Historical Events in June || Listed by Year

These are some of many widely recognized historic events that occurred during the month of June, listed by year. Dates provided for earlier time events may be approximate. Select another month

323 BCE, June 10 - Death of Alexander the Great: The renowned military leader and conqueror, Alexander the Great, dies in Babylon at the age of 32. More

632 CE, June 8 - Death of Prophet Muhammad: The founder of Islam, Prophet Muhammad, passes away in Medina, Saudi Arabia, marking a significant event in the history of the Islamic faith.

763 CE, June 15 - The Assyrian solar eclipse, also known as the Bur-Sagale eclipse, is recorded in Assyrian eponym lists that most likely dates to the tenth year of the reign of king Ashur-dan III. The eclipse is identified as the  one that occurred on 15 June 763 BC in the proleptic Julian calendar and helped and was helpful to understand the chronology of Mesopotamian history and correlate it to certain events mentioned in the Old Testament. More

793 CE, June 8 - The Viking raid on the monastery of Lindisfarne, the sacred heart of the Northumbrian kingdom in England occurs, highlighting the  Viking expansion, and incursions throughout Europe. More 

930, CE, Iceland's first parliament, the Althing (Icelandic: Alþingi), was established in Thingvellir National Park . A flag still stands in the exact spot today in commemoration. More

987 CE, June 1 - Coronation of Hugh Capet: Hugh Capet is crowned as the King of the Franks, marking the beginning of the Capetian dynasty and the consolidation of power in France.

1005, June 29 - The Battle of Lechfeld takes place between the East Frankish (German) forces under Henry II and the invading Hungarian armies, resulting in a decisive victory for the East Frankish forces.

1014, June 23 - The Battle of Clontarf occurs in Ireland, where the forces of Brian Boru, the High King of Ireland, defeat the Viking invaders.

1065, June 28 - Westminster Abbey is consecrated in London, England, becoming the site of coronations and burials for English monarchs.

1071, June 29 - The Battle of Manzikert takes place, where the Seljuk Turks defeat the Byzantine Empire, leading to the gradual decline of Byzantine power in Anatolia.

1099, June 7 - The Crusaders begin the Siege of Jerusalem, a pivotal event during the First Crusade that eventually leads to the capture of the city. On June 15, the Crusaders enter Jerusalem and establish the Kingdom of Jerusalem, marking the culmination of the First Crusade.

1108, June 1 - Louis VI is crowned as the King of France.

1119, June 24 - The Order of the Knights Templar is founded in Jerusalem.

1139, June 24 - The Battle of Ourique takes place, where Afonso Henriques defeats the Almoravids and establishes the Kingdom of Portugal.

1153, June 6 - The Treaty of Wallingford is signed, ending the civil war in England between King Stephen and Empress Matilda, and establishing Henry II as the undisputed king.

1162, June 18 - Thomas Becket, the Archbishop of Canterbury, is formally canonized as a saint by Pope Alexander III.

1178, June 18 - Five monks in Canterbury, England, observe an unusual phenomenon on the moon; a meteor event,now known as the "Canterbury Tales"
 
1184, June 16 - The Battle of Fimreite takes place in Norway, where King Sverre Sigurdsson defeats the forces of Magnus Erlingsson, securing his rule.

1191, June 8 - Richard I of England (Richard the Lionheart) arrives in Acre, beginning his involvement in the Third Crusade.

1215, June 15 - King John of England signs the Magna Carta and authenticates it with a wax seal. The Magna Carta was the product of political crisis and an uprising of the leading men of England. It was the first document to put into writing the principle that the king and his government was not above the law and placed limits of royal authority by establishing law as a power in itself. More 

1314, June 23 - The Battle of Bannockburn begins between the army of Robert the Bruce, King of Scots, and the army of King Edward II of England. It was a decisive engagement in #ref44589" class="md-crosslink" data-show-preview="true" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: var(--link-color); text-decoration: var(--link-decoration);">Scottish history whereby the Scots defeated the English, regained their independence, and established Robert the Bruce as Robert I. a major turning point in the war, which ended 14 years later with the de jure restoration of Scottish independence under the Treaty of Edinburgh–Northampton. More

1381, June 14 - Peasants' Revolt begins in England. More

1494, June 7 - Spain and Portugal sign the Treaty of Tordesillas, dividing the New World between them.

1519, June 28 - Charles I of Spain, crowned Holy Roman Emperor, becomes Charles V. Becoming one of the most powerful European rulers of all times. he reign over territories in Europe and the Americas. His goal as Holy Roman Emperor was to unite Europe, but instead, his reign was filled with war and conflict. More

1520,  June 30 - the Spanish conquistador Hernán Cortés forces fight their way out of Tenochtitlan suffering severe loses as the Aztecs revolt against their rule. Many Spanish soldiers drowned in Lake Texcoco. The exit is known as the "Noche Triste" or “the Night of Sadness".

