1184 BC – Trojan War: Troy is sacked and burned, according to calculations by Eratosthenes.
173 – Marcomannic Wars: The Roman army in Moravia is encircled by the Quadi, who have broken the peace treaty (171). In a violent thunderstorm emperor Marcus Aurelius defeats and subdues them in the so-called “miracle of the rain”.
631 – Emperor Taizong of Tang, the Emperor of China, sends envoys to the Xueyantuo bearing gold and silk in order to seek the release of enslaved Chinese prisoners captured during the transition from Sui to Tang from the northern frontier; this embassy succeeded in freeing 80,000 Chinese men and women who were then returned to China.
1345 – Alexios Apokaukos, chief minister of the Byzantine Empire, is lynched by political prisoners.
1509 – Henry VIII of England marries Catherine of Aragon.
1578 – England grants Sir Humphrey Gilbert a patent to explore & colonize North America
1594 – Philip II recognized the rights and privileges of the local nobles and chieftains in the Philippines, which paves way to the creation of the Principalía (i.e., elite ruling class of native nobility in Spanish Philippines).
1770 – British explorer Captain James Cook runs aground on the Great Barrier Reef.
1775 – The American Revolutionary War’s first naval engagement, the Battle of Machias, results in the capture of a small British naval vessel.
1776 – The Continental Congress appoints Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Roger Sherman, and Robert R. Livingston to the Committee of Five to draft a declaration of independence.
1805 – A fire consumes large portions of Detroit in the Michigan Territory.
1825 – The first cornerstone is laid for Fort Hamilton in New York City.
1847 – Millicent Fawcett, English academic and activist (d. 1929) was born.
1847 – John Franklin, English admiral and politician (b. 1786) died.
1878 – DC is given a new government by Congress, 3 commissioners appointed by president (change in 1974)
1880 – Jeannette Rankin, 1st woman elected to US Congress (Rep-Montana) Born
1892 – The Limelight Department, one of the world’s first film studios, is officially established in Melbourne, Australia.
1898 – Spanish–American War: U.S. war ships set sail for Cuba. / 1898 – 1st US Marines (600) land at Guantanamo Cuba during Spanish-American War
1910 – Jacques Cousteau, French biologist, author, and inventor, co-developed the aqua-lung (d. 1997) was born.
1910 – Carmine Coppola, composer/conductor (Godfather II, Apocalypse Now) Born
1913 – Grand Vizir Mahmud Shevket Pasha is assassinated, resulting in continuing Young Turk terrorism until WWI
1913 – Vince Lombardi, Brooklyn New York, NFL coach (Green Bay Packers) Born
1919 – Sir Barton wins the Belmont Stakes, becoming the first horse to win the U.S. Triple Crown.
1920 – During the U.S. Republican National Convention in Chicago, U.S. Republican Party leaders gathered in a room at the Blackstone Hotel to come to a consensus on their candidate for the U.S. presidential election, leading the Associated Press to first coin the political phrase “smoke-filled room”.
1935 – Gene Wilder, [Jerome Silbermann], Milwaukee, actor (Silver Streak, Willy Wonka, Young Frankenstein) Born
1935 – Inventor Edwin Armstrong gives the first public demonstration of FM broadcasting in the United States, at Alpine, New Jersey.
1939 – Jackie Stewart, Scotland, driver/sports announcer (27 Grand Prix) Born
1941 – Vichy-French planes bomb Tel Aviv, killing 20 Jews
1943 – Henry Hill Jr., Brooklyn, New York, mobster and FBI informant (inspired Goodfellas), (d. 2012) Born
1944 – USS Missouri, the last battleship built by the United States Navy and future site of the signing of the Japanese Instrument of Surrender, is commissioned.
1949 – George Willig, stuntman (climbed World Trade Center in 1977) Born
1949 – Frank Beard, American drummer and songwriter (ZZ Top and American Blues) was born.
1952 – Donnie Van Zant, rock vocalist (.38 Special) Born
1956 – Joe Montana, New Eagle Pennsylvania, NFL quarterback (San Francisco 49ers) Born
1958 – Philo Cramer Born, former lead guitarist for the Los Angeles punk band FEAR (Slash Records), following a 1977-1978 stint in The Cigarettes (Carlysle Records). He is known for his Gibson SG and making odd noises with his whammy bar, and for being a punk rocker in the 1980s LA scene holding a bachelor’s degree in Physics.
