Monday, June 16, 2014

On This Day in History - June 16 Marshal Petain Becomes Premier of Occupied France

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!


http://www.history.com/this-day-in-historyl

Jun 16, 1940: Marshal Petain becomes premier of occupied France

On this day in 1940, Marshal Henri-Philippe Petain, World War I hero, becomes prime minister of the Vichy government of France.  

As Germany began to overrun more French territory, the French Cabinet became desperate for a solution to this crisis. Premier Paul Reynaud continued to hold out hope, refusing to ask for an armistice, especially now that France had received assurance from Britain that the two would fight as one, and that Britain would continue to fight the Germans even if France were completely overtaken. But others in the government were despondent and wanted to sue for peace. Reynaud resigned in protest. His vice premier, Henri Petain, formed a new government and asked the Germans for an armistice, in effect, surrendering.  

This was an ironic position for Petain, to say the least. The man who had become a legendary war hero for successfully repelling a German attack on the French city of Verdun during the First World War was now surrendering to Hitler.  

In the city of Vichy, the French Senate and Chamber of Deputies conferred on the 84-year-old general the title of "Chief of State," making him a virtual dictator–although one controlled by Berlin. Petain believed that he could negotiate a better deal for his country–for example, obtaining the release of prisoners of war–by cooperating with, or as some would say, appeasing, the Germans.  

But Petain proved to be too clever by half. While he fought against a close Franco-German military collaboration, and fired his vice premier, Pierre Laval, for advocating it, and secretly urged Spain's dictator Francisco Franco to refuse passage of the German army to North Africa, his attempts to undermine the Axis while maintaining an official posture of neutrality did not go unnoticed by Hitler, who ordered that Laval be reinstated as vice premier. Petain acquiesced, but refused to resign in protest because of fear that France would come under direct German rule if he were not there to act as a buffer. But he soon became little more than a figurehead, despite efforts to manipulate events behind the scenes that would advance the Free French cause (then publicly denying, even denouncing, those events when they came to light).  

When Paris was finally liberated by General Charles de Gaulle in 1944, Petain fled to Germany. He was brought back after the war to stand trial for his duplicity. He was sentenced to death, which was then commuted to life in solitary confinement. He died at 95 in prison. The man responsible for saving his life was de Gaulle. He and Petain had fought in the same unit in World War I and had not forgotten Petain's bravery during that world war.















Jun 16, 1858: Lincoln warns that America is becoming a "house divided"   


On this day in 1858, newly nominated senatorial candidate Abraham Lincoln addresses the Illinois Republican Convention in Springfield and warns that the nation faces a crisis that could destroy the Union. Speaking to more than 1,000 delegates in an ominous tone, Lincoln paraphrased a passage from the New Testament: "a house divided against itself cannot stand."  

The issue dividing the nation was slavery's place in the growing western territories and the extent of federal power over individual states' rights. Lincoln declared that only the federal government had the power to end slavery. While the southern states relied on an economy and lifestyle dependent upon the cheap labor provided by African-American slaves, the North opposed slavery on moral grounds. The northern states also considered industrialization and manufacturing the key to America's economic future, not farming. The entrance of new states into the Union, such as Missouri, Kansas and Nebraska, brought to a head unresolved conflicts over which government entity–state or federal–should make the final decision regarding slavery. For his part, Lincoln firmly believed that slavery was immoral and was wholly incompatible with the principles of the Declaration of Independence embodied in the phrase "all men are created equal." However, Lincoln prioritized preserving the Union above all else.  

After Lincoln's speech, several of his friends expressed dismay at its "radical" content. Leonard Swett, a lawyer and friend of Lincoln's, later wrote that Lincoln's talk of using federal power to end slavery was "unfortunate and inappropriate," although Swett admitted that in retrospect Lincoln was ultimately correct. At the time, the people of Illinois ultimately agreed with Swett: Lincoln lost the close Senate race of 1858 to the more moderate Stephen Douglas, who advocated states' sovereignty. Lincoln's eloquent speech, though, earned him national attention and his strong showing in the polls encouraged the people to back his ultimately successful bid for the presidency in 1860.


















Jun 16, 1970: Communists isolate Phnom Penh

North Vietnamese and Viet Cong attacks almost completely isolate Phnom Penh. The principal fighting raged in and around Kompong Thom, about 90 miles north of the capital. On June 17, Cambodia's last working railway line, which ran to the border of Thailand, was severed when communist troops seized a freight train with 200 tons of rice and other food supplies at a station at Krang Lovea, about 40 miles northwest of Phnom Penh.

