On This Day

May 16, 2012

1770 - Marie Antoinette, at age 14, married the future King Louis XVI of France, who was 15.

1866 - The U.S. Congress authorized the first 5-cent piece to be minted.

1868 - U.S. President Andrew Johnson was acquitted during the Senate impeachment, by one vote.

1879 - The Treaty of Gandamak between Russia and England set up the Afghan state.

1881 - In Germany the first electric tram for the public started service.

1888 - The first demonstration of recording on a flat disc was demonstrated by Emile Berliner.

1888 - The capitol of Texas was dedicated in Austin.

1910 - The U.S. Bureau of Mines was authorized by the U.S. Congress.

1914 - The American Horseshoe Pitchers Association (AHPA) was formed in Kansas City, Kansas.

1920 - Joan of Arc was canonized in Rome.

1929 - The first Academy Awards were held in Hollywood.

1939 - The Philadelphia Athletics and the Cleveland Indians met at Shibe Park in Philadelphia for the first baseball game to be played under the lights in the American League.

1946 - "Annie Get Your Gun" opened on Broadway.

1946 - jack Mullin showed the world the first magnetic tape recorder.

1948 - The body of CBS News correspondent George Polk was found in Solonika Bay in Greece. It had been a week after he'd disappeared.

1960 - A Big Four summit in Paris collapsed due to the American U-2 spy plane incident.

1960 - Theodore Maiman, at Hughes Research Laboratory in California, demonstrated the first working laser.

1963 - After 22 Earth orbits Gordon Cooper returned to Earth, ending Project Mercury.

1965 - Spaghetti-O's went on sale.

1969 - Venus 5, a Russian spacecraft, landed on the planet Venus.

1971 - U.S. postage for a one-ounce first class stamp was increased from 6 to 8 cents.

1975 - Japanese climber Junko Tabei became the first woman to reach the summit of Mount Everest.

1977 - Five people were killed when a New York Airways helicopter, idling on top of the Pan Am Building in Manhattan, toppled over, sending a huge rotor blade flying.

1985 - Michael Jordan was named Rookie of the Year in the NBA.

1987 - The Bobro 400 set sail from New York Harbor with 3,200 tons of garbage. The barge travelled 6,000 miles in search of a place to dump its load. It returned to New York Harbor after 8 weeks with the same load.

1988 - A report released by Surgeon General C. Everett Koop declared that nicotine was addictive in similar was as heroin and cocaine.

1988 - The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that police do not have to have a search warrant to search discarded garbage.

1991 - Queen Elizabeth II became the first British monarch to address the U.S. Congress.

1992 - The Endeavour space shuttle landed safely after its maiden voyage.

1996 - Admiral Jeremy "Mike" Boorda, the nation's top Navy officer, died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound after some of his military awards were called into question.

1997 - In Zaire, President Mobutu Sese Seko gave control of the country to rebel forces ending 32 years of autocratic rule.

2000 - U.S. First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton was nominated to run for U.S. Senator in New York. She was the first U.S. first lady to run for public office.

2003 - Adam Rich was placed on three years probation after he pled no contest to misdemeanor charges of driving under the influence and being under the influence of a controlled substance. He was also ordered to take part ina 60-day treatment program and pay about $1,200 in fines.

2005 - Sony Corp. unveiled three styles of its new PlayStation 3 video game machine.

May 17, 2012

1540 - Afghan chief Sher Khan defeated Mongul Emperor Humayun at Kanauj.

1630 - Italian Jesuit Niccolo Zucchi saw the belts on Jupiter's surface.

1681 - Louis XIV sent an expedition to aid James II in Ireland. As a result, England declares war on France.

1756 - Britain declared war on France, beginning the French and Indian War.

1792 - The New York Stock Exchange was founded at 70 Wall Street by 24 brokers.

1814 - Denmark ceded Norway to Sweden. Norway's constitution, which provided a limited monarchy, was signed.

1875 - The first Kentucky Derby was run at Louisville, KY.

1877 - The first telephone switchboard burglar alarm was installed by Edwin T. Holmes.

1881 - Frederick Douglass was appointed recorder of deeds for Washington, DC.

1926 - The U.S. Embassy in Buenos Aires was damaged by bombs that were believed set by sympathizers of Sacco and Vanzetti.

1932 - The U.S. Congress changed the name "Porto Rico" to "Puerto Rico."

1939 - The first fashion to be shown on television was broadcast in New York from the Ritz-Carleton Hotel.

1940 - Germany occupied Brussels, Belgium and began the invasion of France.

1946 - U.S. President Truman seized control of the nation's railroads, delaying a threatened strike by engineers and trainmen.

1948 - The Soviet Union recognized the new state of Israel.

1954 - The U.S. Supreme Court unanimously ruled for school integration in Brown vs. Board of Education of Topeka. The ruling declared that racially segregated schools were inherently unequal.

1956 - The first synthetic mica (synthamica) was offered for sale in Caldwell Township, NJ.

1973 - The U.S. Senate Watergate Committee began its hearings.

1975 - NBC TV bought the rights to show "Gone With the Wind." The one time rights cost NBC $5,000,000.

1980 - Rioting erupted in Miami's Liberty City neighborhood after an all-white jury in Tampa acquitted four former Miami police officers of fatally beating black insurance executive Arthur McDuffie. Eight people were killed in the rioting.

1985 - Bobby Ewing died on the season finale of "Dallas" on CBS-TV. He returned the following season.

1987 - Eric ‘Sleepy’ Floyd of the Golden State Warriors set a playoff record for points in a single quarter with 29.

1987 - An Iraqi warplane attacked the U.S. Navy frigate Stark in the Persian Gulf, killing 37 American sailors. Iraq and the United States called the attack a mistake.

1990 - Kelsey Grammer was sentenced to 30 days in jail for DWI.

1996 - U.S. President Clinton signed a measure requiring neighborhood notification when sex offenders move in. Megan's Law was named for 7-year-old Megan Kanka, who was raped and killed in 1994.

1997 - Rebel leader Kabila declared himself president of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, formerly Zaire.

1997 - Sylvester Stallone and Jennifer Flavin were married in London.

1998 - New York Yankees pitcher David Wells became the 13th player in modern major league baseball history to throw a perfect game.

1999 - Eric Ford, a tabloid photographer, was sentenced to 6 months at a halfway house, 3 years probation and 150 hours of community service. The sentence stemmed from a charge that Ford had eavesdropped on a call between Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman and then sold a recording of the conversation.

1999 - Alex Trebek received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

2000 - Thomas E. Blanton Jr. and David Luker surrendered to police in Birmingham, AL. The two former Ku Klux Klan members were arrested on charges from the bombing of a church in 1963 that killed four young black girls.

2000 - Austria, the U.S. and six other countries agreed on the broad outline of a plan that would compensate Nazi-Era forced labor.

2000 - It was announced that Terra Networks SA and Lycos would be merging with the new name to be Terra Lycos. Terra made the deal happen with the purchase of $12.5 billion in stock.

2001 - The U.S. Postal Service issued a stamp based on Charles M. Schulz's "Peanuts" comic strip.

2006 - The U.S. aircraft carrier Oriskany was sunk about 24 miles off Pensacola Beach. It was the first vessel sunk under a Navy program to dispose of old warships by turning them into diving attractions. It was the largest man-made reef at the time of the sinking.

2007 - Trains crossed the border dividing North and South Korea for the first time since 1953.

May 18, 2012

1302 - The weaver Peter de Coningk led a massacre of the Flemish oligarchs.

1642 - Montreal, Canada, was founded.

1643 - Queen Anne, the widow of Louis XIII, was granted sole and absolute power as regent by the Paris parliament, overriding the late king's will.

1652 - In Rhode Island, a law was passed that made slavery illegal in North America. It was the first law of its kind.

1792 - Russian troops invaded Poland.

1798 - The first Secretary of the U.S. Navy was appointed. He was Benjamin Stoddert.

1802 - Great Britain declared war on Napoleon's France.

1804 - Napoleon Bonaparte was proclaimed emperor by the French Senate.

1828 - Battle of Las Piedras ended the conflict between Uruguay and Brazil.

1896 - The U.S. Supreme court upheld the "separate but equal" policy in the Plessy vs. Ferguson decision. The ruling was overturned 58 years later with Brown vs. Board of Education.

1897 - A public reading of Bram Stoker's new novel, "Dracula, or, The Un-dead," was performed in London.

1904 - Brigand Raizuli kidnapped American Ion H. Perdicaris in Morocco.

1917 - The U.S. Congress passed the Selective Service act, which called up soldiers to fight in World War I.

1926 - Evangelist Aimee Semple McPherson vanished while visiting a beach in Venice, CA. She reappeared a month later with the claim that she had been kidnapped.

1931 - Japanese pilot Seiji Yoshihara crashed his plane in the Pacific Ocean while trying to be the first to cross the ocean nonstop. He was picked up seven hours later by a passing ship.

1933 - The Tennessee Valley Authority was created.

1934 - The U.S. Congress approved an act, known as the "Lindberg Act," that called for the death penalty in interstate kidnapping cases.

1942 - New York ended night baseball games for the duration of World War II.

1944 - Monte Cassino, Europe's oldest Monastic house, was finally captured by the Allies in Italy.

1949 - Antiquarian Booksellers Association of America was incorporated

1951 - The United Nations moved its headquarters to New York City.

1953 - The first woman to fly faster than the speed of sound, Jacqueline Cochran, piloted an F-86 Sabrejet over California at an average speed of 652.337 miles-per-hour.

1974 - India became the sixth nation to explode an atomic bomb.

1980 - Mt. Saint Helens erupted in Washington state. 57 people were killed and 3 billion in damage was done.

1983 - The U.S. Senate revised immigration laws and gave millions of illegal aliens legal status under an amnesty program.

