Honoring Juneteenth & It's Symbolic Significance in American History

  

Juneteenth has now officially been recognized as a national holiday through an act of Congress a few years ago. It is another sign that the United States is coming to terms with a problematic, racist past, even if it is doing so grudgingly. After all, there are a lot of Americans today, in the 21st century, who deny that racism is a major problem, and quite often undermine the problems that racism has cast historically in the nation. 

In 2020 at about this time of the year, during his last year in the Oval Officer, Trump was asked about Juneteenth. Not surprisingly, the self-identified "very stable genius" had never heard of it.

Of course, that is not exactly a surprise. Trump is the very symbol and almost literal face and voice of the "ugly American" who has grown completely tone deaf to any kind of problems within the United States. That seems particularly true when it comes to America's rather long history of racism and racial violence. After all, he made clear almost immediately after taking office that he was opposed to Harriet Tubman being place on the $20 bill, and at least temporarily delayed it from happening. Frankly, that was almost the least of the racist things that seemed to become the norm in our headlines during the Trump years.

However Trump, while officially the elected and sitting president at the time that he undermined the significance of Juneteenth, is not really a leader in the conventional sense. He does not command the respect of a majority of Americans, let alone people around the world. More often than not, he seems like the punchline to some joke that long ago stopped being funny. Frankly, he feels like a dinosaur, with antiquated ideas and solutions to the problems facing the nation, and indeed the world. He feels more like a relic of the nineteenth century way of seeing and doing things, rather than a modern man of the 21st century. 

Yet, we need to remember that, despite not having obtained a majority of votes in either 2016 or in 2020, he nevertheless received enough votes to win a term in the highest political office that this nation has. It is unfortunately still one more sign - as if we needed any more - that xenophobia and prejudices (tacit or otherwise) clearly remain a large problem and obstacle to true progress for us as a nation.

Juneteenth has now officially been recognized as a holiday today, June 19, 2021. It was already a state holiday in Texas. The significance of it, historically, was that this is the anniversary of General Gordon Granger coming to Galveston, Texas, months after the official end of the Civil War, and proclaiming emancipation to all slaves, who had not been informed that slavery had been officially abolished. The slaves in Galveston were the last official slaves remaining in the Confederacy. 

So today, I honor this holiday, and added something else, also. There are two links that I added. The first is a transcript about Juneteenth from Bill Moyers back in 2020, where he talks about the significance of the holiday, saying that it is another Independence Day, of sorts. The second is a more cynical take on the holiday, suggesting that it is more symbolic, and has not really made any serious leeway towards true progress in the fight against racism.

Enjoy!

Watch Bill Moyers Speak at the Carnegie Hall Juneteenth Celebration America’s Other Independence Day  BY BILL MOYERS | JUNE 17, 2020:

https://billmoyers.com/story/bill-moyers-on-juneteenth/?fbclid=IwAR2udNcaQj6faedupettajsKi8g9fAhQbM0mwfunTqHrZxW2nEu6F6GoMr8

Opinion: Juneteenth As A National Holiday Is Symbolism Without Progress June 19, 20216:00 AM ET ROBERT A. BROWN:

https://www.npr.org/2021/06/19/1008123408/juneteenth-national-holiday-symbolism-without-progress-opinion





Below is a link to an article which shows how some 10,000 former Confederate Loyalists fled to Brazil following the end of the Civil War, because slavery was still legal there at that point, and would be for maybe another decade and change or so. The link is at the bottom. 

Meet The Confederados, The Confederate Loyalists Who Fled To Brazil After The Civil War By Morgan Dunn, June 15, 2020:

https://allthatsinteresting.com/confederados?fbclid=IwAR1f-soMdtnJUyAtDv-GAVzI7FYOVGoprGFarTbhVjknONLNAX052M8Xy7E

June 19th: This Day in History

 

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-history

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

Flag of Algeria

• 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

Climate Update: Record Heatwave in Europe (Not the First One in 2026)

 

The old button from the Environmental Club days which I just happened to find on Earth Day! It is a little beat up (particularly the ends of the ribbon), but no worse for the wear, I think. And it is one of the few items that I have left from those days, so it carries a lot of great memories for me! Nothing Changes Until You Do!

Earlier this year, I visited family in France. I arrived in Paris just on time for a record heatwave. Temperatures that hot had never been seen before in France during the month of May. It was not restricted to France, either, because it was also the hottest month of May that the United Kingdom had ever recorded.

