre musician, and his power with words obscures the fact for the multitudes,” but if so, “he seems to me remarkably expressive in this mode.” [Rolling Stone magazine article] (see November 12, 1971)

June 9 Peace Love Art Activism

FREE SPEECH

Brandenburg v. Ohio

June 9, 1969: the US Supreme Court held that government cannot punish inflammatory speech unless that speech is directed to inciting, and is likely to incite, imminent lawless action. Specifically, it struck down Ohio’s criminal syndicalism statute, because that statute broadly prohibited the mere advocacy of violence. [Oyez article] (see June 18 – 22)

June 9 Peace Love Art Activism

Feminism

Equal Rights Amendment

June 9 Peace Love Art ActivismJune 9, 1978: nearly 100,000 demonstrators marched on Washington, DC for the ERA. [FMF article] (see Aug 6)

June 9 Peace Love Art Activism

CLINTON IMPEACHMENT

June 9, 1998: Presidential friend Vernon Jordan testifies before Ken Starr’s grand jury for the fifth time. Lewinsky’s new lawyers say they are upset by her photo layout in Vanity Fair magazine. (see Clinton for expanded story)

June 9 Peace Love Art Activism

Dissolution of Yugoslavia

June 9, 1999: the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, signed the Kumanovo Treaty, ending the Kosovo War. The agreement also opened the way for the establishment of international security forces to maintain order in Kosovo and a UN protectorate over the region. The parliament of Kosovo subsequently declared independence in 2008. (see NYT article) (see DoY for expanded chronology)

June 9 Peace Love Art Activism

Environmental Issues

Exxon Stymied

June 9, 2015: Santa Barbara County rejected Exxon Mobil Corp’s emergency permit application to temporarily haul crude using tanker trucks following a recent pipeline rupture. Planning and Development assistant director Dianne Black denied Exxon’s request, saying the case did not warrant an emergency approval. [LA Times article] (EI, see June 18; Santa Barbara, see June 22)

Keystone Ends

June 9, 2021: TC Energy, the company behind the controversial Keystone XL oil pipeline, said it was officially terminating the project. TC Energy already had suspended construction in January when President Biden revoked a key cross-border presidential permit. The announcement ended a more than decade-long battle that came to signify the debate over whether fossil fuels should be left in the ground to address climate change.  [NPR story] (next EI, see July 14)

June 9 Peace Love Art Activism

Women’s Health

June 9, 2015: the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit upheld a Texas law that required abortion clinics to qualify as “ambulatory surgical centers,” a decision opponents say will shut down most clinics in the state.

The plaintiffs, a group of abortion clinics and doctors, argued that the 2013 law unconstitutionally restricts the right to obtain an abortion, but in a ruling the Court said the plaintiffs failed to prove that and lifted an injunction issued by a lower court to prevent the enforcement of key elements of the law.

The Center for Reproductive Rights, which helped represent the plaintiffs, said it would file an appeal with the U.S. Supreme Court. “If permitted to take effect, the impact will be devastating for women in Texas seeking access to abortion services,” said Stephanie Toti,a center lawyer.

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, a Republican, praised the decision, saying the Texas law “both protects the unborn and ensures Texas women are not subjected to unsafe and unhealthy conditions.”  [NYT article] (WH, see June 15; Texas, see June 27, 2016)

June 9 Peace Love Art Activism

Immigration History

June 9, 2025:  an order announced by President Trump last week went into effect. Citizens from 12 countries, primarily in Africa and the Middle East, were barred from traveling to the United States. The ban was part of the Trump administration’s wide-ranging crackdown on immigration. [NYT article] (next IH, see )

June 8 Peace Love Art Activism

June 8 Peace Love Art Activism

BILL OF RIGHTS

June 8, 1789: James Madison first  proposed the Bill of Rights. [text of Madison’s speech] (see December 15, 1791)

June 8 Peace Love Art Activism

US Labor History1904,

Dunnville, Colorado

June 8, 1904: a battle between the Colorado State militia and striking miners at Dunnville, Colo., ended with six union members dead and 15 taken prisoner. Seventy-nine of the strikers were deported to Kansas two days later. [union article] (see October 27,  1904)

