- 653 St Martin I ends his reign as Catholic Pope
- 656 Ali ibn Abu Talib elected the 4th Caliph of the Rashidun Caliphate
- 676 Pope Adeodatus II's (Deusdetit II) reign ends with his death
- 1091 Floris II de Vette becomes Count of Holland
- 1119 Charles the Good becomes Count of Flanders
- 1397 Union of Kalmar established between Denmark, Sweden and Norway
Vlad's Assassination Attempt
1462 Vlad III the Impaler (Dracula) attempts to assassinate Ottoman Sultan Mehmed II in a night attack at Târgoviște, its failure forces him to retreat from Wallachia
Battle of Deptford Bridge
1497 Battle of Deptford Bridge - forces under King Henry VII soundly defeat Cornish rebels led by Michael An Gof
- 1527 Pánfilo de Narváez departs Spain to explore Florida with five ships and 600 men; by 1536, only four men are still alive
Cardinal Fisher's Treason Trial
1535 Trial of English Catholic Cardinal John Fisher for treason at Westminster Hall for declaring King Henry VIII is not the Supreme Head of the Church in England. He is found guilty and later executed
- 1565 Matsunaga Hisahide assassinates the 13th Ashikaga shōgun, Ashikaga Yoshiteru
- 1579 Anti-English uprising in Ireland
1579 English navigator Francis Drake lands on the coast of California at what becomes known as Drakes Bay, for ship repairs; claims area on behalf of Queen Elizabeth, and names it "Nova Albion" [1] [2]
- 1580 Battle at Hardenberg: Spanish troops beat rebels
- 1583 Brabant: Duke of Parma beats French mercenaries
- 1609 Netherlands, England and France sign 12 year Covenant
1631 Mumtaz Mahal dies during childbirth. Her husband, Mughal emperor Shah Jahan I, then spends more than 20 years building her tomb, the Taj Mahal
- 1665 Battle of Montes Claros: English and Portuguese armies decisively defeat Spain, securing Portugal's independence from Spain in the last battle of the Portuguese Restoration War
- 1700 Massachusetts orders priest to leave the colony
- 1734 French troops occupy Philipsburg at Rhine
- 1745 American colonials capture Louisburg, Cape Breton Island from French
James Cook Joins the Navy
1755 Future explorer James Cook joins the Royal Navy as an able-bodied seaman at Wapping, East London [1]
- 1769 Design of Madonnina statue chosen, symbol of the city of Milan that stands atop spire of the Cathedral, designed by sculptor Giuseppe Perego [1]
- 1773 Cúcuta, Colombia is founded by Juana Rangel de Cuéllar
- 1775 Battle of Bunker Hill (actually it was Breed's Hill)
- 1789 French Revolution: During the meeting of the Estates-General, the Third Estate proclaims itself the 'National Assembly'
- 1812 A 1471 printed copy of Boccaccio's Decameron sells in England for £2,260 - then the highest price for a book, during the infamous sale of the library of the Duke of Roxburghe
- 1812 Cannon duel fought between the British fort of Rusteburg and the kraton (palace) of Yogyakarta on the island of Java [1]
- 1815 American frigate USS Guerriere captained by Stephen Decatur captures Algerian frigate Mashouda, killing its famous captain corsair Raïs Hamidou during US-Algerian War
- 1824 US Bureau of Indian Affairs established
- 1839 King of Hawaii Kamehameha III issues Edict of toleration which gives Roman Catholics freedom to worship in the Hawaiian Islands. The Hawaii Catholic Church and the Cathedral of Our Lady of Peace is later established
- 1850 Paddle-wheeler "G P Griffith" burns off Mentor, Ohio, killing 206 people
- 1855 Heavy French and British bombing of Sebastopol, Crimea: 2,000+ killed
- 1856 Republican Party opens its first national convention as party members meet in Philadelphia
- 1861 Battle of Boonville, MI-Brigadier General Lyon defeats Confederate forces
- 1863 Battle at Middleburg, Virginia - 1st Rhode Island Cavalry routed trying to take the town
- 1863 Battle of Aldie, Confederates fail to drive back Union in Virginia
- 1863 Naval Engagement at Warsaw Sound GA-USS Weehawken vs CSS Atlanta
- 1863 Travelers Insurance Co of Hartford chartered (1st accident insurer)
- 1864 -18] Confederate troops pull back out Solves/lost Mt, Georgia
