A war with many names started on this date in 1950. Most know it as the Korean War; in South Korea it is called the “6-2-5 Upheaval,” in North Korea it is called the “Fatherland Liberation War,” and in China it is called the “War to Resist U.S. Aggression and Aid Korea.”

On June 25, 1950, forces in North Korea invaded South Korea; the North was aided by the USSR and China, and the South was defended by the United Nations, with most forces supplied by the United States. Three years and one month later, an armistice was declared that kept the border between the two countries in place and tensions high to this day. A combined two and a half million civilians on both sides of the border were killed or wounded in the conflict.

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The Battle of the Little Bighorn, known to the Lakota people as the Battle of the Greasy Grass, took place 140 years ago today. An American force attempting to break up with violence a large Native American community in what is now southern Montana was instead met by a Native force that was more than three times its size. The American battalion was annihilated, and its commander, George Armstrong Custer, killed. Custer had been a proponent of a tactic that featured taking Native women and children hostage and employing them as human shields.

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Thomas Eakins died 100 years ago today. Johnny Mercer died 40 years ago today. “Skylark” by Johnny Mercer and Hoagy Carmichael, sung by the great Kitty LaRoar with piano accompaniment by her partner Nick Shankland:

 
Michel Foucault died on this date in 1984. Jacques Cousteau died on this date in 1997. Michael Jackson died in 2009 on this date. Farrah Fawcett died in 2009 on this date.

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George Abbott was born on this date in 1887. (He was still producing plays in the 1990s, past his 100th birthday.) George Orwell was born on this date in 1903. Sidney Lumet was born on this date in 1924.

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June Lockhart is 91 today. Eric Carle is 87. James Meredith is 83. Willis Reed is 74. Carly Simon is 71. Jimmie Walker is 69. Tim Finn is 64. Anthony Bourdain is 60. Ricky Gervais is 55. George Michael is 53. Yann Martel is 53. Dikembe Mutombo is 50 today.

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