Airline machinists strike

June 8, 1966: some 35,000 members of the machinists union began what was to become a 43-day strike—the largest in airline history—against five carriers. The mechanics and other ground service workers wanted to share in the airlines’ substantial profits. [UAL article] (see June 11)

Drawbridge tenders strike

June 8, 1971: New York City drawbridge tenders, in a dispute with the state over pension issues, left a dozen bridges open, snarling traffic in what the Daily News described as “the biggest traffic snafu in the city’s history”  [NYC history article] (see January 25, 1972)

June 8 Peace Love Art Activism

Environmental Issues

National Conservation Commission

June 8 Peace Love Art Activism

June 8, 1908: President Teddy Roosevelt appointed the U.S. National Conservation Commission which prepared the first inventory of the natural resources of the United States. It was divided into four sections, water, forests, lands, and minerals, each section having a chairman, and with Gifford Pinchot as chairman of the executive committee. Its three-volume report was given at the the Joint Conservation Congress (Dec 1908), attended by 20 governors, representatives of 22 state conservation commissions, and leaders from various national organizations.

In December 1908 the Commission presented the report. It was divided into four sections, water, forests, lands, and minerals, each section having a chairman. Gifford Pinchot, chairman of the executive committee, gave its three-volume report at the the Joint Conservation Congress of 20 governors, representatives of 22 state conservation commissions, and leaders from various national organizations attended. [first NCC report] (see December 1908)

June 8 Peace Love Art Activism

Feminism

Voting Rights

June 8, 1920: Republican National Convention opened in Chicago. The National Women’s Party sent delegation to lobby for suffrage in states that had not ratified the 19th Amendment and to encourage insertion of suffrage plank on platform. When plank rejected, NWP members picket convention; no arrests made. Republicans declined to take action to help secure ratification in a 36th state. (see June 28)

June 8 Peace Love Art Activism

FREE SPEECH

June 8, 1925: Gitlow v. New York. Benjamin Gitlow, a member of the Socialist Party of America who had served in the NY State Assembly, was charged with criminal anarchy under New York’s Criminal Anarchy Law of 1902. In July 1919 he had published a document called “Left Wing Manifesto” in The Revolutionary Age, a newspaper for which he served as business manager. His trial lasted from January 22 to February 5, 1920. His defense contended that the Manifesto represented historical analysis rather than advocacy.

The US Supreme Court upheld Gitlow’s conviction 7 -2 ruling that Fourteenth Amendment prohibits states from infringing free speech, but the defendant was properly convicted under New York’s Criminal Anarchy Law because he disseminated newspapers that advocated the violent overthrow of the government. [Oyez article] (see April 5, 1926)

June 8 Peace Love Art Activism

BLACK HISTORY

Marcus Garvey

June 8, 1927: Malcolm X’s father, Earl Little, a follower of Marcus Garvey, appealed to President Coolidge for Garvey’s release. (BH, see Sept 26; see MG for expanded story)

District of Columbia v. John R. Thompson

June 8, 1953: the Supreme Court ordered the desegregation of Washington, D.C. restaurants. The decision was based on the validity of District of Columbia laws of 1872 and 1873, which the Court held were still in effect despite changes in the form of the District’s government over the years. The decision did not address the issue of the constitutionality of racial segregation. [Justia article] (see June 19)

George Whitmore, Jr

June 8, 1965: the Appellate Division unanimously held that Whitmore may be tried first in the Elba Borrero case. (next BH, see June 14)

Two years later on June 8, 1967, Whitmore again sentenced to five to ten years in prison  (see Whitmore for expanded story)

James Earl Ray
James Earl Ray, Martin Luther King’s assassin, being led to his cell in Memphis after his arrest in London, June 8, 1968

