On this date in history:

In 1876, U.S. Army Gen. George Custer and his force of 208 men were killed by Chief Sitting Bull's Sioux warriors at Little Big Horn in Montana.

In 1942, U.S. Army Gen. Dwight Eisenhower took command of the U.S. World War II forces in Europe.

In 1950, North Korean forces invaded South Korea.

In 1951, CBS aired the first color television broadcast. At the time, no color TV sets were owned by the public.

In 1962, the U.S. Supreme Court handed down a decision interpreted as barring prayer in public schools.

In 1973, White House attorney John Dean told a U.S. Senate committee that U.S. President Richard Nixon joined in a plot to cover up the Watergate break-in.

In 1991, Slovenia and Croatia declared independence from Yugoslavia, sparking civil war.

In 1993, Kim Campbell was sworn in as Canada's first woman prime minister, taking the post after the retirement of Brian Mulroney. Campbell was PM only until November, leaving office after her Progressive Conservative Party was defeated in the federal election.

In 1994, Japanese Prime Minister Tsutomu Hata resigned two months after taking office rather than face a no-confidence vote by Parliament.

In 1997, about half of Mir's power supply was knocked out when an unmanned cargo ship collided with the Russian space station and put a hole in it.

In 2005, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was elected president of Iran.

In 2006, Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit was kidnapped by militants from the Gaza Strip. He was released Oct. 18, 2011.

In 2009, entertainment superstar Michael Jackson, known as the king of pop, a vast influence on the music scene of his day, died of cardiac arrest at age 50 while preparing a comeback.

In 2012, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 5-4 that mandatory sentencing of teenage killers to life without parole is unconstitutional.

In 2013, U.S. Rep. Edward Markey, D-Mass won a special election to fill out former Sen. John Kerry's term. Markey, who has served in Congress since 1976, defeated Republican Gabriel Gomez, a former Navy SEAL turned investment banker.

In 2014, the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously ruled that police must get a warrant before searching the cellphone of a person who is arrested.

Copyright 2016 by United Press International