1523, June 6 - Sweden National Day. Celebrates the election of King Gustav Vasa and the new constitutions of  1809 and 1974. The election of King Gustav Vasa was the de facto end of the Kalmar Union and has been seen as a formal declaration of independence.

1647,  June 10 - The Puritan-led English Parliament during the republican Commonwealth, passed an ordinance which declared the celebration of Christmas to be a punishable offence. Although many people continued to celebrate Christmas in private, Christmas effectively ceased to be celebrated in the great majority of churches overtime. It wasn't until the restoration of the monarchy in 1660 that Christmas Day celebrations were brought back. In Scotland Celebrating Christmas was still deeply frowned upon for centuries. In fact, the 25th December only became a public holiday in Scotland in 1958. More  

1665, June 7 - The first recorded victims of the Great Plague of London die - 

1676, June 1 - The battle at Öland takes in the Baltic Sea, off the east coast of Öland during the Scanian War, resulting in the defeat of the Swedish navy by the allied Danish-Dutch forces. More 

1692, June 7 - Jamaica's Port Royal is consumed by an earthquake causing two thirds of the town to sink into the sea and destroying  every building or other substantial structure in the Island, A series of fires and hurricanes followed and the town was never restored to its former British naval station glory and remains as a small fishing village today. Two thousand people died immediately and an additional 3000 died of injuries and disease shortly after. More 

1692, June 10 - Bridget Bishop, is executed on Proctor's Ledge at Gallows Hill in Salem, becoming the first person to be executed during the Salem witch trials. More

1752, June 10 - Benjamin Franklin’s famous kite-in-a-thunderstorm experiment is said to have taken place on this day in 1752. More 

1772, June 10 - Rhode Islanders, led by merchant John Brown, board and set fire to the revenue cutter HMS Gaspee in Narragansett Bay whereupon her powder magazine exploded. Efforts of the British authorities to learn the names of the culprits were unsuccessful since the public sentiment was in accord with the venture, despite the sizable reward that had been offered. More 

1775, June 14 - The U.S. Army is officially born as the Second Continental Congress founds a united army to bring the 13 colonies together in the fight for independence from Great Britain. The Army was founded just months into the American Revolutionary War and predates the signing of the Declaration of Independence bymore than a year. More 

1775, June 15 - The Continental Congress votes to appoint George Washington, the commander of the colonies' first official army. and he accepts the assignment and signs his commission. More

1775, June 18 - The Battle of Bunker Hill takes place near Boston, Mass, in the early stages of the American Revolutionary War.

1775, June 22 - The Continental Congress approves the first release of  $1 million in bills of credit (paper currency) to help fund the American Revolutionary War. Another $1 million was authorized in July. By the end of 1775, Congress had authorized a total of $6 million bills of credit.  The currency quickly lost value, partly because it was not backed by a physical asset like gold or silver, but also due to the fact that too many bills were printed. The loss in value inspired the term "not worth a continental". More

1776, June 11 -  The Continental Congress creates a committee to draft the  Declaration of Independence. The committee members were: Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Roger Sherman, and Robert R. Livingston. More

1777, June 13 - Marquis De Lafayette accompanied by Baron De Kalb arrive on North Island, Georgetown County, S.C.  to serve alongside General Washington. Lafayette was 19 at the time. He and George Washington went on to develop a strong bond. More

1777, June 14 - The Second Continental Congress issues a resolution adopting the Flag of the United States. It wasn't until 1949, that Congress approved the national observance, and President Harry Truman signed it into law. There have been twenty-seven official versions of the flag to date. The current version of the flag dates to August 21, 1959, after Hawaii became the fiftieth state. More 

1783, June 5 - The first sustained flight occurred as a hot-air balloon was launched at Annonay, France, by brothers Joseph and Jacques Montgolfier, reaching an altitude of about 6,000 feet.

1783, June 8 - The Iceland Laki volcanic eruption starts, lasting eight months. Haze from the eruption was reported from Iceland to Syria. The long eruption caused the death of 10,000 or  bout one-quarter of the human residents by famine. It also caused widespread famines throughout Asia and Europe. In Iceland, the haze lead to the loss of most of the island's livestock from eating fluorine contaminated grass), and crop failure cused by acid rain. More

1788, June 21 -  New Hampshire ratifies the U.S. Constitution and becomes the 9th State and last necessary state of the original 13 colonies to ratify the U.S. Constitution. More

1788, June 21 - The  Constitution became the official framework of the government of the United States of America when New Hampshire became the ninth of 13 states to ratify it, thus replacing the post-Revolutionary War Articles of Confederation. More

1788, June 25 - Virginia ratifies the U.S Constitution and becomes the 10th State. More

1792, June 1 - Kentucky was admitted to the U.S and becomes the 15th State. More

1796, June 1 - Tennessee was admitted to the U.S and becomes the 16th State. More

