June 41615 - The fortress of Osaka, Japan, fell to shogun Ieyasu after a six month siege. 1647 - The British army seized King Charles I and held him as a hostage. 1674 - Horse racing was prohibited in Massachusetts. 1783 - A hot-air balloon was demonstrated by Joseph and Jacques Montgolfier. It reached a height of 1,500 feet. 1784 - Marie Thible became the first woman to fly in a hot-air balloon. The flight was 45 minutes long and reached a height of 8,500 feet. 1792 - Captain George Vancouver claimed Puget Sound for Britain. 1794 - British troops captured Port-au-Prince, Haiti. 1805 - Tripoli was forced to conclude peace with U.S. after conflicts over tribute. 1812 - The Louisiana Territory had its name changed to the Missouri Territory. 1816 - The Washington was launched at Wheeling, WV. It was the first stately, double-decker steamboat. 1878 - Turkey turned Cyprus over to Britain. 1892 - The Sierra Club was incorporated in San Francisco. 1896 - Henry Ford made a successful test drive of his new car in Detroit, MI. He called the vehicle was called a "Quadricycle." 1911 - Gold was discovered in Alaska's Indian Creek. 1918 - French and American troops halted Germany's offensive at Chateau-Thierry, France. 1919 - The U.S. Senate passed the Women's Suffrage bill. 1924 - An eternal light was dedicated at Madison Square in New York City in memory of all New York soldiers who died in World War I. 1931 - The first rocket-glider flight was made by William Swan in Atlantic City, NJ. 1935 - "Invisible" glass was patented by Gerald Brown and Edward Pollard. 1939 - The first shopping cart was introduced by Sylvan Goldman in Oklahoma City, OK. It was actually a folding chair that had been mounted on wheels. 1940 - The British completed the evacuation of 300,000 troops at Dunkirk, France. 1942 - The Battle of Midway began. It was the first major victory for America over Japan during World War II. The battle ended on June 6 and ended Japanese expansion in the Pacific. 1943 - In Argentina, Juan Peron took part in the military coup that overthrew Ramon S. Castillo. 1944 - The U-505 became the first enemy submarine captured by the U.S. Navy. 1944 - During World War II, the U.S. Fifth Army entered Rome, which began the liberation of the Italian capital. 1944 - "Leonidas Witherall" was first broadcast on the Mutual Broadcasting System. 1946 - Juan Peron was installed as Argentina's president. 1947 - The House of Representatives approved the Taft-Hartley Act. The legislation allowed the President of the United States to intervene in labor disputes. 1954 - French Premier Joseph Laniel and Vietnamese Premier Buu Loc initialed treaties in Paris giving "complete independence" to Vietnam. 1960 - The Taiwan island of Quemoy was hit by 500 artillery shells fired from the coast of Communist China. 1974 - The Cleveland Indians had "Ten Cent Beer Night". Due to the drunken and unruly fans the Indians forfeited to the Texas Rangers. 1974 - Sally Murphy became the first woman to qualify as an aviator with the U.S. Army. 1984 - For the first time in 32 years, Arnold Palmer failed to make the cut for the U.S. Open golf tournament. 1985 - The U.S. Supreme Court upheld a lower court ruling striking down an Alabama law that provided for a daily minute of silence in public schools. 1986 - Jonathan Jay Pollard, a former Navy intelligence analyst, pled guilty in Washington to spying for Israel. He was sentenced to life in prison. 1986 - The California Supreme Court approved a law that limited the liability of manufacturers and other wealthy defendants. It was known as the "deep pockets law." 1989 - In Beijing, Chinese army troops stormed Tiananmen Square to crush the pro-democracy movement. It is believed that hundreds, possibly thousands, of demonstrators were killed. 1992 - The U.S. Postal Service announced that people preferred the "younger Elvis" stamp design in a nationwide vote. 1998 - George and Ira Gershwin received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. 2003 - The U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill that would ban "partial birth" abortions with a 282-139 vote. 2003 - Amazon.com announced that it had received more than 1 million orders for the book "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix." The released date was planned for June 21. 2008 - The United Kingdom and Canada became the first countries to be able to buy and rent films at the iTunes Store. |