Once again, it should be reiterated, that this does not pretend to be a very extensive history of what happened on this day (nor is it the most original - the links can be found down below). If you know something that I am missing, by all means, shoot me an email or leave a comment, and let me know!
Jun 19, 1867: Emperor of Mexico executed
Austrian Archduke Ferdinand Maximilian, installed as emperor of Mexico by French Emperor Napoleon III in 1864, is executed on the orders of Benito Juarez, the president of the Mexican Republic.
In 1861, the liberal Mexican Benito Juarez became president of a country in financial ruin, and he was forced to default on his debts to European governments. In response, France, Britain, and Spain sent naval forces to Veracruz to demand reimbursement. Britain and Spain negotiated with Mexico and withdrew, but France, ruled by Napoleon III, decided to use the opportunity to carve a dependent empire out of Mexican territory. Late in 1861, a well-armed French fleet stormed Veracruz, landing a large French force and driving President Juarez and his government into retreat.
Certain that French victory would come swiftly in Mexico, 6,000 French troops under General Charles Latrille de Lorencez set out to attack Puebla de Los Angeles, a small town in east-central Mexico. From his new headquarters in the north, Juarez rounded up a rag-tag force of loyal men and sent them to Puebla. Led by Texas-born General Ignacio Zaragoza, the 2,000 Mexicans fortified the town and prepared for the French assault. On May 5, 1862, Lorencez drew his army, well-provisioned and supported by heavy artillery, before the city of Puebla and began his assault from the north. The battle lasted from daybreak to early evening, and when the French finally retreated they had lost nearly 500 soldiers to the fewer than 100 Mexicans killed.
Although not a major strategic victory in the overall war against the French, Zaragoza's victory at Puebla represented a great moral victory for the Mexican government and symbolized the country's ability to defend its sovereignty against threat by a powerful foreign nation. Today, Mexicans celebrate the anniversary of the Battle of Puebla as Cinco de Mayo, a national holiday in Mexico. Six years later, under pressure from the newly reunited United States, France withdrew. Abandoned in Mexico, Emperor Maximilian was captured by Juarez' forces and on June 19, 1867, executed.
Jun 19, 1944: United States scores major victory against Japanese in Battle of the Philippine Sea
On this day in 1944, in what would become known as the "Marianas Turkey Shoot," U.S. carrier-based fighters decimate the Japanese Fleet with only a minimum of losses in the Battle of the Philippine Sea.
The security of the Marianas Islands, in the western Pacific, were vital to Japan, which had air bases on Saipan, Tinian, and Guam. U.S. troops were already battling the Japanese on Saipan, having landed there on the 15th. Any further intrusion would leave the Philippine Islands, and Japan itself, vulnerable to U.S. attack. The U.S. Fifth Fleet, commanded by Admiral Raymond Spruance, was on its way west from the Marshall Islands as backup for the invasion of Saipan and the rest of the Marianas. But Japanese Admiral Ozawa Jisaburo decided to challenge the American fleet, ordering 430 of his planes, launched from aircraft carriers, to attack. In what became the greatest carrier battle of the war, the United States, having already picked up the Japanese craft on radar, proceeded to shoot down more than 300 aircraft and sink two Japanese aircraft carriers, losing only 29 of their own planes in the process. It was described in the aftermath as a "turkey shoot."
Admiral Ozawa, believing his missing planes had landed at their Guam air base, maintained his position in the Philippine Sea, allowing for a second attack of U.S. carrier-based fighter planes, this time commanded by Admiral Mitscher, to shoot down an additional 65 Japanese planes and sink another carrier. In total, the Japanese lost 480 aircraft, three-quarters of its total, not to mention most of its crews. American domination of the Marianas was now a foregone conclusion.
