History is important because it helps us develop an understanding of the past, learn from our mistakes, provide critical thinking, build empathy through studying the lives and struggles of people, movements, and institutions, understand eras, enhance cultural understanding, develop transferrable skills, provide identity, promote critical thinking and become inspired. And if we don't learn from history, we're doomed to repeat it.
Each weekday, I, Peter the Knowledge Guy, provide an in-depth look at 5 different historic events, summarize notable events in sports and business, and share a notable movie clip, song and motivational quote to help get your day started in a historic way.
History in the Morning is like a morning news show, and a newspaper with the general news, sports, money and lifestyle sections, but history-themed.
Without further ado, here’s a look back at some events that happened on this Monday, June 17.
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It has been 30 years since 95 million people watched then-beloved football star-turned-actor O.J. Simpson evade police officers in a white Ford Bronco on live television.
“Simpson, who died at age 76 on April 10, was ordered to turn himself into police on June 17, 1994 following the murder of his ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson. Simpson and her friend, waiter Ronald Goldman, were stabbed to death on June 12, 1994. Their bodies were found outside of her Los Angeles-area home in the early hours of June 13.
But Simpson did not follow orders, and while his whereabouts remained unknown well into the late afternoon on June 17, his attorney Robert Kardashian read a letter given to him by Simpson to the media. In part, Simpson's note said, "Thanks for making my life special. I hope I helped yours. Peace and love. O.J.”
That evening, though, after 6 p.m. local time, Simpson was spotted in a Bronco with close friend and teammate Al Cowlings, driving through Southern California on the interstate.
Cowlings was driving the vehicle, his own, and told police that Simpson was seated in the back with a gun pointed at his head. According to CBS, Cowlings called authorities from a cell phone, pleading, "You gotta tell the police to back off. He's still alive, but he's got a gun to his head." (Cowlings was arrested but ultimately charges were dropped for "aiding a fugitive.")
Swarms of police vehicles began pursuing Simpson as the car traveled to the athlete's home in Brentwood, with the chase continuing for 60 miles at low speeds. News helicopters also quickly fell into pursuit of Simpson as traffic came to a standstill on much of the expressway with curious onlookers pulled over to watch.
"It was already the most televised police pursuit in history, but now it's so bizarre with people coming out," Orange County Sheriff's Deputy Larry Pool, who was the officer who originally spotted the 1993 Bronco, told NBC News in 2014. "There were people interfering with our pursuit. At one point, when we got into L.A., it was as though a concert had let out on the freeway. People were partying. I thought, if this was a movie, people would say that was a pretty good movie until that stupid car chase!"
The Bronco ultimately arrived at Simpson's L.A.-area home at 8 p.m., with police, and snipers, surrounding the house. Simpson eventually exited the vehicle — in which the LAPD found makeup adhesive, a fake mustache and goatee, Simpson’s passport and a gun — and surrendered to authorities." --People Magazine
Following the surrender, Simpson was charged with Brown Simpson and Goldman's murders and released on bail. His trial took place in 1995, though he was acquitted in what was dubbed "The Trial of the Century." Following his acquittal, Simpson was sued in civil court by the Browns and Goldmans and found liable in 1997.
Simpson later wrote a controversial book in the mid-2000s, If I Did It, in which he spoke about Brown Simpson and Goldman's killings. The Goldman family, who receive proceeds from the purchase of the book, view it as the late Simpson's confession of responsibility for the murders.
"Early in the morning on this day in 1972, Frank Wills, a security guard at the Watergate Office Building in northwest Washington, noticed that latches on several stairway doors were taped. He removed the tape only to discover an hour later that they were taped again. Wills called the local police, who arrested five men inside the Democratic National Committee offices.
The intruders — Virgilio Gonzalez, Bernard Barker, James McCord, Eugenio Martinez and Frank Sturgis — wore surgical gloves and carried walkie-talkies, cameras and nearly $2,300 in $100 bills. They were charged with breaking and entering and attempted interception of telephone and other communications.
A search of a motel room across the street with a line of sight to the offices turned up an additional $4,200, as well as burglary and electronic bugging tools. FBI agents traced the burglars’ campaign funds had been raised to reelect President Richard Nixon. The equipment they used had been borrowed from the CIA.
On Sept. 15, a grand jury indicted the five men, along with two Nixon campaign aides, Howard Hunt and G. Gordon Liddy. It charged them with conspiracy, burglary and violation of federal wiretapping laws.
They were convicted on all charges on Jan. 30, 1973. Their trial followed Nixon’s landslide reelection. John Sirica, the U.S. District Court judge who presided at the trial, had suspected that a broad conspiracy had triggered the break-in. He adopted the controversial tactic of questioning the witnesses himself.