This CNN article by Laura Paddison about that heat wave in May first focused on Great Britain before transitioning to the rest of the European continent. Here is a snippet which largely tells the story:

The UK isn’t the only place suffering. Much of Western Europe is facing temperatures 10 to 15 degrees Celsius (18 to 27 Fahrenheit) above normal this week.

It went beyond Britain and France, for that matter:

Spain is also experiencing “extraordinarily high temperatures for the time of year,” according to its weather service AEMET, with temperatures in the south forecast to reach up to 40 degrees (104 Fahrenheit) in in the latter half of the week.

Now, I did not go to either Great Britain or Spain on that trip. But I can tell you that while in France (particularly in Paris and in Burgundy), it was very hot. Uncomfortably hot, in ways that Europeans still have not gotten used to, although it seems like they will have to get used to it now, since this is happening more regularly.

Case in point, that heat wave was in May. But there is yet another one here now, just in time for the summer solstice, the official switch from spring to summer. Western Europe is, once again, experiencing still another massive, record-breaking heat wave, just weeks after the last one ended. 

Here we go again. Yet another incredible, record-breaking heatwave is being experienced all across western Europe. This is why it is happening, according to another article on this latest heatwave by Marko Korosec of Global Weather (see link below):

It will trap a stagnant layer of scorching-hot Saharan air and trigger an early-season heatwave of above-normal intensity from the Iberian Peninsula to the capitals of Western Europe.

The problem is that these heatwaves perpetuate more heatwaves, as they create conditions that make any kind of real cooling more difficult. Again, according to the same article:

The soil in many regions remains exceptionally dry from a record-breaking hot spell Europe experienced in late May, which strips away the Earth’s natural ability to cool itself through evaporation. This will allow surface temperatures to skyrocket even faster through the remainder of June.

How hot is it supposed to get?

Again, I am using a snippet from this same article to illustrate:

The temperature forecast numbers are flashing red, with Portugal and Spain bracing for temperatures that could reach 45 °C (113 °F), while cities like Paris are facing extended, multi-day stretches in the upper 30s to low 40s, roughly 10 to 15 °C above seasonal averages.

For Americans unfamiliar with Celsius temperatures,, trust me when I say that temperatures in the upper 30's and lower 40's is uncomfortably hot. Keep in mind that Europeans traditionally had much milder conditions and temperatures during the summertime. London and Paris have similar weather, and they are not known for extreme heat.

There have also been heat advisories throughout the western and even central portions of Europe, including Germany and Czechia. 

Just a few years ago, we saw some horrifying images of highways literally catching fire in southwestern France and Spain. Also, I remember being appalled at seeing one major river in France, the Loire, largely having dried up, with only patches of water here and there. France normally, traditionally receives a lot of rain, and again, is known for cooler temperatures. That is true of much of Europe more generally. So this is forcing them to try and adapt to stunning extremes as apparently the "new normal," as it were.

I would highly recommend taking a look at the Global Weather site as well as the one from DW (see links to both below), as they get into some details about how these heatwaves work, and why they have grown both so extreme as well as so persistent in Europe in recent years. 

Is climate change still just a Chinese hoax, like Trump suggests?

If so, I have to say that they are getting really, really good at it. Very convincing. Seeing stories like these, not just in Europe but in other parts of the world at other times, like in the American Southwest, or the Arabian peninsula, or Australia, or through much of Asia and even in Arctic regions in recent years, you might almost get the impression that climate change is indeed real. 

Thank goodness we have a president known as a science expert and also known to always stick to the truth in all matters, and who is also richly funded by big polluters, to assure us that all of this is not actually happening. Otherwise, we might really have to worry about the new reality that climate change is forcing us to get used to now, wouldn't you agree?