June 8, 1968: a little more than two months after Martin Luther King’s assassination, James Earl Ray was captured at London’s Heathrow Airport while trying to leave the United Kingdom on the false Canadian passport. At check-in, the ticket agent noticed the name on his passport—Sneyd—was on a Royal Canadian Mounted Police watchlist. At the airport, officials noticed that Ray carried another passport under a second name. [NYT archive article] (BH, see June 19; Ray, see March 10, 1969)

Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

June 8, 1978: leaders of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints struck down a 148-year-old policy of excluding black men from the Mormon priesthood. (see June 28)

You can get killed just for livin’ in…your American skin

June 8, 2000: though he had not heard Bruce Springsteen’s song “American Skin (41 Shots),” NYC Patrolmen’s Benevolent Society President Patrick Lynch posted a letter on the PBA’s website accusing Springsteen of “trying to fatten his wallet by reopening the wounds of this tragic case” (see Amadou Diallo February 4, 1999).

Lynch also encouraged officers to neither attend nor work as moonlighting security guards at Springsteen’s upcoming ten-show stand at Madison Square Garden. Howard Safir, NYC Police commissioner, told the New York Daily News that he personally didn’t care for Bruce Springsteen’s song or music, while Bob Lucente, president of the New York State Fraternal Order of Police, called Springsteen a “fucking dirtbag” and declared that he goes on the boycott list. (see in March 2004)

BLACK & SHOT

June 8, 2015: a grand jury indicted former officer, Michael T. Slager in North Charleston, S.C., on a murder charge in connection with the April 4 shooting death of Walter L. Scott, which a passer-by recorded. The death became a symbol in the national debate about police behavior.

Slager, had been jailed on a murder charge since April 7, when the video became public. Mr. Slager’s lawyers have so far made no request for bail, and his indictment in Charleston County had been widely expected. The North Charleston Police Department fired him after the shooting, which city officials criticized in stark and unsparing terms.

Despite the intensive publicity surrounding the shooting, Scarlett A. Wilson, the local prosecutor, said that she believed a local jury could be impaneled and would be able to arrive at an unbiased verdict. A trial date had not been set. [CNN article] (B & S, see June 9; Scott, see May 2, 2017)

June 8 Peace Love Art Activism

McCarthyism

June 8, 1949: an FBI report named Hollywood figures, including film stars Frederic March, John Garfield, Paul Muni, and Edward G. Robinson, as Communist Party members. The FBI report relied largely on accusations made by “confidential informants,” supplemented with some highly dubious analysis. [TCM article] (see Aug 29)

June 8 Peace Love Art Activism

Women’s Health

Margaret Sanger
June 8 Peace Love Art Activism
Gregory Pincus

June 8, 1953: Sanger realized that philanthropist Katherine McCormick could fund Gregory Pincus’s research and brought her to Shrewsbury to meet the scientist. The visit was a huge success. Katharine McCormick wrote Pincus a check for $40,000  with assurances she would provide him with all the additional funding he would need. The Pill project restarted.

By 1955 the results from the first human trials were conclusive. Not one of the 50 women in the experiment ovulated while on the drug. (WH, see November 1956; see Sanger for expanded story)

June 8 Peace Love Art Activism

Vietnam

US Secretary of State John Foster Dulles

June 8, 1954: Dulles said that the US did not intend to go it alone in Indochina “unless the whole nature” of the Communist aggression in Asia changed. He said that the Eisenhower administration had not plans for seeking Congressional action that would authorize the government to send its forces into the Indochina war alone or with allies. (see July 7)

 Air Force T-Sgt. Richard B. Fitzgibbon Jr

June 8, 1956: Richard B. Fitzgibbon Jr was the first American soldier killed in the Vietnam War. The Air Force T-Sgt  was a Navy veteran and had served during World War II. After leaving the Navy, he joined the Air Force rising through the ranks to become Technical Sergeant.

Fitzgibbon was serving as part of the Military Assistance Advisory Group (MAAG) training South Vietnam military personnel. Another US airman murdered Fitzbibbon. (next Vietnam, see May 9, 1957 ; see Fitzgibbon for expanded story)

US troop withdrawal

June 8, 1969: President Nixon met with South Vietnamese President Nguyen Van Thieu on Midway Island in the Pacific, and announced that the would immediately withdraw 25,000 U.S. troops. [Nixon foundation article] (see June 18 – 22)

Nick Ut

June 8, 1972: AP Photographer Nick Ut captured what would become a Pulitzer Prize winning photo depicting children fleeing from a Napalm bombing during the Vietnam War.

