Today in History: June 20, race-related rioting erupts in Detroit – The Mercury News

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Today is Saturday, June 20, the 171st day of 2026. There are 194 days left in the year.
On June 20, 1943, race-related rioting erupted in Detroit; federal troops were sent in by President Franklin D. Roosevelt to quell the violence that resulted in more than 30 deaths.
In 1782, the Continental Congress approved the Great Seal of the United States, featuring the emblem of the bald eagle.
In 1837, Queen Victoria acceded to the British throne following the death of her uncle, King William IV.
In 1893, a jury in New Bedford, Massachusetts, found Lizzie Borden not guilty of the ax murders of her father and stepmother.
In 1947, gangster Benjamin “Bugsy” Siegel was shot dead at the Beverly Hills, California, home of his girlfriend, Virginia Hill, likely at the order of mob associates.
In 1967, boxer Muhammad Ali was convicted in Houston of violating Selective Service laws by refusing to be drafted and was sentenced to five years in prison. (Ali’s conviction would ultimately be overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court).
In 1972, three days after the arrest of the Watergate burglars, President Richard Nixon met at the White House with his chief of staff, H.R. Haldeman; the secretly made tape recording of this meeting ended up with a notorious 18 1/2-minute gap.
In 2002, in Atkins v. Virginia, the Supreme Court ruled 6-3 that executing people with intellectual disabilities qualified as cruel and unusual punishment and was therefore in violation of the Eighth Amendment.
In 2025, a powerful tornado tore across southeastern North Dakota with winds topping 200 mph (322 kph) and an EF5 category, the strongest classification for a tornado and the first of that strength confirmed on U.S. soil in a dozen years. The tornado killed three people and heavily damaged a regional airport.
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