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Actress Jean Harlow dies






1937
June 07



On June 7, 1937, Hollywood is shocked to learn of the sudden and tragic death
of the actress Jean Harlow, who succumbs to uremic poisoning
(now better known as acute renal failure, or acute kidney failure) at the age of 26.

Born Harlean Carpenter in Kansas City, Missouri, she moved with her mother to
Los Angeles as a child after her parents separated. Harlean was an amalgam of
her mother’s maiden name, Jean Harlow, which the actress later took as her stage
name. At the age of 16, she eloped with Charles McGrew, a young bond broker.
Their marriage ended after she decided to pursue an acting career, against the
will of her husband.

After working as a film extra, Harlow signed a contract with the producer Hal Roach,
under which she briefly but memorably bared her soon-to-be-famous legs in Double Whoopee
(1929), a Laurel and Hardy comedy. She made her sound debut in The Saturday Night Kid
(1929), starring Clara Bow. Harlow got her big break soon after that, when Howard Hughes
cast her in the sound update of his silent World War I-era epic Hell’s Angels (1930). In that
film, Harlow made an impression on audiences with her glowing white-blond hair and the
suggestive line “Would you be shocked if I put on something more comfortable?”

Harlow appeared in a string of films in 1931, including The Secret Six, The Public Enemy,
Goldie and Platinum Blonde. Her roles in these movies, as in Hell’s Angels, relied less on
her acting and more on her alluring appearance. After Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer bought Harlow’s
contract from Hughes in 1932, she made her breakout appearance in Red-Headed Woman
(1932), for which screenwriter Anita Loos created a part especially for Harlow. The film was
the first to showcase her comedic talent as well as her bombshell looks. Harlow’s popularity
with fans and film critics alike continued to grow throughout the next several years, thanks
to smash hits like Red Dust (1932)–one of her numerous movies with Clark Gable–Dinner
at Eight (1933), Hold Your Man (1933) and Bombshell (1933).

Aside from her meteoric rise to fame in her professional life, Harlow’s private life was marked
by grief and tragedy. Her second husband, Paul Bern, an executive at MGM, died by an apparent
suicide in 1932, during the making of Red Dust. Harlow’s third marriage, to the cinematographer
Harold Rosson, lasted less than a year. Harlow was engaged to marry the actor William Powell,
her co-star in Reckless (1935) and Libeled Lady (1936), when she suddenly became seriously
ill in late May 1937. According to her obituary in the New York Times, the actress had suffered
from poor health for a year, including “an acute case of sunburn,” a throat infection and influenza.
She also contracted scarlet fever and meningitis as a teenager, which permanently weakened
her health. After doctors diagnosed uremic poisoning the weekend before, according to the Times,
“Miss Harlow soon responded favorably to treatment and was thought well on the road to
recovery when she lapsed into a coma last night.” She died the next day, June 7, 1937, at a
hospital in Hollywood, California. Powell was at Harlow’s bedside when she died, along with her
mother, stepfather and cousin.

Harlow’s final film, Saratoga (1937), was released posthumously; another actress served as
her stand-in for several scenes so that the movie could be completed.





ALSO ON THIS DAY




BLACK HISTORY
1979
Texas passes a bill becoming the first state in the
nation to make Juneteenth an official state holiday

A celebration that has persisted for over a century receives its first official recognition
on June 7, 1979, as the Texas Legislature passes a bill declaring Juneteenth a state
holiday. The annual June 19 celebration of the Emancipation Proclamation—not the
announcement itself, ... read more





CRIME
2002
Michael Skakel convicted of 1975
murder in Greenwich

On June 7, 2002, 41-year-old Michael Skakel is convicted in the 1975 murder of
his former Greenwich, Connecticut, neighbor, 15-year-old Martha Moxley. Skakel,
a nephew of Ethel Kennedy, the wife of the late U.S. Senator Robert Kennedy, was
later sentenced to 20 years to life in ... read more





WORLD WAR II
1942
Battle of Midway ends

On June 7, 1942, the Battle of Midway—one of the most decisive U.S. victories in
its war against Japan—comes to an end. In the four-day sea and air battle, the
outnumbered U.S. Pacific Fleet succeeded in destroying four Japanese aircraft
carriers with the loss of only one of its ... read more


INDIA
1893
Gandhi’s first act of civil disobedience

In an event that would have dramatic repercussions for the people of India,
Mohandas K. Gandhi, a young Indian lawyer working in South Africa, refuses
to comply with racial segregation rules on a South African train and is forcibly
ejected at Pietermaritzburg. Born in India and ... read more


GREAT BRITAIN
1939
King George VI becomes the first British
monarch to visit the U.S.

King George VI becomes the first reigning British monarch to visit the United States
when he and his wife, Elizabeth, cross the Canadian-U.S. border to Niagara Falls,
New York. The royal couple subsequently visited New York City and Washington, D.C.,
where they called for a ... read more


INVENTIONS & SCIENCE
1962
Switzerland welcomes first drive-through bank

On June 7, 1962, the banking institution Credit Suisse—then known as
Schweizerische Kreditanstalt (SKA)—opens the first drive-through bank in Switzerland
at St. Peter-Strasse 17, near Paradeplatz (Parade Square) in downtown Zurich.
Like many developments in automotive ... read more





EXPLORATION
1913
First successful ascent of Denali

On June 7, 1913, Hudson Stuck, an Alaskan missionary, leads the first successful
ascent of Denali (formerly known as Mt. McKinley), the highest point on the American
continent at 20,320 feet. Stuck, an accomplished amateur mountaineer, was born
in London in 1863. After moving to ... read more


U.S. PRESIDENTS
1966
Ronald Reagan nominated for governor of California

A former actor named Ronald Reagan receives the Republican nomination for
governor of California on June 7, 1966. He won the election that November and
was sworn in on January 2, 1967. Reagan’s tenure as the Golden State’s governor
gave him credibility as a political leader, ... read more





NATIVE AMERICAN HISTORY
1866
Chief Seattle dies near the city named for him

Thirteen years after American settlers founded the city named for him,
Chief Seattle dies in a nearby village of his people. Born sometime around
1790, Seattle (Seathl) was a chief of the Duwamish and Suquamish tribes
who lived around the Pacific Coast bay that is today called ... read more





ART, LITERATURE, AND FILM HISTORY
1976
“New York” magazine publishes the story
that becomes “Saturday Night Fever”

Disco as a musical style predated the movie Saturday Night Fever by perhaps
as many as five years, but disco as an all-consuming cultural phenomenon
might never have happened without the 1977 film and its multi-platinum
soundtrack featuring such era-defining hits as the Bee Gees’ ... read more





NATURAL DISASTERS & ENVIRONMENT
1692
Earthquake destroys Jamaican town

On June 7, 1692, a massive earthquake devastates the town of Port Royal
in Jamaica, killing thousands. The strong tremors, soil liquefaction and a
tsunami brought on by the earthquake combined to destroy the entire town.
Port Royal was built on a small island off the coast of ... read more


AMERICAN REVOLUTION
1776
Lee Resolution presented to Continental Congress

On June 7, 1776, Richard Henry Lee of Virginia introduces a resolution
for independence to the Continental Congress in Philadelphia; John Adams
seconds the motion. Lee’s resolution declared: “That these United Colonies
are, and of right out to be, free and independent States, ... read more

James Earl Ray,
suspect in Martin Luther King Jr. assassination,
is arrested





1968
June 08



James Earl Ray, an escaped American convict, is arrested in London, England,
and charged with the assassination of African American civil rights leader
Martin Luther King Jr.

On April 4, 1968, in Memphis, King was fatally wounded by a sniper’s bullet while
standing on the balcony outside his second-story room at the Motel Lorraine.
That evening, a Remington .30-06 hunting rifle was found on the sidewalk beside
a rooming house one block from the Lorraine Motel. During the next several weeks,
the rifle, eyewitness reports, and fingerprints on the weapon all implicated a single
suspect: escaped convict James Earl Ray. A two-bit criminal, Ray escaped a Missouri
prison in April 1967 while serving a sentence for a holdup. In May 1968, a massive
manhunt for Ray began. The FBI eventually determined that he had obtained a
Canadian passport under a false identity, which at the time was relatively easy.

