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On this day, June 8: Attack of the USS Liberty off Egypt

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The USS Liberty (AGTR-5) receives support from units of the Sixth Fleet after being attacked and severely damaged by Israeli forces off the Sinai Peninsula on June 8, 1967. An SH-3 helicopter is near her bow. File photo courtesy of the U.S. Navy
U.S. Air Force Captains TO Hanford (left), Scott F. O’Grady (center), and Bob Wright speak at a press conference on June 10, 1995. On June 2, 1995, O’Grady’s F-16 Fighting Falcon was shot down over Bosnia while flying in support of Operation Deny Flight. File photo by Senior Airman Tana R. Hamilton/Department of Defense
Euna Lee (left) and Laura Ling (right), two American journalists who were arrested in March after allegedly entering North Korea from China, speak with reporters as former President Bill Clinton and former Vice President Al Gore look on after the two arrived at Bob Hope Airport in Burbank, California, on August 5, 2009. North Korea sentenced Lee and Ling to 12 years of hard labor on June 8, 2009. File photo by Jim Ruymen/UPI
James Earl Ray, seen here in 1991, was arrested in London on this day in 1968 and charged with the murder of Martin Luther King Jr. UPI file photo
Carpets and other household items from the last safe house of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi lie among the rubble in Hibhib, Iraq, on June 8, 2006. An airstrike by a U.S. warplane on the house killed al-Zarqawi and a group of his companions late on June 7, 2006. UPI file photo by Zach Mott/US Army
Marine Corps Gen. John Allen, commander of the International Security Assistance Force and commander of U.S. forces in Afghanistan, testifies during a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington on March 22, 2012. On this day in 2012, Allen apologized to the Afghan people for the deaths of 18 civilians, including children, in an airstrike. File photo by Kevin Dietsch/UPI

On this date in history:

In 1789, James Madison proposed the Bill of Rights, which led to the first ten amendments to the U.S. Constitution.

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In 1869, Ives McGaffney of Chicago received a patent for a “sweeper,” the first vacuum cleaner.

In 1949, an FBI report identified several Hollywood personalities – including Frederic March, Dalton Trumbo, John Garfield, Paul Muni and Edward G. Robinson – as members of the Communist Party. The document’s release came amid the so-called Red Scare in the United States.

In 1967, the USS Liberty, a reconnaissance ship operating in international waters off Egypt, was attacked by Israeli jets and torpedo boats. The attack, which Israel said was the result of mistaken identity, killed 34 Americans.

In 1968, escaped convict James Earl Ray was arrested in London and charged with the April 4 murder of civil rights activist Martin Luther King Jr. Ray died in prison in 1998.

In 1986, Austrian voters elected Kurt Waldheim as president. The former UN Secretary General’s election campaign was overshadowed by allegations that he had been involved in Nazi war crimes.

First Lady Nancy Reagan (center) is with (left to right) Kurt Waldheim, Dagmar Koller, Thomas Klestil, President Robert Graf, Edith Klestil and Robert Jundbluth as a guest at the Vienna Volksoper on May 9, 1984 at the Kennedy Center in Washington. UPI file photo

In 1994, two of the main warring parties in Bosnia – the Muslim-Croat Federation and the Bosnian Serbs – signed a ceasefire agreement.

In 1995, US Marines rescued the crashed American pilot Scott O’Grady in Bosnia.

In 2006, the leader of Iraqi al-Qaeda, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, and seven other people were confirmed to have been killed in an airstrike on a house north of Baquba.

In 2009, North Korea sentenced US journalists Euna Lee and Laura Ling to twelve years in prison for “illegal entry”. They were released after a visit by former US President Bill Clinton.

File photo by Jim Ruymen/UPI

In 2012, General John Allen of the U.S. Marine Corps, commander of NATO forces in Afghanistan, apologized to the Afghan people for the deaths of 18 civilians, including children, in an airstrike.

In 2013, Princess Madeleine of Sweden married British-American businessman Christopher O’Neill.

In 2022, Iman Vellani became the first Muslim superhero on screen with the release of Ms. Marvel on Disney+.

File photo by John Angelillo/UPI

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