John W. Dean 3d, former counsel to the president, testifies before the Senate committee on the Watergate hearing in Washington, D.C., on June 27, 1973. Sitting behind him is his wife, Maureen. (AP Photo)

Today is Sunday, June 21, the 173rd day of 2020. There are 193 days left in the year.

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Today’s Highlight in History

On June 21, 1989, a sharply divided Supreme Court ruled that burning the American flag as a form of political protest was protected by the First Amendment.

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Comedian and actor Milton Berle is photographed prior to being inducted into the Comedy Hall of Fame in Los Angeles, Ca., on June 24, 1991. (AP Photo/Kevork Djansezian)

On this date

In 1788, the United States Constitution went into effect as New Hampshire became the ninth state to ratify it.

In 1834, Cyrus Hall McCormick received a patent for his reaping machine.

In 1913, Georgia “Tiny” Broadwick became the first woman to parachute from an airplane as she jumped over Los Angeles.

In 1942, an Imperial Japanese submarine fired shells at Fort Stevens on the Oregon coast, causing little damage.

Exercise guru Richard Simmons poses with a stuffed pink pig named Lucy in Los Angeles, June 23, 1982. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)

In 1954, the American Cancer Society presented a study to the American Medical Association meeting in San Francisco which found that men who regularly smoked cigarettes died at a considerably higher rate than non-smokers.

In 1964, civil rights workers Michael H. Schwerner, Andrew Goodman and James E. Chaney were slain in Philadelphia, Mississippi; their bodies were found buried in an earthen dam six weeks later. (Forty-one years later on this date in 2005, Edgar Ray Killen, an 80-year-old former Ku Klux Klansman, was found guilty of manslaughter; he was sentenced to 60 years in prison, where he died in January 2018.)

In 1973, the U.S. Supreme Court, in Miller v. California, ruled that states may ban materials found to be obscene according to local standards.

In 1982, a jury in Washington, D.C. found John Hinckley Jr. not guilty by reason of insanity in the shootings of President Ronald Reagan and three other men.

In 1997, the WNBA made its debut as the New York Liberty defeated the host Los Angeles Sparks 67-57.

Richard Rubin, former vice president of Aris Isotoner Inc., uses a pen to aid in measuring the left hand of O.J. Simpson without the presence of the jury Wednesday, June 21, 1995, during the double-murder trial in Los Angeles. Surrounding Simpson from left to right are defense attorneys Barry Scheck, Robert Shapiro, and Robert Blasier, seen from behind. (AP Photo/Vince Bucci, Pool)

In 2001, a federal grand jury in Alexandria, Va., indicted 13 Saudis and a Lebanese in absentia for the 1996 bombing of the Khobar Towers in Saudi Arabia that killed 19 American servicemen. Death claimed actor Carroll O’Connor at age 76 and blues musician John Lee Hooker at age 80.

In 2002, one of the worst wildfires in Arizona history grew to 128,000 acres, forcing thousands of homeowners near the community of Show Low to flee.

In 2013, President Barack Obama nominated James Comey, a Bush-era Justice official, to head the FBI, succeeding Robert Mueller. The Food Network said it was dropping Paula Deen, barely an hour after the celebrity cook posted the first of two videotaped apologies begging forgiveness from fans and critics troubled by her admission to having used racial slurs in the past.

Ten years ago: Faisal Shahzad (FY’-sul shah-ZAHD’), a Pakistan-born U.S. citizen, pleaded guilty to charges of plotting a failed car bombing in New York’s Times Square. (Shahzad was later sentenced to life in prison.)

Five years ago: Four days after it welcomed a young stranger (Dylann Roof) who sat for prayer and then opened fire, killing nine people, the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in South Carolina held its first worship service with themes of love and healing, plus a note of defiance. (Roof is on federal death row, the first person to be ordered executed for a federal hate crime; he received nine life sentences in exchange for a guilty plea in state court.) Jordan Spieth became the sixth player to win the Masters and the U.S. Open after Dustin Johnson three-putted from 12 feet on the final hole at Chambers Bay with a chance to win the championship himself.

One year ago: A skydiving plane became inverted and crashed shortly after takeoff from the Hawaiian island of Oahu, killing all 11 people on board; it was the deadliest civil aviation accident since 2011. Seven motorcyclists were killed when a pickup truck hauling a trailer collided with 10 motorcycles on a rural highway in New Hampshire. (The truck driver, Volodymyr Zhukovskyy, is awaiting trial; he was indicted on 23 charges, including charges that he was under the influence of one or more drugs at the time.) The Rolling Stones launched their delayed North American tour at Chicago’s Soldier Field; 75-year-old Mick Jagger showed no sign of ill health three months after doctors said he needed medical treatment.

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JUNE 22

On June 22, 1940, during World War II, Adolf Hitler gained a stunning victory as France was forced to sign an armistice eight days after German forces overran Paris.

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

In 1911, Britain’s King George V was crowned at Westminster Abbey.

In 1941, Nazi Germany launched Operation Barbarossa, a massive invasion of the Soviet Union.

In 1944, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the Servicemen’s Readjustment Act of 1944, more popularly known as the “GI Bill of Rights.”

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JUNE 23

On June 23, 1888, abolitionist Frederick Douglass received one vote from the Kentucky delegation at the Republican convention in Chicago, effectively making him the first black candidate to have his name placed in nomination for U.S. president. (The nomination went to Benjamin Harrison.)

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JUNE 24

On June 24, 1497, the first recorded sighting of North America by a European took place as explorer John Cabot spotted land, probably in present-day Canada.

In 1947, what’s regarded as the first modern UFO sighting took place as private pilot Kenneth Arnold, an Idaho businessman, reported seeing nine silvery objects flying in a “weaving formation” near Mount Rainier in Washington.

In 1964, AT&T inaugurated commercial “Picturephone” service between New York, Chicago and Washington, D.C. (the service, however, never caught on).

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JUNE 25

On June 25, 1876, Lt. Col. Colonel George A. Custer and his 7th Cavalry were wiped out by Sioux and Cheyenne Indians in the Battle of the Little Bighorn in Montana.

In 1867, barbed wire was patented by Lucien B. Smith of Kent, Ohio.

In 1910, President William Howard Taft signed the White-Slave Traffic Act, more popularly known as the Mann Act, which made it illegal to transport women across state lines for “immoral” purposes.

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JUNE 26

On June 26, 1948, the Berlin Airlift began in earnest after the Soviet Union cut off land and water routes to the isolated western sector of Berlin.

In 1870, the first section of Atlantic City, New Jersey’s Boardwalk was opened to the public.

In 1911, John J. McDermott became the first American-born golf player to win the U.S. Open, played in Chicago.

In 1917, the first troops of the American Expeditionary Force deployed to France during World War I landed in St. Nazaire.

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JUNE 27

On June 27, 1991, Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall, the first black jurist to sit on the nation’s highest court, announced his retirement. (His departure led to the contentious nomination of Clarence Thomas to succeed him.)

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

In 1846, New York and Boston were linked by telegraph wires.

In 1974, President Richard Nixon opened an official visit to the Soviet Union.