1994 - Israel's three decades of occupation in the Gaza Strip ended as Israeli troops completed their withdrawal and Palestinian authorities took over.

1998 - The U.S. federal government and 20 states filed a sweeping antitrust case against Microsoft Corp., saying the computer software company had a "choke hold" on competitors which denied consumer choices by controlling 90% of the software market.

1998 - U.S. federal officials arrested more than 130 people and seized $35 million. This was the end to an investigation of money laundering being done by a dozen Mexican banks and two drug-smuggling cartels.

May 21, 2012

0996 - Sixteen year old Otto III was crowned the Roman Emperor.

1471 - King Henry VI was killed in the tower of London. Edward IV took the throne.

1536 - The Reformation was officially adopted in Geneva, Switzerland.

1542 - Hernando de Soto died along the Mississippi River while searching for gold.

1602 - Martha's Vineyard was first sighted by Captain Bartholomew Gosnold.

1688 - The English poet Alexander Pope was born.

1790 - Paris was divided into 48 zones.

1819 - Bicycles were first seen in the U.S. in New York City. They were originally known as "swift walkers."

1832 - In the U.S., the Democratic Party held its first national convention.

1840 - New Zealand was declared a British colony.

1856 - Lawrence, Kansas was captured by pro-slavery forces.

1863 - The siege of the Confederate Port Hudson, LA, began.

1881 - The American branch of the Red Cross was founded by Clara Barton.

1881 - The United States Lawn Tennis Association was formed in New York City.

1891 - Peter Jackson and Jim Corbett fought for 61 rounds only to end in a draw.

1906 - Louis H. Perlman received his patent for the demountable tire-carrying rim.

1922 - The cartoon, "On the Road to Moscow," by Rollin Kirby won a Pulitzer Prize. It was the first cartoon awarded the Pulitzer.

1924 - Fourteen-year-old Bobby Franks was murdered in a "thrill killing" committed by Nathan Leopold Jr. and Richard Loeb. The killers were students at the University of Chicago.

1927 - Charles A. Lindberg completed the first solo nonstop airplane flight across the Atlantic Ocean. The trip began May 20.

1929 - The first automatic electric stock quotation board was used by Sutro and Company of New York City.

1934 - Oskaloosa, IA, became the first city in the U.S. to fingerprint all of its citizens.

1941 - The first U.S. ship, the SS Robin Moor, was sunk by a U-boat.

1945 - Lauren Bacall and Humphrey Bogart were married.

1947 - Joe DiMaggio and five of his New York Yankee teammates were fined $100 because they had not fulfilled contract requirements to do promotional duties for the team.

1956 - The U.S. exploded the first airborne hydrogen bomb in the Pacific Ocean over Bikini Atoll.

1961 - Governor Patterson declared martial law in Montgomery, AL.

1968 - The nuclear-powered U.S. submarine Scorpion, with 99 men aboard, was last heard from. The remains of the sub were later found on the ocean floor 400 miles southwest of the Azores.

1970 - The National Guard was mobilized to quell disturbances at Ohio State University.

1980 - The movie "The Empire Strikes Back" was released.

1982 - The British landed in the Falkland Islands and fighting began.

1991 - In Madras, India, the former prime minister, Rajiv Gandhi was killed by a bouquet of flowers that contained a bomb.

1998 - An expelled student, Kipland Kinkel, in Springfield, OR, killed 2 people and wounded 25 others with a semi-automatic rifle. Police also discovered that the boy had killed his parents before the rampage.

1998 - Microsoft and Sega announced that they are collaborating on a home video game system.

1998 - In Miami, FL, five abortion clinics were hit by an butyric acid-attacker.

May 22, 2012

1246 - Henry Raspe was elected anti-king by the Rhenish prelates in France.

1455 - King Henry VI was taken prisoner by the Yorkists at the Battle of St. Albans, during the War of the Roses.

1570 - Abraham Ortelius published the first modern atlas in Belgium.

1761 - In Philadelphia, the first life insurance policy was issued in the U.S.

1819 - The steamship Savannah became the first to cross the Atlantic Ocean.

1841 - Henry Kennedy received a patent for the first reclining chair.

1849 - Abraham Lincoln received a patent for the floating dry dock.

1859 - The creator of "Sherlock Holmes," Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was born.

1868 - Near Marshfield, IN, The "Great Train Robbery" took place. The robbery was worth $96,000 in cash, gold and bonds to the seven members of the Reno gang.

1872 - The Amnesty Act restored civil rights to Southerners.

1882 - The U.S. formally recognized Korea.

1891 - The first public motion picture was given in Thomas Edison's lab.

1892 - Dr. Sheffield, a British dentist, invented the toothpaste tube.

1900 - The Associated Press was incorporated as a non-profit news cooperative in New York.

1900 - A. DeVilbiss, Jr. patented his pendulum-type computing scale.

1900 - Edwin S. Votey received a patent for the pianola (a pneumatic piano player). It could be attached to any piano.

1908 - The Wright brothers registered their flying machine for a U.S. patent.

1939 - Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini signed a military alliance between Germany and Italy known as the "Pact of Steel."

1947 - The Truman Doctrine was enacted by the U.S. Congress to appropriate military and economic aid Turkey and Greece.

1955 - A scheduled dance to be headlined by Fats Domino was canceled by police in Bridgeport, Connecticut because "rock and roll dances might be featured."

1955 - jack Benny did his last live network radio broadcast after a run of 23 years. He devoted his time fully to TV.

1967 - "Mister Rogers' Neighborhood" premiered on PBS.

1967 - The final "To Tell the Truth" program was seen on CBS-TV.

1969 - A lunar module of Apollo 10 flew within nine miles of the moon's surface. The event was a rehearsal for the first lunar landing.

1972 - U.S. President Nixon became the first U.S. president to visit Russia. He met with Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev.

1972 - The island Ceylon adopted a new constitution and became the republic of Sri Lanka.

1977 - Janet Guthrie set the fastest time of the second weekend of qualifying, becoming the first woman to earn a starting spot in the Indianapolis 500 since its inception in 1911.

1985 - Pete Rose passed Hank Aaron as National League run scoring leader with 2,108.

1986 - Sylvester Stallone agreed to a 10-picture, six-year deal with United Artists. He signed for a reported $15 million for each film.

1990 - In the Middle East, North and South Yemen merged to become a single state known as the Republic of Yemen.

1990 - Microsoft released Windows 3.0.

1992 - Johnny Carson hosted NBC's "Tonight Show" for the last time. He had been host for 30 years.

1997 - Kelly Flinn, the U.S. Air Force's first female bomber pilot certified for combat, accepted a general discharge. She thereby avoided court-martial on charges of adultery, lying and disobeying an order.

1998 - Bolivia was hit with a series of powerful earthquakes. At least 18 were killed. The quakes ranged in magnitude from 5.9 to 6.8.

1998 - New information came to light about the June 1996 bombing that killed 19 American airmen. The information indicated that Saudi citizens had been responsible and not Iranians as once believed.

1998 - A federal judge said that Secret Service agents could be compelled to testify before a grand jury in Monica Lewinsky investigation concerning U.S. President Clinton.

1998 - Voters in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland turned out to cast ballots giving approval to a Northern Ireland peace accord.

2002 - Chandra Levy's remains were found in Washington, DC's Rock Creek Park. She was last seen on April 30, 2001. California Congressman Gary Condit was questioned in the case due to his relationship with Levy.

2002 - In Birmingham, AL, a jury convicted former Ku Klux Klansman Bobby Frank Cherry of murder in the 1963 church bombing that killed four girls.

2002 - Barry Bonds (San Francisco Giants) hit his 583rd career home run. He tied Mark McGwire for fifth on the all-time list.

2003 - At the Colonial in Fort Worth, TX, Annika Sorentam became the first woman to play on the PGA tour in 58 years. She ended the day at 1-over par.

May 23, 2012

1430 - Joan of Arc was captured by Burgundians. She was then sold to the English.

1533 - Henry VIII’s marriage to Catherine of Aragon was declared null and void.

1618 - The Thirty Years War began when three opponents of the Reformation were thrown through a window.

1701 - In London, Captain William Kidd was hanged after being convicted of murder and piracy.

1785 - Benjamin Franklin wrote in a letter that he had invented bifocals.

1788 - South Carolina became the eighth state to ratify U.S. Constitution.

1827 - The first nursery school in the U.S. was established in New York City.

1846 - Arabella Mansfield (Belle Aurelia Babb) was born. She was the first woman in the U.S. to pass the bar exam, though she never used her law degree.

1873 - Canada's North West Mounted Police force was established. The organization's name was changed to Royal Canadian Mounted Police in 1920.

1876 - Boston’s Joe Borden pitched the very first no-hitter in the history of the National League.

1879 - The first U.S. veterinary school was established by Iowa State University.

1895 - The New York Public Library was created with an agreement that combined the city's existing Astor and Lenox libraries.

1900 - Civil War hero Sgt. William H. Carney became the first African American to receive the Medal of Honor, 37 years after the Battle of Fort Wagner.

1901 - American forces captured Filipino rebel leader Emilio Aguinaldo.

1908 - Part of the Great White Fleet arrived in Puget Sound, WA.

1915 - During World War I, Italy joined the Allies as they declared war on Austria-Hungary.

1922 - The play "Abie's Irish Rose" opened in New York City.

1922 - "Daylight Saving Time" was debated in the first debate ever to be heard on radio in Washington, DC.

1926 - The French captured the Moroccan Rif capital.

1934 - In Bienville Parish, LA, Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow were ambushed and killed by Texas Rangers. The bank robbers were riding in a stolen Ford Deluxe.

1937 - Industrialist John D. Rockefeller died.

1938 - "LIFE" magazine’s cover pictured Errol Flynn as a glamour boy.