1812, June 18 - The War of 1812 begins. President James Madison signed into law a resolution passed by Congress declaring war with Great Britain. The War of 1812 ended December 24, 1814 when the two nations met in Belgium and signed the Treaty of Ghent. ending the war and restoring the previously recognized boundaries between the United States and British territory in North America. The Senate unanimously ratified the Treaty of Ghent on February 16, 1815. More

1815, June 18 - Napoleon Bonaparte is defeated at the Battle of Waterloo, ending the Napoleonic Wars. More

1836, June 15 - Arkansas was admitted to the U.S and becomes the 25th State. More

1837, June 20 - Queen Victoria ascends to the British throne at the age of 18. More 

1846, June 14 - The capture of Retired Mexican General Vallejo at  his home in Sonoma by ragtag group of about 30 armed Americans, marks the start of the short lived, California Republic or Bear Flag Republic, an unrecognized breakaway from Mexico, that for 25 days militarily controlled an area in and around what is now Sonoma County in California, north of San Francisco. Three weeks later, on July 5, 1846, the Republic's military of 100 to 200 men was subsumed into the California Battalion commanded by Captain John C. Frémont, who had encouraged the revolt. The battalion officially became the U.S. Army’s California Battalion, and went on to fight — this time officially, in the battle for California. More

1846, June 15 - The Oregon Treaty is signed, establishing the U.S.-Canadian border at the 49th parallel. Tribes are not consulted as the 49th Parallel becomes the boundary. Many Native people on either side of the line wake up in a different country, living under different laws than those they knew the night before. More 

1858, June 16 - Senatorial candidate Abraham Lincoln addresses more than 1,000 delegates at the Illinois Republican Convention in Springfield, delivering a warning that the nation was facing a crisis that could destroy the Union. Paraphrasing a passage from the New Testament: “a house divided against itself cannot stand.” The issue dividing the nation was slavery and the extent of federal power over individual states’ rights. More

1863, June 20 - West Virginia is admitted to the U.S and becomes the 35th State. More

1864, June 15 - Arlington officially becomes a national cemetery by order of Secretary of War Edwin Stanton. The original cemetery was 200 acres, and  as of early 2020, has grown to 639 acres. Arlington became a segregated cemetery, just like all national cemeteries at the time, and remained segregated by race and rank until 1948, when President Harry S. Truman desegregated the military. Approximately 400,000 veterans and their eligible dependents are buried at Arlington National Cemetery. Service members from every one of America’s major wars, from the Revolutionary War to today's conflicts, are interred at ANC. More 

1864, June 27 - Colorado Territory Governor, John Evans issues a proclamation commanding all “Friendly” Native Americans of the Cheyenne and Arapaho to go to Fort Lyon to receive supplies and to find safety. Unfortunately, this was in direct conflict with the standing order at all Forts within the Territory of Colorado that all members of the Military should shoot and kill any Native American that approached a Fort and with a second proclamation issued the following day by Evans inviting white settlers to indiscriminately “kill and destroy all…hostile Indians. These duplicitous political maneuverings led to the November 29 Sand Creek Massacre, when over the course of eight hours the American troops killed around 230 Cheyenne and Arapaho people composed mostly of women, children, and the elderly who had been directed by the American Military to camp there. More 

1865, June 19 - Union General Gordon Granger announces in Galveston, Texas, that all slaves in Texas are free, an event, now celebrated as "Juneteenth". More

1866, June 7 -  Chief Seattle (Si’ahl) passes away (1780-1866), thirteen years after the city was named for him. He was buried in the Suquamish Tribal Cemetery, not far from Seattle. The name “Seattle” is an Anglicization of Si'ahl. Chief Seattle's mother Sholeetsa, was Duwamish (dxʷdəwʔabš} and his father Shweabe was chief of the the Suquamish Tribe. It is said that Si’ahl was born at his mother's Duwamish village of Stukw on the Black River, in what is now the city of Kent. More

1866, June 16 - The House  passes the Joint Resolution proposing the 14th Amendment to the Constitution and submits it to the states. On July 28, 1868, the 14th amendment was declared, in a certificate of the Secretary of State, ratified by the necessary 28 of the 37 States, and became part of the supreme law of the land. More

1867, June 19 - Maximilian was executed on a hill outside Querétaro, bringing an end to France's short lived Mexican empire. More
 
1872, June 6 -  Pioneering feminist, Susan B. Anthony, was fined for voting in a presidential election at Rochester, New York. More 

1876, June 4 - A train named the Transcontinental Express arrives in San Francisco 83 hours and 39 minutes after it left New York City. More

1876, June 25 - The Battle of the Little Bighorn, known to the Lakota and other Plains Indians as the Battle of the Greasy Grass, takes place in southern Montana. The battle was fought along the ridges and steep bluffs of the Little Bighorn River, in south-central Montana , between warriors of the Lakota Sioux, Northern Cheyenne, and Arapaho tribes, led by Sitting Bull, battling the 7th Regiment of the US Cavalry, led by Lt. Col. George Armstrong Custer along with their Crow, and Arikara scouts.  More 

