Years Ago

Today is Sunday, June 15, the 166th day of 2014. There are 199 days left in the year. This is Father’s Day.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

On this date in:

1215: England’s King John puts his seal to the Magna Carta (“the Great Charter”) at Runnymede.

1775: The Second Continental Congress votes unanimously to appoint George Washington head of the Continental Army.

1836: Arkansas becomes the 25th state.

1849: James Polk, the 11th president of the United States, dies in Nashville, Tenn.

1864: Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton signs an order establishing a military burial ground, which becomes Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia.

1902: The 20th Century Limited, an express passenger train between New York and Chicago, begins service. (The Limited made its last run in December 1967.)

1904: More than 1,000 people die when fire erupts aboard the steamboat General Slocum in New York’s East River.

1934: President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs an act making the National Guard part of the U.S. Army in the event of war or national emergency.

1944: American forces begin their successful invasion of Saipan during World War II. B-29 Superfortresses carry out their first raids on Japan.

1962: Students for a Democratic Society issue the Port Huron Statement at the conclusion of a five-day convention in Michigan.

1978: King Hussein of Jordan marries 26-year-old American Lisa Halaby, who becomes Queen Noor.

1984: Composer-librettist Meredith Willson (“The Music Man”) dies in Santa Monica, Calif., at age 82.

1994: Israel and the Vatican establish full diplomatic relations.

2004: Tim Berners-Lee receives the $1.2 million Millennium Technology Prize in Helsinki, Finland, for creating the World Wide Web. .

2009: Gen. Stanley McChrystal takes charge of nearly 90,000 U.S. and NATO troops in Afghanistan

President Barack Obama, pushing health care reform before the annual meeting of the American Medical Association in Chicago, bluntly told the doctors he was against their highest legislative priority — limiting malpractice awards.

2013: Wild celebrations break out in Tehran and other cities as reformist-backed Hassan Rowhani caps a stunning surge to claim Iran’s presidency.

VINDICATOR FILES

1989: Forty-eight hours of rain raises the Mahoning River to 14.5 feet in Youngstown, 4 feet above flood stage.

The Peter J. Schmitt Co. is approved for a $10 million financial aid package to build a warehouse in North Jackson.

After weeks of debate, Warren City Council agrees to allow ice cream vendors in the city, but leaves it to the health department to develop license fees and regulate the number of vendors.

1974: U.S. EPA officials from Chicago indicate to four major Mahoning Valley steel makers that they are willing to negotiate to ease water-pollution standards for the Mahoning River if the mills prove a need for changes.

Evangelist Jack Van Impe and his wife, Rexella, his musical accompanist, conclude a successful crusade in New Wilmington, Pa., and will return to the area in July for a weeklong crusade in Austintown.

The Rev. Charles J. Butler, who was ordained in Chicago, will celebrate his first Mass in St. Edward Church in Youngstown.

1964: Republic Steel Corp. announces that it is using eye-catching red, white and blue labels to tell the world that its cold-drawn bar products are “Made in the USA by American Steelworkers.”

Five Youngstown area youth are elected to top offices at Buckeye Boys State: Louis Schwartz of Warren, lieutenant governor; Kenneth Moore of Youngstown, secretary of state; Bill Liber of Alliance, auditor; Geoffrey Utterback of Alliance, attorney general, and William Moore of Warren, supreme court justice.

The opening of the Roosevelt Park swimming pool in Campbell is postponed until further notice because of dirty water that was drawn into the pool when a valve on a water line was opened in an attempt to flush lines in the area.

1939: Luther T. Fawcett, Mahoning County sanitary engineer, is named to succeed the late D.H. Dittoe as chief engineer of the Mahoning Valley Sanitary District.

George Lapin, 52, of Lowellville is killed instantly when a charge of dynamite he was using to blast stumps explodes prematurely.

Ohio Attorney General Thomas J. Herbert tells Youngstown Police Prosecutor David Neiman that municipal courts have no jurisdiction over closing-hour violations of liquor permit holders.