Event-a-Day

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1497 – Battle of Deptford Bridge: Forces under King Henry VII defeat troops led by Michael An Gof.

1579 – Sir Francis Drake claims a land he calls Nova Albion (modern California) for England.

1673 – French explorers Jacques Marquette and Louis Jolliet reach the Mississippi River and become the first Europeans to make a detailed account of its course.

1767 – Samuel Wallis, an English sea captain, sights Tahiti and is considered the first European to reach the island.

1885 – The Statue of Liberty arrives in New York Harbor.

1898 – The United States Navy Hospital Corps is established.

1930 – U.S. President Herbert Hoover signs the Smoot–Hawley Tariff Act into law.

1932 – Bonus Army: Around a thousand World War I veterans amass at the United States Capitol as the U.S. Senate considers a bill that would give them certain benefits.

1933 – Union Station massacre: In Kansas City, Missouri, four FBI agents and captured fugitive Frank Nash are gunned down by gangsters attempting to free Nash.

1960 – The Nez Perce tribe is awarded $4 million for 7 million acres (28,000 km2) of land undervalued at four cents/acre in the 1863 treaty.

1963 – The United States Supreme Court rules 8–1 in Abington School District v. Schempp against requiring the reciting of Bible verses and the Lord's Prayer in public schools.

1972 – Watergate scandal: Five White House operatives are arrested for burgling the offices of the Democratic National Committee, in an attempt by some members of the Republican party to illegally wiretap the opposition.

1985 – STS-51-G Space Shuttle Discovery launches carrying Sultan bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, the first Arab and first Muslim in space, as a Payload Specialist.

1987 – With the death of the last individual of the species, the dusky seaside sparrow becomes extinct.

1991 – Apartheid: The South African Parliament repeals the Population Registration Act which required racial classification of all South Africans at birth.

1992 – A 'joint understanding' agreement on arms reduction is signed by U.S. President George Bush and Russian President Boris Yeltsin (this would be later codified in START II).

1994 – Following a televised low-speed highway chase, O. J. Simpson is arrested for the murders of his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend Ronald Goldman.

1429 – French forces under the leadership of Joan of Arc defeat the main English army under Sir John Fastolf at the Battle of Patay. This turns the tide of the Hundred Years' War.

1633 – Charles I is crowned King of Scots at St Giles' Cathedral, Edinburgh.

1778 – American Revolutionary War: British troops abandon Philadelphia.

1812 – The United States declaration of war upon the United Kingdom is signed by President James Madison.

1815 – Napoleonic Wars: The Battle of Waterloo results in the defeat of Napoleon Bonaparte by the Duke of Wellington and Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher forcing him to abdicate the throne of France for the second and last time.

1858 – Charles Darwin receives a paper from Alfred Russel Wallace that includes nearly identical conclusions about evolution as Darwin's own, prompting Darwin to publish his theory.

1859 – First ascent of Aletschhorn, second summit of the Bernese Alps.

1873 – Susan B. Anthony is fined $100 for attempting to vote in the 1872 presidential election.

1928 – Aviator Amelia Earhart becomes the first woman to fly in an aircraft across the Atlantic Ocean (she is a passenger; Wilmer Stultz is the pilot and Lou Gordon the mechanic).

1940 – Appeal of 18 June by Charles de Gaulle. The "Finest Hour" speech is delivered by Winston Churchill.

1979 – SALT II is signed by the United States and the Soviet Union.

1983 – Space Shuttle program: STS-7, Astronaut Sally Ride becomes the first American woman in space.

2006 – The first Kazakh space satellite, KazSat-1 is launched.

2009 – The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO), a NASA robotic spacecraft is launched.

1306 – The Earl of Pembroke's army defeats Bruce's Scottish army at the Battle of Methven.

1586 – English colonists leave Roanoke Island, after failing to establish England's first permanent settlement in North America.

1800 – War of the Second Coalition Battle of Höchstädt results in a French victory over Austria.