1877, June 14 - Henry Flipper, at age 21,  becomes the first African American graduate of the United States Military Academy at West Point. More

1885, June 17- The disassembled Statue of Liberty arrives in New York aboard the French steamer Isere . The statue, a gift from the people of France, was designed by French sculptor Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi and its metal framework was built by Gustave Eiffel. The statue was dedicated on October 28, 1886 and has became known around the world as an enduring symbol of freedom and democracy. More 

1886, June 6 - The Great Seattle Fire, the most destructive fire in the history of Seattle, destroyed the entire central business district of Seattle, Washington and part of the Water Front. The fire was accidentally started by an overheated glue pot in a carpentry shop, lasted less than a day, burning through the afternoon and into the night. Seattle quickly reacted, wooden buildings were banned and rebuilt using brick buildings that sat 20 feet (6.1 m) above the original street level. Its population swelled during reconstruction, becoming the largest city in the newly admitted state of Washington. More

1893, June 7 - Gandhi 's first act of civil disobedience took place in South Africa when he went there to work  for an Indian company after studying to become a lawyer in England. When railroad officials made Gandhi sit in a third-class coach even though he had purchased a first-class ticket, Gandhi refused and police forced him off the train. This event changed his life. More

1896, June 4 - Henry Ford, the founder of Ford Motor Company takes his first car for a spin on the city of Detroit. More 

1896, June 15 - The Meiji Great Sanriku Tsunami hits the pacific coast of the north-eastern Japan, called as the Sanriku Region. The highest tsunami run-up height was 125 feet (38 m) at Ryori Shirahama in Iwate Prefecture.  The death toll was 22,000. The economic damage amounted to about 10% of the  then national budget. After this tsunami, several villages were relocated to higher ground. More

1898, June 12 - The Philippines declares its independence from Spain after being a Spanish colony since 1565. Later that year, the Treaty of Paris ended the Spanish-American War and Spain ceded the Philippines to the US, the islands were occupied by U.S. forces. and the Philippines became an American colony until after World War II. More 

1900, June 1 - The Boxer Rebellion begins in China. An uprising against against the spread of Western and Japanese influence including western religion begun by peasants but was eventually supported by the government. The Boxer Rebellion was put down by the Eight-Nation Alliance of the United States, the United Kingdom, Russia, France, Japan, Germany, Italy, and Austria-Hungary. More

1903, June 16 - The Ford Motor Company was officially incorporated. Founder Henry Ford and 12 investors launched his venture in a converted factory on Mack Avenue in Detroit. It was his third attempt at establishing an automotive business. At the time, the company could only produce a few cars a day. More 

1903, June 30 - Einstein publishes his Special Theory of Relativity, which describes his revolutionary ideas about light, time and energy. He revisited the theory in a 1912 manuscript when he was asked to write several book chapters. The outbreak of World War I in 1914 delayed publication, and when the project resumed, Einstein considered this manuscript outdated and it was never published. More 

1905, June 7 - Norway Union Dissolution and Independence Day from Sweden. (National Day, commemorating the Independence from Denmark and the Constitution of Norway is celebrated  on17 May 17, 1814).

1910, June 15th - The British Terra Nova Expedition led by Captain Robert Falcon Scott, sails from Cardiff, Wales for Antarctica. Scott wanted to continue the scientific work that he had begun when leading the Discovery Expedition from 1901 to 1904, and wanted to be the first to reach the geographic South Pole. He and four companions attained the pole on 17 January 1912, where they found that a Norwegian team led by Roald Amundsen had preceded them by 34 days. Scott's party of five died on the return journey from the pole. More 

1913, June 7 - The first successful ascent of Denali takes place. Four men stood on the top of Denali, the highest peak in North America, for the first time. Walter Harper, Harry Karstens, Hudson Stuck and Robert Tatum made history. More

1914,  June 28 - Archduke Francis Ferdinand, Crown Prince of Austria and his wife were assassinated at Sarajevo, touching off a conflict between the Austro-Hungarian government and Serbia that escalated into World War I. More

1916, June 3 - U.S. President Woodrow Wilson signs the National Defense Act which authorized an expanded Army of 175,000, and an enlarged National Guard of 450,000 and brought the states’ militias more under federal control and gave the president authority, in case of war or national emergency, to mobilize the National Guard for the duration of the emergency.

1917, June 15 - The United States Congress passes the Espionage Act, building on the 1911, Defense Secrets Act, with important new elements added. More

1917, June 26 - The first American troops arrive in Europe. However, the American Expeditionary Forces (AEF) did not fully participate at the front until October, when the First Division, one of the best-trained divisions of the AEF, entered the trenches at Nancy, France. More

1919, June 4 - The 19th amendment granting women the right to vote is passed by Congress. The amendment passed its final hurdle of obtaining the agreement of three-fourths of the states when Tennessee became the 36th state to ratify the amendment on August 18, 1920.  U.S. Secretary of State Bainbridge Colby certifies the 19th Amendment on August 26, 1920, giving women the Constitutional right to vote. It had been first proposed in Congress, forty two years earlier in1878, More

1919, June 28 - The signing of the Treaty of Versailles formally ended World War I. According to the terms, Germany was assessed sole blame for the war, it had to pay reparations of $15 Billion. It was also forced to give up Alsace-Lorraine and all overseas colonies. The treaty also prohibited German rearmament.