On June 8, Scotland Yard investigators arrested Ray at a London airport. Ray was trying
to fly to Belgium, with the eventual goal, he later admitted, of reaching Rhodesia.
Rhodesia (now called Zimbabwe) was at the time ruled by an oppressive and internationally
condemned white minority government. Extradited to the United States, Ray stood before
a Memphis judge in March 1969 and pleaded guilty to King’s murder in order to avoid
the electric chair. He was sentenced to 99 years in prison.

Three days later, he attempted to withdraw his guilty plea, claiming he was innocent of
King’s assassination and had been set up as a patsy in a larger conspiracy. He claimed
that in 1967, a mysterious man named “Raoul” had approached him and recruited him
into a gunrunning enterprise. On April 4, 1968, however, he realized that he was to be
the fall guy for the King assassination and fled for Canada. Ray’s motion was denied,
as were his dozens of other requests for a trial during the next 29 years.

During the 1990s, the widow and children of Martin Luther King Jr., spoke publicly in
support of Ray and his claims, calling him innocent and speculating about an assassination
conspiracy involving the U.S. government and military. U.S. authorities were, in conspiracists’
minds, implicated circumstantially. FBI director J. Edgar Hoover obsessed over King, who
he thought was under communist influence. For the last six years of his life, King underwent
constant wiretapping and harassment by the FBI. Before his death, Dr. King was also
monitored by U.S. military intelligence, who may have been called to watch over King
after he publicly denounced the Vietnam War in 1967. Furthermore, by calling for radical
economic reforms in 1968, including guaranteed annual incomes for all, King was making
few new friends in the Cold War-era U.S. government.

Over the years, the assassination has been reexamined by the House Select Committee
on Assassinations, the Shelby County, Tennessee, district attorney’s office, and three times
by the U.S. Justice Department. All of these investigations have ended with the same conclusion:
James Earl Ray killed Martin Luther King Jr. The House committee acknowledged that a
low-level conspiracy might have existed, involving one or more accomplices to Ray, but
uncovered no evidence to definitively prove this theory. In addition to the mountain of
evidence against him, such as his fingerprints on the murder weapon and admitted presence
at the rooming house on April 4, Ray had a definite motive in assassinating King: hatred.
According to his family and friends, he was an outspoken racist who told them of his intent
to kill King.

Ray died in 1998.



ALSO ON THIS DAY



US POLITICS
1972
Shirley Chisholm visits her opponent
George Wallace in the hospital

Rep. Shirley Chisholm, the first Black woman elected to the United States Congress,
visits Alabama Governor George Wallace, perhaps the single most famous supporter
of racial segregation in modern history, as he recovers from an assassination attempt
on June 8, 1972. The two were ... read more





RELIGION
632
Muhammad,
the prophet who spread Islam, dies

In Medina, located in present-day Saudi Arabia, Muhammad, one of the most influential
religious and political leaders in history, dies in the arms of Aisha, his third and favorite
wife. Born in Mecca of humble origins, Muhammad married a wealthy widow at 25 years
old and lived ... read more


US POLITICS
1968
Senator Robert F. Kennedy buried

Three days after falling prey to an assassin in California, Senator Robert F. Kennedy is
laid to rest at Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia, just 30 yards from the grave of
his assassinated older brother, President John F. Kennedy. Robert Kennedy, born in
Brookline, ... read more


MIDDLE EAST
1967
Israel attacks USS Liberty

During the Six-Day War, Israeli aircraft and torpedo boats attack the USS Liberty in
international waters off Egypt’s Gaza Strip. The intelligence ship, well-marked as an
American vessel and only lightly armed, was attacked first by Israeli aircraft that fired
napalm and rockets ... read more


SPORTS
1966
NFL and AFL announce merger

On June 8, 1966, the rival National Football League (NFL) and American Football League
(AFL) announce that they will merge. The first “Super Bowl” between the two leagues
took place at the end of the 1966 season, though it took until the 1970 season for the
leagues to unite their ... read more


NATIVE AMERICAN HISTORY
1874
Apache chief Cochise dies

Chief Cochise, one of the great leaders of the Apache Indians in their battles with the
Anglo-Americans, dies on the Chiricahua reservation in southeastern Arizona. Little is
known of Cochise’s early life. By the mid-19th century, he had become a prominent
leader of the ... read more





ART, LITERATURE, AND FILM HISTORY
1949
George Orwell’s “1984” is published

George Orwell's novel of a dystopian future, 1984, is published on June 8, 1949.
The novel’s all-seeing leader, known as “Big Brother,” becomes a universal symbol
for intrusive government and oppressive bureaucracy. George Orwell was the nom
de plume of Eric Blair, who was born ... read more





ART, LITERATURE, AND FILM HISTORY
1984
“Ghostbusters” released

On June 8, 1984, the now-classic comedy Ghostbusters is released in theaters across
the United States. Produced and directed by Ivan Reitman, Ghostbusters starred
Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd and Harold Ramis as disgraced parapsychology professors
in New York City who turn to ... read more





CRIME
1913
Forensic evidence captures a murderous father

Two farmers walking near a quarry outside of Edinburgh, Scotland, find two small,
dead bodies floating in the water, tied together. Although the bodies were so
waterlogged that authorities could barely confirm that they were human,
Sydney Smith, the century’s first “Quincy,” was ... read more


RED SCARE
1949
FBI report names Hollywood figures as communists

Hollywood figures, including film stars Fredric March, John Garfield, Paul Muni,
and Edward G. Robinson, are named in a FBI report as Communist Party members.
Such reports helped to fuel the anticommunist hysteria in the United States during
the late-1940s and 1950s. The FBI ... read more





INVENTIONS & SCIENCE
1948
First Porsche completed

On June 8, 1948, a hand-built aluminum prototype labeled “No. 1″ becomes the first
vehicle to bear the name of one of the world’s leading luxury car manufacturers: Porsche.
The Austrian automotive engineer Ferdinand Porsche debuted his first design at the
World’s Fair in Paris ... read more

Secretariat wins Triple Crown
in breathtaking style





1973
June 09



With a spectacular victory at the Belmont Stakes, Secretariat becomes the first horse
since Citation in 1948 to win America’s coveted Triple Crown: the Kentucky Derby, the
Preakness and the Belmont Stakes. In one of the finest performances in racing history,
Secretariat, ridden by Ron Turcotte, completed the 1.5-mile race in 2 minutes and
24 seconds, a dirt-track record for that distance.

Secretariat was born at Meadow Stables in Doswell, Virginia, on March 30, 1970. He
was sired by Bold Ruler, the 1957 Preakness winner, and foaled by Somethingroyal,
which came from a Thoroughbred line known for its stamina. An attractive chestnut colt,
he grew to over 16 hands high and was at two years the size of a three-year-old.

He ran his first race as a two-year-old on July 4, 1972, a 5 1/2-furlong race at Aqueduct
in New York City. He came from behind to finish fourth; it was the only time in his career
that he finished a race and did not place. Eleven days later, he won a six-furlong race
at Saratoga in Saratoga Springs, New York, and soon after, another race. His trainer,
Lucien Laurin, moved him up to class in August, entering him in the Sanford Stakes at
Saratoga, which he won by three lengths. By the end of 1972,
he had won seven of nine races.

With easy victories in his first two starts of 1973, Secretariat seemed on his way to the
Triple Crown. Just two weeks before the Kentucky Derby, however, he stumbled at the
Wood Memorial Stakes at Aqueduct, coming in third behind Angle Light and Sham.
On May 5, he met Sham and Angle Light again at the Churchill Downs track in Louisville
for the Kentucky Derby. Secretariat, a 3-to-2 favorite, broke from near the back of the
pack to win the 1 1/4-mile race in a record 1 minute and 59 2/5th seconds. He was the
first to run the Derby in less than two minutes and his record still stands.

Two weeks later, at Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore, Maryland, Secretariat won the
second event of the Triple Crown: the Preakness Stakes. The official clock malfunctioned,
but hand-recorded timers had him running the 1 3/16-mile race in record time.