1945 - In Luneburg Germany, Heinrich Himmler, the head of the Nazi Gestapo, committed suicide while imprisoned by the Allied forces.

1949 - The Republic of West Germany was established.

1960 - Israel announced the capture of Nazi Adolf Eichmann in Argentina.

1962 - The National Basketball Association (NBA) agreed to transfer the Philadelphia Warriors to San Francisco, CA. The team became the San Francisco Warriors (and later the Golden State Warriors).

1962 - Joe Pepitone of the New York Yankees set a major league baseball record by hitting two home runs in one inning.

1981 - In Barcelona, Spain, gunmen seized control of the Central Bank and took 200 hostages.

1985 - Thomas Patrick Cavanagh was sentenced to life in prison for trying to sell Stealth bomber secrets to the Soviet Union.

1992 - In Lisbon, Portugal , the U.S. and four former Soviet republics signed an agreement to implement the START missile reduction treaty that had been agreed to by the Soviet Union before it was dissolved.

1994 - "Pulp Fiction" won the "Golden Palm" for best film at the 47th Cannes Film Festival.

1995 - The Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City was demolished.

1998 - British Protestants and Irish Catholics of Northern Ireland approved a peace accord.

1999 - In Kansas City, MO, Owen Hart (Blue Blazer) died when he fell 90 feet while being lowered into a WWF wrestling ring. He was 33 years old.

1999 - Gerry Bloch, at age 81, became the oldest climber to scale El Capitan in Yosemite National Park. He broke his own record that he set in 1986 when he was 68 years old.

May 24, 2012

1781 - Composer Louis-Francois Dauprat was born.

1964 - On "The Ed Sullivan Show," a taped Beatles performance was played. The Beatles performed "You Can't Do That" from the set of "A Hard Day's Night."

1970 - Peter Green quit Fleetwood Mac.

1974 - On "Midnight Special," Richard Pryor was host to Olivia Newton-John and Boz Scaggs.

1979 - Genesis manned a box office selling tickets to their benefit show at L.A.'s Roxy.

1982 - Topper Headon left the Clash.

1982 - Jefferson Starship, the Grateful Dead, Boz Scaggs, and Country Joe McDonald played at San Francisco's Moscone Center to raise money for the Vietnam Veterans Project.

1983 - Vince Clarke and Alison Moyet broke up the band Yaz.

1986 - Garth Brooks and Sandy Mahl were married.

1986 - Davy Jones, Mickey Dolenz, and Peter Tork reunited as the Monkees. They kicked off their reunion tour at the Concord Hotel, in New York's Catskills Mountains.

1988 - The debut album "Vermillion" was released by Three O'Clock.

1989 - The Mavis Staples album "Time Waits For No One" was released.

1989 - "Weird Al" Yankovic recorded "Generic Blues," "Biggest Ball of Twine in Minnesota," "Hot Rocks Polka," "Attack of the Radioactive Hamsters," and "Spam." The five tracks all appeared on the soundtrack to his film "UHF."

1990 - Axl Rose and Erin Everly filed for divorce. They had been married for less than a month.

1998 - The first Native American music Awards took place at the Fox Theater at the Foxwoods Resort Casino in Mashantucket, CN.

1998 - Philadelphia mayor Ed Rendell proclaimed May 24th "Van Halen Day" in Philadelphia.

1999 - David Bowie wrote and recorded the song "What's Really Happening" during a live Webcast. The song appeared on the album "hours."

2000 - Chuck D testified to the U.S. Congress about the benefits of Napster and online music distribution.

2000 - Puff Daddy settled the last lawsuit that had arisen from a 1991 stampede at a New York charity event.

May 25, 2012

585 BC - The first known prediction of a solar eclipse was made in Greece.

1085 - Alfonso VI took Toledo, Spain from the Moslems.

1787 - The Constitutional convention opened in Philadelphia with George Washington presiding.

1810 - Argentina declared independence from Napoleonic Spain.

1844 - The gasoline engine was patented by Stuart Perry.

1844 - The first telegraphed news dispatch, sent from Washington, DC, to Baltimore, MD, appeared in the Baltimore "Patriot."

1895 - Oscar Wilde, a playwright, poet and novelist, was convicted of a morals charge and sentenced to prison in London.

1895 - James P. Lee first published "Gold in America -- A Practical Manual."

1911 - President of Mexico, Porfolio Diaz, resigned his office.

1925 - John Scopes was indicted for teaching the Darwinian theory in school.

1927 - Ford Motor Company announced that the Model A would replace the Model T.

1927 - The "Movietone News" was shown for the first time at the Sam Harris Theatre in New York City.

1935 - Babe Ruth hit his final homerun, his 714th, and set a record that would stand for 39 years.

1935 - Jesse Owens tied the world record for the 100-yard dash. He ran it in 9.4 seconds. He also broke three other world track records.

1946 - Jordan gained independence from Britain.

1953 - In Nevada, the first atomic cannon was fired.

1961 - America was asked by U.S. President Kennedy to work toward putting a man on the moon before the end of the decade.

1963 - The Organization of African Unity was founded, in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

1968 - The Gateway Arch, part of the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial in St. Louis, MO, was dedicated.

1970 - Boeing Computer Services was founded.

1977 - "Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope" opened and became the largest grossing film to date.

1977 - An opinion piece by Vietnam verteran Jan Scruggs appeared in "The Washington Post." The article called for a national memorial to "remind an ungrateful nation of what it has done to its sons" that had served in the Vietnam War.

1979 - An American Airlines DC-10 crashed during takeoff at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport. 275 people were killed.

1981 - Daredevil Daniel Goodwin scaled Chicago's Sears Tower, while wearing a "Spiderman" costume, in 7 1/2 hours.

1983 - "The Return of the Jedi" opened nationwide. It set a new record in opening day box office sales. The gross was $6,219,629.

1985 - Bangladesh was hit with a hurricane and tidal wave that killed more than 11,000 people.

1986 - Approximately 7 million Americans participated in "Hands Across America."

1989 - The Calgary Flames won their first NHL Stanley Cup by defeating the Montreal Canadiens.

1992 - Jay Leno debuted as the new permanent host of NBC's "Tonight Show."

1996 - In Nimes, France, Christina Sanchez became the first woman to achieve the rank of matadore in Europe.

1997 - In Sierra Leone a military coup overthrew the popularly elected President Ahmad Tejan Kabbah. He was replaced with Major Johnny Paul Koromah.

1997 - U.S. Senator Strom Thurmond became the longest-serving senator in U.S. history (41 years and 10 months).

1997 - Poland adopted a constitution that removed all traces of communism.

1999 - A report by the U.S. House of Representatives Select Committee on U.S. National Security and Military/Commercial Concerns with the People's Republic of China concluded that China had "stolen design information on the U.S. most-advanced thermonuclear weapons" and that China's penetration of U.S. weapons laboratories "spans at least the past several decades and almost certainly continues today."

2000 - The Walt Disney Co. and Time Warner Inc. signed a long-term deal that ended a dispute over the airing policies of Time Warner. Time Warner had blacked out Disney programs for a 39 hour period the previous month due to the lack of an agreement.

Disney movies, music and books

2001 - Erik Weihenmeyer, 32, of Golder, CO, became the first blind climber to reach the summit of Mount Everest.

2001 - Sherman Bull, 64, of New Canaan, CT, became the oldest climber to reach the summit of Mount Everest.

2006 - In Houston, former Enron Corp. chiefs Kenneth Lay and Jeffrey Skillinng were convicted of conspiracy and fraud for the downfall of Enron.

2008 - NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander landed in the arctic plains of Mars.

2009 - North Korea announced that it had conducted a second successful nuclear test in the province of North Hamgyong. The United Nations Security Council condemned the reported test.

May 28, 2012

585 BC - Thales Miletus predicted a solar eclipse.

585BC - The Persian-Lydian battle ended.

1533 - England's Archbishop declared the marriage of King Henry VIII to Anne Boleyn valid.

1774 - The First Continental Congress convened in Virginia.

1805 - Napoleon was crowned in Milan, Italy.

1863 - The first black regiment left Boston to fight in the U.S. Civil War.

1892 - The Sierra club was organized in San Francisco, CA.

1900 - Britain annexed the Orange Free State.

1908 - Ian Fleming, who created the character James Bond, was born.

1918 - Azerbaijan, in Russian Caucasus, declared independence.

1926 - Portuguese General da Costa took over in a coup.

1928 - Chrysler Corporation merged with Dodge Brothers, Inc.

1929 - Warner Brothers debuted "On With The Show" in New York City. It was the first all-color-talking picture.

1934 - The Dionne quintuplets were born near Callender, Ontario, to Olivia and Elzire Dionne. The babies were the first quintuplets to survive infancy.

1937 - U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt pushed a button in Washington, DC, signaling that vehicular traffic could cross the newly opened Golden Gate Bridge in California.

1940 - During World War II, Belgium surrendered to Germany.

1953 - The Walt Disney film "Melody" premiered in the Paramount Theatre in Hollywood. The picture was the first 3-D cartoon.

Disney movies, music and books

1957 - National League club owners voted to allow the Brooklyn Dodgers to move to Los Angeles and that the New York Giants could move to San Francisco.

1961 - Amnesty International, a human rights organization, was founded.

1976 - The Peaceful Nuclear Explosion Treaty was signed, limiting any nuclear explosion - regardless of its purpose - to a yield of 150 kilotons.

1977 - Fire raced through the Beverly Hills Supper Club in Southgate, KY. 165 people were killed.

1985 - The first issue of "Vanity Fair" magazine went on sale. The issue had a picture of U.S. President Ronald Reagan and First Lady Nancy smooching on the cover.

1985 - David Jacobsen, director of the American University Hospital in Beirut, Lebanon, was abducted by pro-Iranian kidnappers. He was freed 17 months later.