Not long after this battle at sea, U.S. Marine divisions penetrated farther into the island of Saipan. Two Japanese commanders on the island, Admiral Nagumo and General Saito, both committed suicide in an attempt to rally the remaining Japanese forces. It succeeded: Those forces also committed a virtual suicide as they attacked the Americans' lines, losing 26,000 men compared with 3,500 lost by the United States. Within another month, the islands of Tinian and Guam were also captured by the United States.
The Japanese government of Premier Hideki Tojo resigned in disgrace at this stunning defeat, in what many have described as the turning point of the war in the Pacific.
Jun 19, 1953: Rosenbergs executed
On this day in 1953, Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, who were convicted of conspiring to pass U.S. atomic secrets to the Soviets, are executed at Sing Sing Prison in Ossining, New York. Both refused to admit any wrongdoing and proclaimed their innocence right up to the time of their deaths, by the electric chair. The Rosenbergs were the first U.S. citizens to be convicted and executed for espionage during peacetime and their case remains controversial to this day.
Julius Rosenberg was an engineer for the U.S. Army Signal Corps who was born in New York on May 12, 1918. His wife, born Ethel Greenglass, also in New York, on September 28, 1915, worked as a secretary. The couple met as members of the Young Communist League, married in 1939 and had two sons. Julius Rosenberg was arrested on suspicion of espionage on June 17, 1950, and accused of heading a spy ring that passed top-secret information concerning the atomic bomb to the Soviet Union. Ethel was arrested two months later. The Rosenbergs were implicated by David Greenglass, Ethel's younger brother and a former army sergeant and machinist at Los Alamos, the secret atomic bomb lab in New Mexico. Greenglass, who himself had confessed to providing nuclear secrets to the Soviets through an intermediary, testified against his sister and brother-in-law in court. He later served 10 years in prison.
The Rosenbergs vigorously protested their innocence, but after a brief trial that began on March 6, 1951, and attracted much media attention, the couple was convicted. On April 5, 1951, a judge sentenced them to death and the pair was taken to Sing Sing to await execution.
During the next two years, the couple became the subject of both national and international debate. Some people believed that the Rosenbergs were the victims of a surge of hysterical anti-communist feeling in the United States, and protested that the death sentence handed down was cruel and unusual punishment. Many Americans, however, believed that the Rosenbergs had been dealt with justly. They agreed with President Dwight D. Eisenhower when he issued a statement declining to invoke executive clemency for the pair. He stated, "I can only say that, by immeasurably increasing the chances of atomic war, the Rosenbergs may have condemned to death tens of millions of innocent people all over the world. The execution of two human beings is a grave matter. But even graver is the thought of the millions of dead whose deaths may be directly attributable to what these spies have done."
Jun 19, 1868: Father De Smet talks peace with Sitting Bull
Attempting to convince hostile Indians to make peace with the United States, the Jesuit missionary Pierre-Jean De Smet meets with the great Sioux Chief Sitting Bull in present-day Montana.
A native of Belgium, De Smet came to the United States in 1821 at the age of 20. He became a novitiate of the Jesuit order in Maryland and was subsequently ordained in St. Louis. As a priest, De Smet's ambition was to be a missionary to the Native Americans of the Far West. In 1838, he was sent to proselytize among the Potawatomi villages near today's Council Bluffs, Iowa. There, he met a delegation of Flathead Indians who had come east seeking a "black robe" whom they hoped might be able to bring the power of the Christian god to aid their tribe. During the 1840s, De Smet made several trips to work with the Flathead in present-day western Montana. He established a thriving mission and eventually secured a peace treaty with the Flathead's previously irreconcilable enemy, the Blackfeet.
A genuine friend to the Native Americans, De Smet earned a reputation as a white man who could be trusted to fairly negotiate disputes between Indians and the American government. During the 1860s, such disputes became increasingly common in the West, where Plains Indians like the Sioux and Cheyenne resisted the growing flood of white settlers invading their territories. The U.S. government began to demand that all the Plains Indians relocate to reservations. Leaders in the American government and military hoped the relocation could be achieved through negotiations, but they were also perfectly willing to use violence to force the Indians to comply.