In the center of the frame running towards the camera was a naked 9-year-old girl, Phan Thị Kim Phúc, also known as ‘Napalm Girl.'[image and link] (see June 28)

June 8 Peace Love Art Activism

June 8 Music et al

Bob Dylan

June 8, 1962: Suze Rotolo left for Europe and, in effect, left Bob Dylan. Often despondent missing her, he will write “Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right.” (see July 9)

Roots of Rock

June 8, 1963:   The Crystals’ ‘Da Doo Ron Ron’ peaked at No. 3 on the singles chart. Produced by Phil Spector, who used a multi-track recording system to build the song layer upon layer to achieve a result that become known as a “wall of sound”. Backing musicians include Glen Campbell on guitar, Leon Russell on piano, Hal Blain on drums and Nino Tempo on sax. (see in July 1964)

June 8 Peace Love Art Activism

Irish Troubles

June 8, 1981:  Tom McElwee, then an Irish Republican Army prisoner, joined the hunger strike. [Bobby Sands Trust article]  (see Troubles for expanded story)

June 8 Peace Love Art Activism

Falklands War

June 8, 1982: more than 50 British soldiers killed in attacks on landing craft RFA Sir Galahad and RFA Sir Tristram off Fitzroy. [BBC article]  (see June 11 – 12)

June 8 Peace Love Art Activism

Iran–Contra Affair

June 8, 1987: Fawn Hall, secretary to national security aide Oliver L. North, testified at the Iran-Contra hearings, saying she had helped to shred some documents. (see Aug 3)

June 8 Peace Love Art Activism

Jack Kevorkian

June 8, 1990: an Oakland County Circuit Court Judge enjoined Kevorkian from aiding in any suicides. (see JK for expanded story)

June 8 Peace Love Art Activism

CLINTON IMPEACHMENT

June 8, 1998: the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in Ken Starr’s attempts to access notes take by the lawyer of late White House deputy counsel Vince Foster nine days after the meeting in question. Foster’s lawyer, James Hamilton argued the notes are covered by attorney-client privilege, but Starr’s office said the privilege doesn’t always extends past death. (see Clinton for expanded story)

June 8 Peace Love Art Activism

Affordable Care Act

June 8, 2015: the U.S. Supreme Court rejected a bid by Maine to escape one requirement of Obamacare. The justices left intact a federal appeals court decision that said Maine must continue offering Medicaid coverage to young adults until 2019.

The dispute turned on an Obamacare provision that requires states to maintain their existing eligibility standards for children as a condition of receiving federal dollars under the Medicaid health-care program for the poor.

Maine’s top health official, Mary Mayhew, sought to drop the state’s longstanding Medicaid coverage for 19- and 20-year-olds. The Obama administration refused to allow the change, pointing to the Affordable Care Act provision.

Mayhew sued, arguing that the state was being unconstitutionally coerced into keeping that coverage. A Boston-based federal appeals court rejected that argument. (see June 25)

June 8 Peace Love Art Activism

DEATH PENALTY

June 8, 2015: after a decade on death row in Texas, Alfred Dewayne Brown was freed when prosecutors dismissed the charges against him. Alfred Brown was sentenced to death in 2005 for the murders of a Houston police officer and a store clerk during a three-man robbery of an ACE check-cashing store in 2003.

Late last year, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals overturned Mr. Brown’s conviction and death sentence because the Harris County District Attorney’s Office withheld key evidence that supports Mr. Brown’s alibi. (see June 18)

June 8 Peace Love Art Activism

Cannabis

June 8, 2016: Republican Gov. John Kasich signed a bill legalizing medical marijuana in Ohio. (Marijuana, see Aug 30, 31, and Sept 1; American Legion, see November 2, 2017)

June 8 Peace Love Art Activism

Voting Rights

June 8, 2023: Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Brett Kavanaugh aligned with the court’s liberals in affirming a lower-court ruling that found a likely violation of the Voting Rights Act in an Alabama congressional map with one majority Black seat out of seven districts in a state where more than one in four residents is Black. The state now will have to draw a new map for next year’s elections.

