Today in HistoryToday is Friday, June 8, the 159th day of 2007. There are 206 days left in the year.

ON THIS DAT>

In 1953, the Supreme Court, in District of Columbia v. Thompson Co., ruled that restaurants in the District of Columbia could not refuse to serve blacks.

In 1966, a merger was announced between the National Football League and the American Football League, to take effect in 1970.

In 1967, 34 US servicemen were killed when Israeli forces raided the Liberty, a Navy ship stationed in the Mediterranean. (Israel called the attack a tragic mistake.)

In 1987, Fawn Hall began testifying at the Iran-Contra hearings, describing how, as secretary to National Security aide Oliver L. North, she helped to shred some documents and spirit away others.B>THOUGHT FOR TODAY

“The most valuable of all talents is that of never using two words when one will do.” — Thomas Jefferson, third President of the United States (1743-1826).