ANDREWS MCMEEL ALMANAC

Today is the 161st day of 2017 and the 83rd day of spring.

TODAY'S HISTORY: In 1935, Dr. Robert Smith and Bill Wilson founded Alcoholics Anonymous in Akron, Ohio.

In 1964, the U.S. Senate voted to end a filibuster staged in opposition to the Civil Rights Act of 1964, clearing the way for the bill's eventual approval.

In 1967, Israel and Syria agreed to a cease-fire, ending the Six-Day War.

In 2003, NASA launched the Mars exploration rover Spirit from Cape Canaveral, Florida.

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: Hattie McDaniel (1895-1952), actress; Prince Philip (1921- ), husband of Queen Elizabeth II; Judy Garland (1922-1969), actress/singer; Nat Hentoff (1925- ), historian/author; Maurice Sendak (1928-2012), author/illustrator; Jeanne Tripplehorn (1963- ), actress; Elizabeth Hurley (1965- ), model/actress; Bill Burr (1968- ), actor/comedian; Tara Lipinski (1982- ), figure skater; Andy Schleck (1985- ), cyclist; Kate Upton (1992- ), model/actress.

TODAY'S FACT: NASA's original mission plan for the Spirit called for the rover to last 90 sols (solar days on Mars) and to drive a total of 0.4 miles. Spirit actually operated for approximately 2,208 sols and covered 4.8 miles before getting stuck in soft soil.

TODAY'S SPORTS: In 1978, Affirmed won the Belmont Stakes, becoming the 11th horse to win horse racing's Triple Crown.

TODAY'S QUOTE: "Children do live in fantasy and reality; they move back and forth very easily in a way we no longer remember how to do." -- Maurice Sendak

TODAY'S NUMBER: 15 -- age of Joe Nuxhall of the Cincinnati Reds when he pitched two-thirds of an inning against the St. Louis Cardinals on this day in 1944, becoming the youngest player to ever take the field in a Major League Baseball game.

TODAY'S MOON: Between full moon (June 9) and last quarter moon (June 17).

ANDREWS MCMEEL ALMANAC

Today is the 160th day of 2017 and the 82nd day of spring.

TODAY'S HISTORY: In 1790, John Barry's "The Philadelphia Spelling Book" became the first copyrighted work in the United States.

In 1856, nearly 500 Mormon "handcart pioneers" began a pilgrimage on foot from Iowa City, Iowa, to Salt Lake City, Utah.

In 1954, Army counsel Joseph Welch confronted Sen. Joseph McCarthy during the Army-McCarthy hearings.

In 1999, Yugoslavia signed a peace treaty pledging that Serbian forces would withdraw from Kosovo in 11 days, thus ending the Kosovo War.

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: Cole Porter (1891-1964), composer; Robert Cummings (1910-1990), actor; Les Paul (1915-2009), musician/inventor; Robert McNamara (1916-2009), World Bank head/U.S. secretary of defense; Jackie Wilson (1934-1984), singer-songwriter; Dick Vitale (1939- ), sportscaster; Gregory Maguire (1954- ), author; Michael J. Fox (1961- ), actor; Aaron Sorkin (1961- ), screenwriter/producer; Johnny Depp (1963- ), actor; Natalie Portman (1981- ), actress.

TODAY'S FACT: Legendary guitarist Les Paul is the only person to be inducted into both the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the National Inventors Hall of Fame.

TODAY'S SPORTS: In 1973, Secretariat won the Belmont Stakes and became the ninth horse in history to complete horse racing's Triple Crown. His time of 2:24 remains the American record for the 1.5 mile on dirt.

TODAY'S QUOTE: "An artist's job is to captivate ... If we stumble into truth, we got lucky." -- Aaron Sorkin

TODAY'S NUMBER: 5 -- weeks that Robert McNamara served as the president of Ford Motor Co. before he was appointed the secretary of defense in 1960. McNamara was the first Ford president who was not related to founder Henry Ford.

TODAY'S MOON: Full moon (June 9).

ANDREWS MCMEEL ALMANAC

Today is the 159th day of 2017 and the 81st day of spring.

TODAY'S HISTORY: In 1789, James Madison, then a member of the House of Representatives, proposed the Bill of Rights to Congress.

In 1949, George Orwell's "Nineteen Eighty-Four" was published.

In 1968, James Earl Ray, who was suspected of assassinating Martin Luther King Jr., was arrested in London.

In 1982, President Ronald Reagan became the first U.S. president to address a joint session of the British Parliament.

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: Robert Schumann (1810-1856), composer; Frank Lloyd Wright (1867-1959), architect; Francis Crick (1916-2004), biophysicist; Barbara Bush (1925- ), U.S. first lady; Jerry Stiller (1927- ), comedian/actor; Joan Rivers (1933-2014), comedian/actress; Tim Berners-Lee (1955- ), World Wide Web inventor; Scott Adams (1957- ), cartoonist; Julianna Margulies (1966- ), actress; Kanye West (1977- ), rapper/producer; Maria Menounos (1978- ), actress/TV personality.

TODAY'S FACT: George Orwell died just seven months after "Nineteen Eighty-Four" was published, due to complications from tuberculosis.

TODAY'S SPORTS: In 1966, the National Football League and the American Football League announced their merger as the NFL, with American and National conferences.

TODAY'S QUOTE: "A free America, democratic in the sense that our forefathers intended it to be, means just this: individual freedom for all, rich or poor, or else this system of government we call 'democracy' is only an expedient to enslave man to the machine and make him like it." -- Frank Lloyd Wright, "The Future of Architecture"

TODAY'S NUMBER: 65 -- seats in the first session of the House of Representatives (1789-1791).

TODAY'S MOON: Between first quarter moon (June 1) and full moon (June 9).