On June 9, 1973, almost 100,000 people came to Belmont Park near New York City to
see if “Big Red” would become the first horse in 25 years to win the Triple Crown.
Secretariat gave the finest performance of his career in the Belmont Stakes, completing
the 1.5-mile race in a record 2 minutes and 24 seconds, knocking nearly three seconds
off the track record set by Gallant Man in 1957. He also won by a record 31 lengths.

Ron Turcotte, who jockeyed Secretariat in all but three of his races, claimed that at
Belmont he lost control of Secretariat and that the horse sprinted into history
on his own accord.

Secretariat would race six more times, winning four and finishing second twice.
In November 1973, the “horse of the century” was retired and put to stud at
Claiborne Farm in Paris, Kentucky. Among his notable offspring is the 1988 Preakness
and Belmont winner, Risen Star. Secretariat was euthanized in 1989 after falling ill.
An autopsy showed that his heart was two and a half times larger than that of the
average horse, which may have contributed to his extraordinary racing abilities.
In 1999, ESPN ranked Secretariat No. 35 in its list of the Top 50 North American
athletes of the 20th century, the only non-human on the list.



ALSO ON THIS DAY




19TH CENTURY
1893
23 die in collapse of Ford's Theatre,
site of Lincoln assassination

In Washington, D.C. on June 9, 1893, the interior of ramshackle Ford’s
Theatre collapses, causing the deaths of 23 people. The building—where
President Lincoln was assassinated on April 15, 1865—houses hundreds
of clerks employed by the War Department’s Records and Pensions ... read more





CRIME
1956
Best-selling crime novelist Patricia Cornwell is born

On June 9, 1956, one of the world’s top-selling crime novelists,
Patricia Cornwell, best known for her forensic pathologist character
Dr. Kay Scarpetta, is born in Miami, Florida. Cornwell, whose maiden
name is Daniels, had a difficult childhood: When she was 5, her father, a ... read more





EXPLORATION
1534
French navigator Jacques Cartier sails
the St. Lawrence River

French navigator Jacques Cartier becomes the first European explorer
to encounter the St. Lawrence River in present-day Quebec, Canada.
In 1534, Cartier was commissioned by King Francis I of France to
explore the northern American lands in search of riches and the rumored ... read more


AMERICAN REVOLUTION
1772
British vessel burned off Rhode Island

In an incident that some regard as the first naval engagement of the
American Revolution, colonists board the Gaspee, a British vessel that
ran aground off the coast of Rhode Island, and set it aflame. The Gaspee
was pursuing the Hanna, an American smuggling ship, when it ran ... read more


VIETNAM WAR
1964
CIA report challenges “domino theory”

In reply to a formal question submitted by President Lyndon B. Johnson—
“Would the rest of Southeast Asia necessarily fall if Laos and South Vietnam
came under North Vietnamese control?”—the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA)
submits a memo that effectively challenges the “domino ... read more


WESTWARD EXPANSION
1856
Handcart pioneers depart for Salt Lake City

In an extraordinary demonstration of resolve and fortitude, nearly 500 members
of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (often informally known as Mormons)
leave Iowa City and head west for Salt Lake City carrying all their goods and supplies
in two-wheeled handcarts. ... read more





RED SCARE
1954
“Have you no sense of decency?”
Sen. Joseph McCarthy is asked in hearing
In a dramatic confrontation, Joseph Welch, special counsel for the U.S. Army,
lashes out at Senator Joseph McCarthy during hearings on whether communism
has infiltrated the U.S. armed forces. Welch’s verbal assault marked the end
of McCarthy’s power during the anticommunist ... read more





WORLD WAR I
1915
William Jennings Bryan resigns as U.S. secretary of state

On June 9, 1915, United States Secretary of State William Jennings Bryan
resigns due to his concerns over President Woodrow Wilson’s handling of
the crisis generated by a German submarine’s sinking of the British passenger
liner Lusitania the previous month, in which 1,201 ... read more

Last episode of “The Sopranos” airs






2007
June 10



Almost 12 million people tune in for the series finale of HBO’s critically acclaimed,
multi-award-winning Mob-family drama The Sopranos on June 10, 2007.

The mastermind behind The Sopranos was David Chase, a longtime writer, producer and
director for TV series such as The Rockford Files, I’ll Fly Away and Northern Exposure.
Chase drew inspiration for his latest series from his Italian-American childhood growing
up in New Jersey, when he was fascinated by William Wellman’s great 1931 gangster film
The Public Enemy, starring Jimmy Cagney. The Sopranos was an immediate hit with critics
when it premiered in January 1999. At its center was the New Jersey Mafia boss Tony Soprano
(James Gandolfini), whose attacks of anxiety early in the series send him into the office
of a therapist, Dr. Jennifer Melfi (Lorraine Bracco). It soon becomes clear that Tony has
a stressful life managing his family—including his vindictive mother (Nancy Marchand) and
uncle (Dominic Chianese), his materialistic but good-hearted wife Carmela (Edie Falco) and
his two teenage children, Meadow (Jamie-Lynn Sigler) and Anthony Jr., or A.J. (Robert Iler)–as
well as his crew of lieutenants, notably Paulie Walnuts (Tony Sirico), Silvio Dante (Steve Van Zandt)
and Christopher Moltisanti (Michael Imperioli).

The Sopranos brought to television a complex, compassionate vision of Mafia life similar to
those previously portrayed on the big screen by directors like Francis Ford Coppola
(the three Godfather movies) and Martin Scorsese (Mean Streets, Goodfellas). Both The Godfather
and Goodfellas were touchstones for Chase (and his characters) throughout the series, as was
The Public Enemy, which Tony memorably watches after his mother’s death in the show’s third season.

According to Alessandra Stanley, writing in the New York Times during the final season of
The Sopranos: “The series lowered the bar on permissible violence, sex and profanity at the
same time that it elevated viewers’ taste, cultivating an appetite for complexity, wit and cinematic
stylishness on a serial drama in which psychological themes flickered and built and faded and
reappeared. The best episodes had equal amounts of high and low appeal, an alchemy of artistry
and gutter-level blood and gore, all of it leavened with humor.” As Stanley recounts, critics and
pop-culture observers were often hyperbolic in their praise for the show, calling it Dickensian or
Shakespearian; the author Norman Mailer, for one, called The Sopranos the closest thing to the
Great American Novel in today’s culture. Fans loved it as well: The show’s audience reached a
peak of some 18 million viewers during its fourth season. The show’s breakout success, along
with that of the comedy series Sex and the City (which debuted six months before The Sopranos),
established HBO’s reputation as the home of some of TV’s most popular original programming.

In the final season of The Sopranos, Tony survives a near-fatal shooting and begins to contemplate
his own aging and mortality. Meanwhile, it appears that a full-scale war is brewing between the
crime families of New York and New Jersey, as the hated Phil Leotardo (Frank Vincent) takes
control of New York after former boss Johnny Sack (Vincent Curatola) dies in prison. When Phil
goes after Tony and his crew, they react in turn, and the bodies stack up. In the closing scene
of the open-ended finale, Tony meets Carmela, Meadow and A.J. in a diner for dinner. As soon
as the screen went black, fans immediately began debating what actually happened, and mourning
the end of a show that many had considered the best in the history of television.