One of the principal leaders of the so-called "hostile" Indians that resisted relocation was the great Chief of the Teton Sioux, Sitting Bull. In May 1868, the federal government asked De Smet to meet with Sitting Bull to negotiate a peace treaty. The 67-year-old De Smet agreed to try, and on this day in 1868, he met with Sitting Bull at his camp along the Powder River in present-day Montana.
Although tensions were high, Sitting Bull had promised to meet De Smet with "arms stretched out, ready to embrace him." Lest any hotheaded young brave do something foolish, Sitting Bull first talked with De Smet in his own lodge in order to ensure the priest's safety. The next day, De Smet met with a council that included other chiefs. De Smet was not able to convince Sitting Bull personally to sign a peace treaty. However, the chief did agree to send one of his lesser chiefs to Fort Laramie, Wyoming, to sign a treaty in which the Sioux agreed to allow white travel and settlement in specified areas.
Although Sitting Bull himself had not agreed to the treaty, the negotiations were a triumph for De Smet. As one historian later noted, "No White Man has ever come close to equaling his universal appeal to the Indian." De Smet spent the remaining five years of his life continuing to work for peace with the Plains Indians. Through his books and speaking tours, he also attempted to bring a sympathetic portrait of the Indians to an American public that tended to think of Indians as bloodthirsty savages. Ultimately, however, De Smet was unable to stop the tragic Plains Indian War that eventually forced Sitting Bull and other Indians to leave their homes and move to government-controlled reservations.
De Smet died in St. Louis in 1873, three years before Sitting Bull won his greatest victory in his war with the United States at the Battle of the Little Big Horn
Jun 19, 1968: South Vietnamese president signs general mobilization bill
In a public ceremony at Hue, South Vietnamese President Nguyen Van Thieu signs a general mobilization bill. Under the new measure, men between the ages of 18 and 43 were subject to induction into the regular armed forces. Men between the ages of 44 and 50 and youths between 16 and 17 years old were eligible to serve in the part-time civilian People's Self Defense Organization. An estimated 90,000 17-year-olds in the People's Self Defense Organization would be transferred to the regular army. It was believed that, by the end of 1968, the law would provide for the induction of an additional 200,000 men. This would begin a steady growth in the size of the Republic of Vietnam Armed Forces that would accelerate under President Richard Nixon's Vietnamization program. There would be 1.1 million men and women in the South Vietnamese forces by the end of 1972.
Plenty of big events on this date. Here's a closer look:
• 987 - Louis IV, crowned king of France
1179 - The Norwegian Battle of Kalvskinnet outside Nidaros. Earl Erling Skakke is killed, and the battle changes the tide of the civil wars.
1205 - Pope Innocent III fires Adolf I as archbishop of Cologne
• 1269 - King Louis IX of Frances decrees all Jews must wear a badge of shame
1286 - Rabbenu Mir of Rothenbur imprisoned in fortress of Ensisheim
1306 - The Earl of Pembroke's army defeats Robert Bruce's Scottish army at the Battle of Methven.
1464 - French King Louis XI forms postal service
1502 - Emperor Maximilian I & England sign treaty of Antwerp
1572 - Garrison under Adrian van Swieten occupy Oudewater
1586 - English colonists sailed from Roanoke Island NC
1588 - Spanish Armada heavily destroyed in storm at Coruna
⚜ Statue of Samuel de Champlain in Québec ⚜
• 1610 - Samuel de Champlain and his French army defeated the Mohawk people at the Battle of Sorel in New France, present-day Sorel-Tracy, Quebec
1631 - Peace of Cherasco: Charles de Gonzaga-Nevers becomes duke of Mantua
• 1669 - Polish parliament selects Litouwer Michael Wisniopwiecki as king
1754 - Albany Congress held by seven British colonies & Iroquois indians
1770 - General Church of New Jerusalem established
1770 - Emanuel Swedenborg reports the completion of the Second Coming of Christ in his work True Christian Religion.