Here's a more detailed look at events that transpired on this date throughout history:

632 - Origin of Persian [Yezdegird] Era
1338 - German monarch declares pope & king's decree redundant
1487 - Battle of Stoke, Nottinghamshire: Henry VII beats John de la Pole & Lord Lovell
1567 - Mary, Queen of Scots, imprisoned in Lochleven Castle prison Scotland
1624 - Judge directs US colony Virginia to English crown
1673 - Peace of Vossem: French King Louis XIV & Frederik Willem of Brandenburg
1745 - British fleet occupies Cap Breton on St Lawrence River
1746 - Battle at Piacenza: Austria & Sardinia beat Spanish & French army
1755 - British capture Fort Beauséjour, expel Acadians
1774 - Formation of Harrodsburg, Kentucky.
1779 - Spain declares war on Great Britain in support of the US, and the siege of Gibraltar begins.
1784 - Holland forbids orange clothes
1794 - 1st stone layed at Dutch biggest grain windmill (De Walvisch)
1815 - Battle at Ligny: French army under Napoleon beats Prussia
1815 - Battle at Quatre-Bras: allies strike French
1822 - Denmark Vessy leads slave rebellion in South Carolina
1823 - King Willem I opens shipyard at Rotterdam-Antwerp
1832 - Battle of Kellogg's Grove, Illinois
1836 - London Working Men's Association forms
US President Abraham LincolnUS President Abraham Lincoln 1858 - Abraham Lincoln says "A house divided against itself cannot stand"accepting Illinois Republican Party's nomination for the Senate
1861 - Battle of Vienna, VA & Secessionville, SC (James Island)
1864 - Battle of Lynchburg, VA
1864 - Skirmish at Golgotha, Georgia
1864 - Union General Grant begin siege of Petersburg, Va
1871 - Ancient Arabic Order of Nobles of Mystic Shrine founded, NYC
1871 - The University Tests Act allows students to enter the Universities of Oxford, Cambridge and Durham without religious tests, except for courses in theology.
1873 - Pres Grant decrees Wallowa Valley for Nez-Perce indians
1879 - Gilbert & Sullivan's "HMS Pinafore" debuts at Bowery Theater NYC
1880 - Salvation Army forms in London
1881 - Austria-Hungary & Serbia sign military treaty
1882 - 17" hailstones weighing 1.75 lbs fall in Dubuque Iowa
1883 - 1st baseball "Ladies' Day" (NY Gothams beat Cleve Spiders 5-2)
1883 - The Victoria Hall theatre panic in Sunderland, England kills 183 children
1884 - 1st roller coaster used (Coney Island NY)
French Emperor Napoleon BonaparteFrench Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte 1891 - John Abbott becomes Canada's third prime minister.
1893 - RW Rueckheim invents Cracker Jack
1896 - Temperature hits 127°F at Fort Mojave, Calif
1897 - A treaty annexing the Republic of Hawaii to the United States is signed; the Republic would not be dissolved until a year later.
1898 - China's emperor De Zong (Guang Xu) receives Kang Youwei
1899 - Victor Trumper's 1st Test Cricket century 135* v England, Lord's
1900 - In China, a fire is set by Boxers, virtually destroying the Western Quarter and spreading to engulf many Chinese landmarks
1903 - 1st Highlander (Yankee) shut-out victory 1-0 over White Sox
1903 - Ford Motors under Henry Ford incorporates
1903 - Pepsi Cola company forms
1903 - Roald Amundsen commences the first east-west navigation of the Northwest Passage by leaving Oslo, Norway.
1904 - Bloomsday (date of events in James Joyce's Ulysses)
1904 - Eugen Schauman assassinates Nikolai Bobrikov, Governor-General of Finland.
1909 - 1st US airplane sold commercially, by Glenn Curtiss for $5,000