ALSO ON THIS DAY



ART, LITERATURE, AND FILM HISTORY
1928
“Where the Wild Things Are”
author Maurice Sendak is born

On June 10, 1928, author and illustrator Maurice Sendak, who revolutionized
children’s literature with such best-selling books as Where the Wild Things Are
and became one of the most celebrated children’s authors in contemporary
history, is born in Brooklyn, New York. First ... read more





WORLD WAR II
1940
Norway surrenders to Germany

After two months of desperate resistance, the last surviving Norwegian and British
defenders of Norway are overwhelmed by the Germans, and the country is forced to
capitulate to the Nazis. Two months earlier, on April 9, Nazi Germany launched its
invasion of Norway, capturing ... read more


AFRICA
1980
Nelson Mandela writes from prison

In South Africa, the African National Congress (ANC) makes public a statement by
Nelson Mandela, the long imprisoned leader of the anti-apartheid movement. The message,
smuggled out of Robben Island prison under great risk, read,
“UNITE! MOBILISE! FIGHT ON! BETWEEN THE ANVIL OF ... read more





COLONIAL AMERICA
1692
First Salem witch hanging

In Salem Village in the Massachusetts Bay Colony, Bridget Bishop, the first colonist
to be tried in the Salem witch trials, is hanged after being found guilty of the practice
of witchcraft. Trouble in the small Puritan community began in February 1692, when
nine-year-old ... read more


GREAT DEPRESSION
1935
Alcoholics Anonymous founded

In Akron, Ohio, Bill Wilson and Dr. Robert Smith, two recovering alcoholics, found
Alcoholics Anonymous (A.A.), a 12-step rehabilitation program that eventually helps
countless people cope with alcoholism. Based on psychological techniques that have
long been used in suppressing ... read more





INVENTIONS & SCIENCE
1752
Benjamin Franklin flies kite during thunderstorm

On June 10, 1752, Benjamin Franklin was said to have flown a kite during a
thunderstorm to collect ambient electrical charge in a Leyden jar, enabling him
to demonstrate the connection between lightning and electricity. Franklin became
interested in electricity in the mid-1740s, ... read more


WORLD WAR II
1940
Italy declares war on France and Great Britain

On June 10, 1940, after withholding formal allegiance to either side in the
battle between Germany and the Allies, Benito Mussolini, dictator of Italy,
declares war on France and Great Britain. What caused Il Duce’s change of heart?
Perhaps the German occupation of Paris did it. ... read more


VIETNAM WAR
1968
General Westmoreland gives farewell
press conference in Saigon

At a Saigon news conference on the day he is to turn over command of U.S.
forces in Vietnam to Gen. Creighton Abrams, Gen. William Westmoreland offers
his assessment of past and current trends in the war. In defense of his attrition
policy, Westmoreland declared that it would ... read more





SPORTS
1944
Joe Nuxhall makes MLB debut at 15

On June 10, 1944, 15-year-old Joe Nuxhall becomes the youngest person ever
to play Major League Baseball when he pitches in a game for the Cincinnati Reds.
Nuxhall threw two-thirds of the ninth inning in an 18-0 loss to the St. Louis Cardinals;
he was pulled only after one wild ... read more





ART, LITERATURE, AND FILM HISTORY
1881
Tolstoy disguises himself as a peasant
and leaves on a pilgrimage

On June 10, 1881, Count Leo Tolstoy sets off on a pilgrimage to a monastery
disguised as a peasant. Tolstoy had already produced his two greatest masterpieces
War and Peace (1865-1869) and Anna Karenina (1875-1877). The Russian
nobleman was engaged in a spiritual struggle and ... read more





CRIME
2002
Doughnut truck thief arrested

On June 10, 2002, Clint Messina, 21, of Lacombe, Louisiana, is arrested and
charged in the attempted murder of a police officer after driving into a patrol car
while attempting to flee from sheriff’s deputies. Soon after, police discovered
that he was already a wanted man. At ... read more


COLD WAR
1953
Eisenhower rejects calls for U.S. isolationism

In a forceful speech, President Dwight D. Eisenhower strikes back at critics of
his Cold War foreign policy. He insisted that the United States was committed
to the worldwide battle against communism and that he would maintain a strong
U.S. defense. Just a few months into his ... read more


AMERICAN REVOLUTION
1775
John Adams proposes a Continental Army

On June 10, 1775, John Adams proposes to Congress, meeting in Philadelphia,
that the men laying siege to Boston should be considered a Continental Army
led by a general. The men who had armed themselves and rushed to surround
British forces in Boston following the Battle of ... read more

John Wayne dies





1979
June 11


On June 11, 1979, John Wayne, an iconic American film actor famous for starring in
countless westerns, dies at age 72 after battling cancer for more than a decade.

The actor was born Marion Morrison on May 26, 1907, in Winterset, Iowa, and moved as
a child to Glendale, California. A football star at Glendale High School, he attended the
University of Southern California on a scholarship but dropped out after two years. After
finding work as a movie studio laborer, Wayne befriended director John Ford, then a
rising talent. His first acting jobs were bit parts in which he was credited as Duke Morrison,
a childhood nickname derived from the name of his beloved pet dog.

Wayne’s first starring role came in 1930 with The Big Trail, a film directed by Raoul Walsh.
It was during this time that Marion Morrison became “John Wayne,” when director Walsh
didn’t think Marion was a good name for an actor playing a tough western hero. Despite
the lead actor’s new name, however, the movie flopped. Throughout the 1930s, Wayne
made dozens of mediocre westerns. In them, he played various rough-and-tumble
characters and occasionally appeared as “Singing Sandy,” a musical cowpoke a la Roy Rogers.

In 1939, Wayne finally had his breakthrough when his old friend John Ford cast him as
Ringo Kid in the Oscar-winning Stagecoach. Wayne went on to play larger-than-life heroes
in dozens of movies and came to symbolize a type of rugged, strong, straight-shooting
American man. John Ford directed Wayne in some of his best-known films, including
Fort Apache (1948), She Wore a Yellow Ribbon (1949), Rio Grande (1950),
The Quiet Man (1952) and The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962).

Off-screen, Wayne came to be known for his conservative political views. He produced,
directed and starred in The Alamo (1960) and The Green Berets (1968), both of which
reflected his patriotic, conservative leanings. In 1969, he won an Oscar for his role as
a drunken, one-eyed federal marshal named Rooster Cogburn in True Grit. Wayne’s last film
was The Shootist (1976), in which he played a legendary gunslinger dying of cancer.
The role had particular meaning, as the actor was fighting the disease in real life.

During four decades of acting, Wayne, with his trademark drawl and good looks, appeared
in over 250 films. He was married three times and had seven children.



ALSO ON THIS DAY


CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT
1963
University of Alabama desegregated

Facing federalized Alabama National Guard troops, Alabama Governor George Wallace
ends his blockade of the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa and allows two African
American students to enroll on June 11, 1963. George Wallace, one of the most
controversial politicians in U.S. ... read more





MIDDLE EAST
1967
Six-Day War ends

The Six-Day War between Israel and its Arab neighbors ends with a United Nations-brokered
cease-fire. The outnumbered Israel Defense Forces achieved a swift victory in the brief war,
rolling over the Arab coalition and more than doubling the amount of territory
under Israel’s ... read more


GREAT BRITAIN
1509
Henry VIII marries his first wife,
Catherine of Aragon

King Henry VIII of England marries Catherine of Aragon, the first of six wives he will have
in his lifetime. When Catherine failed to produce a male heir, Henry divorced her against
the will of the Roman Catholic Church, thus precipitating the Protestant Reformation in
England. ... read more


WORLD WAR II
1944
D-Day landing forces converge

Five days after the D-Day landing, the five Allied landing groups, made up of some 330,000
troops, link up in Normandy to form a single solid front across northwestern France.
On June 6, 1944, after a year of meticulous planning conducted in ... read more


VIETNAM WAR
1963
Buddhist immolates himself in protest

Buddhist monk Thich Quang Duc publicly burns himself to death in a plea for President
Ngo Dinh Diem to show “charity and compassion” to all religions. Diem, a Catholic who
had been oppressing the Buddhist majority, remained stubborn despite continued
Buddhist protests and ... read more





EXPLORATION
1788
Russian explorer Izmailov arrives
at Yakutat Bay, Alaska

Searching for sea otter pelts and other furs, the Russian explorer Gerasim Grigoriev Izmailov
reaches the Alaskan coast, setting his ship in at Yakutat Bay. Although most Americans think
of the exploration of the Far West as an affair that began in the East and proceeded ... read more


ART, LITERATURE, AND FILM HISTORY
1949
Hank Williams, Sr., makes his Grand Ole Opry debut

In the tragically short life of country legend Hank Williams, Sr., there were many broken
relationships, both personal and professional, that resulted from his self-destructive behavior.
One such relationship was with the most important institution in his chosen field:
The Grand ... read more





ART, LITERATURE, AND FILM HISTORY
1982
“E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial” released