The decision was keenly anticipated for its potential effect on control of the closely divided U.S. House of Representatives. Because of the ruling, new maps are likely in Alabama and Louisiana that could allow Democratic-leaning Black voters to elect their preferred candidates in two more congressional districts. [AP article] (next VR, see June 26)

June 8 Peace Love Art Activism

June 7 Peace Love Art Activism

June 7 Peace Love Art Activism

BLACK HISTORY

Peter Crosby

June 7, 1875:  Peter Crosby, an African-American sheriff in Vicksburg, Miss., was killed in the wake of the Vicksburg Massacre (see December 7, 1874) in which armed White Leagues overthrew the Reconstruction government, killing as many as 300 African Americans they regarded as a threat, including some of Crosby’s deputies. President Ulysses S. Grant had sent troops to quell the violence and enable the sheriff’s safe return. After Crosby returned, he was shot in the head by a white deputy. The event became part of the first Mississippi Plan — whites using violence, terror and corruption to retake power. Grant decided against sending in any more troops. It was the beginning of the end of Reconstruction. [EJI article] (see Sept 4)

Homer Plessy

June 7 Peace Love Art Activism

June 7, 1892: Homer Plessy (age 29) boarded the “white” car of the East Louisiana Railroad. Plessy was a shoemaker in New Orleans who was considered seven-eighths white and one-eighth black. When on the railway car he identified himself as black (his light complexion made his race “not discernible”, he said), he was arrested, just as the Citizens Committee had planned. Plessy was found guilty in November of violating the act, and the Citizens Committee appealed. The Supreme Court of Louisiana upheld the decision, and the case eventually moved to the U.S. Supreme Court, with Plessy’s side arguing that the Separate Car Act violated the 13th and 14th Amendments. [Black Past article] (next BH, see  Oct 13); Plessy, see May 18, 1896)

KKK Membership Drive

June 7, 1920: William Simmons, a white Ku Klux Klan leader, hired publicists to grow membership for the white supremacist organization.

The “100 Percent Americanism” campaign promoted the Klan as defenders of the white American nation from defilement by Black people, Catholics, Jewish people, foreigners, and “moral offenders.”

This “neat package of hatred” caught attention quickly, and within 16 months, nearly 100,000 new members had joined. [EJI article] (next BH, see June 15)

White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan

June 7, 1964: Samuel Bowers, leader of the White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan spoke at a meeting: “This summer, within a very few days, the enemy will launch his final push for victory here in Mississippi. This offensive will consist of two basic salients…:

One. Massive street demonstrations by blacks used by communists…designed to provoke whites into counter-demonstrations and open, pitched street battles…to provide an excuse for:

Two. A decree from subversive authorities in charge of the national government…declaring martial law…

When the first waves of blacks hit our streets this summer, we must avoid open daylight conflict with them…we must reveal their leaders as the immoral hypocrites they are.”

Weaving religion into the mix, he further declared “As Christians we are disposed to kindness, generosity, affection, and humility in our dealings with others. As militants we are disposed to use physical force against our enemies. How can we reconcile these two apparently contradictory philosophies? The answer of course, is to purge malice, bitterness, and vengeance from our hearts.” (BH, see June 10; Bowers, see January 10, 1966)

James H Meredith

June 7, 1966: three major Black groups’ leaders, Martin Luther King of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, Floyd McKissick of the Congress of Racial Equality, and Stokely Carmichael of the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee, announced that they would resume Meredith’s march (see June 6). Mississippi State Troopers  shoved  King, Jr and from the pavement to the shoulder of the highway. (BH & MLK, see June 10; Carmichael, see June 16; Meredith, see June 25)