1909 - Jim Thorpe makes his pro baseball pitching debut for Rocky Mount (ECL) with 4-2 win, this will cause him to forfeit his Olympic medals
Versatile Athlete Jim ThorpeVersatile Athlete Jim Thorpe 1911 - A 772 gram stony meteorite strikes the earth near Kilbourn, Columbia County, Wisconsin damaging a barn.
1913 - South- African parliament forbids blacks owning land
1915 - The foundation of the British Women's Institute.
1916 - Boston Brave's Tom Hughes 2nd no-hitter beats Pitts, 2-0
1917 - 1st Congress of Soviets convene in Russia
1917 - 49th Belmont: James Butwell aboard Hourless wins in 2:17.8
1922 - Henry Berliner demonstrates his helicopter to US Bureau of Aeronautics
1923 - Sun Yat Sen founds military academy
1924 - South Africa all out 30 v England in 48 minutes, Gilligan 6-7
1925 - The most famous Young Pioneer camp of the USSR, Artek, is established.
1927 - 31st US Golf Open: Tommy Armour shoots a 301 at Oakmont CC in Pa
1929 - Otto E Funk, 62, ends marathon walk (NY to SF, 4165 miles in 183 days)
1930 - Sovnarkom establishes decree time in the USSR.
1931 - Austrian government of Ender falls
1932 - Germany forbids SA/SS-gang fights
31st US President Herbert Hoover31st US President Herbert Hoover 1932 - President Hoover & VP Charles Curtis renominated by Rep Convention
1932 - Sutcliffe & Holmes make 555 opening cricket stand for Yorks v Essex
1933 - National Industrial Recovery Act becomes law (later struck down)
1933 - US Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) created
1935 - US Congress accepts FDR's "New Deal"
1936 - Dutch queen Wilhelmina opens the Waal bridge
1936 - Pope Pius XI receives Anton Mussert (Dutch Nazi collaborator)
1937 - Marx Brothers' "A Day At The Races" opens in LA
1938 - Boston Red Sox Jimmie Foxx is walked a record 6 consecutive times by St Louis Browns
1940 - Communist government installed in Lithuania
1940 - General De Gaulle arrives in Bordeaux
1941 - 1st US federally owned airport opened Wash DC
1943 - Race riot in Beaumont Texas (2 die)
1944 - Iceland adopts constitution
1944 - King George VI visits General Montgomery's HQ in Normandy
32nd US President Franklin D. Roosevelt32nd US President Franklin D. Roosevelt 1944 - US bombs Kyushu Japan
1945 - 71st Preakness: Wayne D Wright aboard Polynesian wins in 1:58.8
1945 - Boo Ferriss loses to Yanks 3-2 after starting his career with 8 wins
1946 - "Annie Get Your Gun" opens at Imperial Theater NYC for 1147 perfs
1946 - 46th US Golf Open: Lloyd Mangrum shoots a 284 at Canterbury GC Cleve
1947 - 1st network news-Dumont's "News from Washington"
1947 - Pravda denounces Marshall Plan
1949 - Gas turbine-electric locomotive demonstrated, Erie Pa
1951 - 51st US Golf Open: Ben Hogan shoots a 287 at Oakland Hills CC Mich
1951 - 83rd Belmont: David Gorman aboard Counterpoint wins in 2:29
1952 - Soviet Fighters shoot Swedish Catalina reconnaissance flight down
1953 - Despite Johnny Mize 2,000th hit, Yanks lose ending 18 game win streak & also ending St Louis Brown 14 game losing streak
1954 - Dutch military conscription shortened from 20 to 18 months
1954 - Ngo Dinh Diem elected president of Vietnam
1955 - Louise Suggs wins LPGA Triangle Round Robin Golf Tournament
Golfer Ben HoganGolfer Ben Hogan 1955 - Pope Pius XII ex-communicates Argentine Pres Juan Peron
1956 - 56th US Golf Open: Cary Middlecoff shoots a 281 at Oak Hill CC NY
1956 - 88th Belmont: David Erb aboard Needles wins in 2:29.8
1957 - French offensive in Algeria
1957 - White Sox reliever Dixie Howell hits 2 HRs to beat Wash Senators 8-6
