60 years ago today
Supreme Court Rules in Miranda v. Arizona
On June 13, 1966, the U.S. Supreme Court handed down its ruling in Miranda v. Arizona, establishing that criminal suspects must be informed of their right to remain silent and their right to an attorney before police interrogation. The case arose from the arrest of Ernesto Miranda, who had confessed to kidnapping and rape without being told he had the right to refuse questioning. Chief Justice Earl Warren, writing for the 5-4 majority, declared that the Fifth Amendment's protection against self-incrimination required these warnings to be read. The ruling transformed American law enforcement overnight — every detective, every officer, every police procedural drama became legally bound to recite the now-iconic lines: "You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law." The "Miranda warning" has since become one of the most recognized phrases in the English-speaking world.
This day, across time
- 313 CEEventEdict of Milan Proclaimed in the East
- 1325EventIbn Battuta Begins His 24-Year Journey
- 1381EventPeasants' Revolt: Savoy Palace Set Ablaze
- 1525EventMartin Luther Marries Katharina von Bora
- 1645DiedMiyamoto Musashi
- 1831BornJames Clerk Maxwell
- 1865BornW. B. Yeats
- 1886EventLudwig II of Bavaria Found Dead
- 1897BornPaavo Nurmi
- 1927EventCharles Lindbergh Receives a Ticker-Tape Parade
- 1953BornTim Allen
- 1966FeaturedSupreme Court Rules in Miranda v. Arizona
- 1967EventThurgood Marshall Nominated to the Supreme Court
- 1971EventPentagon Papers Publication Begins
- 1981BornChris Evans
- 1983EventPioneer 10 Crosses Neptune’s Orbit
- 1986DiedBenny Goodman
- 2005EventMichael Jackson Acquitted on All Charges
- 2023DiedCormac McCarthy
Alive in 1966
OverlapSame years; not influence
Walt Disneydied this year
Abraham Heschelturned 59 this year
Deng Xiaopingturned 62 this year
Elvis Presleyturned 31 this year
Emmanuel Levinasturned 60 this year
John Lennonturned 26 this year
Kofi Annanturned 28 this year
Langston Hughesturned 65 this year
Margaret Thatcherturned 41 this year
Martin Luther King Jr.turned 37 this year
6 more figures were alive that year
On This Day in History
11 EventsEdict of Milan Proclaimed in the East
The decisions of the Edict of Milan — jointly issued by emperors Constantine I and Licinius — are published in Nicomedia, extending religious tolerance throughout the Roman Empire and marking the beginning of Christianity's rise as an imperial faith.
Ibn Battuta Begins His 24-Year Journey
The 21-year-old Moroccan scholar Ibn Battuta departs Tangier for Mecca, beginning a journey that will cover roughly 75,000 miles across Africa, the Middle East, Central Asia, India, Southeast Asia, and China — one of the greatest travel chronicles in history.
Peasants' Revolt: Savoy Palace Set Ablaze
English rebels storm and burn the Savoy Palace, residence of the hated John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster — one of the most spectacular acts of the Peasants' Revolt and a dramatic challenge to the wealth of the medieval nobility.
Martin Luther Marries Katharina von Bora
Protestant reformer Martin Luther marries Katharina von Bora, a former nun — a deliberately provocative act that scandalized Catholic Europe and embodied his rejection of clerical celibacy. Their marriage became a model for Protestant clergy.
Ludwig II of Bavaria Found Dead
King Ludwig II of Bavaria — the reclusive patron who built Neuschwanstein Castle and financed Richard Wagner's operas — is found dead in Lake Starnberg under mysterious circumstances the day after being deposed. His death remains officially ruled a drowning, though theories of murder persist.
Charles Lindbergh Receives a Ticker-Tape Parade
New York City honors Charles Lindbergh with a ticker-tape parade attended by an estimated four million people, celebrating his solo nonstop transatlantic flight completed just weeks earlier — the largest crowd ever assembled in New York to that point.
Miranda v. Arizona Decided
The U.S. Supreme Court rules that criminal suspects must be informed of their rights before interrogation, establishing the 'Miranda warning' that transforms American law enforcement.
Thurgood Marshall Nominated to the Supreme Court
President Lyndon B. Johnson nominates Thurgood Marshall — the lead attorney in Brown v. Board of Education — to be the first African American justice on the U.S. Supreme Court.
Pentagon Papers Publication Begins
The New York Times begins publishing the Pentagon Papers — a secret Defense Department study revealing that the U.S. government had systematically deceived the public and Congress about the Vietnam War. The Nixon administration's attempt to suppress publication leads to a landmark press freedom ruling.
Pioneer 10 Crosses Neptune’s Orbit
Pioneer 10 crosses Neptune’s orbit, then the orbit of the outermost planet because Pluto is nearer the Sun. This is a planetary-distance milestone, not a crossing of the heliopause or the end of the Sun’s gravitational influence.
Michael Jackson Acquitted on All Charges
Pop superstar Michael Jackson is acquitted on all 10 counts of child molestation and related charges in a Santa Maria, California courtroom, ending a trial that had transfixed the world for months.
Born on This Day
W. B. Yeats
Irish Poet & Nobel Laureate
Winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1923, Yeats is widely considered the greatest poet of the 20th century in the English language. His poems — from 'The Second Coming' to 'The Lake Isle of Innisfree' — fuse Irish mythology, mysticism, and political passion into work of haunting power.
James Clerk Maxwell
Scottish Physicist
The physicist whose equations unified electricity, magnetism, and light into a single framework — one of the greatest intellectual achievements in science. Einstein kept Maxwell's portrait alongside those of Newton and Faraday, calling his work 'the most profound and the most fruitful that physics has experienced since the time of Newton.'
Paavo Nurmi
Finnish Distance Runner, "The Flying Finn"
The greatest distance runner of his era, Nurmi won nine Olympic gold medals between 1920 and 1928, setting 22 world records. His extreme discipline — training with a stopwatch to pace himself scientifically — revolutionized athletic training.
Tim Allen
American Actor & Comedian
Star of the long-running TV series Home Improvement and the voice of Buzz Lightyear in the Toy Story franchise, Allen became one of the most commercially successful comic actors of the 1990s.
Chris Evans
American Actor
Best known for portraying Steve Rogers / Captain America in the Marvel Cinematic Universe across 12 films, Evans brought dignity, warmth, and physical commitment to the role, making the character one of popular cinema's most beloved heroes.
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Miyamoto Musashi
Japanese Swordsman & Philosopher
Japan's most celebrated swordsman, who claimed to have fought over 60 duels and never lost. In the final years of his life he retired to a cave and wrote The Book of Five Rings, a treatise on strategy and martial philosophy still studied by military leaders and business executives today.
Benny Goodman
American Jazz Clarinetist, "King of Swing"
The clarinetist who ignited the Swing Era, Goodman led one of the most popular bands of the 1930s and '40s, and famously broke the color barrier in American music by featuring African American soloists Teddy Wilson, Lionel Hampton, and Charlie Christian alongside white musicians.
Cormac McCarthy
American Novelist
One of the most powerful voices in American literature, McCarthy's novels — including Blood Meridian, No Country for Old Men, and The Road — explored violence, mortality, and human endurance in a biblical prose style unlike anyone else. He won the Pulitzer Prize for The Road in 2007.
Ludwig II of Bavaria
King of Bavaria (r. 1864–1886)
The 'Dream King' who built fairy-tale castles and poured his treasury into Wagner's art was found dead in a Bavarian lake the day after being deposed. His fantastical Neuschwanstein Castle — source of the Disney castle design — now draws millions of visitors each year.
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