1987 - Mathias Rust, a 19-year-old West German pilot, landed a private plane in Moscow's Red Square after evading Soviet air defenses. He was released August 3, 1988.

1995 - An earthquake in the Russian town Neftegorsk killed at least 2000 people. It had a magnitude of 7.5.

1996 - U.S. President Clinton's former business partners in the Whitewater land deal were convicted of fraud.

1998 - Pakistan matched India with five nuclear test blasts. The U.S., Japan and other nations imposed economic sanctions. Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif said "Today, we have settled the score with India."

1998 - Dr. Susan Terebey discoved a planet outside of our solar system with the use of photos taken by the Hubble Space Telescope.

1998 - Phil Hartman was shot to death at his home by his wife, Brynn, who then killed herself.

1999 - In Milan, Italy, Leonardo de Vinci's "The Last Supper" was put back on display after 22 years of restoration work.

2002 - Russia became a limited partner in NATO with the creation of the NATO-Russia Council.

May 29, 2012

1453 - Constantinople fell to Ottoman Sultan Mehmed II, ending the Byzantine Empire.

1660 - Charles II was restored to the English throne after the Puritan Commonwealth.

1721 - South Carolina was formally incorporated as a royal colony.

1765 - Patrick Henry denounced the Stamp Act before Virginia's House of Burgesses.

1790 - Rhode Island became the last of the original thirteen colonies to ratify the U.S. Constitution.

1827 - The first nautical school opened in Nantucket, MA, under the name Admiral Sir Isaac Coffin’s Lancasterian School.

1848 - WIsconsin became the 30th state to join the United States.

1849 - A patent for lifting vessels was granted to Abraham Lincoln.

1910 - An airplane raced a train from Albany, NY, to New York City. The airplane pilot Glenn Curtiss won the $10,000 prize.

1911 - The first running of the Indianapolis 500 took place.

1912 - Fifteen women were dismissed from their jobs at the Curtis Publishing Company in Philadelphia, PA, for dancing the Turkey Trot while on the job.

1916 - The official flag of the president of the United States was adopted.

1916 - U.S. forces invaded Dominican Republic and remained until 1924.

1922 - Ecuador became independent.

1922 - The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that organized baseball was a sport, not subject to antitrust laws.

1932 - World War I veterans began arriving in Washington, DC. to demand cash bonuses they were not scheduled to receive for another 13 years.

1951 - C.F. Blair became the first man to fly over the North Pole in single engine plane.

1953 - Edmund Hillary and Sherpa Tenzing Norgay became first men to reach the top of Mount Everest.

1962 - Buck (John) O’Neil became the first black coach in major league baseball when he accepted the job with the Chicago Cubs.

1965 - Ralph Boston set a world record in the broad jump at 27-feet, 4-3/4 inches, at a meet held in Modesto, CA.

1973 - Tom Bradley was elected the first black mayor of Los Angeles.

1974 - U.S. President Nixon agreed to turn over 1,200 pages of edited Watergate transcripts.

1978 - In the U.S., postage stamps were raised from 13 cents to 15 cents.

1981 - The U.S. performed a nuclear test at the Nevada Test Site.

1985 - Thirty-nine people were killed and 400 were injured in a riot at a European Cup soccer match in Brussels, Belgium.

1986 - Colonel Oliver North told National Security Advisor William McFarlane that profits from weapons sold to Iran were being diverted to the Contras.

1988 - U.S. President Reagan began his first visit to the Soviet Union in Moscow.

1988 - NBC aired "To Heal A Nation," the story of Jan Scruggs' effort to build the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.

1990 - Boris Yeltsin was elected president of the Russian republic by the Russian parliament.

1997 - The ruling party in Indonesia, Golkar, won the Parliament election by a record margin. There was a boycott movement and rioting that killed 200 people.

1999 - Space shuttle Discovery completed the first docking with the International Space Station.

2000 - Fiji's military took control of the nation and declared martial law following a coup attempt by indigenous Fijians in mid-May.

2001 - In New York, four followers of Osama bin Laden were convicted of a global conspiracy to murder Americans. The crimes included the 1998 bombings of two U.S. embassies in Africa that killed 224 people.

2001 - The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that disabled golfer Casey Martin could use a cart to ride in tournaments.

May 30, 2012

1416 - Jerome of Prague was burned as a heretic by the Church.

1431 - Joan of Arc was burned at the stake in Rouen, France, at the age of 19.

1527 - The University of Marburg was founded in Germany.

1539 - Hernando de Soto, the Spanish explorer, landed in Florida with 600 soldiers to search for gold.

1783 - The first daily newspaper was published in the U.S. by Benjamin Towner called "The Pennsylvania Evening Post"

1814 - The First Treaty of Paris was declared, which returned France to its 1792 borders.

1848 - W.G. Young patented the ice cream freezer.

1854 - The U.S. territories of Nebraska and Kansas were established.

1868 - Memorial Day was observed widely for the first time in the U.S.

1879 - William Vanderbilt renamed New York City's Gilmore’s Garden to Madison Square Garden.

1883 - Twelve people were trampled to death in New York City in a stampede when a rumor that the Brooklyn Bridge was in danger of collapsing occurred.

1889 - The brassiere was invented.

1896 - The first automobile accident occurred in New York City.

1903 - In Riverdale, NY, the first American motorcycle hill climb was held.

1911 - Ray Harroun won the first Indianapolis Sweepstakes. The 500-mile auto race later became known as the Indianapolis 500. Harroun's average speed was 74.59 miles per hour.

1912 - The U.S. Marines were sent to Nicaragua to protect American interests.

1913 - The First Balkan War ended.

1921 - The U.S. Navy transferred the Teapot Dome oil reserves to the Department of the Interior.

1922 - The Lincoln Memorial was dedicated in Washington, DC.

1933 - Sally Rand introduced her exotic and erotic fan dance to audiences at Chicago’s Century of Progress Exposition.

1943 - American forces secured the Aleutian island of Attu from the Japanese during World War II.

1958 - Unidentified soldiers killed in World War II and the Korean conflicts were buried at Arlington National Cemetery.

1967 - Daredevil Evel Knievel jumped 16 automobiles in a row in a motorcycle stunt at Ascot Speedway in Gardena, CA.

1967 - The state of Biafra seceded from Nigeria and Civil war erupted.

1971 - Mariner 9, the American deep space probe blasted off on a journey to Mars.

1981 - In Chittagong, Bangladesh, President Ziaur Rahman was assassinated.

1982 - Spain became the 16th NATO member. Spain was the first country to enter the Western alliance since West Germany in 1955.

1983 - Peru's President Fernando Belaunde Terry declared a state of emergency and suspended civil rights after bombings by leftist rebels.

1989 - The "Goddess of Democracy" statue (33 feet height) was erected in Tiananmen Square by student demonstrators.

1996 - Britain's Prince Andrew and the former Sarah Ferguson were granted an uncontested decree ending their 10-year marriage.

1997 - Jesse K. Timmendequas was convicted in Trenton, NJ, of raping and strangling a 7-year-old neighbor, Megan Kanka. The 1994 murder inspired "Megan's Law," requiring that communities be notified when sex offenders move in.

1998 - A powerful earthquake hit northern Afghanistan killing up to 5,000.

2003 - Peter Jennings was sworn in as a U.S. citizen.

May 31, 2012

1433 - Sigismund was crowned emperor of Rome.

1854 - The Kansas-Nebraska Act passed by the U.S. Congress.

1859 - The Philadelphia Athletics were formally organized to play the game of Town Ball.

1859 - In London, Big Ben went into operation. The name Big Ben initially referred to the bell inside the tower but later came to the refer to the tower.

1870 - E.J. DeSemdt patented asphalt.

1879 - New York's Madison Square Garden opened.

1880 - The first U.S. national bicycle society was formed in Newport, RI. It was known as the League of American Wheelman.

1884 - Dr. John Harvey Kellogg patented "flaked cereal."

1889 - In Johnstown, PA, more than 2,200 people died after the South Fork Dam collapsed.

1900 - U.S. troops arrived in Peking to help put down the Boxer Rebellion.

1902 - The Boer War ended between the Boers of South Africa and Great Britain with the Treaty of Vereeniging.

1907 - The first taxis arrived in New York City. They were the first in the United States.

1909 - The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) held its first conference.

1910 - The Union of South Africa was founded.

1913 - The 17th Amendment went into effect. It provided for popular election of U.S. senators.

1915 - A German zeppelin made an air raid on London.

1926 - Frank Lockhart won the 14th Indy 500. He averaged 95.9 mph.

1927 - Ford Motor Company produced the last "Tin Lizzie" in order to begin production of the Model A.

1929 - In Beverly, MA, the first U.S. born reindeer were born.

1941 - The first issue of the still popular "Parade: The Weekly Picture Newspaper" went on sale.

1943 - "Archie" was aired on the Mutual Broadcasting System for the first time.

1947 - Communists seized control of Hungary.

1955 - The U.S. Supreme Court ordered that all states must end racial segregation "with all deliberate speed."

1961 - South Africa became an independent republic.

1962 - Adolf Eichmann was hanged in Israel. Eichmann was a Gestapo official and was executed for his actions in the Nazi Holocaust.

1970 - An earthquake in Peru killed tens of thousands of people.

1974 - Israel and Syria signed an agreement on the Golan Heights.

1977 - The trans-Alaska oil pipeline was finished after 3 years of construction.

1979 - Zimbabwe proclaimed its independence.

1994 - The U.S. announced it was no longer aiming long-range nuclear missiles at targets in the former Soviet Union.

1995 - Bob Dole singled out Time Warner for "the marketing of evil" in movies and music. Dole later admitted that he had not seen or heard much of what he had been criticizing.

2003 - In North Carolina, Eric Robert Rudolph was captured. He had been on the FBI's 10 Most Wanted list for five years for several bombings including the 1996 Olympic bombing.