- 1864 640m long ponton bridge over James River, Virginia finished
- 1864 Confederate General John Bell Hood replaces General Johnston as head of the Army of Tennessee
- 1864 Skirmish at Mud Creek/Noyes's (Nose) Creek, Georgia
- 1876 1st to hit 2 HRs; & score 5 runs in 9 inn NL game (George Hall, A's)
- 1876 Battle of Rosebud/Battle Where Girl Saved Her Brother
Battle of White Bird Canyon
1877 Indian Wars: Battle of White Bird Canyon - the Nez Perce defeat the US Cavalry at White Bird Canyon in the Idaho Territory
- 1880 Providence Grays MLB pitcher John M. Ward throws a perfect game beating the Buffalo Bisons, 5-0; second perfect game in National League in 6 days; next one takes 84 years
- 1882 Tornado kills 130 in Iowa
1885 Statue of Liberty arrives in NYC aboard French ship `Isere'
1894 First US poliomyelitis epidemic breaks out in Rutland, Vermont
- 1895 US Ship Canal (W 225th St) in the Bronx is completed, cutting Marble Hill off from Manhattan
Polar Explorers' Arctic Meeting
1896 Polar explorers Fridtjof Nansen and Frederick Jackson meet by chance in Franz Josef Land, the Arctic
- 1897 US State Department appoints New Jersey educator William Frank Powell as Envoy to Haiti, and Chargé d’Affaires for Dominican Republic
- 1898 The United States Navy Hospital Corps is established
- 1901 The College Board introduces its first standardized test, the forerunner to the SAT
- 1902 US Congress pass the New Lands Reclamation Act, which establishes a fund from sale of public lands to build irrigation dams for arid Western lands
- 1911 Belgium government of De Broqueville forms
- 1915 MLB Chicago Cubs George "Zip" Zabel relieves with 2 outs in 1st and winds up with 4-3 19-inning win over Brooklyn Dodgers at home, in longest relief job ever
The League to Enforce Peace
1915 The League to Enforce Peace is organised at Independence Hall in Philadelphia with William Howard Taft as president; its program anticipates the League of Nations
- 1916 1st national congress of Sarekat Islam at Bandoeng Java
- 1916 US troops under General Pershing march into Mexico
- 1919 "Barney Google" cartoon strip, by Billy De Beck, premieres
- 1920 Dutch 2nd Chamber accept Anti-revolution law
- 1922 First flight across the South Atlantic Ocean arrives in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, piloted by Gago Coutinho and Sacadura Cabral. First use of the sextant in air navigation.
Earhart 1st Female Passenger
1928 Amelia Earhart leaves Newfoundland to become 1st woman (passenger) to fly Atlantic (as a passenger in a plane piloted by Wilmer Stultz)
- 1932 Bonus Army: around a thousand World War I veterans amass at the United States Capitol as the US Senate considers a bill that would give them certain benefits
- 1932 Oil tanker Cymbeline explodes in Montreal, Canada
- 1933 Kansas City Massacre: 1 FBI agent, 4 cops & 1 gangster killed by mob
- 1938 Japan declares war on China
- 1939 Last public guillotining in France. Eugen Weidmann, a convicted murderer, is guillotined in Versailles outside the prison Saint-Pierre
- 1940 France asks Germany for terms of surrender in World War II
- 1940 General De Gaulle departs Bordeaux for London
- 1940 Germany occupiers ration bread in Holland
- 1940 USSR occupies Estonia
- 1940 World War II: sinking of the RMS Lancastria by the Luftwaffe near Saint-Nazaire, France
Cronin's Pinch HRs
1943 Player-manager Joe Cronin of Red Sox hits two 3-run pinch home runs
- 1944 -19] French troops under Lattre de Tssigny conquer Elba
Hitler Meets Over Normandy Invasion
1944 Hitler secretly meets with Field Marshals von Rundstedt and Rommel in Marjival, Soissons, France to assess response to Normandy Invasion
- 1944 Iceland dissolves its union with Denmark and declares itself a Republic
- 1944 Resistance fighter and poet Col Blake arrives in London
- 1945 Day of Unity in West Germany (National Day)
- 1946 SW Bell inaugurates mobile telephone commercial service, St Louis
- 1947 Earnest Reuter becomes mayor of Berlin
- 1947 Pan Am Airways' first round-the-world civil air service departs from New York City