1922, June 14 - Warren G. Harding became the first U.S. President to broadcast a message over the radio. 

1923, June 27 - The first successful aerial refueling takes place when a DH-4B carrying Lts. Virgil Hine and Frank W. Seifert passed gasoline through a hose to another DH-4B flying beneath it carrying Lts Lowell H. Smith and John P. Richter. More

1924, June 2 - The government of the United States confers citizenship on all Native Americans born within the territorial limits of the country. The right to vote, however, was governed by state law; until 1957, some states barred Native Americans from voting. More

1934, June 30 - Germany, Chancellor and Nazi leader Adolf Hitler orders a political purge intended to consolidate his power and alleviate the concerns of the German military about the role of Ernst Röhm and the Sturmabteilung (SA), the Nazis' paramilitary organization, known colloquially as "Brownshirts". The purge resulted in the killing of hundreds of Nazis whom he believed had the potential to become political enemies including Röhm. The actions became known as the "Night of the Long Knives". The bloody purge was followed by "Gleichschaltung" the process of Nazification by which Adolf Hitler — leader of the Nazi Party in Germany — successively established a system of totalitarian control and coordination over all aspects of German society "from the economy and trade associations to the media, culture and education" More

1938, June 25 - Fair Labor Standards Act is passed, setting the first minimum wage in the U.S. at 25 cents per hour.

1940, June 10 -  Norway surrenders to Nazi Germany, two months after Germany attacked Denmark and Norway on April 9, 1940. On that same day, Denmark surrendered and was occupied. The Norwegians resisted for two months but surrendered on June 9, 1940.

1940, June 10 - Italy declares war against France and Great Britain. The Italian entry into the war widened its scope considerably in Africa and the Mediterranean Sea.

1941, June 22 -  Nazi Germany Invades the Soviet Union during the Second World War . The Invasion, named Barbarossa, was the largest land offensive in human history, with over 10 million combatants taking part.

1942, June 4 - The battle of Midway -  Early on the morning of June 4, aircraft from four Japanese aircraft carriers attacked and severely damaged the US base on Midway. Unbeknownst to the Japanese, the US carrier forces were just to the east of the island and ready for battle. More

1942, June 11 - Eisenhower is appointed by Army Chief of Staff Marshall to oversee all U.S. operations in Europe. 14 days later, on June 25, 1942, Eisenhower arrived at U.S. headquarters in London and took command.

1944, June 4 - Rome was liberated by the U.S. 5th Army, led by General Mark Clark.

1944, June 6 - Allied forces launch the D-Day invasion of Normandy, France, during World War II - Over 160,000 Allied troops landed on the beaches of Normandy along a 50-mile stretch of heavily-fortified French coastline to fight Nazi Germany. Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower called the operation a crusade in which, “we will accept nothing less than full victory.” By day’s end, the Allies gained a foot-hold in Continental Europe. The cost in lives on D-Day was high; more than 9,000 Allied Soldiers were killed or wounded. More

1944, June 17 - Iceland National Day. Effective date of the dissolution of the Danish–Icelandic Act of Union following the 1944 Icelandic constitutional referendum.

1944, June 22 - The American forces secured Okinawa. The battle for Okinawa drug out over nearly three months and included some of the worst kamikaze attacks of the warThe United States sustained over 49,000 casualties including more than 12,500 men killed or missing. More

1944, June 24 - President Franklin D. Roosevelt Signs the G.I. Bill. More 

1945, June 26 - The United Nations Charter was signed by 50 nations in San Francisco. The United Nations Charter was ratified on October 24, 1945. More

1948, June 24 - Joseph Stalin, the Soviet leader, imposes the Berlin Blockade cutting off all land and river transit between West Berlin and West Germany. 