Cramer also appeared in the movie Get Crazy as a band member. Briefly, in 1985, he formed a band with Agression drummer Mark Aber called King M’butu, also notable for containing Danny Dorman of Wasted Youth and Circle One. Cramer resides in Connecticut and plays in a band called The Fighting Cocks
1959 – Postmaster General bans D H Lawrence’s book, Lady Chatterley’s Lover (overruled by US Court of Appeals in Mar 1960)
1960 – Mehmet Oz, American surgeon, author, and television host was born.
1962 – US President John Kennedy accepts an honorary degree from Yale
1962 – Frank Morris, John Anglin and Clarence Anglin allegedly become the only prisoners to escape from the prison on Alcatraz Island.
1963 – Quang Duc, Buddhist monk, immolates himself on a street in Saigon
1963 – American Civil Rights Movement: Governor of Alabama George Wallace defiantly stands at the door of Foster Auditorium at the University of Alabama in an attempt to block two black students, Vivian Malone and James Hood, from attending that school. Later in the day, accompanied by federalized National Guard troops, they are able to register.
1963 – John F. Kennedy addresses Americans from the Oval Office proposing the Civil Rights Act of 1964 that would revolutionize American society. Proposing equal access to public facilities, end segregation in education and guarantee federal protection for voting rights.
1964 – Chicago police break up Rolling Stones press conference
1964 – Queen Elizabeth orders Beatles to her birthday party, they attend
1967 – Race riot in Tampa Florida; National Guard mobilizes
1971 – US ends ban on China trade
1971 – The U.S. Government forcibly removes the last holdouts to the Native American Occupation of Alcatraz, ending 19 months of control.
1973 – Libya nationalizes Bunker Hunt concession; Nigeria acquires 35 percent participation in Shell-BP concession
1978 – Joshua Jackson, Canadian actor was born.
1977 – Ryan Dunn, American actor and stuntman (d. 2011) was born.
1977 – “I’m Your Boogie Man” by KC & Sunshine Band peaks at #1
1977 – “The Pretender” by Jackson Browne peaks at #58
1979 – Chuck Berry pleads guilty to income tax evasion, sentenced to 4 months
1979 – John Wayne [Marion Mitchell Morrison], actor (Green Berets, True Grit), dies at 72
1984 – US Supreme Court declares illegally obtained evidence may be admitted at trial if it could be proved that it would have been discovered legally
1985 – Russian space probe Vega 1 lands on Venus
1985 – Karen Ann Quinlan, comatose patient, dies in Morris Plains NJ at 31
1986 – Amnesty International megaconcert
1988 – Freedomfest – Mandela addresses Wembley Stadium London
1990 – Supreme Court says law prohibiting desecration of US flag unconstitutional
1990 – Clyde McCoy, jazz trumpeter (helped invent Vox wah wah sound), dies at 86
1990 – UN appoints Olivia Newton-John environmental ambassador
1990 – Federal judge sentenced former national security adviser John M Poindexter to 6 months for making false statements to Congress
1992 – Owners approve sale of Seattle Mariners to a Japanese group (Nintendo)
1992 – Marjorie Newell Robb, oldest living survivor of Titantic, dies at 103
1994 – Drunken police officer shoots 7 people dead in Falun, Sweden
1996 – Exxon states that it will begin work on its $15-billion Sakhalin I oil and natural gas development in Russia’s Far East
1998 – Compaq Computer pays $9 billion for Digital Equipment Corporation in the largest high-tech acquisition.
1999 – DeForest Kelley, American actor (Star Trek) (b. 1920) dies
2001 – Timothy McVeigh is executed for his role in the Oklahoma City bombing.
2001 – Saudi Arabia seizes ownership, effective June 7, of the 1.6-million-barrels-per-day IPSA pipeline that had carried Iraqi crude oil to the Saudi Red Sea port of Mu’jiz prior to Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait
2002 – Antonio Meucci is acknowledged as the first inventor of the telephone by the United States Congress.
2003 – David Brinkley, American television reporter (b. 1920) Dies
2004 – Ronald Reagan’s funeral is held at Washington National Cathedral.
2008 – Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper makes a historic official apology to Canada’s First Nations in regard to a residential school abuse in which children are isolated from their homes, families and cultures for a century.
2009 – A Texas mother was hit by lightning while standing in her kitchen inside her Texas home. Witnesses say the lightning came through a light fixture and struck her chest and exited her foot. Her 9-year-old son franticly called 9-1-1 to save her life. She had to spend three days in the hospital.
2012 – The Nobel Prize is reduced by 20% to prevent any future undermining of capital
2012 – Teofilo Stevenson, Cuban Heavyweight boxer, dies from a heart attack at 60