Jim Kershner’s This day in history

From our archives,

75 years ago

As Spokane prepared to mark the 25th anniversary of Father’s Day, event organizers rounded up a famous local dad to help celebrate. “Bing Crosby Is Father’s Day Chairman,” a headline exclaimed, printed above a photo of Crosby with three of his children, Gary, and twins Denny and Phil. The accompanying caption identified Crosby as “one of the world’s most celebrated fathers,” and reported that he had been named “radio chairman” of the International Father’s Day Association, founded in 1910 in Spokane.

After Crosby’s death in 1977, son Gary would openly dispute his dad’s parenting style, writing in his memoir that Crosby was cold and abusive. Several of Gary Crosby’s siblings, however, strongly disputed those claims.

From the court files: A former state senator from Grant County was wrongly arrested in Republic, Wash., as an escaped jail inmate. H.D. McMillen, a prominent Ephrata businessman, was arrested after police found a rope dangling from his hotel room, leading them to think he could be Lester Campbell, missing from the Ferry County Jail. After the mix-up, Republic’s mayor abruptly resigned.

Also on this date

(From the Associated Press)

1967: President Lyndon B. Johnson nominated Solicitor General Thurgood Marshall to become the first black justice on the U.S. Supreme Court.