Today in History: June 15, Ella Fitzgerald dies

Today’s Highlight in History:

In 1996, Ella Fitzgerald, the “first lady of song,” died in Beverly Hills, California, at age 79.

On this date:

On June 15, 1775, the Second Continental Congress voted unanimously to appoint George Washington head of the Continental Army.In 1215, England’s King John put his seal to Magna Carta (“the Great Charter”) at Runnymede.

In 1864, Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton signed an order establishing a military burial ground which became Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia.

In 1904, more than 1,000 people died when fire erupted aboard the steamboat General Slocum in New York’s East River.

In 1934, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed an act making the National Guard part of the U.S. Army in the event of war or national emergency.

In 1938, Johnny Vander Meer pitched his second consecutive no-hitter, leading the Cincinnati Reds to a 6-0 victory over the Brooklyn Dodgers in the first night game at Ebbets Field, four days after leaving the Boston Bees hitless by a score of 3-0.

In 1944, American forces began their successful invasion of Saipan (sy-PAN’) during World War II. B-29 Superfortresses carried out their first raids on Japan.

In 1960, the Billy Wilder movie “The Apartment,” starring Jack Lemmon and Shirley MacLaine, premiered in New York.

In 1985, the Shiite Muslim hijackers of a TWA Boeing 727 beat and shot one of their hostages, U.S. Navy diver Robert Stethem (STEE’-them), 23, throwing him out of the plane to die on the tarmac at Beirut airport.

In 1991, Mount Pinatubo in the northern Philippines exploded in one of the biggest volcanic eruptions of the 20th century, killing about 800 people.

In 2002, an asteroid with a diameter of between 50 and 120 yards narrowly missed the Earth by 75,000 miles — less than a third of the distance to the moon.

In 2012, President Barack Obama eased enforcement of immigration laws as he announced a new policy, Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA. An armored car heist at the University of Alberta in Canada left three armed guards dead; fellow guard Travis Baumgartner later pleaded guilty to murder charges and was sentenced to life in prison with no chance of parole for 40 years.

In 2018, Former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort was jailed to await two criminal trials; a federal judge revoked his house arrest over allegations of witness tampering in special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation. (Manafort would be sentenced to more than seven years in prison on federal charges.) President Donald Trump announced a 25 percent tariff on up to $50 billion in Chinese imports, to take effect July 6. Rene Boucher, a neighbor of U.S. Sen. Rand Paul, was sentenced to 30 days in prison for tackling Paul while he was out doing yard work at his Kentucky home.

In 2020, the Supreme Court, in a 6-3 decision, ruled that a landmark civil rights law protects gay, lesbian and transgender people from discrimination in employment. U.S. regulators revoked emergency authorization for malaria drugs promoted by President Donald Trump for treating COVID-19 amid evidence that they didn’t work and could cause serious side effects. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said death rates for coronavirus patients with chronic illnesses were 12 times higher than for others who became infected.

In 2022, the Federal Reserve raised its key interest rate by three-quarters of a point — its largest hike in nearly three decades in an effort to curb inflation. The U.S. said it would send an additional $1 billion in military aid to Ukraine, as America and its allies worked to provide longer-range weapons they said could make a difference in a fight where Ukrainian forces were outnumbered and outgunned by Russian invaders. John Hinckley Jr., who shot and wounded President Ronald Reagan in 1981, was freed from court oversight, officially concluding decades of supervision by legal and mental health professionals.