Then 34-year-old director Steven Spielberg reportedly drew on his own experiences as
an unusually imaginative, often-lonely child of divorce for his science-fiction classic E.T.
the Extra-Terrestrial, which is released on June 11, 1982. For Spielberg, E.T. marked
a return to ... read more





SPORTS
1955
Race car at Le Mans crashes into spectators,
killing 82

On June 11, 1955, a racing car in Le Mans, France, goes out of control and crashes into
stands filled with spectators, killing 82 people. The tragedy in the famous 24-hour race
led to a ban on racing in several nations. The Le Mans race, organized by France’s
Automobile Club de ... read more





CHINA
1989
China issues warrant for Tiananmen dissident
sheltering in U.S. embassy

In the wake of the Tiananmen Square Massacre on June 4, China issues a warrant for a
leading Chinese dissident who had taken refuge in the U.S. embassy in Beijing. The
diplomatic standoff lasted for a year, and the refusal of the United States to hand the
dissident over to ... read more


AMERICAN REVOLUTION
1776
Congress appoints Committee of Five to
draft the Declaration of Independence

On June 11, 1776, the Continental Congress selects Thomas Jefferson of Virginia,
John Adams of Massachusetts, Benjamin Franklin of Pennsylvania, Roger Sherman
of Connecticut and Robert R. Livingston of New York to draft a declaration of independence.
Knowing Jefferson’s prowess ... read more

Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman murdered





1994
June 12



Nicole Brown Simpson, famous football player O.J. Simpson’s ex-wife, and her friend
Ron Goldman are brutally stabbed to death outside Nicole’s home in Brentwood, California,
in what quickly becomes one of the most highly publicized trials of the century. With
overwhelming evidence against him, including a prior record of domestic violence towards
Brown, O.J. Simpson became the chief suspect.

Although he had agreed to turn himself in, Simpson escaped with friend A.C. Cowlings in
his white Ford Bronco on June 17. He was carrying his passport, a disguise, and $8,750
in cash. Simpson’s car was spotted that afternoon, but he refused to surrender immediately.
Threatening to kill himself, he led police in a low-speed chase through the freeways of
Los Angeles as the entire nation watched on television. Eventually, Simpson gave himself
up at his home in Brentwood.

The evidence against Simpson was extensive: His blood was found at the murder scene;
blood, hair, and fibers from Brown and Goldman were found in Simpson’s car and at his
home; one of his gloves was also found in Brown’s home, the other outside his own house;
and bloody shoeprints found at the scene matched those of shoes owned by Simpson.

However, Simpson’s so-called “Dream Team” of defense lawyers, including Johnnie Cochran
and F. Lee Bailey, claimed before a national television audience that Simpson had been
framed by racist police officers such as Detective Mark Fuhrman. After deliberating for three
hours, the jury acquitted Simpson. He vowed to find the “real killers,” but has yet to turn
up any new leads.

In a civil trial brought about by the families of the victims, Simpson was found responsible
for causing Goldman’s death and committing battery against Brown in February 1997, and
was ordered to pay a total of $33.5 million, little of which he has paid.

In 2007, Simpson ran into legal problems once again when he was arrested for breaking into
a Las Vegas hotel room and taking sports memorabilia, which he claimed had been stolen
from him, at gunpoint. On October 3, 2008, he was found guilty of 12 charges related to
the incident, including armed robbery and kidnapping, and sentenced to 33 years in prison.

He was released on October 1, 2017.



ALSO ON THIS DAY



COLD WAR
1982
One million people demonstrate in
New York City against nuclear weapons

A stunningly large and diverse crowd descends upon New York City’s Central Park on
June 12, 1982, demanding nuclear disarmament and an end to the Cold War arms race.
By the end of the day, estimates place the number of attendees at over a million,
making it the largest ... read more





21ST CENTURY
2016
Terrorist gunman attacks
Pulse Nightclub in Orlando, Florida

As Latin music blared inside Pulse, one of Orlando’s biggest nightclubs on June 12, 2016,
a gunman forced his way inside and opened fire on the predominantly gay crowd. In
the end, 49 people were dead and dozens more injured, in what was, at the time,
the deadliest mass shooting ... read more





21ST CENTURY
2017
Otto Warmbier returns from
North Korean prison in a coma

On June 12, 2017 Otto Warmbier, a 22-year-old student who was taken prisoner in
North Korea 17 months earlier, returned home to the United States in a comatose state.
His return marked a warming of relations between the U.S. and the pariah state known
for its extensive ... read more





BLACK HISTORY
1963
Civil rights leader Medgar Evers is assassinated

In the driveway outside his home in Jackson, Mississippi, African American
civil rights leader Medgar Evers is shot to death by white supremacist
Byron De La Beckwith. During World War II, Evers volunteered for the U.S. Army
and participated in the Normandy invasion. In 1952, he ... read more





19TH CENTURY
1898
Philippine independence declared

During the Spanish-American War, Filipino rebels led by Emilio Aguinaldo proclaim
the independence of the Philippines after 300 years of Spanish rule. By mid-August,
Filipino rebels and U.S. troops had ousted the Spanish, but Aguinaldo’s hopes for
independence were dashed when ... read more


INDIA
1975
Indira Gandhi convicted of election fraud

Indira Gandhi, the prime minister of India, is found guilty of electoral corruption in
her successful 1971 campaign. Despite calls for her resignation, Gandhi refused to
give up India’s top office and later declared martial law in the country when public
demonstrations threatened ... read more





SPORTS
1920
Big Red sets record at Belmont Stakes

On June 12, 1920, Man O’ War wins the 52nd Belmont Stakes, and sets the record
for the fastest mile ever run by a horse to that time. Man O’ War was the biggest
star yet in a country obsessed with horse racing, and the most successful thoroughbred
of his generation. Man O’ War ... read more





U.S. PRESIDENTS
1944
John F. Kennedy receives medals

Lieutenant John F. Kennedy receives one of the Navy’s highest honor for gallantry for
his heroic actions as the commanding officer of a motor torpedo boat during World War II
on June 12, 1944. The future president also received a Purple Heart for wounds received
during battle. ... read more





U.S. PRESIDENTS
1924
George Herbert Walker Bush is born

The first Bush president, George Herbert Walker Bush, is born in Milton, Massachusetts.
Bush served in the Navy during World War II and survived a harrowing ordeal when his
torpedo bomber was shot down over the Pacific. Bush drifted in the water for several
hours until a U.S. ... read more





HOLOCAUST
1942
Anne Frank receives a diary

On June 12, 1942, Anne Frank, a young Jewish girl living in Amsterdam, receives a diary
for her 13th birthday. A month later, she and her family went into hiding from the Nazis. 
For two years, the Franks and four other families hid, fed and cared for by Gentile friends.
The ... read more





1987
President Reagan challenges Gorbachev to
"Tear down this wall"

On June 12, 1987, in one of his most famous Cold War speeches, President Ronald Reagan
challenges Soviet Leader Mikhail Gorbachev to “tear down” the Berlin Wall, a symbol of
the repressive Communist era in a divided Germany. In 1945, following Germany’s defeat
in World War II, ... read more

Thurgood Marshall appointed to Supreme Court







President Lyndon B. Johnson appoints U.S. Court of Appeals Judge Thurgood Marshall
to fill the seat of retiring Supreme Court Associate Justice Tom C. Clark. On August 30,
after a heated debate, the Senate confirmed Marshall’s nomination by a vote of 69 to 11.
Two days later, he was sworn in by Chief Justice Earl Warren, making him the first
African American in history to sit on America’s highest court.

The great-grandson of slaves, Marshall was born in Baltimore, Maryland, in 1908. In 1933,
after studying under the tutelage of civil liberties lawyer Charles H. Houston, he received
his law degree from Howard University in Washington, D.C. In 1936, he joined the legal
division of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP),
of which Houston was director, and two years later succeeded his mentor in the organization’s
top legal post.