June 1, 2012

0193 - The Roman Emperor, Marcus Didius, was murdered in his palace.

1533 - Anne Boleyn, Henry VIII’s new queen, was crowned.

1774 - The British government ordered the Port of Boston closed.

1789 - The first U.S. congressional act on administering oaths became law.

1792 - Kentucky became the 15th state of the U.S.

1796 - Tennessee became the 16th state of the U.S.

1861 - The first skirmish of the U.S. Civil War took place at the Fairfax Court House, Virginia.

1869 - Thomas Edison received a patent for his electric voting machine.

1877 - U.S. troops were authorized to pursue bandits into Mexico.

1915 - Germany conducted the first zeppelin air raid over England.

1916 - The National Defense Act increased the strength of the U.S. National Guard by 450,000 men.

1921 - A race riot erupted in Tulsa, OKlahoma. 85 people were killed.

1935 - The Ingersoll-Waterbury Company reported that it had produced 2.5 million Mickey Mouse watches during its 2-year association with Disney.

1938 - Baseball helmets were worn for the first time.

1938 - Superman, the world's first super hero, appeared in the first issue of Action Comics.

1939 - The Douglas DC-4 made its first passenger flight from Chicago to New York.

1941 - The German Army completed the capture of Crete as the Allied evacuation ended.

1942 - The U.S. began sending Lend-Lease materials to the Soviet Union.

1943 - During World War II, Germans shot down a civilian flight from Lisbon to London.

1944 - The French resistance was warned by a coded message from the British that the D-Day invasion was imminent.

1944 - Siesta was abolished by the government of Mexico.

1953 - Raymond Burr mad his network-TV acting debut. It was in "The Mask of Medusa" on ABC-TV's "Twilight Theater."

1954 - In the Peanuts comic strip, Linus' security blanket made its debut.

1958 - Charles de Gaulle became the premier of France.

1961 - Radio listeners in New York, California, and Illinois were introduced to FM multiplex stereo broadcasting. A year later the FCC made this a standard.

1963 - Governor George Wallace vowed to defy an injunction that ordered the integration of the University of Alabama.

1968 - Helen Keller died. She had been deaf and blind since the age of 18 months. During her life she learned to speak, ride horses, and the waltz. She also graduated from Radcliffe cum laude.

1970 - Zimbabwe came into existence. It was formerly known as Rhodesia.

1973 - The James Bond movie "Live and Let Die" opened.

1977 - The Soviet Union formally charged Jewish human rights activist Anatoly Shcharansky with treason. He was imprisoned until 1986.

1978 - The U.S. reported the finding of wiretaps in the American embassy in Moscow.

1980 - Cable News Network (CNN) made its debut as the first all-news station.

1989 - Disney World's "Typhoon Lagoon" opened.

1995 - At Disneyland Paris, the attraction "Space Mountain: From The Earth to the Moon" opened.

1998 - In the U.S., the FDA approved a urine-only test for the AIDS virus.

1998 - A $124 million suit was brought against Goodyear Tire & Rubber that alleged discrimination towards black workers.

2008 - The Phoenix Mars Lander became the first NASA spacecraft to scoop Martian soil.

2009 - The first event, a George Strait concert, was held at Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, TX.

2009 - General Motors filed for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy. The filing made GM the largest U.S. industrial company to enter bankruptcy protection.

June 3, 2012

1983 - Composer Charles Lecocq was born.

1932 - The Broadway musical "The Band Wagon" opened in New York City.

1952 - Frank Sinatra recorded "Birth of the Blues."

1964 - "The Hollywood Palace" hosted the first appearance of the Rolling Stones.

1967 - The Doors "Light My Fire" was released.

1972 - The Rolling Stones began their "Exile On Main Street" North American tour in Vancouver with Stevie Wonder as the opening act.

1972 - The Eagles' "Take It Easy" was released.

1982 - Elvis Presley's Graceland mansion in Memphis, TN, opened as a tourist attraction.

1987 - George Michael's "I Want Your Sex" was banned by the BBC.

1987 - Bryan Adams recorded a live version of the Christmas song "Run Rudolph Run."

1990 - Michael Jackson was admitted to St. John's Hospital in Santa Monica after complaining of chest pains. Test showed that he had bruised ribs from dance practice.

1991 - Willie Nelson released his "Who'll Buy My Memories - The IRS Tapes" LP. The album was made up of songs that had been seized by the U.S. government and would go towards paying off his $16 million tax bill.

1998 - Van Halen cancelled a show at the Docks club in Hamburg, Germany, after a piece of ceiling plaster fell and hit Alex Van Halen. He suffered a bruised arm.

2010 - The Black Eyed Peas album "The E.N.D." (short for The Energy Never Dies) was released in Japan. It was released in the U.S. on June 9.

June 5, 2012

1595 - Henry IV's army defeated the Spanish at the Battle of Fontaine-Francaise.

1752 - Benjamin Franklin flew a kite for the first time to demonstrate that lightning was a form of electricity.

1783 - A hot-air balloon was demonstrated by Joseph and Jacques Montgolfier. It reached a height of 1,500 feet.

1794 - The U.S. Congress prohibited citizens from serving in any foreign armed forces.

1827 - Athens fell to the Ottomans.

1851 - Harriet Beecher Stow published the first installment of "Uncle Tom's Cabin" in "The National Era."

1865 - The first safe deposit vault was opened in New York. The charge was $1.50 a year for every $1,000 that was stored.

1884 - U.S. Civil War General William T. Sherman refused the Republican presidential nomination, saying, "I will not accept if nominated and will not serve if elected."

1917 - American men began registering for the World War I draft.

1924 - Ernst F. W. Alexanderson transmitted the first facsimile message across the Atlantic Ocean.

1927 - Johnny Weissmuller set two world records in swimming events. Weissmuller set marks in the 100-yard, and 200-yard, free-style swimming competition.

1933 - President Roosevelt signed the bill that took the U.S. off of the gold standard.

1940 - During World War II, the Battle of France began when Germany began an offensive in Southern France.

1942 - In France, Pierre Laval congratulated French volunteers that were fighting in the U.S.S.R. with Germans.

1944 - The first B-29 bombing raid hit the Japanese rail line in Bangkok, Thailand.

1946 - The first medical sponges were first offered for sale in Detroit, MI.

1947 - U.S. Secretary of State George C. Marshall gave a speech at Harvard University in which he outlined the Marshall Plan.

1956 - Premier Nikita Khrushchev denounced Josef Stalin to the Soviet Communist Party Congress.

1967 - The National Hockey League (NHL) awarded three new franchises. The Minnesota North Stars (later the Dallas Stars), the California Golden Seals (no longer in existence) and the Los Angeles Kings.

1967 - The Six Day War between Israel and Egypt, Syria and Jordan began.

1973 - The first hole-in-one in the British Amateur golf championship was made by Jim Crowford.

1975 - Egypt reopened the Suez Canal to international shipping, eight years after it was closed because of the 1967 war with Israel.

1981 - In the U.S., the Center for Disease Control and Prevention reported that five men in Los Angeles were suffering from a rare pneumonia found in patients with weakened immune systems. They were the first recognized cases of what came to be known as AIDS.

1986 - A federal jury in Baltimore convicted Ronald W. Pelton of selling secrets to the Soviet Union. Pelton was sentenced to three life prison terms plus 10 years.

1987 - Ted Koppel and guests discussed the topic of AIDS for four hours on ABC-TV’s "Nightline".

1998 - A strike began at a General Motors Corp. parts factory near Detroit, MI, that closed five assembly plants and idled workers across the U.S. for seven weeks.

1998 - Volkswagen AG won approval to buy Rolls-Royce Motor Cars for $700 million, outbidding BMW's $554 million offer.

1998 - C-Span reported that Bob Hope had died. The report was false and had begun with an inaccurate obituary on the Associated Press website.

1998 - A strike at a General Motors parts factory began. It lasted for seven weeks.

2001 - Amazon.com announced that it would begin selling personal computers later in the year.

2004 - The U.S.S. Jimmy Carter was christened in the U.S. Navy in Groton, CT.

June 6, 2012

1674 - Sivaji crowned himself King of India.

1813 - The U.S. invasion of Canada was halted at Stony Creek, Ontario.

1833 - Andrew Jackson became the first U.S. president to ride in a train. It was a B&O passenger train.

1844 - The Young Men's Christian Association was founded in London.

1882 - The first electric iron was patented by H.W. Seely.

1890 - The United States Polo Association was formed in New York City, NY.

1904 - The National Tuberculosis Association was formed in Atlantic City, NJ.

1924 - The German Reichtag accepted the Dawes Plan. It was an American plan to help Germany pay off its war debts.

1925 - Chrysler Corporation was founded by Walter Percy Chrysler.

1932 - In the U.S., the first federal tax on gasoline went into effect. It was a penny per gallon.

1933 - In Camden, NJ, the first drive-in movie theater opened.

1934 - U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt signed the Securities Exchange Act, which established the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

1936 - The first helicopter was tested in a building in Berlin, Germany.

1941 - The U.S. government authorized the seizure of foreign ships in U.S. ports.

1942 - The first nylon parachute jump was made by Adeline Gray in Hartford, CT.

1942 - Japanese forces retreated in the World War II Battle of Midway. The battle had begun on June 4.

1944 - The D-Day invasion of Europe took place on the beaches of Normandy, France. 400,000 Allied American, British and Canadian troops were involved.

1946 - The Basketball Association of America was formed in New York City, NY.

1968 - U.S. Senator Robert F. Kennedy died at 1:44am in Los Angeles after being shot by Sirhan Sirhan. Kennedy was was shot the evening before while campaigning for the Democratic presidential nomination.

