ANDREWS MCMEEL ALMANAC

Today is the 173rd day of 2025 and the third day of summer.

TODAY'S HISTORY: In 1815, French Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte abdicated his throne for the second time.

In 1870, the U.S. Department of Justice was created.

In 1942, Congress officially recognized the Pledge of Allegiance as part of the U.S. Flag Code.

In 1944, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed into law the GI Bill, providing benefits to veterans.

In 1945, the Battle of Okinawa ended in an Allied victory after 83 days of fighting.

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: Anne Morrow Lindbergh (1906-2001), aviator/author; Billy Wilder (1906-2002), director; Bill Blass (1922-2002), fashion designer; Kris Kristofferson (1936- ), singer/actor; Ed Bradley (1941-2006), journalist; Octavia E. Butler (1947-2006), author; Meryl Streep (1949- ), actress; Cyndi Lauper (1953- ), singer-songwriter; Bruce Campbell (1958- ), actor; Amy Brenneman (1964- ), actress; Dan Brown (1964- ), author; Kurt Warner (1971- ), football player/broadcaster; Carson Daly (1973- ), TV personality; Dustin Johnson (1984- ), golfer.

TODAY'S FACT: The Pledge of Allegiance was first published in the September 1892 issue of The Youth's Companion magazine, to celebrate the 400th anniversary of Columbus' arrival in the Americas on October 12, 1492.

TODAY'S SPORTS: In 1937, Joe Louis knocked out James Braddock in the eighth round, becoming the first African American heavyweight boxing champion since Jack Johnson in 1915.

TODAY'S QUOTE: "Choose your leaders with wisdom and forethought. To be led by a coward is to be controlled by all that the coward fears." -- Octavia E. Butler, "Parable of the Talents"

TODAY'S NUMBER: 15 -- age of the Washington (D.C.) Elite Giants' Roy Campanella (15 years, 215 days) when he entered a game against the Pittsburgh Crawfords on this day in 1937. As the youngest player to ever play in a Negro Leagues game, Campanella's record became the Major League Baseball record when MLB incorporated Negro Leagues stats into its own record books in May 2024.

TODAY'S MOON: Between last quarter moon (June 18) and new moon (June 25).

ANDREWS MCMEEL ALMANAC

Today is the 172nd day of 2025 and the second day of summer.

TODAY'S HISTORY: In 1788, New Hampshire ratified the U.S. Constitution and became the ninth state.

In 1898, U.S. troops captured the island of Guam from Spain.

In 1982, John Hinckley Jr. was found not guilty by reason of insanity for his attempted assassination of President Ronald Reagan.

In 1989, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that burning the American flag was a form of political protest protected by the First Amendment.

In 2004, SpaceShipOne, piloted by Mike Melvill, became the first privately sponsored craft to carry a human into space.

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: Al Hirschfeld (1903-2003), cartoonist; Jean-Paul Sartre (1905-1980), philosopher; Mary McCarthy (1912-1989), writer; Jane Russell (1921-2011), actress; Ray Davies (1944- ), guitarist/songwriter; Tony Scott (1944-2012), filmmaker; Benazir Bhutto (1953-2007), Pakistani politician; Berkeley Breathed (1957- ), cartoonist; Kevin Harlan (1960- ), sportscaster; Juliette Lewis (1973- ), actress; Chris Pratt (1979- ), actor; Prince William (1982- ), prince of Wales.

TODAY'S FACT: James Buchanan was the only U.S. president who never married.

TODAY'S SPORTS: In 1997, the first Women's National Basketball Association game kicked off the league's debut season.

TODAY'S QUOTE: "Life is a system of recurrent pairs, the poison and the antidote being eternally packaged together by some considerate heavenly druggist." -- Mary McCarthy

TODAY'S NUMBER: 141,885 -- population of New Hampshire in 1790, following ratification of the U.S. Constitution.

TODAY'S MOON: Between last quarter moon (June 18) and new moon (June 25).

ANDREWS MCMEEL ALMANAC

Today is the 171st day of 2025 and the first day of summer.

TODAY'S HISTORY: In 1863, West Virginia was admitted as the 35th U.S. state.

In 1893, Lizzie Borden was acquitted of the murders of her father and stepmother.

In 1900, the Boxer Rebellion began in China, as the Imperial Chinese army began a 55-day siege of the Legation Quarter in Beijing.

In 1963, the Soviet Union and the United States established the Moscow-Washington hotline.

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: Lillian Hellman (1905-1984), playwright; Errol Flynn (1909-1959), actor; Chet Atkins (1924-2001), singer-songwriter; Audie Murphy (1925-1971), war hero/actor; Martin Landau (1928-2017), actor; Brian Wilson (1942- ), musician/singer-songwriter; Anne Murray (1945- ), singer; Bob Vila (1946- ), handyman/TV personality; Lionel Richie (1949- ), singer-songwriter; John Goodman (1952- ), actor; Nicole Kidman (1967- ), actress; Robert Rodriguez (1968- ), filmmaker; Christopher Mintz-Plasse (1989- ), actor.

TODAY'S FACT: Western Argentina is home to Aconcagua, the highest peak in the Western Hemisphere, with an altitude of 22,834 feet.

TODAY'S SPORTS: In 1967, boxer Muhammad Ali was convicted of violating Selective Service laws by refusing to be inducted into the armed forces. The Supreme Court overturned his conviction in 1971.

TODAY'S QUOTE: "It's a sad day when you find out that it's not accident or time or fortune, but just yourself that kept things from you." -- Lillian Hellman

TODAY'S NUMBER: 2 -- Grammy Award wins for the Beach Boys. The group, which formed in 1961 and was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1988, won the Lifetime Achievement Award in 2001 and the Best Historical Album award in 2013 for its "The Smile Sessions" boxed set.

TODAY'S MOON: Between last quarter moon (June 18) and new moon (June 25).