Today in history 6/11/2017

6/11/2017:

Today in history, Charles IV of Luxembourg is elected Holy Roman Emperor in 1346.

Today in history, Henry VIII of England marries Catherine of Aragon in 1509.

Today in history, Captain James Cook runs aground on the Great Barrier Reef in 1770.

Today in history, Napoleon Bonaparte takes the island of Malta in 1798.

Today in history, Major General Henry W. Halleck (see picture below) finds documents and archives of the Confederate government in Richmond, Virginia. This discovery will lead to the publication of the official war records in 1865.

Today in history, Charles E. Duryea (see picture below) receives the first U.S. patent granted to an American inventor for a gasoline-driven automobile in 1895.

Today in history, Charles Lindbergh, a captain in the US Army Air Corps Reserve, receives the first Distinguished Flying Cross ever awarded, for his solo trans-Atlantic flight in 1927.

Today in history, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (see picture below) is arrested in Florida for trying to integrate restaurants in 1963.

Today in history,  Margaret Thatcher (see picture below) wins her third consecutive term as Prime Minister in 1987.

Today in history 6/6/2017

6/6/2017:

Today in history, Gustav Vasa (see picture below) becomes king of Sweden in 1523.

Today in history, The city of Memphis surrenders to the Union navy after an intense naval engagement on the Mississippi River in 1862.

Today in history, U.S. Marines enter combat at the Battle of Belleau Wood in 1918.

Today in history, The German Reichstag accepts the Dawes Plan, an American plan to help Germany pay off its war debts in 1924.

Today in history, Frozen foods are sold commercially for the first time in 1930.

Today in history, D-Day: Operation Overlord (see picture below) lands 400,000 Allied American, British, and Canadian troops on the beaches of Normandy in German-occupied France in 1944.

Today in history, African American James Meredith is shot and wounded while on a solo march in Mississippi to promote voter registration among blacks in 1966.

Today in history, Israel invades southern Lebanon in 1982.

Today in history 5/26/2017

5/26/2017:

Today in history, Germanicus of Rome celebrates his victory over the Germans in 17.

Today in history, William of Ockham is forced to flee from Avignon by Pope John XXII in 1328.

Today in history, Charles II and Louis XIV sign a secret treaty in Dover, England, ending hostilities between England and France in 1670.

Today in history, The Russians defeat the Poles at the Battle of Ostroleka in 1831.

Today in history, The territory of Montana is organized in 1864.

Today in history, The last czar of Russia, Nicholas II (see picture below), is crowned in 1896.

Today in history, The evacuation of Allied forces from Dunkirk (see picture below) begins in 1940.

Today in history, A patent is filed in the United States for the H-bomb in 1946.

Today in history, The civil rights activist group, Freedom Ride Coordinating Committee, is established in Atlanta in 1961.

Today in history, The movie Star Wars (see picture below) debuts in 1977.

Today in history 5/4/2017

5/3/2017:

Today in history, In England, the Yorkists defeat the Lancastrians at the Battle of Tewkesbury in 1471.

Today in history, American Indians sell Manhattan Island for $24 in cloth and buttons in 1626.

Today in history, A French manufacturer debuts the first folding umbrella in 1715.

Today in history, Rhode Island declares independence from England in 1776.

Today in history, The Battle of Chancellorsville ends when Union Army retreats in 1863.

Today in history, A balloon soars over 40,000 feet for the first time in 1927.

Today in history, Mahatma Gandhi (see picture below) is arrested by the British in 1930.

Today in history, The Battle of the Coral Sea (see picture below) commences in 1942.

Today in history, 13 civil rights activists, dubbed Freedom Riders, begin a bus trip through the South in 1961.

Today in history 4/2/2017

4/2/2017:

Today in history, The United States authorizes the minting of the $10 Eagle, $5 half-Eagle & 2.50 quarter-Eagle gold coins as well as the silver dollar, dollar, quarter, dime & half-dime in 1792.

Today in history, The British navy defeats the Danish at the Battle of Copenhagen in 1801.

Today in history, Karl Harris perfects the process for the artificial synthesis of rubber in 1910.

Today in history, The U.S. Federal Reserve Board announces plans to divide the country into 12 districts in 1914.

Today in history, President Woodrow Wilson presents a declaration of war against Germany to Congress in 1917.

Today in history, Jeannette Pickering Rankin (see picture below) is sworn in as the first woman to serve in the U.S. House of Representatives in 1917.

Today in history, Virne “Jackie” Mitchell (see picture below) becomes the first woman to play for an all-male pro baseball team. In an exhibition game against the New York Yankees, she strikes out both Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig in 1931.

Today in history, Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King (see picture below) begins the first non-violent campaign in Birmingham, Alabama in 1963.

Today in history, Argentina invades the British-owned Falkland Islands in 1982.