1862 – The U.S. Congress prohibits slavery in United States territories, nullifying Dred Scott v. Sandford.

1865 – Over two years after the Emancipation Proclamation, slaves in Galveston, Texas, United States, are finally informed of their freedom. The anniversary is still officially celebrated in Texas and 41 other contiguous states as Juneteenth.

1867 – Maximilian I of the Second Mexican Empire is executed by a firing squad in Querétaro, Querétaro.

1910 – The first Father's Day is celebrated in Spokane, Washington.

1934 – The Communications Act of 1934 establishes the United States' Federal Communications Commission (FCC).

1943 – The Philadelphia Eagles and Pittsburgh Steelers in the NFL merge for one season due to player shortages caused by World War II.

1944 – World War II: First day of the Battle of the Philippine Sea.

1949 – The first ever NASCAR race was held at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

1953 – Julius and Ethel Rosenberg are executed at Sing Sing, in New York.

1964 – The Civil Rights Act of 1964 is approved after surviving an 83-day filibuster in the United States Senate.

1978 – Garfield, holder of the Guinness World Record for the world's most widely syndicated comic strip, makes its debut.

1991 – The Soviet occupation of Hungary ends.

June 20:

1685 – Monmouth Rebellion: James Scott, 1st Duke of Monmouth and illegitimate son of Charles II, declares himself King of England at Bridgwater.

1782 – The U.S. Congress adopts the Great Seal of the United States.

1787 – Oliver Ellsworth moves at the Federal Convention to call the government the 'United States'.

1789 – Deputies of the French Third Estate take the Tennis Court Oath.

1819 – The U.S. vessel SS Savannah arrives at Liverpool, United Kingdom. It is the first steam-propelled vessel to cross the Atlantic, although most of the journey is made under sail.

1837 – Queen Victoria succeeds to the British throne.

1840 – Samuel Morse receives the patent for the telegraph.

1863 – American Civil War: West Virginia is admitted as the 35th U.S. state.

1877 – Alexander Graham Bell installs the world's first commercial telephone service in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.

1941 – The United States Army Air Corps is deprecated to being the American training and logistics section of what is known until 1947 as the United States Army Air Forces, just two days before Hitler's invasion of the Soviet Union.

1942 – The Holocaust: Kazimierz Piechowski and three others, dressed as members of the SS-Totenkopfverbände, steal an SS staff car and escape from the Auschwitz concentration camp.

1943 – World War II: The Royal Air Force launches Operation Bellicose, the first shuttle bombing raid of the war. Lancaster bombers damage the V-2 rocket production facilities at the Zeppelin Works while en route to an air base in Algeria.

1944 – World War II: The Battle of the Philippine Sea concludes with a decisive U.S. naval victory. The lopsided naval air battle is also known as the "Great Marianas Turkey Shoot". The experimental MW 18014 V-2 rocket reaches an altitude of 176km, becoming the first man-made object to reach outer space.

1945 – The United States Secretary of State approves the transfer of Wernher von Braun and his team of Nazi rocket scientists to the U.S. under Operation Paperclip.

1963 – Following the Cuban Missile Crisis, the Soviet Union and the United States sign an agreement to establish the so-called "red telephone" link between Washington and Moscow.

1972 – Watergate scandal: An 18½-minute gap appears in the tape recording of the conversations between U.S. President Richard Nixon and his advisers regarding the recent arrests of his operatives while breaking into the Watergate complex.

1975 – The film Jaws is released in the United States, becoming the highest-grossing film of that time and starting the trend of films known as 'summer blockbusters'. (Not to mention, making people afraid to go into the water.)

2003 – The Wikimedia Foundation is founded in St. Petersburg, Florida.

June 21:

1788 – New Hampshire ratifies the Constitution of the United States and is admitted as the ninth state in the United States.

1791 – King Louis XVI of France and his immediate family begin the Flight to Varennes during the French Revolution.