Equestrian statue of George Washington near his headquarters at Morristown, New Jersey.
• 1778 - Washington's troops finally leave Valley Forge
• 1807 - Admiral Dmitry Senyavin destroys the Ottoman fleet in the Battle of Athos.
• 1816 - Battle of Seven Oaks between North West Company and Hudson's Bay Company, near Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada.
1821 - Battle at Dragetsani: Turkish army beats Greece
1821 - Decisive defeat of the Philikí Etaireía by the Ottomans at Drăgăşani (in Wallachia).
1825 - Gioacchino Rossini's "Il viaggio a Reims" premieres
British Prime Minister Robert PeelBritish Prime Minister Robert Peel 1829 - Sir Robert Peel found London Metropolitan Police (Bobbies)
1835 - New Orleans gives US government Jackson Square to be used as a mint
1846 - 1st baseball game (Cartwright Rules)-NY Nines 23, Knickerbockers 1
1861 - Anaheim Post Office established
1861 - Francis Pierpont is elected provisional governor of West Virginia
1862 - Slavery outlawed in US territories
1863 - Battle at Middleburg Virginia (100+ casualties)
1864 - CSS "Alabama" sunk by USS "Kearsarge" off Cherbourg, France
1864 - Skirmish at Pine Knob Georgia
1865 - Siege of Richmond, VA
1865 - Union General Granger declares slaves are free in Texas
1867 - 1st Belmont: J Gilpatrick aboard Ruthless wins in 3:05
1868 - Maj Gen E R S Canby removes mayor of Columbia SC
1875 - Formal opening of US Marine Hospital at Presidio
1875 - The Herzegovinian rebellion against the Ottoman Empire begins.
1881 - Muhammad Ahmad becomes Mahdi of Sudan
1889 - Start of Sherlock Holmes adventure "Man with the Twisted Lip"
1893 - Lizzie Bordon acquitted
1894 - 28th Belmont: Willie Simms aboard Henry of Navarre wins in 1:56.5
1897 - Wee Willie Keeler's 44 game hitting streak ends
1900 - In the USA, the Republican Party nominate President William McKinley for re-election, but choose a new candidate for Vice-President: Theodore Roosevelt
1910 - 1st airship in service "Germany"
1910 - Father's Day celebrated for 1st time (Spokane, Wash)
1912 - Tennessee University opened as Tennessee A & L State College
1914 - 54th British Golf Open: Harry Vardon shoots a 306 at Prestwick Club
1917 - King George V ordered members of British royal family to dispense with German titles & surnames, they take the name Windsor
1921 - Census held in Great Britain
1921 - Turks & Christians of Palestine sign a friendship treaty against Jews
1922 - Paavo Nurmi runs world record 5000m (14:28.2)
1923 - Comic Strip "Moon Mullins" debuts
1923 - Baldwin-Mellon-agreement concerning Britain entering the war
1924 - Paavo Nurmi runs world record 1500m (3:52.6)
1926 - DeFord Bailey is 1st black to perform on Nashville's Grand Ole Opry
1931 - 1st photoelectric cell installed commercially West Haven Ct
1932 - 1st concert given in SF's Stern Grove
1932 - Hailstones kill 200 in Hunan Province, China PR
1933 - Austrian government-Dollfuss bans nazi-organizations
1934 - Federal Communications Commission (FCC) created
1936 - Dutch Premier Colijn denies relation with German call-girl
1936 - German boxer Max Schmeling World Champion KOs Joe Louis
1936 - Joe McCarthy is named to manage AL All-Stars, rather than high-strung Mickey Cochrane, who is very close to a nervous breakdown
1937 - Franco-troops conquer Bilbao Basques
1938 - "Olympian Flyer" express train crashes in Montana, killing 47
1938 - Italy beats Hungary 4-1 in soccer's 3rd World Cup at Paris
1938 - Paul Waner (Pirates) homers off Pete Sivess (Phillies) in DH
1938 - Reds Johnny Vander Meer extends his string of hitless baseball innings to 21 2/3 before Debs Garms singles for Boston in 4th
1940 - "Brenda Starr", 1st cartoon strip by a woman, appears in Chicago
German WWII Field Marshal Erwin RommelGerman WWII Field Marshal Erwin Rommel
• 1940 - German 7th Armoured division under command of Rommel occupies Cherbourg
1940 - Hermann Goering orders seizure of Dutch horses, car, buses & ships
1941 - Cheerios Cereal invents an O-shaped cereal
1941 - Romania orders Jews to evacuate Darabani
Franklin D. Roosevelt Memorial in Washington, D.C.
