Today in history 6/29/2021-7/4/2021

6/29/2021:

Today in history, Ferdinand III (see picture below) of Castile and Leon take Cordoba in Spain in 1236.

Today in history, Massachusetts declares itself an independent commonwealth in 1652.

Today in history, France annexes Tahiti in 1880.

Today in history, The Ukraine proclaims independence from Russia in 1917.

Today in history, Mesa Verde National Park, Colorado, and Olympic National Park, Washington, are founded in 1938.

Today in history, President Harry S. Truman (see picture below) authorizes a sea blockade of Korea in 1950.

Today in history, Israel removes barricades, re-unifying Jerusalem in 1967.

6/30/2021:

Today in history, Charles Dickens reads from A Christmas Carol at St. Martin’s Hall in London–his first public reading in 1857.

Today in history, Jean Francois Gravelet aka Emile Blondin, a French daredevil, becomes the first man to walk across Niagara Falls on a tightrope in 1859.

Today in history, A mysterious explosion, possibly the result of a meteorite, levels thousands of trees in the Tunguska region of Siberia with a force approaching twenty megatons in 1908.

Today in history, Margaret Mitchell’s novel, Gone With the Wind (see picture below), is published in 1936.

Today in history, John Bardeen, Walter Brattain, and William Shockley demonstrate their invention, the , for the first time in 1948.

Today in history, Alfred Hitchcock’s film, Psycho (see picture below), opens in 1960.

7/1/2021:

Today in history, Vespasian, a Roman army leader, is hailed as a Roman emperor by the Egyptian legions in 69.

Today in history, England and Scotland sign the Peace of Greenwich in 1543.

Today in history, Napoleon Bonaparte takes Alexandria, Egypt in 1798.

Today in history, Charles Darwin (see picture below) presents a paper on his theory of evolution to the Linnean Society in London in 1838.

Today in history, The Battle of the Somme (see picture below) begins. Approximately 30,000 men are killed on the first day, two-thirds of them British in 1916.

Today in history, The New York State Commission Against Discrimination is established–the first such agency in the United States in 1945.

Today in history, The U.S. postmaster introduces the ZIP code in 1963.

7/2/2021:

Today in history, Oliver Cromwell (see picture below) crushes the Royalists at the Battle of Marston Moor in 1644.

Today in history, The Continental Congress resolves with the Declaration of Independence that the American colonies “are, and of right ought to be, free and independent States” in 1776.

Today in history, Czar Alexander II (see picture below) frees the serfs working on imperial lands in 1858.

Today in history, Congress establishes the Army Air Corps in 1926.

Today in history, American aviation pioneer Amelia Earhart disappears in the Central Pacific during an attempt to fly around the world in 1937.

Today in history, President Lyndon Johnson signs the Civil Rights Act into law in 1964.

Today in history, President Jimmy Carter reinstates draft registration for males 18 years of age in 1980.

7/3/2021:

Today in history, George Washington takes command of the Continental Army in 1775.

Today in history, American ambassador Caleb Cushing successfully negotiates a commercial treaty with China in 1844.

Today in history, Confederate forces attack the center of the Union line at Gettysburg, but fail to break it in 1863.

Today in history, The Wild Bunch, led by Butch Cassidy (see picture below), commits its last American robbery near Wagner, Montana, taking $65,000 from a Great Northern train in 1901.

Today in history, The U.S. First Army opens a general offensive to break out of the hedgerow area of Normandy, France in 1944.

Today in history, Jackie Robinson becomes the first African American to be inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1962.

7/4/2021:

Today in history, The amended Declaration of Independence, prepared by Thomas Jefferson, is approved and signed by John Hancock–President of the Continental Congress–and Charles Thomson, Congress secretary. The state of New York abstains from signing in 1776.

Today in history, Two of America’s founding fathers–Thomas Jefferson and John Adams–die in 1826.

Today in history, The fifth president of the United States, James Monroe, dies at the age of 73 in 1831.

Today in history, Henry David Thoreau (see picture below) begins his 26-month stay at Walden Pond in 1845.

Today in history, Walt Whitman publishes the first edition of Leaves of Grass at his own expense in 1855.