1898 – The United States captures Guam from Spain.

1915 – The U.S. Supreme Court hands down its decision in Guinn v. United States 238 US 347 1915, striking down Oklahoma grandfather clause legislation which had the effect of denying the right to vote to blacks.

1919 – Admiral Ludwig von Reuter scuttles the German fleet in Scapa Flow, Orkney. The nine sailors killed are the last casualties of World War I.

2000 – Section 28 (of the Local Government Act 1988), outlawing the 'promotion' of homosexuality in the United Kingdom, is repealed in Scotland with a 99 to 17 vote.

2004 – SpaceShipOne becomes the first privately funded spaceplane to achieve spaceflight.

2006 – Pluto's newly discovered moons are officially named Nix and Hydra.

1870 – United States Department of Justice created by the U.S. Congress.

1906 – The flag of Sweden is adopted.

1907 – The London Underground's Charing Cross, Euston and Hampstead Railway opens.

1911 – George V and Mary of Teck are crowned King and Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.

1940 – France is forced to sign the Second Compiègne armistice with Germany.

1941 – Nazi Germany invades the Soviet Union in Operation Barbarossa.

1942 – Erwin Rommel is promoted to Field Marshal after the capture of Tobruk. The Pledge of Allegiance is formally adopted by US Congress.

1944 – U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs into law the Servicemen's Readjustment Act of 1944, commonly known as the G.I. Bill.

1945 – The Battle of Okinawa comes to an end.

1978 – Charon, Pluto's first satellite, was discovered at the United States Naval Observatory by James W. Christy.

1314 – First War of Scottish Independence: The Battle of Bannockburn begins.

1532 – Henry VIII of England and Francis I of France sign a secret treaty against Emperor Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor.

1611 – The mutinous crew of Henry Hudson's fourth voyage sets Henry, his son and seven loyal crew members adrift in an open boat in what is now Hudson Bay; they are never heard from again.

1683 – William Penn signs a friendship treaty with Lenni Lenape Indians in Pennsylvania.

1794 – Empress Catherine II of Russia grants Jews permission to settle in Kiev.

1812 – War of 1812: Great Britain revokes the restrictions on American commerce, thus eliminating one of the chief reasons for going to war.

1860 – The United States Congress establishes the Government Printing Office.

1865 – American Civil War: At Fort Towson in the Oklahoma Territory, Confederate, Brigadier General Stand Watie surrenders the last significant rebel army.

1868 – Christopher Latham Sholes received a patent for an invention he called the "Type-Writer."

1887 – The Rocky Mountains Park Act becomes law in Canada creating the nation's first national park, Banff National Park.

1894 – The International Olympic Committee is founded at the Sorbonne in Paris, at the initiative of Baron Pierre de Coubertin.

1917 – In a game against the Washington Senators, Boston Red Sox pitcher Ernie Shore retires 26 batters in a row after replacing Babe Ruth, who had been ejected for punching the umpire.

1942 – World War II: Germany's latest fighter aircraft, a Focke-Wulf Fw 190, is captured intact when it mistakenly lands at RAF Pembrey in Wales.

1972 – Watergate scandal: U.S. President Richard M. Nixon and White House Chief of Staff H. R. Haldeman are taped talking about using the Central Intelligence Agency to obstruct the Federal Bureau of Investigation's investigation into the Watergate break-ins.

2016 – The United Kingdom votes in a referendum to leave the European Union, by 52% to 48%.

1314 – First War of Scottish Independence: The Battle of Bannockburn concludes with a decisive victory by Scottish forces led by Robert the Bruce.

1340 – Hundred Years' War: Battle of Sluys: The French fleet is almost completely destroyed by the English fleet commanded in person by King Edward III.

1497 – John Cabot lands in North America at Newfoundland leading the first European exploration of the region since the Vikings.

1509 – Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon are crowned King and Queen of England.

1793 – The first Republican constitution in France is adopted.