• 1941 - US President Franklin Roosevelt signs Two Ocean Navy Expansion Act
1942 - Paul Waner is 7th to get 3,000 baseball hits
1943 - "Shiekh Of Araby" Spike Jones & City Slickers peaks at #19
1943 - NFL's Philadelphia Eagles & Pittsburgh Steelers merge, (dissolves on Dec 5)
1943 - Race riot in Beaumont Texas
1944 - French troops free Elba
1944 - Heavy air raid on US fleet at Guam "Turkey Shoot"
• 1944 - Japanese troops conquer Changsha China
1944 - World War II: First day of the 2 day Battle of the Philippine Sea, US naval forces defeat Japanese fleet
1946 - 1st TV sports/boxing spectacular-Joe Louis KOs Billy Conn
1947 - 1st plane (F-80) to exceed 600 mph (1004 kph)-Albert Boyd, Muroc Ca
1948 - Panama & Costa Rica recognize Israel
• 1948 - USSR blocks access road to West Berlin
1952 - "I've Got A Secret" debuts on CBS-TV with Garry Moore as host
1952 - Bkln Dodger Carl Erskine no-hits Chicago Cubs, 5-0
1953 - Albert W Dent elected president of US National Health Council
1959 - Senate rejects Ike's appointment of Lewis Strauss for Secetary of Commerce
Comedian Jerry LewisComedian Jerry Lewis 1960 - Betsy Rawls wins LPGA Cosmopolitan Golf Open
1960 - Loretta Lynn records "Honky Tonk Girl"
1961 - "Little Egypt (Ying-Yang)" by Coasters peaks at #23
1961 - Charlie Finley, changes A's manager Joe Gordon (26-33) for Hank Bauer
1961 - Kuwait declares independence from UK
1961 - NY Yankee Roger Maris hits his 25th of 61 HRs
1961 - US Supreme Court struck down a provision in Maryland's constitution requiring state office holders to believe in God
1963 - 2 Russian space missions return to Earth
1963 - Charter members of Canadian Football Hall of Fame chosen
1963 - Greek government of Pipinolis forms
1963 - Valentina Tereshkova 1st woman in space returns to Earth
1964 - Bob Dylan completes UK tour
1964 - Cambuur Leeuwarden BVO soccer team forms in Leeuwarden
• 1964 - Civil Rights Act of 1964 passes 73-27
• 1965 - Algerian coup under colonel Houari Boumedienne, pres Ben Bella fired
1967 - Paul McCartney admits on TV that he took LSD
1968 - 50,000 participate in Solidarity Day March of Poor People's Campaign
1969 - State troopers ordered to Cairo Ill, to quell racial disturbances
1970 - A Nikolayev & V Sevastyanov return after 18 days in Soyuz 9
1970 - Conservatives win British parliamentary election
1970 - Jim Bouton's controversial "Ball Four" is published
1970 - Yanks Horace Clarke breaks up a no-hitter in the 9th for the 2nd of 3 times in 28 days
1970 - The Patent Cooperation Treaty is signed.