1948, June 26 - In response to the Soviet blockade, the  U.S. and Great Britain begin an emergency airlift of food and fuel to West Berlin to relieve two million isolated West Berliners. The Russians blockade of Berlin ended on May 12, 1949. More

1950, June 25 - North Korea invades South Korea following clashes along the border. North Korea was supported by China and the Soviet Union. Two days later, on June 27, President Harry S. Truman orders U.S. air and naval forces to South Korea to aid the democratic nation in repulsing the invasion and in support of a U.N. resolution calling for an end to hostilities. The fighting ended with an armistice on 27 July 1953, formally dividing the country at the 38th parallel into North and South Korea. The Korean War was among the most destructive conflicts of the modern era, with approximately 3 million war fatalities including over 36,000 Americans. More

1951, June 14 - The first UNIVAC, acquired by the United States Census Bureau is dedicated. The UNIVAC I (Universal Automatic Computer I) was the first general-purpose electronic digital computer for business application produced in the U.S. Its design was started by J. Presper Eckert and John Mauchly, the inventors of the ENIAC who owned EMCC. The company was acquired by Remington Rand which completed the work. (Remington Rand later became part of Sperry, now Unisys) More

1953, June 10 - President Eisenhower rejects isolationism in the Cold War.  More

1953, June 19 - Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were executed by electrocution at Sing Sing Prison in New York. They had been found guilty of providing vital information on the atomic bomb to the Soviet Union. More 

1954, June 13 - The words "under God" are added to the Pledge of Allegiance. The phrase was added by an Act of Congress and signed into law by President Dwight D. Eisenhower. The original Pledge of Allegiance was written by Francis Bellamy a Baptist minister, in August 1892. Bellamy had hoped that the pledge would be used by citizens in any country. The Pledge was published in the September 8th issue of The Youth's Companion. The addition of the words "under God" was intended to distinguish the United States from atheistic communism during the Cold War and to emphasize the religious heritage of the United States. 

1954, June 27 - Guatemalan President Jacobo Arbenz Guzman resigns after pressure from a clandestine CIA operation approved by U.S. President Dwight Eisenhower, leading to a military take over led by Colonel Castillo Armas. More

1956, June 25 - Detroit built the last Packard that was actually designed by Packard. More

1960, June 26 - Madagascar Independence Day from France.

1960, June 30 - Democratic Republic of the Congo Independence Day

1961, The Antarctic Treaty goes into effect to regulate international relations with respect to Antarctica, "all land and ice shelves south of 60°S latitude parallel". The 12 original signatories were Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Chile, France, Japan, New Zealand, Norway, South Africa, the USSR, the United Kingdom and the United States.

1962, June 1 - Samoa Independence Day. While independence was achieved at the beginning of January, Samoa celebrates its independence day on June 1.

1963, June 11 -  Black students Vivian Malone and James Hood registered for classes at The University of Alabama despite then-Gov. George C. Wallace’s unsuccessful attempt to block their enrollment. More

1963, June 16 - Soviet cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova becomes the first woman in space. Valentina Tereshkova became the first woman to travel to space when, as part of the Vostok 6 mission. During her Vostok 6 solo mission, she orbited Earth 48 times and spent almost three days in space (two days, 23 hours, and 12 minutes). Tereshkova remains the only female astronaut or cosmonaut to make a solo space journey, the youngest woman to fly to space and the first civilian to journey to space. More

1963, June 20 - The U.S. and Soviet representatives signed the "Memorandum of Understanding Between the United States of America and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics Regarding the Establishment of a Direct Communications Link." (The Hot line) More

1965, June 3 - Major Edward H. White II steps out of the Gemini capsule, becoming the first American astronaut to walk in space. On March 18, 1965, Soviet cosmonaut Aleksei A. Leonov was the first man ever to walk in space. 

1965, June 7 - The U.S. Supreme Court struck down a Connecticut law banning contraception. With tis decision, the Supreme Court guaranteed the right to privacy, including freedom from government intrusion into matters of birth control.

1966, June 13 - the U.S. Supreme Court hands down its decision in Miranda v. Arizona establishing the principle that all criminal suspects must be informed of their specific legal rights before interrogation.  Now considered standard police procedure. This decision was based on a case in which a defendant, Ernesto Miranda, was accused of robbery, kidnapping, and rape. During police interrogation, he confessed to the crimes.

1967, June 5-10 - The Six-Day War takes place between Israel and Arab neighbors Egypt, Jordan, and Syria. The Six-Day War began as Israel launched a series of preemptive surprise  airstrikes against Egyptian airfields and other facilities, launching its war effort. Egyptian forces were caught by surprise, and nearly all of Egypt's military aerial assets were destroyed, giving Israel air supremacy. Simultaneously, the Israeli military launched a ground offensive into Egypt's Sinai Peninsula as well as the Egyptian-occupied Gaza Strip. The war ended with Israel in control of the Gaza Strip, the Sinai Peninsula, the West Bank, and Jerusalem.  More

1967, June 8 - The USS Liberty is attacked by Israeli Air Force jet fighter aircraft and Israeli Navy motor torpedo boats during the Six-Day War. The USS Liberty was in international waters north of the Sinai Peninsula. The intelligence ship, was well-marked as an American vessel and only lightly armed. The Israeli attack killed 34 US sailors, and wounded 171 in the two-hour attack. More:  USS Liberty Veterans Association and CIA Statement  