Below are the links to the articles which I used in writing this particular blog entry, and from which I obtained all of the quotes and specific information used above:

Scorching Heat for the Summer Solstice: The Dangerous Longevity of Europe’s New June Heatwave by Marko Korosec  Posted onPublished: 17/06/2026  CategoriesGlobal weather

https://www.severe-weather.eu/global-weather/heat-dome-europe-heatwave-june-summer-2026-forecast-mk/

Scorching Heat for the Summer Solstice: The Dangerous Longevity of Europe’s New June Heatwave

Why Europe is getting so hot by Martin Kuebler May 28, 2026: 

Europe is sweltering under extreme heat that has broken records and claimed lives. Why is the continent heating so fast?

https://www.dw.com/en/why-europe-is-getting-so-hot/a-77320871

Why Europe is getting so hot

‘Mind-bogglingly crazy’: Europe’s deadly, early heatwave is smashing records by Laura Paddison Updated May 26, 2026:

https://www.cnn.com/2026/05/26/climate/europe-heat-climate-intl

‘Mind-bogglingly crazy’: Europe’s deadly, early heatwave is smashing records | CNN

Today is Paul McCartney's 83rd Birthday

 

Picture taken during the recent Paul McCartney concert in Syracuse that my son and I attended.

Today marks the big 84th birthday of Paul McCartney, who was born on June 18, 1942 in Liverpool, England.

He went on to have some modest success in his musical career.

Just lately, I have been thinking quite a bit about the free concert that he gave at the Plains of Abraham in Québec City for the 400th anniversary. I learned about it from my father and brother just weeks before it was supposed to take place. Not sure when it was announced, or how they even heard about it. But once I learned about it, I was pretty determined to go.              

Arranging to be off from work (I worked on the weekends, and this concert took place on a Sunday night) took a little bit of juggling, but I managed. It wound up that neither my father nor my brother went, but my then wife and our son, who was not quite three years old yet at that point, when instead. It proved to be one of the most pleasant and memorable weekends of my adult life. The entire city was very excited about the concert. It was in every newspaper in the days leading up to the concert, and then, of course, the day of and the day after. I got a bunch of copies of those newspapers, and it is still cool to look at them from time to time, and remember just how nice that weekend was.              

For the first time in a long time, I watched that concert recently on Youtube. So now, I thought that it might be good…

⚜   ⚜   ⚜  ⚜   ⚜   ⚜  ⚜  ⚜   ⚜  ⚜   ⚜   ⚜  ⚜   ⚜   ⚜  ⚜   ⚜   ⚜  ⚜  ⚜  ⚜  ⚜   ⚜   ⚜    ⚜   ⚜  ⚜   ⚜   ⚜  ⚜   ⚜   ⚜   ⚜   ⚜   ⚜   ⚜   ⚜   ⚜  ⚜   ⚜   ⚜  ⚜   ⚜   ⚜ 

Picture of one of the stickers of this concert that I got years ago. 

Fêtons Nos 400 Ans! - Ville de Québec

Hey Paul, you say it's your birthday?

Here is another short video from a concert that I actually was blessed enough to have attended, and which was like a life dream in music come true. This is a clip of Ringo Starr's 70th birthday concert at Radio City Music Hall, with Paul McCartney making a special guest appearance. McCartney was on base, Ringo was on drums, and it was touted as half of a Beatles reunion. It was as close as I'll ever get to actually having seen The Beatles as a band, and again, I felt extremely privileged to have seen such a thing in person!

And here is the entire concert!

Some years ago around this time of year, my son and I went to see Paul McCartney in Syracuse. It was a great concert, and I felt blessed to have been able to go see that with my son. Actually, it was technically the third time that he and I saw him together, although he was too young to remember the first time in Quebec in 2008. However, we saw McCartney in Brooklyn back in September of 2017. You will never go to a bad McCartney show.              

However, last night’s concert was particularly special. It came two days before his official birthday, and so there were celebrations. Two New Jersey natives came out to help Paul celebrate, with Jon Bon Jovi singing “Happy Birthday” to Paul. Earlier in the show, Bruce Springsteen making a special appearance and doing two songs with him. They sang “Glory Days” and “I Wanna Be Your Man.”

Bruce Springsteen joins Paul McCartney for 80th birthday surprise at MetLife Stadium by Chris Jordan of The Asbury Park Press, June 16, 2022:  

https://www.app.com/story/entertainment/music/2022/06/16/paul-mccartney-tour-2022-bruce-springsteen-surprise-birthday-guest/7648561001/?fbclid=IwAR1nbHeprMZQEEE3MuwK60UhBeFlwlnlClenpNFp-IXkZBHw98OxJF8rZGs

Thomas Jefferson Warned About Too Much Power For the "Aristocracy of Our Monied Corporations" in the United States

 “I hope we shall crush in its birth the aristocracy of our monied corporations which dare already to challenge our government to a trial of strength, and bid defiance to the laws of our country.” 

—Thomas Jefferson

"Government by organized money is just as dangerous as Government by organized mob." 