Today in history, The poem America the Beautiful is first published in 1895.

Today in history, Boxer Joe Louis wins his first professional fight in 1934.

Today in history, The United States grants the Philippine Islands their independence in 1946.

Today in history, The 50-star flag makes its debut in Philadelphia in 1960.

Today in history 6/25/2021-6/28/2021

6/25/2021:

Today in history, Charles the Bald and Louis the German defeat Lothar at Fontenay in 841.

Today in history, Aurangzeb proclaims himself emperor of the Moghuls in India in 1658.

Today in history, Gustave Flaubert (see picture below) goes on trial for public immorality regarding his novel, Madame Bovary in 1857.

Today in history, The U.S. Congress enacts legislation granting an eight-hour day to workers employed by the federal government in 1868.

Today in history, General George A. Custer and over 260 men of the Seventh Cavalry are wiped out by Sioux and Cheyenne Indians at Little Bighorn in Montana in 1876.

Today in history, Marie Curie announces her discovery of radium in 1903.

Today in history, Samuel Gompers is elected head of the American Federation of Labor for the 40th time in 1921.

Today in history, North Korea invades South Korea, beginning the Korean War in 1950.

6/26/2021:

Today in history, Peter the Hermit‘s crusaders force their way across Sava, Hungary in 1096.

Today in history, The Seljuk Turkish army in Asia Minor is wiped out by the Mongols in 1243.

Today in history, The Lewis and Clark Expedition reaches the mouth of the Kansas River after completing a westward trek of nearly 400 river miles in 1804.

Today in history, General Robert E. Lee attacks George McClellan‘s line at Mechanicsville during the Seven Days’ campaign in 1862.

Today in history, The United States announces it will send troops to fight against the Boxer Rebellion in China in 1900.

Today in history, General Pershing (see picture below) arrives in France with the American Expeditionary Force in 1917.

Today in history, The Germans begin firing their huge 420 mm howitzer, “Big Bertha” (see picture below), at Paris in 1918.

Today in history, The Soviet Union proposes a cease-fire in the Korean War in 1951.

Today in history, President John Kennedy announces “Ich bin ein Berliner” at the Berlin Wall in 1963.

6/27/2021:

Today in history, English King George II defeats the French at Dettingen, Bavaria in 1743.

Today in history, Prudence Crandall (see picture below), a white woman, is arrested for conducting an academy for black women in Canterbury, Conn in 1833.

Today in history, The yen (see picture below) becomes the new form of currency in Japan in 1871.

Today in history, The crew of the Russian battleship Potemkin mutinies in 1905.

Today in history, Democrats offer Mrs. Leroy Springs (see picture below) the vice presidential nomination, the first woman considered for the job in 1924.

Today in history, Scientists at Bell Laboratories in New York reveal a system for transmitting television pictures in 1929.

Today in history, The UN Security Council calls on members for troops to aid South Korea in 1950.

6/28/2021:

Today in history, The French colony of Guadeloupe is established in the Caribbean in 1635.

Today in history, Russians defeat the Swedes and Cossacks at the Battle of Poltava in 1709.

Today in history, Mary “Molly Pitcher” Hays McCauley (see picture below), wife of an American artilleryman, carries water to the soldiers during the Battle of Monmouth in 1778.

Today in history, Congress declares Labor Day a legal holiday in 1884.

Today in history, Samuel J. Battle becomes the first African-American policeman in New York City in 1911.

Today in history, German troops launch an offensive to seize Soviet oil fields in the Caucasus and the city of Stalingrad in 1942.

Today in history, General Douglas MacArthur (see picture below) arrives in South Korea as Seoul falls to the North in 1950.

Today in history, The Supreme Court overturns the draft evasion conviction of Muhammad Ali in 1971.

Today in history, The first women enter the U.S. Air Force Academy in 1976.

Today in history 6/21/2021-6/24/2021

6/21/2021:

Today in history, The Peace of Breda ends the Second Anglo-Dutch War as the Dutch cede New Amsterdam to the English in 1667.

Today in history, Christopher Wren begins work on rebuilding St. Paul’s Cathedral in London after the Great Fire in 1675.

Today in history, C. H. McCormick patents the first practical reaper in 1834.

