1788 – Virginia becomes the tenth state to ratify the United States Constitution.
1876 – Battle of the Little Bighorn and the death of Lieutenant Colonel George Armstrong Custer.
1903 – George Orwell, Indian-American author and critic (d. 1950) was born.
1906 – Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania millionaire Harry Thaw shoots and kills prominent architect Stanford White.
1906 – Stanford White, American architect, designed the Washington Square Arch (b. 1853) died.
1910 – The United States Congress passes the Mann Act, which prohibits interstate transport of females for “immoral purposes”; the ambiguous language would be used to selectively prosecute people for years to come.
1928 – Peyo, Belgian author and illustrator, created The Smurfs (d. 1992) was born.
1940 – World War II: France officially surrenders to Germany at 01:35.
1940 – Clint Warwick, English bass player (The Moody Blues) (d. 2004) was born.
1943 – The Holocaust: Jews in the Częstochowa Ghetto in Poland stage an uprising against the Nazis.
1944 – World War II: United States Navy and Royal Navy ships bombard Cherbourg to support United States Army units engaged in the Battle of Cherbourg.
1944 – The final page of the comic Krazy Kat was published, exactly two months after its author George Herriman died.
1947 – The Diary of a Young Girl (better known as The Diary of Anne Frank) is published.
1948 – The Berlin airlift begins.
1949 – Long-Haired Hare, starring Bugs Bunny, is released in theaters.
1950 – The Korean War begins with the invasion of South Korea by North Korea.
1952 – Martin Gerschwitz, German singer-songwriter and keyboard player (Iron Butterfly) was born.
1954 – David Paich, American singer-songwriter, keyboard player, and producer (Toto) was born.
1956 – Anthony Bourdain, American chef and author was born.
1960 – Two cryptographers working for the United States National Security Agency left for vacation to Mexico, and from there defected to the Soviet Union.
1961 – Ricky Gervais, English comedian, actor, director, and producer was born.
1963 – Doug Gilmour, Canadian ice hockey player and manager was born.
1963 – George Michael, English singer-songwriter, producer, and actor was born.
1975 – Prime Minister Indira Gandhi has a state of internal Emergency declared in India.
1977 – Gary S Franchi Jr, American journalist, was born.
1978 – The rainbow flag representing gay pride is flown for the first time in the San Francisco Gay Freedom Day Parade.
1981 – Microsoft is restructured to become an incorporated business in its home state of Washington.
1982 – Greece abolishes the head shaving of recruits in the military.
1988 – Hillel Slovak, Israeli-American guitarist and songwriter (Red Hot Chili Peppers and What Is This?) (b. 1962) died.
1993 – Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action is adopted by World Conference on Human Rights.
1997 – An unmanned Progress spacecraft collides with the Russian space station Mir.
1998 – In Clinton v. City of New York, the United States Supreme Court decides that the Line Item Veto Act of 1996 is unconstitutional.
2009 – Farrah Fawcett, American actress and producer (b. 1947) died.
2009 – Michael Jackson, American singer-songwriter, producer, dancer, and actor (b. 1958) died.