1812 – Napoleonic Wars: Napoleon's Grande Armée crosses the Neman river beginning the invasion of Russia.

1902 – King Edward VII of the United Kingdom develops appendicitis, delaying his coronation.

1940 – World War II: Operation Collar, the first British Commando raid on occupied France, by No 11 Independent Company.

1947 – Kenneth Arnold makes the first widely reported UFO sighting near Mount Rainier, Washington.

1948 – Start of the Berlin Blockade: The Soviet Union makes overland travel between West Germany and West Berlin impossible.

1949 – The first television western, Hopalong Cassidy, is aired on NBC starring William Boyd.

1995 – "Rugby World Cup final": South Africa defeats New Zealand, Nelson Mandela presents Francois Pienaar with the Webb-Ellis trophy in an iconic post-apartheid moment.

2004 – In New York, capital punishment is declared unconstitutional.

2010 – John Isner of the United States defeats Nicolas Mahut of France at Wimbledon, in the longest match in professional tennis history.

1678 – Venetian Elena Cornaro Piscopia is the first woman awarded a doctorate of philosophy when she graduates from the University of Padua.

1741 – Maria Theresa of Austria is crowned Queen of Hungary.

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.

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. Igor Stravinsky's ballet The Firebird is premiered in Paris, bringing him to prominence as a composer.

1913 – American Civil War veterans begin arriving at the Great Reunion of 1913.

1940 – World War II: France officially surrenders to Germany at 01:35.

1943 – The Holocaust: Jews in the Częstochowa Ghetto in Poland stage an uprising against the Nazis.

1947 – The Diary of a Young Girl (better known as The Diary of Anne Frank) is published.

1948 – The Berlin airlift begins.

1950 – The Korean War begins with the invasion of South Korea by North Korea.

1960 – Two cryptographers working for the United States National Security Agency left for vacation to Mexico, and from there defected to the Soviet Union.

1978 – The rainbow flag representing gay pride is flown for the first time during the San Francisco Gay Freedom Day Parade.

1981 – Microsoft is restructured to become an incorporated business in its home state of Washington.

1984 – American singer Prince releases his most successful studio album Purple Rain

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.

1460 – Richard Neville, 16th Earl of Warwick, and Edward, Earl of March (The future Edward IV), land in England with a rebel army and march on London.

1483 – Richard III becomes King of England.

1541 – Francisco Pizarro is assassinated in Lima by the son of his former companion and later antagonist, Diego de Almagro the younger. Almagro is later caught and executed.

1718 – Alexei Petrovich, Tsarevich of Russia, Peter the Great's son, mysteriously dies after being sentenced to death by his father for plotting against him.

1794 – French Revolutionary Wars: Battle of Fleurus marked the first successful military use of aircraft.

1830 – William IV becomes king of Britain and Hanover.

1906 – The first Grand Prix motor racing event held.

1909 – The Science Museum in London comes into existence as an independent entity.

1917 – The American Expeditionary Forces begin to arrive in France. They will first enter combat four months later.

1918 – Allied Forces under John J. Pershing and James Harbord defeat Imperial German Forces under Wilhelm, German Crown Prince in the Battle of Belleau Wood.

1924 – The American occupation of the Dominican Republic ends after eight years.

1927 – The Cyclone roller coaster opens on Coney Island.

1934 – United States President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs the Federal Credit Union Act, which establishes credit unions.

1936 – Initial flight of the Focke-Wulf Fw 61, the first practical helicopter.

1945 – The United Nations Charter is signed in San Francisco.

1948 – The first supply flights are made in response to the Berlin Blockade.

1963 – U.S. President John F. Kennedy gave his "Ich bin ein Berliner" speech, underlining the support of the United States for democratic West Germany shortly after Soviet-supported East Germany erected the Berlin Wall.

2015 – The U.S. Supreme Court ruled, 5–4, that same-sex couples have a constitutional right to marriage under the 14th Amendment to the United States Constitution.