1971 - "The Ed Sullivan Show" aired for the last time. It was canceled after 23 years on the air. Gladys Knight and the Pips were the musical guests on show.

1978 - "20/20" debuted on ABC.

1982 - Israel invaded southern Lebanon in an effort to drive PLO guerrillas out of Beirut.

1985 - The body of Nazi war criminal Dr. Josef Mengele was located and exhumed near Sao Paolo, Brazil. Mengele was known as the "Angel of Death."

1985 - The U.S. Senate authorized nonmilitary aid to the Contras. The vote authorized $38 million over two years.

1993 - Mongolia held its first direct presidential elections.

2005 - The United States Supreme Court ruled that federal authorities could prosecute sick people who smoke marijuana on doctor's orders. The ruling concluded that state medical marijuana laws did not protect uses from the federal ban on the drug.

June 7, 2012

1494 - Spain and Portugal divided the new lands they had discovered between themselves.

1498 - Christopher Columbus left on his third voyage of exploration.

1546 - Peace of Ardes ended the war between France and England.

1654 - Louis XIV was crowned king of France.

1712 - The Pennsylvania Assembly banned the importation of slaves.

1775 - The United Colonies changed their name to the United States.

1776 - Richard Henry Lee of Virginia proposed to the Continental Congress a resolution calling for a Declaration of Independence.

1863 - Mexico City was captured by French troops.

1892 - J.F. Palmer patented the cord bicycle tire.

1892 - John Joseph Doyle became the first pinch-hitter in baseball when he was used in a game.

1900 - Boxer rebels cut the rail links between Peking and Tientsin in China.

1903 - Professor Pierre Curie revealed the discovery of Polonium.

1909 - Mary Pickford made her motion picture debut in "The Violin Maker of Cremona."

1929 - The sovereign state of Vatican City came into existence as copies of the Lateran Treaty were exchanged in Rome.

1932 - Over 7,000 war veterans marched on Washington, DC, demanding their bonuses.

1935 - Pierre Laval received emergency powers to save the franc.

1937 - The cover of "LIFE" magazine showed the latest in campus fashions of the times, which included saddle shoes.

1939 - King George VI and his wife, Queen Elizabeth, arrived in the U.S. It was the first visit to the U.S. by a reigning British monarch.

1942 - The Battle of Midway ended. The sea and air battle lasted 4 days. Japan lost four carriers, a cruiser, and 292 aircraft, and suffered 2,500 casualties. The U.S. lost the Yorktown, the destroyer USS Hammann, 145 aircraft, and suffered 307 casualties.

1942 - Japan landed troops on the islands of Attu and Kiska in the Aleutians. The U.S. invaded and recaptured the Alutians one year later.

1944 - Off of the coast of Normandy, France, the Susan B. Anthony sank. All 2,689 people aboard survived.

1948 - The Communists completed their takeover of Czechoslovakia.

1955 - "The $64,000 Question" premiered.

1966 - Sony Corporation unveiled its brand new consumer home videotape recorder. The black and white only unit sold for $995.

1965 - In the U.S., the Gemini 4 mission was completed. The mission featured the first spacewalk by an American.

1968 - In Operation Swift Saber, U.S. Marines swept an area 10 miles northwest of Danang in South Vietnam.

1976 - "The NBC Nightly News", with John Chancellor and David Brinkley, aired for the first time.

1981 - Israeli F-16 fighter-bombers destroyed Iraq’s only nuclear reactor.

1983 - The U.S. ordered Nicaragua to close all six of its consulates and informed 21 Nicaraguan consular officials that they could not longer remain in the U.S.

1994 - The United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia declared the RMS Titanic, Inc. (RMST) salvor-in-possession of the wreck and the wreck site of the RMS Titanic.

2000 - U.S. Federal Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson ordered the breakup of Microsoft Corporation.

June 8, 2012

0452 - Italy was invaded by Attila the Hun.

0793 - The Vikings raided the Northumbrian coast of England.

1786 - In New York City, commercial ice cream was manufactured for the first time.

1790 - The first loan for the U.S. was repaid. The Temporary Loan of 1789 was negotiated and secured on September 18, 1789 by Alexander Hamilton.

1861 - Tennessee voted to secede from the Union and joined the Confederacy.

1866 - Prussia annexed the region of Holstein.

1869 - Ives W. McGaffey received a U.S. patent for the suction vacuum cleaner.

1872 - The penny postcard was authorized by the U.S. Congress.

1904 - U.S. Marines landed in Tangiers, Morocco, to protect U.S. citizens.

1915 - U.S. Secretary of State William Jennings Bryan resigned in a disagreement over U.S. handling of the sinking of the Lusitania.

1947 - "Lassie" debuted on ABC radio. It was a 15-minute show.

1948 - Milton Berle hosted "Texaco Star Theater" NBC-TV. It was the show's debut.

1953 - The U.S. Supreme Court outlawed segregated restaurants in Washington, DC.

1961 - The Milwaukee Braves set a major league baseball record when four consecutive home runs in the seventh inning.

1965 - U.S. troops in South Vietnam were given orders to begin fighting offensively.

1967 - Israeli airplanes attacked the USS Liberty in the Mediterranean during the 6-Day War between Israel and its Arab neighbors. 34 U.S. Navy crewmen were killed. Israel later called the incident a tragic mistake due to the mis-identification of the ship. The U.S. has never publicly investigated the incident.

1969 - The New York Yankees retired Mickey Mantle's number (7).

1969 - It was announced that there would be a single schedule for both the NFL and AFL.

1969 - U.S. President Richard Nixon met with President Thieu of South Vietnam to tell him 25,000 U.S. troops would pull out by August.

1978 - A jury in Clark County, Nevada, ruled that the "Mormon will," was a forgery. The work was supposedly written by Howard Hughes.

1982 - U.S. President Reagan became the first American chief executive to address a joint session of the British Parliament.

1986 - The Boston Celtics won their 16th NBA championship.

1987 - Fawn Hill began testifying in the Iran-Contra hearings. She said that she had helped to shred some documents.

1988 - The judge in the Iran-Contra conspiracy case ruled that Oliver North, John Poindexter, Richard Secord and Albert Hakim had to be tried separately.

1991 - A victory parade was held in Washington, DC, to honor veterans of the Persian Gulf War.

1994 - The warring factions in Bosnia agreed to a one-month cease-fire.

1995 - U.S. Air Force pilot Captain Scott O'Grady was rescued by U.S. Marines after surviving alone in Bosnia after his F-16 fighter was shot down on June 2.

1996 - China set off an underground nuclear test blast.

1998 - The National Rifle Association elected Charlton Heston to be its president.

1998 - In the U.S., the FTC brought an antitrust complaint against Intel Corp., alleging its policies punished other developers of microprocessor chips.

1998 - Honda agreed to pay $17.1 million for disconnecting anti-pollution devices in 1.6 million cars.

1998 - The space shuttle Discovery pulled away from Mir, ending America's three-year partnership with Russia.

2000 - The Dallas Stars and the New Jersey Devils played the NHL's longest scoreless game in Stanley Cup finals history. The fifth game of the series lasted 106 minutes and 21 seconds. The game ended with a goal by Mike Madano that allowed the Stars to play a game six back in Dallas.

2001 - Marc Chagall's painting "Study for 'Over Vitebsk" was stolen from the Jewish Museum in New York City. The 8x10 painting was valued at about $1 million. A group called the International Committee for Art and Peace later announced that they would return the painting after the Israelis and Palestinians made peace.

2004 - Nate Olive and Sarah Jones began the first known continuous hike of the 1,800-mile trail down the U.S. Pacific Coast. They completed the trek at the U.S.-Mexico border on September 28.

June 9, 2012

1064 - Coimbra, Portugal fell to Ferdinand, the King of Castile.

1534 - Jacques Cartier became the first to sail into the river he named Saint Lawrence.

1790 - John Barry copyrighted "Philadelphia Spelling Book." It was the first American book to be copyrighted.

1790 - Civil war broke out in Martinique.

1860 - The book, "Malaeska, the Indian Wife of the White Hunter" by Mrs. Ann Stevens, was offered for sale for a dime. It was the first published "dime novel."

1861 - Mary Ann "Mother" Bickerdyke began working in Union hospitals.

1923 - Bulgaria’s government was overthrown by the military.

1931 - Robert H. Goddard patented a rocket-fueled aircraft design.

1934 - Donald Duck made his debut in the Silly Symphonies cartoon "The Wise Little Hen."

1940 - Norway surrendered to the Nazis during World War II.

1943 - The withholding tax on payrolls was authorized by the U.S. Congress.

1945 - Japanese Premier Kantaro Suzuki declared that Japan would fight to the last rather than accept unconditional surrender.

1946 - Mel Ott (with the New York Giants) became the first manager to be ejected from a doubleheader (both games).

1959 - The first ballistic missile carrying submarine, the USS George Washington, was launched.

1965 - Michel Jazy ran the mile in 3 minutes, 53.6 seconds. He broke the record set by Peter Snell in 1964.

1978 - Leaders of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints struck down a 148-year-old policy of excluding black men from the Mormon priesthood.

1980 - Richard Pryor was severely burned by a "free-base" mixture that exploded. He was hospitalized more than two months.

1985 - Thomas Sutherland, an American educator, was kidnapped in Lebanon. He was not released until November 1991.

1986 - The Rogers Commission released a report on the Challenger disaster. The report explained that the spacecraft blew up as a result of a failure in a solid rocket booster joint.

1999 - NATO and Yugoslavia signed a peace agreement over Kosovo.

2000 - Canada and the United States signed a border security agreement. The agreement called for the establishment of a border-enforcement team.

2000 - The U.S. House of Representatives voted to repeal gift and estate taxes. The bill called for the taxes to be phased out over 10 years.

