Today is Monday, June 25, the 177th day of 2012. There are 189 days left in the year.
Today’s Birthdays: Actress June Lockhart is 87. Rhythm-and-blues singer Eddie Floyd is 75. Actress Barbara Montgomery is 73. Basketball Hall-of-Famer Willis Reed is 70. Writer-producer-director Gary David Goldberg is 68. Singer Carly Simon is 67. Rock musician Allen Lanier (Blue Oyster Cult) is 66. Rock musician Ian McDonald (Foreigner) is 66. Actor-comedian Jimmie Walker is 65. Actor-director Michael Lembeck is 64. TV personality Phyllis George is 63. Rock singer Tim Finn is 60. Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor is 58. Rock musician David Paich (Toto) is 58. Actor Michael Sabatino is 57. Actor-writer-director Ricky Gervais is 51. Actor John Benjamin Hickey is 49. Rock singer George Michael is 49. Actress Erica Gimpel is 48. Former NBA player Dikembe Mutombo is 46. Rapper-producer Richie Rich is 45. Rapper Candyman is 44. Contemporary Christian musician Sean Kelly (Sixpence None the Richer) is 41. Actress Angela Kinsey is 41. Rock musician Mike Kroeger (Nickelback) is 40. Rock musician Mario Calire is 38. Actress Linda Cardellini is 37. Actress Busy Philipps is 33.
In 1788, Virginia ratified the US Constitution.
In 1876, Lieutenant Colonel George A. Custer and his Army unit were killed in the Battle of the Little Bighorn in Montana.
In 1910, President Taft signed the White-Slave Traffic Act, which made it illegal to transport women across state lines for ‘‘immoral’’ purposes. The ballet ‘‘The Firebird’’ with music by Igor Stravinsky premiered in Paris.
In 1938, the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 was enacted.
In 1950, war broke out in Korea as forces from the communist North invaded the South.
In 1962, the US Supreme Court, in Engel v. Vitale, ruled 6-1 that recitation of a state-sponsored prayer in New York State public schools was unconstitutional.
In 1973, former White House Counsel John Dean began testifying before the Senate Watergate Committee.
In 2009, death claimed Michael Jackson, the ‘‘King of Pop,’’ in Los Angeles at age 50 and actress Farrah Fawcett in Santa Monica, Calif., at age 62.