1971 - Mayor declares state of emergency in Columbus Ga, racial disturbance
1972 - -29] Hurricane Agnes, kills 118 in NY & Florida
1972 - 40,000 pilots strike against naval officer
1973 - "Rocky Horror Picture Show" stage production opens in London
1973 - Pete Rose & Willie Davis both get career hit # 2,000
Musician & member of the Beatles Paul McCartneyMusician & member of the Beatles Paul McCartney 1974 - KC Royal Steve Busby 2nd no-hitter beats Milwaukee Brewers, 2-0
1974 - Yemen Arab Republic (North Yemen) suspends constitution
1976 - US Viking 1 goes into Martian orbit after 10-month flight from Earth
1977 - 77th US Golf Open: Hubert Green shoots a 278 at Southern Hills Tulsa
1977 - Indians fire manager Frank Robinson & replace him with Jeff Torborg
1977 - Judy Rankin wins LPGA Mayflower Golf Classic
1977 - Pope Paul VI makes 19th-cen bishop John Neumann 1st US male saint
1977 - Red Sox set 3 game record of 16 HRs, all against Yanks
1978 - "Best Little Whorehouse..." opens at 46th St NYC for 1577 perfs
1978 - Garfield, created by Jim Davis, 1st appears as a comic strip
1978 - Ian Botham takes 8-34 v Pakistan, his best Test cricket bowling
1979 - In NY 36,211 show up to witness return of Billy Martin as Yank mgr
• 1979 - Mali's constitution goes into effect
1980 - Battle between police & demonstrators in Capetown, 34 killed
1981 - Boeing commercial Chinook 2-rotor helicopter is certified
Garfield Cartoonist Jim DavisGarfield Cartoonist Jim Davis
• 1981 - European Space Agency's Ariane carries 2 satellites into orbit
1981 - Heaviest known orange (2.5 kg) exhibited, Nelspruit, South Africa
1981 - India's APPLE satellite, 1st to be stabilized on 3 axes, launched
1982 - The body of God's Banker, Roberto Calvi is found hanging beneath Blackfriars Bridge in London.
1983 - "Octopussy" premieres in US
1983 - Jan Stephenson wins LPGA Lady Keystone Golf Open
1984 - "Weird Al" Yankovic gives free live performance at Del Mar Fair
1984 - 1st live TV appearance by Chief Justice Warren Burger (Nightline)
1985 - Reggie Jackson hits his 513th HR to move into 10th place
• 1986 - Argentina beats West Germany 3-2 in soccer's 13th World Cup
1987 - ETA bomb attack in Barcelona, 15 killed
1987 - Geffen records sign their 1st artist (Donna Summer)
1987 - Supreme Court rules school teaching evolution need not teach creation
1987 - Ben & Jerry Ice Cream & Grateful Dead's Jerry Garcia announce new Ice Cream flavor, Cherry Garcia
1988 - 88th US Golf Open: Curtis Strange shoots a 278 at Country Club Mass
Singer Donna SummerSinger Donna Summer 1988 - Coup in Haiti
1988 - Namphy takes control of Haitian government
1988 - Shirley Furlong wins LPGA Lady Keystone Golf Open
1988 - World's Largest Sausage completed at 13 1/8 miles long
1988 - 32 divers finish cycling underwater on a standard tricycle,to complete 116.66 mi in 75 hrs 20 mins
1989 - Mets Dwight Gooden wins his 100th game (100-37)
1990 - Gary Carter catches his 1,862nd career game breaks Al Lopez's NL mark
1991 - 2 of Mia Farrow's daughters arrested for shoplifting lingerie
1991 - Colombian drug baron Pablo Escobar surrenders to police
1991 - NY Yankee Steve Howe records his 1st major league save since 1987
1992 - "Batman Returns" is released in USA movie theatres
1992 - Evander Holyfield beats Larry Holmes in 12 for heavyweight boxing title
1992 - Guardian Angel Curtis Sliwa is shot twice in NYC
1992 - Inkhata-blood bath in Boipatong South-Africa
1992 - NY Yankees 1st game in Baltimore Oriole's Camden Yards
Champion Boxer Evander HolyfieldChampion Boxer Evander Holyfield 1993 - Boon completes 15th Test cricket century, 164* v England at Lord's
1994 - "Sally Marrand Her Escorts" closes at Helen Hayes NYC after 50 perfs