2001 - Patrick Roy (Colorado Avalanche) became the first National Hockey League (NHL) player to win three Conn Smythe Trophies. The award is given to the playoff's Most Valuable Player.

June 11, 2012

1346 - Charles IV of Luxembourg was elected Holy Roman Emperor in Germany.

1509 - King Henry VIII married his first of six wives, Catherine of Aragon.

1770 - Captain James Cook discovered the Great Barrier Reef off of Australia when he ran aground.

1776 - In America, the Continental Congress formed a committee to draft a Declaration of Independence from Britain.

1793 - Robert Haeterick was issued the first patent for a stove.

1798 - Napoleon Bonaparte took the island of Malta.

1880 - Jeanette Rankin was born. She became the first woman elected to the U.S. Congress.

1889 - The Washington Business High School opened in Washington, DC. It was the first school devoted to business in the U.S.

1895 - Charles E. Duryea received the first U.S. patent granted to an American inventor for a gasoline-driven automobile.

1910 - Jacques-Yves Cousteau was born. He was the French underwater explorer that invented the Aqua-Lung diving apparatus.

1912 - Silas Christoferson became the first pilot to take off from the roof of a hotel.

1915 - British troops took Cameroon in Africa.

1919 - Sir Barton became the first horse to capture the Triple Crown when he won the Belmont Stakes in New York City.

1927 - Charles A. Lindberg was presented the first Distinguished Flying Cross.

1930 - William Beebe dove to a record-setting depth of 1,426 feet off the coast of Bermuda. He used a diving chamber called a bathysphere.

1934 - The Disarmament Conference in Geneva ended in failure.

1936 - The Presbyterian Church of America was formed in Philadelphia, PA.

1937 - Soviet leader Josef Stalin began a purge of Red Army generals.

1940 - The Italian Air Force bombed the British fortress at Malta in the Mediterranean.

1942 - The U.S. and the Soviet Union signed a lend lease agreement to aid the Soviets in their effort in World War II.

1943 - During World War II, the Italian island of Pantelleria surrendered after a heavy air bombardment.

1947 - The U.S. government announced an end to sugar rationing.

1950 - Ben Hogan returned to tournament play after a near fatal car accident. He won the U.S. Open.

1963 - Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was arrested in Florida for trying to integrate restaurants.

1963 - Alabama Gov. George Wallace allowed two black students to enroll at the University of Alabama.

1967 - Israel and Syria accepted a U.N. cease-fire.

1972 - Hank Aaron tied the National League record for 14 grand-slam home runs in a career.

1973 - After a ruling by the Justice Department of the State of Pennsylvania, women were licensed to box or wrestle.

1977 - In the Netherlands, a 19-day hostage situation came to an end when Dutch marines stormed a train and a school being held by South Moluccan extremist. Two hostages and the six terrorists were killed.

1981 - The first major league baseball player's strike began. It would last for two months.

1982 - Steven Spielberg's movie "E.T." opened.

1987 - Margaret Thatcher became the first British prime minister in 160 years to win a third consecutive term of office.

1990 - The U.S. Supreme Court struck down a law that would prohibit the desecration of the American Flag.

1991 - Mount Pinatubo in the Philippines erupted. The eruption of ash and gas could be seen for more than 60 miles.

1993 - The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that people who commit "hate crimes" could be sentenced to extra punishment. The court also ruled in favor of religious groups saying that they indeed had a constitutional right to sacrifice animals during worship services.

1993 - Steven Spielberg's movie "Jurassic Park" opened.

1998 - Mitsubishi of America agreed to pay $34 million to end the largest sexual harassment case filed by the U.S. government. The federal lawsuit claimed that hundreds of women at a plant in Normal, IL, had endured groping and crude jokes from male workers.

1998 - Pakistan announced moratorium on nuclear testing and offered to talk with India over disputed Kashmir.

June 12, 2012

1099 - Crusade leaders visited the Mount of Olives where they met a hermit who urged them to assault Jerusalem.

1442 - Alfonso V of Aragon was crowned King of Naples.

1665 - England installed a municipal government in New York. It was the former Dutch settlement of New Amsterdam.

1812 - Napoleon's invasion of Russia began.

1838 - The Iowa Territory was organized.

1839 - Abner Doubleday created the game of baseball, according to the legend. However, evidence has surfaced that indicates that the game of baseball was played before 1800.

1849 - The gas mask was patented by L.P. Haslett.

1897 - Carl Elsener patented his penknife. The object later became known as the Swiss army knife.

1898 - Philippine nationalists declared their independence from Spain.

1900 - The Reichstag approved a second law that would allow the expansion of the German navy.

1901 - Cuba agreed to become an American protectorate by accepting the Platt Amendment.

1912 - Lillian Russel retired from the stage and was married for the fourth time.

1918 - The first airplane bombing raid by an American unit occurred on World War I's Western Front in France.

1921 - U.S. President Warren Harding urged every young man to attend military training camp.

1923 - Harry Houdini, while suspended upside down 40 feet above the ground, escaped from a strait jacket.

1926 - Brazil quit the League of Nations in protest over plans to admit Germany.

1935 - U.S. Senator Huey Long of Louisiana made the longest speech on Senate record. The speech took 15 1/2 hours and was filled by 150,000 words.

1935 - The Chaco War was ended with a truce. Bolivia and Paraguay had been fighting since 1932.

1937 - The Soviet Union executed eight army leaders under Joseph Stalin.

1939 - The National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum was dedicated in Cooperstown, New York. This was exactly one hundred years to the day on which the game was invented by Abner Doubleday.

1941 - In London, the Inter-Allied Declaration was signed. It was the first step towards the establishment of the United Nations.

1944 - Chinese Communist leader Mao Tse-tung announced that he would support Nationalist leader Chiang Kai-shek in the war against Japan.

1948 - Ben Hogan won his first U.S. Open golf classic.

1963 - "Cleopatra" starring Elizabeth Taylor, Rex Harrison, and Richard Burton premiered at the Rivoli Theatre in New York City.

1963 - Civil rights leader Medgar Evers was fatally shot in front of his home in Jackson, MS.

1967 - State laws which prohibited interracial marriages were ruled unconstitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court.

1971 - Tricia Nixon and Edward F. Cox were married in the White House Rose Garden.

1975 - Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was found guilty of corrupt election practices in 1971.

1979 - Bryan Allen flew the Gossamer Albatross, man powered, across the English Channel.

1981 - Major league baseball players began a 49 day strike. The issue was free-agent compensation.

1982 - 75,000 people rallied against nuclear weapons in New York City's Central Park. Jackson Browne, James Taylor, Bruce Springsteen, and Linda Ronstadt were in attendance.

1985 - Wayne "The Great One" Gretsky was named winner of the NHL's Hart Trophy. The award is given to the the league Most Valuable Player.

1985 - The U.S. House of Representatives approved $27 million in aid to the Nicaraguan contras.

1986 - South Africa declared a national state of emergency. Virtually unlimited power was given to security forces and restrictions were put on news coverage of the unrest.

1987 - U.S. President Reagan publicly challenged Mikhail Gorbachev to tear down the Berlin Wall.

1990 - The parliament of the Russian Federation formally declared its sovereignty.

1991 - Russians went to the election polls and elected Boris N. Yeltsin as the president of their republic.

1991 - The Chicago Bulls won their first NBA championship. The Bulls beat the Los Angeles Lakers four games to one.

1992 - In a letter to the U.S. Senate, Russian Boris Yeltsin stated that in the early 1950's the Soviet Union had shot down nine U.S. planes and held 12 American survivors.

1996 - In Philadelphia a panel of federal judges blocked a law against indecency on the internet. The panel said that the 1996 Communications Decency Act would infringe upon the free speech rights of adults.

1997 - Interleague play began in baseball, ending a 126-year tradition of separating the major leagues until the World Series.

1997 - The U.S. Treasury Department unveiled a new $50 bill meant to be more counterfeit-resistant.

1998 - Compaq Computer paid $9 billion for Digital Equipment Corp. in largest high-tech acquisition.

1999 - NATO peacekeeping forces entered the province of Kosovo in Yugoslavia.

2003 - In Arkansas, Terry Wallis spoke for the first time in nearly 19 years. Wallis had been in a coma since July 13, 1984, after being injured in a car accident.

2009 - In the U.S., The switch from analog TV trasmission to digital was completed.

June 13, 2012

1415 - Henry the Navigator, the prince of Portugal, embarked on an expedition to Africa.

1777 - The Marquis de Lafayette arrived in the American colonies to help with their rebellion against the British.

1789 - Ice cream was served to General George Washington by Mrs. Alexander Hamilton.

1825 - Walter Hunt patented the safety pin. Hunt then then sold the rights for $400.

1866 - The 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was passed by the U.S. Congress. It was ratified on July 9, 1868. The amendment was designed to grant citizenship to and protect the civil liberties of recently freed slaves. It did this by prohibiting states from denying or abridging the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States, depriving any person of his life, liberty, or property without due process of law, or denying to any person within their jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.

1888 - The U.S. Congress created the Department of Labor.

1898 - The Canadian Yukon Territory was organized.

1900 - China's Boxer Rebellion against foreigners and Chinese Christians erupted into violence.

1912 - Captain Albert Berry made the first successful parachute jump from an airplane in Jefferson, Mississippi.

1913 - Ralph Edwards, the host of "This is Your Life" and "Truth or Consequences" was born. Ronald Reagan was the only person to ever substitute for him.

1920 - The U.S. Post Office Department ruled that children may not be sent by parcel post.

1922 - Charlie Osborne started the longest attack on hiccups. He hiccuped over 435 million times before stopping. He died in 1991, 11 months after his hiccups ended.

1923 - The French set a trade barrier between the occupied Ruhr and the rest of Germany.

1927 - Charles Lindbergh was honored with a ticker-tape parade in New York City.

