Below please find a list of historically significant events that occurred during the month of June.
June 3, 1937 – After abdicating the British throne, The Duke of Windsor, formerly known as King Edward VIII, married Wallis Simpson, an American divorcee.
June 3, 1972 – Sally Jane Priesand became the first female ordained rabbi in the US.
June 4, 1944 – The allies liberate Rome.
June 4, 1989 – Chinese government troops open fire on unarmed protesters in Tiananmen Square in Beijing.
June 5, 1968 – Following a celebration of his victory in the California primary presidential candidate Robert Kennedy was shot and mortally wounded while leaving the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles.
June 6, 1944 – D Day. The Allies landed successfully at Normandy Beach opening up a crucial second front against the Axis Powers.
June 9, 1898 – The British signed a 99-year lease for Hong Kong. On July 1, 1997 the sovereignty of Hong Kong reverted to The Peoples Republic of China.
June 11, 1994 – The Soviet military occupation of East Germany ended after 49 years.
June 12, 1898 – The Philippine Islands declared their independence from Spain whereupon the US swooped in and took control.
June 12, 1963 – Civil rights leader, Medgar Evers, was ambushed and assassinated in Jackson, MS.
June 13, 1966 – In Miranda v Arizona the Supreme Court ruled 5-4 that an accused person must be apprised of his rights to remain silent and have an attorney present prior to being questioned by the police.
June 13, 1971 – The New York Times began publishing the Pentagon Papers, a compendium of top secret documents outlining the US’s strategy for the Vietnam War.
June 14, 1922 – Warren Harding became the first president to broadcast a message to the American people over the radio.
June 14, 1951 – The world’s first commercial electronic computer, Univac I, was unveiled in Philadelphia.
June 15, 1215 – English King John signed the Magna Carta, the first document to guarantee certain basic rights to a monarch’s subjects. It has since served as a cornerstone for all democracies.
June 17, 1972 – Watergate ceased being known as merely a hotel as the police arrested five men who had broken into the National Democratic Headquarters there. Eventually, this incident led to the unravelling of a massive conspiracy, which culminated in the resignation of President Richard Nixon. Also, since then we have we attached the suffix “gate” to every scandal.
June 18, 1815 – A coalition of British, Prussian, Dutch and Belgian troops defeated Napoleon and the French at Waterloo.
June 18, 1983 – Dr. Sally Ride became the first woman in space.
June 19, 1953 – Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, after becoming the first civilians to be sentenced to death for espionage, were executed in the electric chair in NY.
June 22, 1941 – In a grossly ill-advised strategic decision, some 3.2 million German soldiers invaded Russia across an 1,800 mile wide front.
June 24, 1948 – The Soviet blockade of West Berlin began. The allies responded with a massive airlift. The Soviets were forced to lift the blockade eleven months later.
June 25, 1876 – General Custer and 250 men were massacred at the Little Bighorn by some 2,000 Sioux Indians.
June 25, 1950 – The Korean Conflict began as North Korean troops crossed the 38th parallel and invaded South Korea.
June 28, 1862 – Northern troops began the siege of Vicksburg. The fall of Vicksburg was one of the turning points of the Civil War (along with the Battle of Gettysburg).
June 28, 1914 – Archduke Francis Ferdinand of Austria and his wife were assassinated, which directly led to WWI.
June 28, 1919 – The Treaty of Versailles was signed formally ending WWI.
June 30, 1971 – The 26th Amendment to the Constitution was enacted reducing the voting age from 21 to 18 in all states.
June 30, 1997 – China assumed sovereignty over Hong Kong from Great Britain.
Birthdays – Brigham Young – 6/1/1801 in Whittingham, VT; Norma Jean Mortensen, aka Marilyn Monroe – 6/1/1926 in Los Angeles; Marquis de Sade – 6/2/1740 in Paris; Jefferson Davis – 6/3/1808 in Fairview, KY; King George, III – 6/4/1738 in Westminster, England; Adam Smith – 6/5/1723 in Kirkcaldy, Scotland; John Maynard Keynes – 6/5/1883 in Cambridge, England; Nathan Hale – 6/6/1755 in Coventry, CT; Paul Gauguin – 6/7/1848 in Paris; Frank Lloyd Wright – 6/8/1867 in Richland Center, WI; Cole Porter – 6/9/1893 in Peru, IN; Frances Gumm, aka Judy Garland – 6/10/1922 in Grand Rapids, MN; Jacques Cousteau – 6/11/1910 in Ste-Andre-de-Cubzac, France; Vince Lombardi – 6/11/1913 in Brooklyn, NY; George Bush, 41st President – 6/12/1924 in Milton, MA; Anne Frank – 6/12/1929 in Frankfurt, Germany; Harriet Beecher Stowe (wrote Uncle Tom’s Cabin) – 6/14/1811 in Litchfield, CT; Alois Alzheimer( first to identify the disease that bears his name) – 6/14/1864 in Markbreit am Maintz, Germany; Stan Laurel – 6/16/1890 in Ulverston, England; George Mallory (British explorer, attempted to climb Mt. Everest. Why? “Because it is there.”) – 6/18/1886; Lou Gehrig – 6/19/1903 in NYC; Audie Murphy (most decorated US soldier of WWII) – 6/20/1924 in Kingston, TX; William Arthur Philip Louis, aka Prince William – 6/21/1982 in London; Jack Dempsey – 6/24/1895 in Manassa, CO; Eric Arthur Blair, aka George Orwell, (wrote 1984) – 6/25/1903 in Montihari, Bengal; Mildred (“Babe”) Didrikson (probably, greatest all around female athlete) – 6/26/1914 in Port Arthur, TX; Dr. William Mayo (co-founder of the Mayo Clinic) – 6/29/1861 in LeSeuer, MN.
We Built It Blog by Larry Jacob 