Today in history, Britain celebrates the golden jubilee of Queen Victoria in 1887.

Today in history, Germany uses poison gas for the first time in warfare in the Argonne Forest in 1915.

Today in history, Baseball legend Lou Gehrig (see picture below) is forced to quit baseball because of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis–a disease which wastes muscles in 1939.

Today in history, Dr. Peter Goldmark (see picture below) demonstrates his “long-playing” record in 1948.

6/22/2021:

Today in history, Richard II, who is still a child, begins his reign, following the death of his grandfather, Edward III. His coronation takes place July 16 in 1377.

Today in history, Slavery is outlawed in England in 1772.

Today in history, British seamen board the USS Chesapeake, a provocation leading to the War of 1812 in 1807.

Today in history, German bacteriologist Paul Ehrlich (see picture below) announces a definitive cure for syphilis in 1910.

Today in history, King George V (see picture below) of England is crowned in 1911.

Today in history, Joe Louis (see picture below) floors Max Schmeling in the first round of the heavyweight bout at Yankee Stadium in 1938.

Today in history, President Richard Nixon signs the 26th amendment, lowering the voting age to 18 in 1970.

Today in history, Skylab astronauts splash down safely in the Pacific after a record 28 days in space in 1973.

6/23/2021:

Today in history, William Penn(see picture below) signs a friendship treaty with the Lenni Lenape Indians in Pennsylvania in 1683.

Today in history, Austrian forces defeat the Prussians at Landshut, Germany in 1760.

Today in history, Confederate forces overwhelm a Union garrison at the Battle of Brashear City in Louisiana in 1863.

Today in history, Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Italy renew the Triple Alliance for a 12-year duration in 1902.

Today in history, In one of the largest air strikes of the war, the U.S. Fifteenth Air Force sends 761 bombers against the oil refineries at Ploiesti, Romania in 1944.

Today in history, Soviet U.N. delegate Jacob Malik (see picture below) proposes cease-fire discussions in the Korean War in 1951.

6/24/2021:

Today in history, Carthaginian forces led by Hannibal destroy a Roman army under consul Gaius Flaminius in a battle at Lake Trasimene in central Italy in 217 BC.

Today in history, Scottish forces, led by Robert the Bruce, win an overwhelming victory against English King Edward II at the Battle of Bannockburn in 1314.

Today in history, Explorer John Cabot lands in North America in present-day Canada in 1497.

Today in history, Margaret Brent, (see picture below) demands a voice and a vote for herself in the Maryland colonial assembly in 1647.

Today in history, Booker T. Washington (see picture below) becomes the first African American to receive an honorary MA degree from Harvard University in 1896.

Today in history, The Soviet Union begins the Berlin Blockade, America responds with the Berlin Airlift in 1948.

Today in history, The Federal Trade Commission announces that, starting in 1965, cigarette makers must include warning labels about the harmful effects of smoking in 1964.

Today in history 6/13/2021-6/16/2021

6/13/2021:

Today in history, The Marquis de Lafayette (see picture below) arrives in the American colonies to help in their rebellion against Britain in 1777.

Today in history, Confederate forces on their way to Gettysburg clash with Union troops at the Second Battle of Winchester, Virginia in 1863.

Today in history, The U.S. Post Office Department rules that children may not be sent by parcel post in 1920.

Today in history, German spies land on Long Island, New York, and are soon captured in 1943.

Today in history, The New York Times begins publishing the Pentagon Papers in 1971.

Today in history, Pioneer 10 (see picture below), already in space for 11 years, leaves the solar system in 1983.

6/14/2021:

Today in history, The Peasants’ Revolt, led by Wat Tyler, climaxes when rebels plunder and burn the Tower of London and kill the Archbishop of Canterbury in 1381.

Today in history, Massachusetts passes the first compulsory education law in the colonies in 1642.

Today in history, The U.S. Army is founded when the Continental Congress authorizes the muster of troops in 1775.

Today in history, Captain William Bligh (see picture below) of the HMS Bounty arrives in Timor in a small boat. He had been forced to leave his ship when his crew mutinied in 1789.

Today in history, The city of Philadelphia observes the first Flag Day in 1893.