1994 - "She Loves Me" closes at Atkinson Theater NYC after 294 performances
1994 - "Twilight - Los Angeles 1992" closes at Cort NYC after 72 perfs
1994 - 94th US Golf Open: Ernie Els shoots a 279 at Oakmont CC in Oakmont Pa
1994 - Ernesto Samper elected president of Colombia
1994 - Lisa Kiggens wins LPGA Rochester International Golf Tournament
1994 - Tigers tie record of hitting HRs in 25th consecutive games
1995 - NY Yankees announce agreement with Darryl Strawberry
1997 - "Forever Tango!" opens at Walter Kerr Theater NYC
2000 - Los Angeles Lakers beat Indiana Pacers 4-2 in NBA finals MVP: Shaquille O'Neal, L.A.
2000 - Tiger Woods wins golf's US Open by 15 shots, a record for all majors, with a US Open to-par record score of -12
2000 - 54th NBA Championship: Los Angeles Lakers beat Indiana Pacers, 4 games to 2
2005 - Michael Schumacher wins controversial Formula 1 United States Grand Prix where only 6 of 20 cars complete the race amongst ridicule
2005 - 105th US Golf Open: Michael Campbell shoots a 280 at Pinehurst GR NC
Formula 1 Racing Driver Michael SchumacherFormula 1 Racing Driver Michael Schumacher 2006 - Prime ministers of several northern European nations participate in a ceremonial "laying of the first stone" at the Svalbard Global Seed Vault in Spitsbergen, Norway.
2011 - 111th US Golf Open: Rory McIlroy shoots a 268 at Congressional GC MD
2012 - A man is beheaded for witchcraft and sorcery in Saudi Arabia
2012 - Antonis Samaras, the leader of the New Democracy party in Greece, forms a coalition government
2013 - 48 people are killed by armed bandits in Zamfara State, Nigeria
0240 BC - Eratosthenes estimated the circumference of the Earth using two sticks. 1586 - English colonists sailed away from Roanoke Island, NC, after failing to establish England's first permanent settlement in America. 1778 - U.S. General George Washington's troops finally left Valley Forge after a winter of training. 1821 - The Ottomans defeated the Greeks at the Battle of Dragasani. 1846 - The New York Knickerbocker Club played the New York Club in the first baseball game at the Elysian Field, Hoboken, NJ. It was the first organized baseball game. 1862 - U.S. President Abraham Lincoln outlined his Emancipation Proclamation, which outlawed slavery in U.S. territories. 1864 - The USS Kearsarge sank the CSS Alabama off of Cherbourg, France. 1865 - The emancipation of slaves was proclaimed in Texas. 1867 - In New York, the Belmont Stakes was run for the first time. 1903 - The young school teacher, Benito Mussolini, was placed under investigation by police in Bern, Switzerland. 1910 - The first Father's Day was celebrated in Spokane, Washington. 1911 - In Pennsylvania, the first motion-picture censorship board was established. 1912 - The U.S. government established the 8-hour work day. 1917 - During World War I, King George V ordered the British royal family to dispense with German titles and surnames. 1933 - France granted Leon Trotsky political asylum. 1934 - The U.S. National Archives and Records Administration was established. 1934 - The U.S. Congress established the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). The commission was to regulate radio and TV broadcasting (later). 1937 - The town of Bilbao, Spain, fell to the Nationalist forces. 1939 - In Atlanta, GA, legislation was enacted that disallowed pinball machines in the city. 1942 - Norma Jeane Mortenson (Marilyn Monroe) and her 21-year-old neighbor Jimmy Dougherty were married. They were divorced in June of 1946. 1942 - British Prime Minister Winston Churchill arrived in Washington, DC, to discuss the invasion of North Africa with U.S. President Roosevelt. 1943 - Henry Kissinger became a naturalized United States citizen. 