- 1950 1st kidney transplant (Chicago)
- 1950 Egypt, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia & Syria sign security pact
- 1952 2 mine cave-ins at Charleroi, Belgium
- 1953 Most runs scored in 1 inning (17 by Red Sox)
- 1953 Riots in East Germany for reunification
Event of Interest
1953 US Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas stays executions of spies Julius & Ethel Rosenberg scheduled for next day their 14th anniversary
Boxing Title Fight
1954 Rocky Marciano beats Ezzard Charles by unanimous points decision in his 3rd world heavyweight boxing title defense at Yankee Stadium, NYC
- 1954 Televised Senate Army McCarthy hearings ends
Event of Interest
1956 Golda Meir begins her term as Israel's foreign minister
- 1957 "So Rare" by Jimmy Dorsey Orchestra peaks at #2
- 1957 Tuskegee boycott begins (Blacks boycotted city stores)
Things Fall Apart
1958 "Things Fall Apart" by Nigerian writer Chinua Achebe published by Heinemann - considered most widely read book in African literature
Event of Interest
1958 Radio Moscow reports execution of Hungarian ex-premier Imre Nagy
- 1958 The Wooden Roller Coaster opens at Playland in the Pacific National Exhibition in Vancouver, Canada, and remains open to this day
Election of Interest
1959 Eamon de Valera elected President of Ireland
Sports History
1962 Chicago Cub Lou Brock is 2nd to HR into Polo Grounds right-center field bleachers
- 1962 FIFA World Cup Final, Estadio Nacional, Santiago, Chile: Brazil go 1-down early but recover to beat Czechoslovakia, 3-1
- 1963 British House of Commons debates Profumo-Christine Keeler affair
- 1963 Supreme Court rules against Bible reading/prayer in public schools
- 1965 11.08" (28.14 cm) of rainfall, Holly, Colorado (state 24-hour record)
- 1965 British rock band The Kinks arrive in NYC beginning their 1st US tour
- 1965 First bombing run by a B-52 occurs 50 km north of Saigon
- 1966 Peter Green, British blues-rock guitartist joins John Mayall's Bluebreakers
- 1967 "Somebody To Love" by Jefferson Airplane peaks at #5
- 1967 China becomes the world's fourth thermonuclear power by detonating a hydrogen bomb
- 1967 Longest doubleheader 9:15 (Tigers & Athletics)
- 1968 "Yummy Yummy Yummy" single by Ohio Express goes gold
- 1968 Belgium government of Eyskens-Merlot forms
- 1968 KQEC TV channel 32 in San Francisco, California (PBS) begins broadcasting
1969 Peter Schickele, Robert Dennis and Stanley Walden's musical revue "Oh! Calcutta!" opens off-Broadway at the Eden Theatre, NYC; noted for it being performed almost entirely in the nude
- 1970 British rock band Led Zeppelin begin their last European tour
#1 in the Charts
1971 Carole King's album "Tapestry" goes to #1 on US album charts and stays there for 15 weeks
- 1972 9 firefighters are killed in the Hotel Vendome fire in Boston
- 1972 Five men arrested after trying to bug Democratic National Committee office in Watergate Complex, Washington
- 1974 The Provisional Irish Republican Army bombs the Houses of Parliament in London, injuring 11 people and causing extensive damage
- 1975 Voters in Northern Mariana Islands approve commonwealth status with US
- 1976 ABA (Nets, Pacers, Nuggets & Spurs) merges into NBA
- 1976 Indonesia annexes Portuguese East-Timor
X Offender
1976 New Wave band Blondie release their debut single "X Offender," written by Debbie Harry and Gary Valentine
- 1976 Soweto Uprising: Government deploys armed military to quell student protests; hundreds of civilians and children killed
- 1978 The Provisional Irish Republican Army kill an RUC officer and kidnap another near Crossmaglen, County Armagh
The River
1980 Columbia Records releases Bruce Springsteen's fifth studio album "The River"; the 2-record set becomes a global smash, going top five in 8 countries
- 1981 Battle between Muslims & Christians in Cairo, 14 killed
Event of Interest
1982 President of Argentina Leopoldo Galtieri resigns as commander in chief of the army and as president after leading Argentina to a disastrous defeat against the British in the Falkland Islands War