—FDR, 1936

Thomas Jefferson might not have been the nearly perfect President and Founding Father the way that I was taught in the old school days. We know and accept that he was limited in some ways, and full of paradoxes. He was a slaveowner, even while writing all of those stirring words about freedom and breaking free.

However, he undeniably possessed a very brilliant mind. did understand the very real threat that the elite class - monied corporations and the aristocracy, which seems to be reviving in the United States in the 21st century - imposed on the young, fledgling American democracy.

More than one century later, another president, Franklin D. Roosevelt, said many of these same kinds of things. Roosevelt's New Deal policies are often credited with building the American middle class and ushering in a long era of national prosperity, which many Americans still today consider the American "Golden Age."

Some of those words and thoughts are things which we might want to pay attention to in our modern age. Because it feels like history is running in cycles. Or perhaps it is a pendulum.

But here in the United States, that pendulum has been stuck going in the corporate, elitist direction for a very, very long time now. It appears to be stuck in that position, at least for now. 

Maybe we should go back and reread the words of Jefferson and Roosevelt to better understand his position regarding monied interests and corporations. Specifically, the threat that they posed to our American democracy. Because while he wrote those words hundreds of years ago, they somehow feel quite relevant to our present time and circumstances.

A picture I took of the Jefferson Memorial in Washington during a visit with my son  back in 2013. 

Franklin D. Roosevelt Memorial in Washington, D.C.

June 18th: This Day in History

 

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-history

On this day in 618 was the coronation of the Chinese governor Li Yuan as Emperor Gaozu of Tang, the new Emperor of China, initiating three centuries of the Tang Dynasty's rule over China. There was a Swedish Vikings attack on Constantinople on this day in 860. Five monks at Canterbury reported an explosion on the moon (only known observation) on this day in 1178. In 1778 on this day during the American Revolutionary War of Independence, the British evacuated Philadelphia. The War of 1812 between the United States and Britain began on this day in 1812. On this day in 1815, Napoleon and France was defeated by British forced under Wellington and Prussian troops under Blucher at the Battle of Waterloo. On this day in 1915 during the Great War, better known now as World War I, French troops halted the fighting in the Artois region. On this day in 1940 during World War II, German Fuhrer Adolf Hitler and Il Duce Benito Mussolini of Italy met in Munich, Germany. In 1983 on this day, Sally Ride became the first woman in space when the 7th Shuttle Mission-Challenger 2 was launched. On this day in 1979, US President Jimmy Carter & Soviet Premier Leonid Brezhnev signed the SALT II treaty limiting nuclear weapons.

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

• On this day in 618 was the coronation of the Chinese governor Li Yuan as Emperor Gaozu of Tang, the new Emperor of China, initiating three centuries of the Tang Dynasty's rule over China.

• There was a Swedish Vikings attack on Constantinople on this day in 860.

• 1155 - Pope Adrian IV crowns Frederick I Barbarossa Roman-German Emperor

1178 - Proposed time of origin of lunar crater Giordano Bruno

• Five monks at Canterbury reported an explosion on the moon (only known observation) on this day in 1178.

1264 - The Parliament of Ireland meets at Castledermot in County Kildare, the first definitively known meeting of this Irish legislature.

1316 - Peace of Fexhe: prince-bishop Adolf II of Mark & Luikse towns

1529 - Blackfriars begin: Henry VIII & Catharina of Aragon

1538 - Treaty of Nice: ends war between Emperor Charles V & King French I

1541 - Irish parliament selects Henry VIII as king of Ireland

• 1574 - Polish King Hendrik of Anjou secretly leaves Poland

1580 - States of Utrecht forbid catholic worship

1583 - Richard Martin of London takes out first life insurance policy, on William Gibbons; premium was £383

1629 - Sea battle at Dungeness: Piet Heyn beat the Dunkirkers, commerce raiders in the service of the Spanish Monarchy

1639 - Treaty of Berwick: Ends the First Bishops' War between England and Scotland

1643 - Skirmish at Chalgrove Field: Prince Rupert parliamentary armies

1682 - William Penn founds Philadelphia, US

1757 - Battle at Kolin Bohemia: Austrian army beats Prussia

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

English Philosopher and Founder of Pennsylvania William PennEnglish Philosopher and Founder of Pennsylvania William Penn 

Independence Hall in Philadelphia, PA

• In 1778 on this day during the American Revolutionary War of Independence, the British evacuated Philadelphia.

