On This Day: German occupiers flee Rome

On this date in history:

In 1784, France's Marie Thible of Lyons became the first woman to fly in a hot-air balloon.

In 1896, Henry Ford wheeled his first car from a brick shed in Detroit and drove it around darkened streets on a trial run.

In 1917, the first Pulitzer Prizes were awarded.

In 1940, the World War II evacuation of Dunkirk, France, was completed. A flotilla of small boats spent nearly a week crossing the English Channel to rescue nearly 350,000 British, French and Belgian troops from advancing German forces.

In 1942, the Battle of Midway began. It raged for four days and was the turning point for the United States in the World War II Pacific campaign against Japan.

In 1944, the last of German occupiers fled Rome ahead of the advancing U.S. 9th Army. Reynolds Packard reopened the United Press' offices the next day.

In 1963, President John F. Kennedy ordered Alabama Gov. George C. Wallace "to cease and desist" from any unlawful obstruction of justice in connection with the admission of two African-American students to the University of Alabama. The order was a final technical step required before the president could use federal troops to enforce the court order for desegregation of the university.

UPI File Photo

In 1972, black militant Angela Davis was acquitted of murder, kidnapping and criminal conspiracy charges stemming from a California courtroom shootout in which a judge and three other people were killed.

In 1985, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down an Alabama minute-of-silence law as specifically fostering classroom prayer.

In 1986, American Jonathan Pollard, accused of selling stacks of secret documents to Israel, and his wife pleaded guilty to espionage charges, admitting they were part of an Israeli spy network that included three Israeli officials and an embassy secretary.

In 1989, in what became known as the Tiananmen Square massacre, hundreds of student-led pro-democracy demonstrators were reported killed and thousands injured as Chinese troops removed them from the square in Beijing.

In 1990, an Oregon woman, Janet Adkins, killed herself in Michigan using a "suicide machine" developed by "Dr. Death" Jack Kevorkian. She was the retired pathologist's first reported "medicide" patient.

In 1991, Albania's Cabinet resigned, ending 46 years of Communist rule.

In 1998, Terry Nichols was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole for his part in the 1995 bombing of the federal building in Oklahoma City.

Teary-eyed Marsha Kight speaks about the closure of the Oklahoma City bombing trial with the press outside of the Federal Courthouse in Denver where Terry Nichols was sentenced June 4, 1998, to a life sentence without parole. File Photo by David O'Connor/UPI

In 2005, the Covington Diocese in Kentucky agreed to pay up to $120 million to more than 100 alleged victims of child molestation from the past 50 years.

In 2006, former Peruvian President Alan Garcia Perez regained the presidency in a runoff victory over Ollanta Humula Tasso.

In 2010, U.S. President Barack Obama named Lt. Gen. James R. Clapper Jr. director of national intelligence.

In 2014, Don Zimmer, who played for five teams, managed four and held many coaching and other positions in one of the longest-lasting Major League Baseball careers, died at the age of 83. Zimmer was "one of our game's most universally beloved figures," MLB Commissioner Bud Selig said.

In 2017, more than 50,000 people attended the One Love Manchester benefit concert headlining Ariana Grande, Justin Bieber, Katy Perry, Coldplay and Pharrell Williams. The show raised $3 million for victims of a suicide bombing two weeks earlier at a Grande concert.

File Photo by David Tulis /UPI

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