1943 - The National Football League approved the merger of the Philadelphia Eagles and the Pittsburgh Steelers. 1944 - The U.S. won the battle of the Philippine Sea against the Imperial Japanese fleet. 1951 - U.S. President Harry S. Truman signed the Universal Military Training and Service Act, which extended Selective Service until July 1, 1955 and lowered the draft age to 18. 1952 - "I've Got a Secret" debuted on CBS-TV. 1958 - In Washington, DC, nine entertainers refused to answer a congressional committee's questions on communism. 1961 - Kuwait regained complete independence from Britain. 1961 - The U.S. Supreme Court struck down a provision in Maryland's constitution that required state officeholders to profess a belief in God. 1964 - The Civil Rights Act of 1964 was approved after surviving an 83-day filibuster in the U.S. Senate. 1965 - Air Marshall Nguyen Cao Ky became South Vietnam's youngest premier at age 34. 1968 - 50,000 people marched on Washington, DC. to support the Poor People's Campaign. 1973 - The Case-Church Amendment prevented further U.S. involvement in Southeast Asia. 1973 - Pete Rose (Cincinnati Reds) got his 2,000th career hit. 1973 - The stage production of "The Rocky Horror Picture Show" opened in London. 1973 - Gordie Howe left the NHL to join his sons Mark and Marty in the WHA (World Hockey League). 1978 - Garfield was in newspapers around the U.S. for the first time. 1981 - "Superman II" set the all-time, one-day record for theater box-office receipts when it took in $5.5 million. 1981 - The European Space Agency sent two satellites into orbit from Kourou, French Guiana. 1983 - Lixian-nian was chosen to be China's first president since 1969. 1987 - The U.S. Supreme Court struck down the Louisiana law that required that schools teach creationism. 1989 - The movie "Batman" premiered. 1997 - William Hague became the youngest leader of Britain's Conservative party in nearly 200 years. 1998 - Gateway was fined more than $400,000 for illegally shipping personal computers to 16 countries subject to U.S. export controls. 1998 - A study released said that smoking more than doubles risks of developing dementia and Alzheimer's. 1998 - Switzerland's three largest banks offered $600 million to settle claims they'd stolen the assets of Holocaust victims during World War II. Jewish leaders called the offer insultingly low. 1999 - Stephen King was struck from behind by a mini-van while walking along a road in Maine. 1999 - The Dallas Stars won their first NHL Stanley Cup by defeating the Buffalo Sabres in the third overtime of game six. 2000 - The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that a group prayer led by students at public-school football games violated the 1st Amendment's principle that called for the separation of church and state.
1862 Congress abolished slavery in the U.S. territories. 1865 Gen. Gordon Granger informed the citizens of Galveston, Tex., that the slaves were freed. The celebration of the day became known as Juneteenth. 1867 The first running of the Belmont Stakes. 1934 The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) was created. 1964 The Civil Rights Act of 1964 was approved. 1977 Pope Paul VI proclaimed John Neumann, the first male saint from the United States. 1987 The Supreme Court struck down a Louisiana law requiring any public school teaching the theory of evolution to teach creationism as well. 2002 Afghanistan president Hamid Karzai was sworn in.
The following links are to web sites that were used to complete this blog entry:
http://www.historyorb.com/today/events.php
http://on-this-day.com/onthisday/thedays/alldays/jun19.htm
http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history
http://www.infoplease.com/dayinhistory