1958 - "Flip Top Box" by Dicky Doo & The Don'ts hits #46
1958 - Government troops land on North-Celebes Indonesia
1960 - "Psycho" opens in NY
1960 - Pres Eisenhower cancels trip to Japan
1961 - Dave Garroway is fired as Today Show host
1961 - Discoverer 25 launched
1961 - Soviet ballet dancer Rudolf Nureyev defects to West in Paris
1962 - 2 US army officers killed in Saigon
1963 - Levi Eshkol replaces David Ben-Gurion as Israeli Prime Minister
1963 - Ruth Jessen wins LPGA Cosmopolitan Women's Golf Open
First Israeli Prime Minister David Ben-GurionFirst Israeli Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion 1963 - Valentina Tereshkova (USSR) is 1st woman in space, aboard Vostok 6
1964 - Amnesty granted to 3,000 political prisoners
1964 - Quake strikes Niigata Japan
1966 - "Rowan & Martin's Laugh-in"" debuts on NBC-TV
1966 - 20th Tony Awards: Marat/Sade & Man of La Mancha win
1967 - 50,000 attend Monterey International Pop Festival
1968 - Mickey Wright wins LPGA "500" Ladies Golf Classic
1968 - 68th US Golf Open: Lee Trevino shoots a 275 at Oak Hill CC NY
1968 - Lee Trevino is 1st to play all 4 rounds of golf's US open under par
1969 - Supreme Court rules suspension of Adam Clayton Powell Jr from House
1970 - Kenneth A Gibson elected 1st black mayor of Newark, NJ
1970 - Race riots in Miami Florida
1971 - Groningen soccer team forms in Groningen
1971 - Racial disturbance in Jacksonville Florida
1972 - The largest single-site hydro-electric power project in Canada starts at Churchill Falls, Labrador.
1973 - Leonid I Brezhnev visit US
1974 - 74th US Golf Open: Hale Irwin shoots a 287 at Winged Foot GC NY
1974 - Sandra Haynie wins Lawson's LPGA Golf Open
1975 - Bucks trade Kareem Abdul-Jabber & Walt Wesley to LA for 4 players
1975 - Italy's Communist party PCI, wins
1975 - Randy Farland finds a 14-leaf clover near Sioux Falls, SD
1975 - Supreme Court rules uniform minimum legal fees are a violation
1976 - Student uprisings begin in Soweto, South Africa (Soweto Day)
1977 - "Beatlemania" opens on Broadway
1977 - Fianna Fail-party wins Irish elections
1977 - Leonid Brezhnev named president of USSR
1977 - Ron Guidry's 1st complete game, 7-0 over KC Royals
1977 - Oracle Corporation is incorporated in Redwood Shores, California, as Software Development Laboratories (SDL) by Larry Ellison, Bob Miner and Ed Oates.
1978 - Cin Red Tom Seaver no-hits St Louis Cards, 4-0
1978 - Ringo releases "Bad Boy" album; Wings releases "I've Had Enough"
1979 - "Logical Song" by Supertramp peaks at #6
1979 - Carl Yastrzemski hits his 1,000th extra base hit
1979 - Moslem Brotherhood kills 62 sheiks in Aleppo Syria
1980 - "Blues Brothers" premieres in Chicago
1980 - US Supreme Court rules new forms of life created in labs could be patents
1982 - Britain requests Argentina arrange for return of prisoners
1983 - Charlos Vieira completes 191 hr "nonstop" cycling in Leiria Portugal
1983 - European Space Agency launches European Comm Satellite 1, Oscar 10
264th Pope John Paul II264th Pope John Paul II 1983 - Pope John Paul II visits Poland
1983 - Ringo releases "Old Wave" album in West Germany
1983 - USSR party leader Yuri Andropov elected president
1984 - Edwin Moses wins his 100th consecutive 400-meter hurdles race
1984 - Matt de Waal finishes 14,290-mi round trip from Salt Lake City (106d)
1985 - 85th US Golf Open: Andy North shoots a 279 at Oakland Hills CC Mich
1985 - Pat Bradley wins LPGA Rochester Golf International