As the NAACP’s chief counsel from 1938 to 1961, he argued 32 cases before the
U.S. Supreme Court, successfully challenging racial segregation, most notably in public
education. He won 29 of these cases, including a groundbreaking victory in 1954’s
Brown v. Board of Education, in which the Supreme Court ruled that segregation violated
the 14th Amendment to the Constitution and was thus illegal. The decision served as a
great impetus for the African American civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s and
ultimately led to the abolishment of segregation in all public facilities and accommodations.

In 1961, President John F. Kennedy appointed Marshall to the U.S. Court of Appeals, but his
nomination was opposed by many Southern senators, and he was not confirmed until the next
year. In June 1967, President Johnson nominated him to the Supreme Court, and in late August
he was confirmed. During his 24 years on the high court, Associate Justice Marshall consistently
challenged discrimination based on race or sex, opposed the death penalty, and supported the
rights of criminal defendants. He also defended affirmative action and women’s right to
reproductive freedom. As appointments by a largely Republican White House changed the
politics of the Court, Marshall found his liberal opinions increasingly in the minority.
He retired in 1991, and two years later passed away.




ALSO ON THIS DAY



SPACE EXPLORATION
1983
Pioneer 10 departs solar system

After more than a decade in space, Pioneer 10, the world’s first outer-planetary
probe, leaves the solar system. The next day, it radioed back its first scientific
data on interstellar space. On March 2, 1972, the NASA spacecraft was launched
from Cape Canaveral, Florida, on a ... read more





MIDDLE AGES
1381
Peasant army marches into London

During the Peasants’ Revolt, a large mob of English peasants led by Wat Tyler
marches into London and begins burning and looting the city. Several government
buildings were destroyed, prisoners were released, and a judge was beheaded
along with several dozen other leading ... read more


ANCIENT MIDDLE EAST
323 B.C.
Alexander the Great dies

Alexander the Great, the young Macedonian military genius who forged an empire
stretching from the eastern Mediterranean to India, dies in Babylon, in present-day
Iraq, at the age of 32. Born in Macedonia to King Phillip II and Queen Olympias,
Alexander received a classical ... read more


US GOVERNMENT
1966
The Miranda rights are established

On June 13, 1966, the U.S. Supreme Court hands down its decision in
Miranda v. Arizona, establishing the principle that all criminal suspects must
be advised of their rights before interrogation. Now considered standard police
procedure, “You have the right to remain silent. ... read more





VIETNAM WAR
1971
The New York Times publishes
the “Pentagon Papers”

The New York Times begins publishing portions of the 47-volume Pentagon
analysis of how the U.S. commitment in Southeast Asia grew over a period of
three decades. Daniel Ellsberg, a former Defense Department analyst who had
become an antiwar activist, had stolen the documents. ... read more





U.S. PRESIDENTS
1807
Thomas Jefferson subpoenaed
in Aaron Burr’s treason trial

President Thomas Jefferson receives a subpoena to testify in the treason trial
of his former vice president, Aaron Burr, on June 13, 1807. In the subpoena,
Burr asked Jefferson to produce documents that might exonerate him. Burr
had already been politically and socially disgraced ... read more


WESTWARD EXPANSION
1805
Meriwether Lewis reaches the Great Falls

Having hurried ahead of the main body of the expedition, Meriwether Lewis and
four men arrive at the Great Falls of the Missouri River, confirming that the
explorers are headed in the right direction. Meriwether Lewis and William Clark
had set out on their expedition to the ... read more


ART, LITERATURE, AND FILM HISTORY
1962
Stanley Kubrick’s “Lolita” released

“How did they ever make a movie of Lolita?” was the question posed by the
posters advertising Stanley Kubrick’s film adaptation of Vladimir Nabokov’s
famously controversial novel, released on June 13, 1962. Four years earlier,
Kubrick, director of the big-budget Roman epic ... read more





CRIME
2006
Jurors begin deliberations in Susan Polk trial

On June 13, 2006, jurors began deliberations in the trial of Susan Polk, 48,
for the October 2002 murder of her psychotherapist husband Felix Polk, 70,
in a poolside cottage at the couple’s Orinda, California, home. Felix was stabbed
and cut 27 times and had suffered blunt force ... read more






AMERICAN REVOLUTION
1777
Lafayette arrives in South Carolina to
serve alongside General Washington

On June 13, 1777, a 19-year-old French aristocrat,
Marie-Joseph Paul Roch Yves Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette,
arrives in South Carolina with the intent to serve as General George Washington’s
second-in-command.
Silas Deane, during his service as the Continental Congress ... read more

UNIVAC,
the first commercially produced digital computer,
is dedicated





1951
June 14


On June 14, 1951, the U.S. Census Bureau dedicates UNIVAC, the first commercially produced
electronic digital computer in the United States. UNIVAC, which stood for Universal Automatic Computer,
was developed by a team of engineers led by J. Presper Eckert and John Mauchly, makers of ENIAC,
the first general-purpose electronic digital computer. These giant computers, which used thousands
of vacuum tubes for computation, were the forerunners of today’s digital computers.

The search for mechanical devices to aid computation began in ancient times. The abacus,
developed in various forms by the Babylonians, Chinese, and Romans, was by definition the first
digital computer because it calculated values by using digits. A mechanical digital calculating
machine was built in France in 1642, but a 19th century Englishman, Charles Babbage, is credited
with devising most of the principles on which modern computers are based. His “Analytical Engine,”
begun in the 1830s and never completed for lack of funds, was based on a mechanical loom and
would have been the first programmable computer.

By the 1920s, companies such as the International Business Machines Corporation (IBM) were
supplying governments and businesses with complex punch-card tabulating systems, but these
mechanical devices had only a fraction of the calculating power of the first electronic digital computer,
the Atanasoff-Berry Computer (ABC). Completed by John Atanasoff of Iowa State in 1939, the ABC
could by 1941 solve up to 29 simultaneous equations with 29 variables. Influenced by Atanasoff’s
work, Presper Eckert and John Mauchly set about building the first general-purpose electronic digital
computer in 1943. The sponsor was the U.S. Army Ordnance Department, which wanted a better
way of calculating artillery firing tables, and the work was done at the University of Pennsylvania.

ENIAC, which stood for Electronic Numerical Integrator and Calculator, was completed in 1946 at a
cost of nearly $500,000. It took up 15,000 feet, employed 17,000 vacuum tubes, and was programmed
by plugging and replugging some 6,000 switches. It was first used in a calculation for
Los Alamos Laboratories in December 1945, and in February 1946 it was formally dedicated.

Following the success of ENIAC, Eckert and Mauchly decided to go into private business and founded
the Eckert-Mauchly Computer Corporation. They proved less able businessmen than they were
engineers, and in 1950 their struggling company was acquired by Remington Rand, an office
equipment company. On June 14, 1951, Remington Rand delivered its first computer, UNIVAC I,
to the U.S. Census Bureau. It weighed 16,000 pounds, used 5,000 vacuum tubes, and could perform
about 1,000 calculations per second. On November 4, 1952, the UNIVAC achieved national fame
when it correctly predicted Dwight D. Eisenhower’s unexpected landslide victory in the presidential
election after only a tiny percentage of the votes were in.

UNIVAC and other first-generation computers were replaced by transistor computers of the late 1950s,
which were smaller, used less power, and could perform nearly a thousand times more operations
per second. These were, in turn, supplanted by the integrated-circuit machines of the mid-1960s
and 1970s. In the 1980s, the development of the microprocessor made possible small, powerful
computers such as the personal computer, and more recently the laptop and hand-held computers.