Event of Interest
1982 US President Reagan's 1st UN General Assembly address "We must serve mankind through genuine disarmament."
Event of Interest
1983 Ed Warren and Lorraine Warren exorcise a "werewolf demon" from Bill Ramsey, although lack of photo or video evidence has called this claim into question
Prayers for Poland
1983 Pope John Paul II asks Poland's communist leaders to end martial law and restore the Solidarity union
- 1985 18th NASA Space Shuttle Mission (51-G): Discovery 5 launches
- 1986 US Chief Justice Warren Earl Burger resigns and Antonin Scalia nominated as his replacement
- 1987 With the death of the last individual, the Dusky Seaside Sparrow becomes extinct
- 1988 Microsoft releases MS DOS 4.0
- 1988 Soyuz TM-5 launches
- 1988 Stella Nickell is sentenced to 90 years in prison in the first product tampering murder case after she poisoned Excedrin capsules with cyanide to kill her husband, Bruce Nickell, and a stranger, Sue Snow
- 1989 US beats Guatemala 2-1 in 3rd round of 1990 world soccer cup
- 1991 Country entertainer Minnie Pearl suffers a stroke at 78
- 1991 South Africa abolishes last of its apartheid laws
Event of Interest
1991 The body of the 12th US President, Zachary Taylor, is exhumed to test how he died; rumors had persisted since his death in 1850 of arsenic poisoning - no evidence of this was found
- 1992 Connecticut Governor Lowell Weicker and WFAN DJ Don Imus change places for 1 day
- 1992 Slaughtering by Inkhata-followers at Boipatong, South Africa, kills 42
- 1993 Indians' Carlos Baerga hits 3 home runs against Detroit
Murder of Interest
1994 O.J. Simpson does not turn himself in on murder charges, forcing LA police to chase his Ford Bronco for 1½ hours before he eventually gives up (seen live on national TV)
- 1996 Howard Stern Radio Show premieres in Syracuse, New York on WAQX 95.7 FM
- 1996 The Fifteenth Amendment to the Irish Constitution, which removes the prohibition on divorce, is signed into law following a vote the previous year
- 1997 NHL announces it will add Nashville in 1998, Atlanta in 1999 & Minneapolis-St Paul & Columbus, Ohio in 2000
- 1997 Wynton Marsalis releases his "Blood on the Fields" album (first jazz work to win the Pulitzer Prize for Music - 1997) [1]
Moneyball
2003 "Moneyball", a book about the 2003 Oakland Athletics baseball team and GM Billy Beane's sabermetric approach, inspired by Bill James, is published
Hall of Fame
2006 Sci-Fi author Anne McCaffrey inducted into the Science Fiction Hall of Fame
- 2008 First day of legal same-sex marriage in California
- 2012 France's Socialist Party wins a majority in the legislative election
- 2012 Greek voters return to the polls after the failed May 6 election
Music History
2013 Dance hit "Wake Me Up" released by Swedish DJ and record producer Avicii with vocals by Aloe Blacc
- 2015 9 people are shot and killed inside Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, South Carolina, by a 21-year-old gunman
Event of Interest
2015 US Treasury announces that the image of Alexander Hamilton will be replaced on the US $10 bill by an image of a woman
Film & TV History
2017 Bill Cosby trial for aggravated indecent assault declared a mistrial after jurors couldn't reach a verdict
- 2017 Collision at sea between U.S.S. Fitzgerald and ACX Crystal, a Philippine cargo ship kills 7 US sailors in Japanese waters
- 2017 Forest fires in Pedrógão Grande, Portugal begin, kill 62 people, more than 1,600 firefighters fight 156 fires
- 2018 "The Incredibles 2" sets a box office record for an animated release, earning $180 million its opening weekend
- 2018 Historic deal signed between Greece and Macedonia to end dispute over Macedonia's name - changing to North Macedonia
- 2018 Ivan Duque is elected President of Columbia
- 2018 Play "Fairview" by Jackie Sibblies Drury premieres off-Broadway at the Soho Repertory Theatre (Pulitzer Prize for Drama 2019)
- 2018 World electric speed record broken by Jaguar Vector V20E in battery-powered boat at 88.61 mph (142.60 kph) Coniston Water, English Lake District
Event of Interest
2019 Activist Joshua Wong calls on Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam to resign after leaving prison amid street protests the day before of over 2 million people.
Event of Interest
2019 Former Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi dies after collapsing during a court appearance in Cairo
- 2019 Mayor of Phoenix, Arizona, Kate Gallego apologies for local police threatening to shoot African American family after their four-year shoplifted a doll
- 2019 Michael R. Jackson's musical "Ä Strange Loop" opens off-Broadway in New York (Pulitzer Prize for Drama 2020) [1]
- 2020 American actor Danny Masterson charged with raping three women. after a 3-year investigation
- 2020 First major breakthrough in treating COVID-19 using steroid dexamethasone announced by Oxford University
- 2020 Former police officer who shot Rayshard Brooks in Atlanta charged with his murder and aggravated assault
- 2021 China launches its Shenzhou-12 spacecraft with three astronauts arriving at its new space station Tiangong six and a half hours later
2021 US President Joe Biden signs into law the Juneteenth National Independence Day Act making June 19th a federal holiday commemorating emancipation
- 2022 "Running Up That Hill" single by Kate Bush goes to #1 on the UK chart; originally released in 1985, the song was featured in sci-fi television show "Stranger Things", its record 44 year climb to the top also makes Bush (63) the oldest female artist to score a No.1
Baseball Record
2023 MLB Los Angeles Angels designated hitter Shohei Ohtani hits 150th career home run in a 10-9 loss to Royals at Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City, Missouri
- 2024 Philippines accuses Chinese coastguard of “a brazen act of aggression” after a confrontation in the contested Spratly Islands escalating the tension in the area [1]
- 2025 At least 59 Palestinians in Gaza die after Israeli tanks fire into a crowd waiting for humanitarian aid [1]
- 2025 Stanley Cup Final, Amerant Bank Arena, Sunrise, FL: Florida Panthers win their second consecutive title, once again defeating the Edmonton Oilers, 5-1, in Game 6; MVP: Sam Bennett (Panthers C)