1985 - T C Chen, ahead by 4 strokes in final round of US Open
1985 - Willie Banks of USA sets triple jump record (58 feet 11 inches) in Indianapolis
1986 - 1 day general strike in South Africa
1987 - Joe Robbie Stadium in Miami, opens
1987 - Subway gunman Bernhard Goetz acquitted on all but gun possession charges after shooting 4 black youths who tried to rob him
1988 - Boston Red Sox Barrett steals home
1988 - In Santa Barbara, CA, a team of 32 divers begin cycling underwater on a standard tricycle, to complete 116.66 mi in 75 hrs 20 mins
1989 - "Ghostbusters II" premieres
1989 - Funeral for Imre Nagg, leader of Hungarian uprising in 1956
1989 - Only 17 hole-in-ones recorded since US open began, today 4 more are made all on 6th hole (Weaver, Wiebe, Pate & Price)
1990 - "U Can't Touch This" by MC Hammer peaks at #8
1990 - Nelson & Winnie Mandela visit Leidseplein, Amsterdam
1991 - "Fiddler on the Roof" closes at Gershwin Theater NYC after 241 perfs
1991 - -23] NYC Mayor Dinkins declares "Joseph Doherty Week"
1991 - 91st US Golf Open: Payne Stewart shoots a 282 at Hazeline Natl GC Minn
Russian President Boris YeltsinRussian President Boris Yeltsin 1991 - Boris Yeltsin elected president of Russian SSR
1991 - Colleen Walker wins LPGA Lady Keystone Golf Open
1991 - Minnesota Twins win a team record 15 games in a row
1991 - Otis Nixon steals NL record 6 bases in 1 day
1991 - With 3 runs in 9th, Balt ends Twins 15 game win streak 6-5
1992 - Caspar Weinberger (Sec of Def 1981-87), indicted on Iran-contra charge
1992 - Colo Rockies 1st minor league team's (Bend Oregon in Class A) game
1992 - British postage stamp celebrates 350th anniversary of the Battle of Edgehill
1992 - Jeff King is 5th to be thrown out twice trying to steal in an inning
1992 - Red Sox Mark Reardon sets record of 342 saves (vs Yanks 1-0)
1992 - Longest salami is 68'9 & 25 circumference, weighed 1,492lbs/5oz in Flekkefjord, Norway
1993 - Ken Griffey Jr slugs his 100th career home run in Seattle's
1994 - Martin Brodeur becomes 1st Devil to win Calder Trophy
1995 - "Batman Forever" opens with a record $528 million weekend
1995 - Marlins outfielder Andre Dawson hits his 400th NL career HR (429)
1995 - Salt Lake City awarded the XIX Winter Olympics in 2002
1996 - 1st competitive game played on turf in Holland (in third grade)
1996 - 50th NBA Championship: Chicago Bulls beat Seat Supersonic, 4 games to 2
1996 - 96th US Golf Open: Steve Jones shoots a 278 wins at Oakland Hills CC
1996 - Liselotte Neumann wins First Bank Edina Realty LPGA Golf Classic
1997 - 31st Music City News Country Awards: Alan Jackson & LeAnn Rimes
1997 - The Dairat Labguer massacre in Algeria; 50 people are killed.
2000 - Israel complies with UN Security Council Resolution 425 after 22 years of it issuance, which calls on Israel to completely withdraw from Lebanon. Israel withdraws from all of Lebanon, except the disputed Sheba Farms.
Golfer Tiger WoodsGolfer Tiger Woods 2002 - 102nd US Golf Open: Tiger Woods shoots a 277 at Bethpage State Park NY
2008 - 108th US Golf Open: Tiger Woods shoots a 283 at Torrey Pines GC CA
2012 - 32 people are killed by a car bomb in Baghdad
2012 - Coca-Cola begins business in Myanmar after 60 years
2012 - A collapse of a stage at a Toronto Radiohead concert kills one person
2012 - 30 people are killed and 15 injured after a bus falls into a gorge in Osmanabad, India
2013 - 20 people are killed by a series of car bombings across Iraq
2013 - Golfer, Justin Rose wins the 2013 US Open