1927 - For the first time, an American Flag was displayed from the right hand of the Statue of Liberty.

1940 - Paris was evacuated before the German advance on the city.

1943 - German spies landed on Long Island, New York. They were soon captured.

1944 - Germany launched 10 of its new V1 rockets against Britain from a position near the Channel coast. Of the 10 rockets only 5 landed in Britain and only one managed to kill (6 people in London).

1944 - Marvin Camras patented the wire recorder.

1949 - Bao Dai entered Saigon to rule Vietnam. He had been installed by the French.

1951 - U.N. troops seized Pyongyang, North Korea.

1966 - The landmark "Miranda vs. Arizona" decision was issued by the U.S. Supreme Court. The decision ruled that criminal suspects had to be informed of their constitutional rights before being questioned by police.

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

1971 - The New York Times began publishing the "Pentagon Papers". The articles were a secret study of America's involvement in Vietnam.

1978 - Israelis withdrew the last of their invading forces from Lebanon.

1979 - Sioux Indians were awarded $105 million in compensation for the U.S. seizure in 1877 of their Black Hills in South Dakota.

1981 - At a parade in London a teen-ager fired six-blank shots at Queen Elizabeth II.

1983 - The unmanned U.S. space probe Pioneer 10 became the first spacecraft to leave the solar system. It was launched in March 1972. The first up-close images of the planet Jupiter were provided by Pioneer 10.

1988 - The Liggett Group, a cigarette manufacturer, was found liable for a lung-cancer death. They were, however, found innocent by the federal jury of misrepresenting the risks of smoking.

1989 - The Detroit Pistons won their first National Basketball Association title. They beat the L.A. Lakers in four games.

1989 - U.S. President George H.W. Bush exercised his first Presidential veto on a bill dealing with minimum wage.

1991 - In the first round of the U.S. Open golf tournament a spectator was killed when lightning struck.

1992 - Future U.S. President Bill Clinton criticized rap singer Sister Souljah for making remarks "filled with hatred" towards whites.

1994 - A jury in Anchorage, Alaska, found Exxon Corp. and Captain Joseph Hazelwood to be reckless in the Exxon Valdez oil spill.

1995 - France announced that they would conduct eight more nuclear tests in the South Pacific.

2000 - In Pyongyang, North Korea's leader Kim Jong Il welcomed South Korea's President Kim Dae for a three-day summit. It was the first such meeting between the leaders of North and South Korea.

June 13, 2012

1966 - The landmark "Miranda vs. Arizona" decision was issued by the U.S. Supreme Court. The decision ruled that criminal suspects had to be informed of their constitutional rights before being questioned by police.

& I quite seriously believed that , once again, the Yanks couldn't pronounce English :yes: :eek:

Memoranda = Miranda :cowboy: :oops:

June 14, 2012

1775 - The Continental Army was founded by the Second Continental Congress for purposes of common defense. This event is considered to be the birth of the United States Army. On June 15, George Washington was appointed commander-in-chief.

1777 - The Continental Congress in Philadelphia adopted the "Stars and Stripes" as the national flag of the United States. The Flag Resolution stated "Resolved: that the flag of the United States be made of thirteen stripes, alternate red and white; that the union be thirteen stars, white in a blue field, representing a new Constellation."

1789 - Captain William Bligh of the HMS Bounty arrived in Timor in a small boat.

1834 - Cyrus Hall McCormick received a patent for his reaping machine.

1834 - Isaac Fischer Jr. patented sandpaper.

1841 - The first Canadian parliament opened in Kingston.

1846 - A group of U.S. settlers in Sonoma proclaimed the Republic of California.

1893 - Philadelphia observed the first Flag Day.

1900 - Hawaii became a U.S. territory.

1907 - Women in Norway won the right to vote.

1917 - General John Pershing arrived in Paris during World War I.

1919 - The first non-stop trans-Atlantic flight began. Captain John Alcot and Lt. Arthur Brown flew from Newfoundland to Ireland.

1922 - Warren G. Harding became the first U.S. president to be heard on radio. The event was the dedication of the Francis Scott Key memorial at Fort McHenry.

1927 - Nicaraguan President Adolfo Diaz signed a treaty with the U.S. allowing American intervention in his country.

1932 - U.S. Representative Edward Eslick died on the floor of the House of Representatives while pleading for the passage of the bonus bill.

1940 - The Nazis opened their concentration camp at Auschwitz in German-occupied Poland.

1940 - German troops entered Paris. As Paris became occupied loud Speakers announced the implementation of a curfew being imposed for 8 p.m.

1943 - The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that schoolchildren could not be made to salute the U.S. flag if doing so conflicted with their religious beliefs.

1944 - Sixty U.S. B-29 Superfortress' attacked an iron and steel works factory on Honshu Island. It was the first U.S. raid against mainland Japan.

1945 - Burma was liberated by Britain.

1949 - The state of Vietnam was formed.

1951 - "Univac I" was unveiled. It was a computer designed for the U.S. Census Bureau and billed as the world's first commercial computer.

1952 - The Nautilus was dedicated. It was the first nuclear powered submarine.

1954 - U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed an order adding the words "under God" to the Pledge of Allegiance.

1954 - Americans took part in the first nation-wide civil defense test against atomic attack.

1965 - A military triumvirate took control in Saigon, South Vietnam.

1967 - Mariner 5 was launched from Cape Kennedy, FL. The space probe's flight took it past Venus.

1982 - Argentine forces surrendered to British troops on the Falkland Islands.

1987 - The Los Angeles Lakers won the NBA title by defeating the defending Boston Celtics.

1989 - Former U.S. President Reagan received an honorary knighthood from Britain's Queen Elizabeth II.

1990 - The U.S. Supreme Court upheld police checkpoints that are used to examine drivers for signs of intoxication.

1992 - The Chicago Bulls won the NBA championship beating the Portland Trailblazers.

1994 - The New York Rangers won the Stanley Cup by defeating the Vancouver Canucks. It was the first time the Rangers had won the cup in 54 years.

1995 - Chechen rebels took 2,000 people hostage in a hospital in Russia.

1996 - The FBI released that the White House had done bureau background reports on at leat 408 people without justification.

2002 - Actor Kirk Douglas received the UCLA Medal. The award is presented to people for cultural, political and humanitarian achievements

June 15, 2012

1215 - King John of England put his seal on the Magna Carta.

1381 - The English peasant revolt was crushed in London.

1389 - Ottoman Turks crushed Serbia in the Battle of Kosovo.

1607 - Colonists in North America completed James Fort in Jamestown.

1667 - Jean-Baptiste Denys administered the first fully-documented human blood transfusion. He successfully transfused the blood of a sheep to a 15-year old boy.

1752 - Benjamin Franklin experimented by flying a kite during a thunderstorm. The result was a little spark that showed the relationship between lightning and electricity.

1775 - George Washington was appointed head of the Continental Army by the Second Continental Congress.

1836 - Arkansas became the 25th U.S. state.

1844 - Charles Goodyear was granted a patent for the process that strengthens rubber.

1846 - The United States and Britain settled a boundary dispute concerning the boundary between the U.S. and Canada, by signing a treaty.

1864 - An order to establish a military burial ground was signed by Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton. The location later became known as Arlington National Cemetery.

1866 - Prussia attacked Austria.

1877 - Henry O. Flipper became the first African American to graduate from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point.

1898 - The U.S. House of representatives approved the annexation of Hawaii.

1909 - Benjamin Shibe patented the cork center baseball.

1911 - The Computing-Tabulating-Recording Co. was incorporated in the state of New York. The company was later renamed International Business Machines (IBM) Corp.

1916 - U.S. President Woodrow Wilson signed a bill incorporating the Boy Scouts of America.

1917 - Great Britain pledged the release of all the Irish captured during the Easter Rebellion of 1916.

1919 - Captain John Alcock and Lt. Arthur W. Brown won $50,000 for successfully completing the first, non-stop trans-Atlantic plane flight.

1938 - Johnny Vandemeer, of the Cincinnati Reds, pitched his second straight no-hitter.

1940 - The French fortress of Verdun was captured by Germans.

1944 - American forces began their successful invasion of Saipan during World War II.

1947 - The All-Indian Congress accepted a British plan for the partition of India.

1958 - Greece severed military ties to Turkey because of the Cypress issue.

1964 - The last French troops left Algeria.

1978 - King Hussein of Jordan married 26-year-old American Lisa Halaby, who became Queen Noor.

1981 - The U.S. agreed to provide Pakistan with $3 billion in military and economic aid from October 1982 to October 1987.

1982 - In the capital city of Stanley, the Falklands war ended as Argentine troops surrendered to the British.

1983 - The U.S. Supreme Court reinforced its position on abortion by striking down state and local restriction on abortions.

1986 - Pravda, the Communist Party newspaper, reported that the chief engineer of the Chernobyl nuclear plant was dismissed for mishandling the incident at the plant.

1989 - In Shanghai three Chinese workers were sentenced to death for setting fire to a train during a pro-democracy protest.

1992 - It was ruled by the U.S. Supreme Court that the government could kidnap criminal suspects from foreign countries for prosecution.

1992 - U.S. Vice President Dan Quayle instructed a student to spell "potato" with an "e" on the end during a spelling bee. He had relied on a faulty flash card that had been written by the student's teacher.

1994 - Israel and the Vatican established full diplomatic relations.

1998 - The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that state prison inmates are protected by the Americans with Disabilities Act.

1999 - South Korean naval forces sank a North Korean torpedo boat during an exchange in the disputed Yellow Sea.

2003 - In northeast London, a trailer was stolen that contained thousands of copies of J.K. Rowling's book "Harry Potter And The Order Of The Phoenix." The empty trailer was discovered two days later.

2006 - The U.S. Supreme Court said that judges cannot throw out evidence collected by police who have search warrants but do not properly announced their arrival.

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