Today is Monday, June 20, the 171st day of 2011. There are 194 days left in the year.

Today’s Highlight in History

On June 20, 1921, U.S. Rep. Alice Mary Robertson, R-Okla., became the first woman to preside over a session of the House of Representatives. The milestone was reached during a roll call vote on funding a U.S. delegation to the centenary celebration of Peru’s independence.

On this date

In 1782, Congress approved the Great Seal of the United States.

In 1791, King Louis XVI of France and his family attempted to flee the country in the so-called “Flight to Varennes,” but were caught.

In 1837, Queen Victoria acceded to the British throne following the death of her uncle, King William IV.

In 1863, West Virginia became the 35th state.

In 1893, a jury in New Bedford, Mass., found Lizzie Borden not guilty of the ax murders of her father and stepmother.

In 1910, entertainer Fanny Brice made her official debut with The Ziegfeld Follies.

In 1947, Benjamin “Bugsy” Siegel was shot dead at the Beverly Hills, Calif., mansion of his girlfriend, Virginia Hill, apparently at the order of mob associates.

In 1963, the United States and Soviet Union signed an agreement to set up a “hot line” between the two superpowers.

In 1967, boxer Muhammad Ali was convicted in Houston of violating Selective Service laws by refusing to be drafted. (Ali’s conviction was ultimately overturned by the Supreme Court).

In 1979, ABC News correspondent Bill Stewart was shot to death in Managua, Nicaragua, by a member of President Anastasio Somoza’s national guard.

Today’s Birthdays

Actor Martin Landau is 80. Singer-songwriter Brian Wilson is 69. TV personality Bob Vila is 65. Rhythm-and-blues singer Lionel Richie is 62. Actor John Goodman is 59. Actress Nicole Kidman is 44. Movie director Robert Rodriguez is 43.

Thought for Today

“The art of progress is to preserve order amid change and to preserve change amid order.”

— Alfred North Whitehead,

English philosopher and mathematician (1861-1947)