1967, June 13 Thurgood Marshall, then-Solicitor General, becomes the first Black American to be nominated to the U.S. Supreme  Court. He was nominated by President Lyndon B. Johnson, saying it was “the right thing to do, the right time to do it, the right man and the right place.” Marshall's pursuit for a legal career began with disappointment as the University of Maryland Law School, refused to open its doors to Black students. He wound up graduating first in his class at Howard University Law School. One of his first victories came against the University of Maryland, which had rejected a Black applicant on the basis of race alone. More

1968, June 5 - Presidential candidate  Robert Francis Kennedy was fatally shot on June 5, 1968 at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles, California shortly after claiming victory in that state's crucial Democratic primary. He was 42 years old. More

1971, June, 13 - The New York Times began publication of the Pentagon Papers, a collection of top secret documents exposing U.S. strategy in the Vietnam War. More 

1971, June 30 - The three cosmonauts aboard the Soyuz 11, Georgy Dobrovolsky, Vladislav Volkov, and Viktor Patsayev, perished in space when the capsule depressurized during preparations for re-entry. They are the only humans known to have died in space.  More

1972, June 17 - Five men are arrested for breaking into the Democratic National Committee headquarters at the Watergate complex in Washington, D.C., leading to the Watergate scandal and the resignation of U.S. President Richard Nixon. More 

1972, June 18 - British European Airways Flight 548 passenger flight from London Heathrow to Brussels crashes near Staines, England, shortly after take-off killing all 118 people on board.  As of 2024, it remains the deadliest air accident (as opposed to terrorist incidents) in the United Kingdom. The aircraft suffered a deep stall in the third minute of its flight and crashed to the ground, narrowly missing a busy main road. More 

1972, June 23 - Title IX of the education amendments of 1972 is enacted into law in the United States. Title IX prohibits federally funded educational institutions from discriminating against students or employees based on sex. More

1972, June 29 - The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that capital punishment was a violation of the Eighth Amendment prohibiting "cruel and unusual punishment." The decision spared the lives of 600 individuals then sitting on death row. Four years later, in another ruling, the Court reversed itself and determined the death penalty was not cruel and unusual punishment. On October 4, 1976, the ban was lifted on the death penalty in cases involving murder.

1974 - June 1 - Cincinnati surgeon Henry J. Heimlich publishes, hirs stop-choking technique in the medical journal Emergency Medicine. The technique called, the Heimlich maneuver after its introduction,  involved thrusting inward and upward on the abdomen of choking victims and It quickly became a go-to method for saving those lives. The technique was renamed the "abdominal thrust" after the  American Red Cross introduced back blows to its official guidelines on treating choking in 2006 and Dr Heimlich disagreed that back blows should be used and asked that his name be removed from the guidelines. , 

1975, June 25 - Mozambique Independence Day from Portugal

1976, June 29 - Seychelles Independence Day.

1977, June 27 - Djibouti Independence Day from France

1979, June 18 - Jimmy Carter and Leonid Brezhnev sign the SALT-II nuclear treaty. The US Senate chose not to ratify the treaty in response to the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, which took place later that year. The Supreme Soviet did not ratify it either. More

1982, June 30 - Deadline for ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment to the Constitution passes without the necessary
votes.

1982, June 14 - The Falklands War ends as the large Argentine garrison at Port Stanley surrenders to the British military. The Falkland Islands War was fought for the control of the Falkland Islands (Islas Malvinas) and its dependencies, a territory long disputed by the warring nations. More

1985, June 14 - TWA Flight 847 is hijacked by Mohammed Ali Hamadei and a second terrorist brandishing grenades and pistols during a routine flight from Athens to Rome. More 

1985, June 27 - The iconic Route 66 is decertified, after 59 years of existence, by the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials and votes to remove all its highway signs.  Route 66 stretched 2,200 miles from Chicago to Santa Monica in California More

1986, June 4 - Jonathan Pollard pleads guilty to espionage for selling top-secret U.S. military intelligence information to Israel.  More

1987, June 12 - In a speech in Berlin, President Reagan challenges Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev to ―tear down this wall‖ and open Eastern Europe to political and economic reform. More

1989, June 4 - Chinese military cracks down on pro-democracy protesters in Tiananmen Square, Beijing. More

1990, June 1 - George H.W. Bush and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev sign a bilateral agreement on Destruction and Non-production of Chemical Weapons and on Measures to Facilitate the Multilateral Convention on Banning Chemical Weapons"  The agreement was signed during a summit meeting in Washington D.C, The historic treaty called for an 80 percent reduction of their chemical weapon stockpiles under the oversight of inspectors from both countries. The agreement was intended to be the first step towards a global ban . By 1993, 150 other nations had joined the superpowers to sign a comprehensive treaty banning chemical weapons.

1990, June 21 - A 7.7M Earthquake in Iran, near the Caspian Sea, kills an estimated 50,000 people and injures another 135,000, leaving more than 500,000 homeless and destroying three cities (Rudbar, Manjil, and Lowshan) and 700 villages.

1990, June 25 - The U.S. Supreme Court ruled (5-4) that it was unconstitutional for any state to require, without providing other options, for a minor to notify both parents before obtaining an abortion.