James Byrd, Jr

June 7, 1998:  after they wrapped a heavy logging chain around the ankles of James Byrd, Jr,  Shawn Berry, Lawrence Brewer, and John King dragged him behind a pick-up truck along an asphalt road for about three miles  They then dumped his body  in front of an African-American cemetery in Jasper, TX. (BH, see Aug 21; Byrd, see February 23, 1999)

137 SHOTS

June 7, 2015: authorities charged Cleveland police officer Michael Brelo with assaulting his brother. (see 137 for expanded story)

FEMA Bias

June 7, 2021: the NY Times reported that a growing body of research showed that FEMA, the government agency responsible for helping Americans recover from disasters, often helped white disaster victims more than people of color, even when the amount of damage is the same. Not only did individual white Americans often receive more aid from FEMA; so did the communities in which they live, according to several studies based on federal data.

Leaders at FEMA contended with the complicated question of why these disparities exist — and what to do about them. The problem seemed to stem from complex systemic factors, like a real estate market that often places higher values on properties in communities with many white residents, or the difficulty of navigating the federal bureaucracy, which tends to favor people and communities that have more resources from the beginning.

The impact from this disparity was long-lasting. White people in counties with significant disaster damage that received FEMA help saw their personal wealth jump years later while Black residents lost wealth, research published in 2018 shows. (next BH, see June 14)

June 7 Peace Love Art Activism

LGBTQ

Alan Turing

June 7, 1954: Turing the mathematical genius and person credited with developing computers, committed suicide. Turing’s top-secret work during World War II enabled the British to break the German code and likely ended the war years sooner. In 1952 he was convicted of homosexuality and sentenced to a choice of prison or chemical castration. He chose the latter.

Almost every computer produced by Apple and its rivals has been modeled on a machine built [by Turing] at Princeton University during the late 1940s and early 1950s” (NYT, 2012-03-25) (Turing, see September 10, 2009; LGBTQ, see in October 1954)

Anita Bryant

June 7, 1977: singer and conservative Southern Baptist Anita Bryant led a successful campaign with the “Save Our Children” Crusade to repeal a gay rights ordinance in Dade County, Florida. Bryant faced severe backlash from gay rights supporters across the U.S. The gay rights ordinance would not be reinstated in Dade County until December 1, 1998, more than 20 years later. (see June 18)

Alabama

June 7, 2016: U.S. District Judge Callie Granade permanently barred Alabama from enforcing state laws to block gay marriage. Granade of Mobile issued the order in litigation that followed the U.S. Supreme Court decision that effectively legalized same-sex weddings nationwide.

The judge wrote that the order is needed because state laws against same-sex marriage remained on the books. She said the Alabama Supreme Court’s willingness to issue decisions conflicting with the U.S. Supreme Court demonstrated the need for permanent action.

Granade noted that while same-sex opponent Roy Moore was currently suspended from the office of chief justice, other state justices had indicated they believed laws banning gay marriages were constitutional. (LGBTQ, see June 24; Moore, see Sept 30)

June 7 Peace Love Art Activism

June 7 Music et al

Come On

June 7, 1963,  the Rolling Stones first singleCome On” was released in the UK. It reached #21. Chuck Berry wrote and released Come On in 1961.

The Road to Bethel

June 7, 1969: after the festival site received many threatening calls, Mel Lawrence called workers together to warn them about behavior, particularly drug use, as there might be a narcotic agent planted in the group. (see Chronology for expanded story)

June 7 Peace Love Art Activism

FREE SPEECH

June 7, 1965: Cameron Et Al. v. Johnson, Governor Of Mississippi, Et Al.  the Supreme Court issued a 5-4 decision stating that the case should be vacated and remanded and upholding the law in question as constitutional. The judgment rested on the Court’s authority over lower federal or state courts. It was decided by a per curiam (no oral argument)  (see March 9, 1966)

June 7 Peace Love Art Activism

Women’s Health

June 7 Peace Love Art Activism

June 7, 1965: in Griswold v. Connecticut, the Supreme Court struck down the one remaining state law prohibiting the use of contraceptives by married couples. [Oyez article]  (see Nov 2)