Today in history, Women in Norway win the right to vote in 1907.

Today in history, President Warren G. Harding (see picture below) becomes the first president to speak on the radio in 1922.

Today in history, The Supreme Court rules that requiring students to salute the American flag is unconstitutional in 1942.

Today in history, Congressman William Gray (see picture below), an African American, is elected Democratic Whip of the House of Representatives in 1989.

6/15/2021:

Today in history, King John signs the Magna Carta in 1215.

Today in history, The English peasant revolt is crushed in London in 1381.

Today in history, Ottoman Turks crush Serbia in the Battle of Kosovo in 1389.

Today in history, Colonists in North America complete James Fort in Jamestown in 1607.

Today in history, Benjamin Franklin and his son test the relationship between electricity and lightning by flying a kite in a thunder storm in 1752.

Today in history, Arkansas is admitted into the Union as the 25th state in 1836.

Today in history, Henry O. Flipper (see picture below) becomes the first African American to graduate from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point in 1877.

Today in history, President Woodrow Wilson (see picture below) signs a bill incorporating the Boy Scouts of America in 1916.

6/16/2021:

Today in history, Rome is sacked by the Vandal army in 455.

Today in history, Napoleon defeats the Prussians at the Battle of Ligny in 1815.

Today in history, The Russian czar dissolves the Duma in St. Petersburg in 1907.

Today in history, The first Father’s Day is celebrated in Spokane, Washington in 1910.

Today in history, President Franklin Roosevelt‘s New Deal legislation is passed by the House of Representatives in 1935.

Today in history, Anne Frank: Diary of a Young Girl (see picture below) is published in the United States in 1952.

Today in history, Ballet star Rudolf Nureyev defects from the Soviet Union while in Paris in 1961.

Today in history, Leonid Brezhnev is named president of the Soviet Union in 1977.

Today in history 6/9/2021-6/12/2021

6/9/2021:

Today in history, Coimbra, Portugal falls to Ferdinand, king of Castile in 1064.

Today in history, Jacques Cartier sails into the mouth of the St. Lawrence River in Canada in 1534.

Today in history, Mary Ann “Mother” Bickerdyke (see picture below) begins working in Union hospitals in 1861.

Today in history, Robert H. Goddard patents a rocket-fueled aircraft design in 1931.

Today in history, Japanese Premier Kantaro Suzuki declares that Japan will fight to the last rather than accept unconditional surrender in 1945.

Today in history, NASA publishes a report on the Challenger accident in 1986.

6/10/2021:

Today in history, The Continental Congress appoints a committee to write a Declaration of Independence in 1776.

Today in history, Tripoli declares war on the U.S. for refusing to pay tribute in 1801.

Today in history, The U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland, holds its first graduation in 1854.

Today in history, Dorothea Dix is appointed superintendent of female nurses for the Union army in 1861.

Today in history, Japan and Russia agree to peace talks brokered by President Theodore Roosevelt (see picture below) in 1905.

Today in history, The Republican convention in Chicago endorses women’s suffrage in 1920.

Today in history, The U.S. VII and V corps, advancing from Normandy’s beaches, link up and begin moving inland in 1944.

Today in history, The news that the sound barrier has been broken is finally released to the public by the U.S. Air Force. Chuck Yeager (see picture below), piloting the rocket airplane X-1, exceeded the speed of sound on October 14, 1947 in 1948.

Today in history, Serb forces begin their withdrawal from Kosovo after signing an agreement with the NATO powers in 1999.

6/11/2021:

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 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 wins her third consecutive term as Prime Minister in 1987.

6/12/2021:

Today in history, Alfonso V of Aragon is crowned King of Naples in 1442.

Today in history, Napoleon Bonaparte and his army invade Russia in 1812.

Today in history, The gas mask is patented by Lewis P. Haslett in 1849.

Today in history, The first airplane bombing raid by an American unit occurs in France in 1918.

Today in history, Gangster Al Capone (see picture below) and 68 of his henchmen are indicted for violating Prohibition laws in 1931.

Today in history, Eight of Stalin’s generals are sentenced to death during purges in the Soviet Union in 1937.

Today in history, The Supreme Court rules that states cannot ban interracial marriages in 1967.