1991, June 12 - Boris Yeltsin is elected the first democratically elected President of Russia.

1991, June 25 -  The Republics of Croatia and Slovenia declared their independence from Yugoslavia. Ethnic rivalries between Serbians and Croatians quickly erupted. About 200,000 were missing and presumed dead and over two million people became refugees.

1991, June, last Saturday - Day of Hungarian Freedom. Celebrates the restoration of Hungary's sovereignty after the withdrawal of Soviet troops in June 1991

1992, June 12 - Russia Day. The day commemorates the adoption of the Declaration of State Sovereignty of the Russian Soviet. It has been celebrated annually on 12 June since 1992. 

1993, June 26 - President Clinton orders missile attack against Iraq in retaliation for alleged plot to assassinate former President Bush.

1994, June 11 -  After 49 years, the Soviet military occupation of East Germany ended. At one time there had been 337,800 Soviet troops stationed in Germany. Over 300,000 Russians died during World War II in the Battle for Berlin.

1995, June 29 -  Two days after launch, U.S. space shuttle Atlantis, docks at Mir’s Kristall module as the two spacecraft flew 250 miles above the Lake Baikal region of eastern Russia, forming the world’s heaviest spacecraft up to that time – nearly half a million pounds. More 

1996, June 25 -  A tanker truck loaded with 25,000 pounds of explosives bomb is detonated near the Khobar Tower housing complex in Dhahran during the night, Saudi Arabia, killing 19 Airmen and injuring more than 400 U.S. and international military members and civilians. The towers housed coalition forces supporting Operation Southern Watch, a no-fly zone operation in Southern Iraq. More

1997, June 2 - Timothy McVeigh was convicted of the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing, one of the deadliest acts of terrorism in American history. He was executed on June 11, 2001 for his crimes. More

1997, June 30 - In Hong Kong, the flag of the British Crown Colony was officially lowered at midnight and replaced by a new flag representing China's sovereignty and the official transfer of power.

2001, June 11 - Timothy McVeigh, responsible for the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing, is executed by lethal injection. More

2004, June 28 - The U.S. returns sovereignty to an interim government in Iraq, but maintains roughly 135,000 troops in the country to fight a growing insurgency.

2006, June 19 -  Construction of the  Svalbard Global Seed Vault begins. The secure facility is built into the side of a mountain on Spitsbergen, the largest of the Svalbard islands, a Norwegian archipelago in the Arctic Ocean. The vault is intended to safeguard the seeds of the world’s food plants in the event of a global crisis. The vault was formally open with its first consignment of seeds on February 26, 2008. More

2009, June 11 - The World Health Organization (WHO) declares H1N1 swine flu to be a global pandemic, the first such incident in over forty years. The swine flu pandemic was the third recent flu pandemic involving the H1N1 virus; the first being the 1918 –1920 Spanish flu pandemic and the second being the 1977 Russian flu. There were 491,382 lab-confirmed) cases Some studies estimated that the number of cases including asymptomatic and mild cases was about 700 million to 1.4 billion people.  ( 11 to 21 percent of the global population of 6.8 billion at the time. Lab confirmed deaths were 18,449 with estimated excess deaths of 284,000 - More

2013, June 6 - Edward Snowden, a former CIA employee, reveals thousands of classified NSA documents to journalists Glenn Greenwald, Laura Poitras, Barton Gellman, and Ewen MacAskill. Snowden came to international attention after stories based on the material appeared in The Guardian, The Washington Post, and other publications. Later in June, Edward Snowden, comes forward and admits that he is the source of the recent NSA leaks. On September 2, 2020, a U.S. federal court ruled in United States v. Moalin that the U.S. intelligence's mass surveillance program exposed by Snowden was illegal and possibly unconstitutional. More at Business Insider and NPR

2015, June 26 - The U.S. Supreme Court legalizes same-sex marriage nationwide. More

2015, June 27 - Activist Bree Newsome removes the Confederate battle flag from a flagpole on the South Carolina Statehouse grounds. More 

2016, June 22 - The United Kingdom votes in a referendum to withdraw from the European Union, with 51.9 percent supporting Britain's exit (“Brexit”) and 48.1 percent opposing the move. it marked the first time a country had decided to leave the organization. The withdrawal process commenced following the referendum and the subsequent notification to the European Council on 29 March 2017. The actual withdraw was completed on 1 February 2020

Although the UK's withdrawal from the European Union took place on 1 February 2020, the Withdrawal Agreement came into force thenceforth, which regulated the orderly withdrawal of the UK from the EU while maintaining the application of the acquis communaitaire in their relations until 31 December 2020. More

Note: Sources for the Historical Content shown, include research and reviews of relevant Online History Resources or printed material. When possible, we show a link to a source which provides additional or unique perspective about the event. We do our best to provide accurate information but would appreciate being notified if any incorrect information is found. You may do so by using this link: Feedback