0455 - Rome was sacked by the Vandal army.   1487 - The War of the Roses ended with the Battle of Stoke.   1567 - Mary, Queen of Scots, was imprisoned in Lochleven Castle in Scotland.   1815 - Napoleon defeated the Prussians at the Battle of Ligny, Netherlands.   1858 - In a speech in Springfield, IL, U.S. Senate candidate Abraham Lincoln said the slavery issue had to be resolved. He declared, "A house divided against itself cannot stand."   1884 - At Coney Island, in Brooklyn, NY, the first roller coaster in America opened.   1890 - The second Madison Square Gardens opened.   1883 - The New York Giants baseball team admitted all ladies for free to the ballpark. It was the first Ladies Day.   1897 - The U.S. government signed a treaty of annexation with Hawaii.   1903 - Ford Motor Company was incorporated.   1904 - The novel "Ulysses" by James Joyce took place. The main character of the book was Leopold Bloom.   1907 - The Russian czar dissolved the Duma in St. Petersburg.   1909 - Glenn Hammond Curtiss sold his first airplane, the "Gold Bug" to the New York Aeronautical Society for $5,000.   1922 - Henry Berliner accomplished the first helicopter flight at College Park, MD.   1925 - France accepted a German proposal for a security pact.   1932 - The ban on Nazi storm troopers was lifted by the von Papen government in Germany.   1940 - Marshal Henri-Philippe Petain became the prime minister of the Vichy government of occupied France.   1941 - U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt ordered the closure of all German consulates in the United States. The deadline was set as July 10.   1952 - "My Little Margie" debuted on CBS-TV.   1952 - "Anne Frank: Diary of a Young Girl" was published in the United States.   1955 - The U.S. House of Representatives voted to extend Selective Service until 1959.   1955 - Pope Pius XII excommunicated Argentine President Juan Peron. The ban was lifted eight years later.   1955 - Argentine naval officers launched an attack on President Juan Peron's headquarters. The revolt was suppressed by the army.   1961 - Rudolf Nureyev defected from the Soviet Union while in Paris, traveling with the Leningrad Kirov Ballet.   1963 - 26-year-old Valentina Tereshkova went into orbit aboard the Vostok 6 spacecraft for three days. She was the first female space traveler.   1972 - Ulrike Meinhof was captured by West German police in Hanover. She was co-founder of the Baader-Meinhof terrorist group and the Red Army Faction (Rote Armee Fraktion).   1975 - The Simonstown agreement on naval cooperation between Britain and South Africa ended. The agreement was formally ended by mutual agreement after 169 years.   1976 - In Soweto, thousands of school children revolted against the South African government's plan to enforce Afrikaans as the language for instruction in black schools.   1977 - Leonid Brezhnev was named the first Soviet president of the USSR. He was the first person to hold the post of president and Communist Party General Secretary. He replaced Nikolai Podgorny.   1978 - U.S. President Carter and Panamanian leader Omar Torrijos ratified the Panama Canal treaties.   1978 - The film adaptation of "Grease" premiered in New York City.   1980 - The movie "The Blues Brothers" opened in Chicago, IL.   1981 - The "Chicago Tribune" purchased the Chicago Cubs baseball team from the P.K. Wrigley Chewing Gum Company for $20.5 million.   1983 - Yuri Andropov was elected chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet. The position was the equivalent of president.   1984 - Wilson Ferreira Aldunate was arrested upon his return from an eleven year exile. Aldunate had been a popular Uruguayan opposition leader.   1985 - Willie Banks broke the world record for the triple jump with a leap of 58 feet, 11-1/2 inches in the U.S.A. championships in Indianapolis, IN.   1992 - U.S. President George H.W. Bush welcomed Russian President Boris Yeltsin to a meeting in Washington, DC. The two agreed in principle to reduce strategic weapon arsenals by about two-thirds by the year 2003.   1993 - The U.S. Postal Service released a set of seven stamps that featured Bill Haley, Buddy Holly, Clyde McPhatter, Otis Redding, Ritchie Valens, Dinah Washington and Elvis Presley.   1996 - Russian voters had their first independent presidential election. Boris Yeltsin was the winner after a run-off.   1999 - The U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said that a 1992 federal music piracy law does not prohibit a palm-sized device that can download high-quality digital music files from the Internet and play them at home.   2000 - U.S. federal regulators approved the merger of Bell Atlantic and GTE Corp. The merger created the nation's largest local phone company.   2000 - U.S. Secretary of Energy Bill Richardson reported that an employee at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico had discovered that two computer hard drives were missing.   2008 - California began issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples.


1487 The Battle of Stoke ended the Wars of the Roses. 1858 Senate candidate Abraham Lincoln declared, "a house divided against itself cannot stand." 1904 Events in James Joyce's novel Ulysses took place on this day, which is celebrated as Bloomsday, for the main character, Leopold Bloom. 1933 President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the National Industrial Recovery Act. 1963 Valentina Tereshkova of the USSR became the first woman in space. 1996 Russia voted in its first independent presidential election. Boris Yeltsin eventually won in a runoff. 2004 The 9/11 Commission determined that Saddam Hussein had no strong links to al-Qaeda, contradicting White House beliefs. 

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/jun16.htm


http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history

http://www.infoplease.com/dayinhistory

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