In March 1973, McCord, the reelection committee’s former security chief, wrote Sirica, claiming he had been pressured into entering a guilty plea. He implicated John Mitchell, Nixon’s former attorney general, who had headed the committee.
McCord’s letter escalated the break-in to a political scandal. It eventually caused Nixon to resign on Aug. 9, 1974, making him the only U.S. president to do so. President Gerald Ford pardoned Nixon before any judicial proceedings occurred. However, 19 administration and campaign officials served prison sentences of up to 52 months for their part in the Watergate crimes.
Some political scientists have attributed an increased level of cynicism among Americans about politics that persists to this day to the Watergate affair." --All the President's Men by Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward
At the Battle of Bunker Hill on June 17, 1775, early in the Revolutionary War, the British defeated the Americans. Despite their loss, the inexperienced colonial forces inflicted significant casualties against the enemy, and the battle provided them with an important confidence boost during the Siege of Boston. Although commonly referred to as the Battle of Bunker Hill, most of the fighting occurred on nearby Breed’s Hill. —History Channel
“The East German uprising of 1953 was an uprising that occurred in East Germany from 16 to 17 June 1953. It began with strike action by construction workers in East Berlin on 16 June against work quotas during the Sovietization process in East Germany. Demonstrations in East Berlin turned into a widespread uprising against the Government of East Germany and the Socialist Unity Party the next day, involving over one million people in about 700 localities across the country. Protests against declining living standards and unpopular Sovietization policies led to a wave of strikes and protests that were not easily brought under control and threatened to overthrow the East German government. The uprising in East Berlin was violently suppressed by tanks of the Soviet forces in Germany and the Kasernierte Volkspolizei. Demonstrations continued in over 500 towns and villages for several more days before eventually dying out.
The 1953 uprising was celebrated in West Germany as a public holiday on 17 June until German reunification in 1990, after which it was replaced by German Unity Day, celebrated annually on 3 October.” —Wikipedia
"On June 17, 1885, the dismantled Statue of Liberty, a gift of friendship from the people of France to the people of America, arrives in New York Harbor after being shipped across the Atlantic Ocean in 350 individual pieces packed in more than 200 cases. The copper and iron statue, which was reassembled and dedicated the following year in a ceremony presided over by U.S. President Grover Cleveland, became known around the world as an enduring symbol of freedom and democracy.
Intended to commemorate the American Revolution, the abolition of slavery following the U.S. Civil War, and a century of friendship between the U.S. and France, the statue was designed by French sculptor Frederic-Auguste Bartholdi (who modeled it after his own mother), with assistance from engineer Gustave Eiffel, who later developed the iconic tower in Paris bearing his name. The statue was initially scheduled to be finished by 1876, the 100th anniversary of America’s Declaration of Independence; however, fundraising efforts, which included auctions, a lottery and boxing matches, took longer than anticipated, both in Europe and the U.S., where the statue’s pedestal was to be financed and constructed. The statue alone cost the French an estimated $250,000 (more than $5.5 million in today’s money).” —History Channel
On this day in 1930, the U.S. government imposed the Smoot-Hawley Tariffs, which raised the average tariff in the U.S. by around 20 percent. —Britannica
THIS DAY IN SPORTS HISTORY
On this day in 1962, pro golfer Arnold Palmer lost by three strokes to 22-year-old Jack Nicklaus at the US Open, becoming the youngest U.S. Open winner in almost 4 decades. —ESPN
For our first movie clip of the day segment, here’s a clip from the 2004 action thriller movie The Day After Tomorrow, which came out 20 years ago this summer. In this movie by Roland Emmerich and starring Jake Gyllenhaal, Dennis Quaid, Sela Ward, Ian Holm and Emmy Rossum, climatologist Jack Hall is largely ignored by United Nations officials when presenting his environmental concerns. His research proved he was right when a massive storm develops, unleashing natural disasters throughout the world; In an attempt to reunite with his family, Jack and his crew must travel by foot from Philadelphia, braving the elements, to reunite with his son Sam before it's too late.
Today’s song of the day is a 2008 hit from the Australian EDM duo Empire of the Sun, “Walking on a Dream”, which is also the name of their debut studio album. It was once used in a Honda Civic commercial. Watch the video below.
Walking on a dream We are always running for the thrill of it, thrill of it
How can I explain
Talking to myself
Will I see again
Always pushing up the hill, searching for the thrill of it
On and on and on we are calling out and out again
Never looking down I'm just in awe of what's in front of me
We hope you enjoyed this look back at some of the most unforgettable moments in history. I’ll be back tomorrow with an all-new episode.
Thanks for starting your morning in a historic way.
-Peter the Knowledge Guy