June 7 Peace Love Art Activism

Vietnam

More troops requested

June 7, 1965: General Westmoreland requested a total of 35 battalions of combat troops, with another nine in reserve. This gave rise to the “44 battalion” debate within the Johnson administration, a discussion of how many U.S. combat troops to commit to the war. Westmoreland felt that the South Vietnamese could not defeat the communists alone and he wanted U.S. combat troops to go on the offensive against the enemy. His plan was to secure the coastlines, block infiltration of North Vietnamese troops into the south, and then wage a war of attrition with “search and destroy” missions into the countryside, using helicopters for rapid deployment and evacuation. Despite some opposition, Johnson acquiesced to Westmoreland’s request. (see June 14)

Cohen v. California

June 7, 1971: the US Supreme court by a vote of 5-4 overturned the appellate court’s ruling.

First, Justice John Marshall Harlan II began by emphasizing that this case concerned “speech,” and not “conduct,” as was at issue in United States v. O’Brien (May 27, 1968). Harlan then stated that any attempt by California to abridge the content of Cohen’s speech would be no doubt unconstitutional except in a few instances, like, for example, if California was regulating the time, place, or manner of Cohen’s speech independent from the content of the speech.

Second, Harlan also expressed the concern of the Court that section 415 was vague and did not put citizens on notice as to what behavior was unlawful. Indeed, the words “offensive conduct” alone cannot “be said sufficiently to inform the ordinary person that distinctions between certain locations are thereby created.”

Third, the mere use of an untoward four-letter word did not place the speech into a category of speech that has traditionally been subject to greater regulations by the government, as in Roth v. United States (June 24, 1957), for example. Similarly, Harlan and the Court refused to categorize the speech at issue as a “fighting word” under Chaplinsky v New Hampshire (March 9, 1942) because no “individual actually or likely to be present could reasonably have regarded the words on appellant’s jacket as a direct personal insult.”

Finally, the Court was unwilling to give credence to the idea that the government could suppress the type of speech at issue here in order to protect the public at large. [Oyez article] (V, see June 13; FS, see June 26, 1972)

June 7 Peace Love Art Activism

Symbionese Liberation Army

June 7, 1974: Patty Hearst released a tape eulogizing the slain SLA members and stating her continued support for the SLA (see PH for expanded story)

June 7 Peace Love Art Activism

Nuclear/Chemical News

Israel bombs Iraq

June 7, 1981: Israel bombed Iraqi Osirak nuclear plant near Baghdad. [2016 Times of Israel article] (NN, see Nov 30; Iraq, see August 12, 1982)

June 7 Peace Love Art Activism

Iraq War II

June 7, 2007:  ABC World News host Charles Gibson took a moment to note “a sad milestone in Iraq,” as the announcement of 6 more U.S. casualties in Iraq, ratcheted the total toll of the war to 3,500 troops who had died in Iraq since the war began. [ABC News, 6/7/2007] (see July 8)

June 7 Peace Love Art Activism

Feminism

June 7, 2016: with primary victories in NJ, CA, and NM, Hillary Clinton became the presumptive Presidential nominee for the Democratic party, the first woman from a major party. (NYT article) (see June 27)

June 7 Peace Love Art Activism

Environmental Issues

June 7, 2021: scientists said that the amount of carbon dioxide piling up in Earth’s atmosphere set a record in May 2021, once again reaching the highest levels in human history despite a temporary dip in the burning of fossil fuels worldwide caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

Scientific instruments atop the Mauna Loa volcano in Hawaii showed that levels of carbon dioxide in the air averaged 419 parts per million in May, the annual peak, according to two separate analyses from the Scripps Institution of Oceanography and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Those readings were about half a percent higher than the previous high of 417 parts per million, set in May 2020. Carbon dioxide is the most important greenhouse gas driving global warming and researchers have estimated that there hasn’t been this much of it in the atmosphere for millions of years.  [NYT article] (next EI, see June 9)

June 7 Peace Love Art Activism