ALSO ON THIS DAY



GREAT BRITAIN
2017
Grenfell Tower fire kills 72 in London

Shortly before 1:00 A.M. on June 14, 2017, a fire tears through West London’s 24-story
Grenfell tower. 72 people died, scores were injured and hundreds were left homeless in
Britain’s deadliest fire in more than a century. The fire started in a Hotpoint brand
fridge-freezer in a ... read more





CRIME
2017
Five people shot,
including Republican congressman,
at baseball practice

On June 14, 2017, a gunman walked onto a baseball field at Eugene Simpson Park
in Alexandria, Virginia, opening fire on politicians and wounding House GOP Whip
Steve Scalise of Louisiana and four others. The representatives had been practicing
for the annual Congressional ... read more





LATIN AMERICA
1982
Falklands War ends

After suffering through six weeks of military defeats against Britain’s armed forces,
Argentina surrenders to Great Britain, ending the Falklands War. The Falkland Islands,
located about 300 miles off the southern tip of Argentina, had long been claimed by
the British. British ... read more





EXPLORATION
1789
Bounty mutiny survivors reach Timor

English Captain William Bligh and 18 others, cast adrift from the HMS Bounty seven weeks
before, reach Timor in the East Indies after traveling nearly 4,000 miles in a small, open
boat. READ MORE: Mutiny on the HMS Bounty On April 28, Fletcher Christian, the master’s
mate on the ... read more


US GOVERNMENT
1777
Congress adopts the Stars and Stripes

June 14, 1777: During the American Revolution, the Continental Congress adopts a
resolution stating that “the flag of the United States be thirteen alternate stripes red and white”
and that “the Union be thirteen stars, white in a blue field,
representing a new Constellation.” ... read more





WORLD WAR II
1940
Germany invades Paris

On June 14, 1940, Parisians awaken to the sound of a German-accented voice announcing
via loudspeakers that a curfew was being imposed for 8 p.m. that evening as German troops
enter and occupy Paris. British Prime Minister Winston Churchill had tried for days to
convince the ... read more





VIETNAM WAR
1968
Dr. Spock convicted for aiding draft resisters

A Federal District Court jury in Boston convicts Dr. Benjamin Spock and three others, including
Yale University Chaplain William Sloane Coffin, Jr., of conspiring to aid, abet and counsel draft
registrants to violate the Selective Service Act.
During the Johnson administration, ... read more





U.S. PRESIDENTS
1922
Warren G. Harding becomes the first president
to be heard on the radio

On June 14, 1922, President Warren G. Harding, while addressing a crowd at the dedication
of a memorial site for the composer of the “Star Spangled Banner,” Francis Scott Key,
becomes the first president to have his voice transmitted by radio.
The broadcast heralded a ... read more





19TH CENTURY
1846
California’s Bear Flag Revolt begins

Anticipating the outbreak of war with Mexico, American settlers in California rebel
against the Mexican government and proclaim the short-lived California Republic
during the Bear Flag Revolt of 1846. The political situation in California was tense
in 1846. Though nominally ... read more


ART, LITERATURE, AND FILM HISTORY
1811
Writer and abolitionist
Harriet Beecher Stowe is born

Harriet Beecher Stowe, author of Uncle Tom’s Cabin, is born on June 14, 1811
in Litchfield, Connecticut, the seventh child of Congregationalist minister
Lyman Beecher. Stowe studied at private schools in Connecticut and worked
as a teacher in Hartford for five years until her ... read more





CRIME
1985
TWA flight 847 is hijacked by terrorists

TWA Flight 847 from Athens to Rome is hijacked by Shiite Hezbollah terrorists who
immediately demand to know the identity of ”those with Jewish-sounding names.”
Two of the Lebanese terrorists, armed with grenades and a 9-mm. pistol, then forced
the plane to land in Beirut, ... read more





WORLD WAR I
1917
U.S. President Woodrow Wilson
gives Flag Day address

On June 14, 1917, as the soldiers of the American Expeditionary Force (AEF) travel
to join the Allies on the battlefields of World War I in France, United States President
Woodrow Wilson addresses the nation’s public on the annual celebration of Flag Day.
Just the year before, on ... read more

Police search Van der Sloot home
in Holloway disappearance





2005
June 15



On this day in 2005, more than two weeks after American teen Natalee Holloway vanished
while on a high school graduation trip to the Caribbean island of Aruba, police there search
the home of 17-year-old Joran Van der Sloot, one of the last known people to see the young
woman alive. Although Van der Sloot would emerge as a prime suspect in the case, he was
never charged. Holloway’s disappearance generated massive media attention in the United States;
however, her body never has been found, and in 2012 she was declared legally dead.

Holloway, an 18-year-old from Mountain Brook, Alabama, was last seen leaving an Aruban bar
and restaurant with Van der Sloot and two of his friends, Deepak Kalpoe, 21, and
Satish Kalpoe, 18, in the early hours of May 30. The young men initially claimed they dropped
the blonde teen at her hotel around 2 a.m.; however, the three, who were arrested on June 9,
later changed their stories. Van der Sloot reportedly admitted to being alone with Holloway on the
beach on May 30, after being dropped there by the Kalpoe brothers, but said he never harmed her.
After a judge deemed there was not enough evidence to hold them, the Kalpoes were released
from custody in early July. Van der Sloot, who was born in the Netherlands and raised in
Dutch-speaking Aruba, was released in September. A string of additional suspects were detained
but no charges were filed. Despite extensive searches of the island and surrounding ocean by
investigators and volunteers, the case remained unsolved.

In 2007, police re-arrested Van der Sloot and the Kalpoes in connection with Holloway’s disappearance,
but once again soon released them due to insufficient evidence. The following year, a Dutch television
program aired a secretly made tape in which Van der Sloot alleged Holloway had collapsed on the
beach, and that after failing to revive her he had disposed of her body. He later retracted this statement.

On June 3, 2010, Van der Sloot was arrested in South America in connection with the slaying of
21-year-old Stephany Flores, in Lima, Peru. Flores was murdered on May 30, 2010, exactly five years
to the day after Holloway went missing. Van der Sloot met the Peruvian college student at a Lima
casino while he was there for a poker tournament. After Flores was found dead in a hotel room,
beaten and with a broken neck, hotel surveillance video linked the Dutchman to the crime.
After his arrest, he admitted to Peruvian authorities he had killed Flores following an argument.
However, he later recanted this confession, saying he was frightened and confused when he made it.
On the day Van der Sloot was arrested in South America, U.S. authorities issued a warrant for his
arrest in connection with a plot to extort $250,000 from Holloway’s family in exchange for revealing
the location of her remains.

On January 11, 2012, Van der Sloot, who has been behind bars in Peru since his June 2010 arrest,
pleaded guilty in a Lima courtroom to Flores’ murder. His lawyer contended the Dutchman killed
Flores due to “extreme psychological trauma” after being accused in Holloway’s disappearance.
Van der Sloot was sentenced to 28 years in prison.

One day before the sentencing in Peru, a judge in Birmingham, Alabama, signed an order declaring
Natalee Holloway legally dead. The judge made the ruling at the request of Holloway’s father,
so that he could settle his daughter’s estate.




ALSO ON THIS DAY



EXPLORATION
1910
Robert Falcon Scott’s Terra Nova expedition begins

Robert Falcon Scott’s ship, the Terra Nova, sets sail from Cardiff, Wales on
June 15, 1910, bound for Antarctica. Though it will succeed in reaching its
objective, the expedition will end in tragedy as Scott and his companions
give up their lives in order to become the second ... read more





CIVIL WAR
1864
Battle of Petersburg begins

During the Civil War, Ulysses S. Grant’s Army of the Potomac and Robert E. Lee’s
Army of Northern Virginia collide for the last time as the first wave of Union
troops attacks Petersburg, a vital Southern rail center 23 miles south of the
Confederate capital of Richmond, Virginia. ... read more


19TH CENTURY
1846
U.S.-Canadian border established

Representatives of Great Britain and the United States sign the Oregon Treaty,
which settles a long-standing dispute with Britain over who controlled the Oregon
territory. The treaty established the 49th parallel from the Rocky Mountains to
the Strait of Georgia as the boundary ... read more





BLACK HISTORY
1877
First African American graduate of West Point

Henry Ossian Flipper, born into slavery in Thomasville, Georgia, in 1856, becomes
the first African American cadet to graduate from the United States Military Academy
at West Point, New York on June 14, 1877.  The United States Military Academy—the
first military school in ... read more





GREAT BRITAIN
1215
King John puts his seal on Magna Carta

Following a revolt by the English nobility against his rule, King John puts his royal
seal on Magna Carta, or “the Great Charter,” on June 15, 1215. The document,
essentially a peace treaty between John and his barons, guaranteed that the king
would respect feudal rights and ... read more


WORLD WAR II
1943
The “Blobel Commando”
begins its cover-up of atrocities

On June 15, 1943, Paul Blobel, an SS colonel, is given the assignment of coordinating
the destruction of the evidence of the grossest of Nazi atrocities, the systematic
extermination of European Jews. As the summer of 1943 approached, Allied forces
had begun making cracks in Axis ... read more





VIETNAM WAR
1964
President Johnson decides against asking
Congress for authority to wage war

At a meeting of the National Security Council, McGeorge Bundy, national security advisor
to President Lyndon B. Johnson, informs those in attendance that President Johnson has
decided to postpone submitting a resolution to Congress asking for authority to wage war. 
The situation ... read more


U.S. PRESIDENTS
1775
George Washington assigned
to lead the Continental Army

On June 15, 1775, George Washington, who would one day become the first American
president, accepts an assignment to lead the Continental Army. Washington had been
managing his family’s plantation and serving in the Virginia House of Burgesses when
the second Continental Congress ... read more


ART, LITERATURE, AND FILM HISTORY
1300
Dante is named prior of Florence

Poet Dante Alighieri becomes one of six priors of Florence, active in governing the city.
Dante’s political activities, which include the banishment of several rivals, lead to his
own exile from Florence, his native city, after 1302. He will write his great work,
The Divine ... read more


EARLY 20TH CENTURY US
1904
Fire on riverboat leaves more than 1,000 dead

More than 1,000 people taking a pleasure trip on New York City’s East River are
drowned or burned to death when a fire sweeps through the boat. This was one
of the United States’ worst maritime disasters. The riverboat-style steamer
General Slocum was built in 1890 and used ... read more





COLD WAR
1946
The United States presents the Baruch Plan

The United States presents the Baruch Plan for the international control of atomic
weapons to the United Nations. The failure of the plan to gain acceptance resulted
in a dangerous nuclear arms race between the United States and the Soviet Union
during the Cold War. In August ... read more


CIVIL WAR
1863
President Lincoln calls for help
in protecting Washington, D.C.

On June 15, 1863, President Abraham Lincoln calls for help in protecting Washington, D.C.,
America’s capital city. Throughout June, Confederate General Robert E. Lee’s Army of
Northern Virginia was on the move. He had pulled his army from its position along the
Rappahannock River ... read more


AMERICAN REVOLUTION
1776
Delaware declares independence

On June 15, 1776, the Assembly of the Lower Counties of Pennsylvania declares itself
independent of British and Pennsylvanian authority, thereby creating the state of Delaware.
Delaware did not exist as a colony under British rule. As of 1704, Pennsylvania had
two colonial ... read more


WORLD WAR I
1917
U.S. Congress passes Espionage Act

On June 15, 1917, some two months after America’s formal entrance into World War I
against Germany, the United States Congress passes the Espionage Act. Enforced largely
by A. Mitchell Palmer, the United States attorney general under President Woodrow Wilson,
the Espionage Act ... read more

First roller coaster in America opens






1884
June 16


On June 16, 1884, the first roller coaster in America opens at Coney Island, in Brooklyn, New York.
Known as a switchback railway, it was the brainchild of LaMarcus Thompson, traveled approximately
six miles per hour and cost a nickel to ride. The new entertainment was an instant success
and by the turn of the century there were hundreds of roller coasters around the country.

Coney Island, a name believed to have come from the Dutch Konijn Eilandt, or Rabbit Island, is a
tract of land along the Atlantic Ocean discovered by explorer Henry Hudson in 1609. The first hotel
opened at Coney Island in 1829 and by the post-Civil War years, the area was an established resort
with theaters, restaurants and a race track. Between 1897 and 1904, three amusement parks sprang
up at Coney Island–Dreamland, Luna Park and Steeplechase. By the 1920s, Coney Island was
reachable by subway and summer crowds of a million people a day flocked there for rides, games,
sideshows, the beach and the two-and-a-half-mile boardwalk, completed in 1923.

The hot dog is said to have been invented at Coney Island in 1867 by Charles Feltman. In 1916,
a nickel hot dog stand called Nathan’s was opened by a former Feltman employee and went on to
become a Coney Island institution and international franchise. Today, Nathan’s is famous not only
for its hot dogs but its hot dog-eating contest, held each Fourth of July in Coney Island.

Roller coasters and amusement parks experienced a decline during the Great Depression and
World War II, when Americans had less cash to spend on entertainment. Finally, in 1955, the
opening of Disneyland in Anaheim, California, signaled the advent of the modern theme park and
a rebirth of the roller coaster. Disneyland’s success sparked a wave of new parks and coasters.
By the 1970s, parks were competing to create the most thrilling rides.

By the mid-1960s, the major amusement parks at Coney Island had shut down and the area acquired
a seedy image. In recent decades it has been revitalized, however, and remains a popular tourist
attraction. It's still home to the Cyclone, a wooden coaster that made its debut in 1927. Capable of
speeds of 60 mph and with an 85-foot drop, the Cyclone is one of the country’s oldest coasters
in operation today.




ALSO ON THIS DAY



ART, LITERATURE, AND FILM HISTORY
1965
Bob Dylan records “Like A Rolling Stone”

By the spring of 1965, Bob Dylan’s presence in the world of music was
beginning to be felt well outside the boundaries of his nominal genre.
Within the world of folk music, he had been hailed as a hero for several
years already, but now his music was capturing the attention and ... read more





SPACE EXPLORATION
1963
Soviet cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova
becomes the first woman in space

On June 16, 1963, aboard Vostok 6, Soviet Cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova
becomes the first woman to travel into space. After 48 orbits and 71 hours, she
returned to earth, having spent more time in space than all U.S. astronauts
combined to that date. Valentina Vladimirovna ... read more





COLD WAR
1977
Leonid Brezhnev is elected Soviet president

Leonid Ilych Brezhnev, first secretary of the Soviet Communist Party since 1964,
is elected president of the Supreme Soviet, thereby becoming both head of party
and head of state. A member of the Soviet Communist Party since 1931, Brezhnev
was Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev’s ... read more





U.S. PRESIDENTS
1858
Lincoln warns that America is becoming
a “house divided”

On June 16, 1858, newly nominated senatorial candidate Abraham Lincoln addresses
the Illinois Republican Convention in Springfield and warns that the nation faces a crisis
that could destroy the Union. Speaking to more than 1,000 delegates in an ominous
tone, Lincoln paraphrased ... read more


ART, LITERATURE, AND FILM HISTORY
1943
Charlie Chaplin marries Oona O’Neill

Oona O’Neill, the daughter of the famed playwright Eugene O’Neill, is an 18-year-old
freshly minted high-school graduate and fledgling actress when she marries 54-year-old
Charles Chaplin, the internationally renowned actor, filmmaker and Hollywood legend,
on June 16, 1943, in ... read more





CRIME
1999
SLA member captured
after more than 20 years

On June 16, 1999, Kathleen Ann Soliah, a former member of the Symbionese Liberation
Army (SLA), is arrested near her home in St. Paul, Minnesota. Soliah, who now calls
herself Sara Jane Olson, had been evading authorities for more than 20 years. In the
mid-1970s, the SLA, a ... read more





COLD WAR
1961
Russian ballet star Rudolf Nureyev
defects from USSR

Rudolf Nureyev, the young star of the Soviet Union’s Kirov Opera Ballet Company,
defects during a stopover in Paris. The high-profile defection was a blow to Soviet
prestige and generated international interest. Nureyev became a star of Russian ballet
in 1958 when, at barely 20 ... read more





CIVIL WAR
1862
Union thwarted at the Battle of Secessionville

On June 16, 1862, a Union attempt to capture Charleston, South Carolina, is thwarted
when the Confederates turn back an attack at Secessionville, just south of the city on
James Island. In November 1861, Union ships captured Port Royal, South Carolina,
which lay about halfway ... read more


INVENTIONS & SCIENCE
1903
Ford Motor Company incorporated

At 9:30 in the morning on June 16, 1903, Henry Ford and other prospective stockholders
in the Ford Motor Company meet in Detroit to sign the official paperwork required to create
a new corporation. Twelve stockholders were listed on the forms, which were signed,
notarized and ... read more