Jun 18, 1778: British abandon Philadelphia

On this day in 1778, after almost nine months of occupation, 15,000 British troops under General Sir Henry Clinton evacuate Philadelphia, the former U.S. capital.  

The British had captured Philadelphia on September 26, 1777, following General George Washington's defeats at the Battle of Brandywine and the Battle of the Clouds. British General William Howe had made Philadelphia, the seat of the Continental Congress, the focus of his campaign, but the Patriot government had deprived him of the decisive victory he hoped for by moving its operations to the more secure site of York one week before the city was taken.  

While Howe and the British officer corps spent the winter enjoying the luxury of Philadelphia's finest homes, the Continental Army froze and suffered appalling deprivation at Valley Forge.  Fortunately for the Patriots, an infusion of capable European strategists, including the Prussian Baron von Steuben; the Frenchmen Marquis de Lafayette and Johann, Baron de Kalb; and Poles Thaddeus Kosciuszko and Casimir, Count Pulaski, aided Washington in the creation of a well-drilled, professional force capable of fighting the British.  

The British position in Philadelphia became untenable after France's entrance into the war on the side of the Americans. To avoid the French fleet, General Clinton was forced to lead his British-Hessian force to New York City by land. Loyalists in the city sailed down the Delaware River to escape the Patriots, who returned to Philadelphia the day after the British departure. U.S. General Benedict Arnold, who led the force that reclaimed the city without bloodshed, was appointed military governor. On June 24, the Continental Congress returned to the city from its temporary quarters at York, Pennsylvania.

1779 - French fleet occupies St Vincent

• 1812 - War of 1812 begins as US declares war against Britain

Jun 18, 1812: War of 1812 begins

The day after the Senate followed the House of Representatives in voting to declare war against Great Britain, President James Madison signs the declaration into law--and the War of 1812 begins. The American war declaration, opposed by a sizable minority in Congress, had been called in response to the British economic blockade of France, the induction of American seaman into the British Royal Navy against their will, and the British support of hostile Indian tribes along the Great Lakes frontier. A faction of Congress known as the "War Hawks" had been advocating war with Britain for several years and had not hidden their hopes that a U.S. invasion of Canada might result in significant territorial land gains for the United States.  

In the months after President Madison proclaimed the state of war to be in effect, American forces launched a three-point invasion of Canada, all of which were decisively unsuccessful. In 1814, with Napoleon Bonaparte's French Empire collapsing, the British were able to allocate more military resources to the American war, and Washington, D.C., fell to the British in August. In Washington, British troops burned the White House, the Capitol, and other buildings in retaliation for the earlier burning of government buildings in Canada by U.S. soldiers.  

In September, the tide of the war turned when Thomas Macdonough's American naval force won a decisive victory at the Battle of Plattsburg Bay on Lake Champlain. The invading British army was forced to retreat back into Canada. The American victory on Lake Champlain led to the conclusion of U.S.-British peace negotiations in Belgium, and on December 24, 1814, the Treaty of Ghent was signed, formally ending the War of 1812. By the terms of the agreement, all conquered territory was to be returned, and a commission would be established to settle the boundary of the United States and Canada.  

British forces assailing the Gulf Coast were not informed of the treaty in time, and on January 8, 1815, the U.S. forces under Andrew Jackson achieved the greatest American victory of the war at the Battle of New Orleans. The American public heard of Jackson's victory and the Treaty of Ghent at approximately the same time, fostering a greater sentiment of self-confidence and shared identity throughout the young republic. 

French Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte

• On this day in 1815, Napoleon and France was defeated by British forced under Wellington and Prussian troops under Blucher at the Battle of Waterloo.

On this day in 1815, Napoleon was defeated at Waterloo.

Jun 18, 1815: Napoleon defeated at Waterloo

At Waterloo in Belgium, Napoleon Bonaparte suffers defeat at the hands of the Duke of Wellington, bringing an end to the Napoleonic era of European history.  

The Corsica-born Napoleon, one of the greatest military strategists in history, rapidly rose in the ranks of the French Revolutionary Army during the late 1790s. By 1799, France was at war with most of Europe, and Napoleon returned home from his Egyptian campaign to take over the reigns of the French government and save his nation from collapse. After becoming first consul in February 1800, he reorganized his armies and defeated Austria. In 1802, he established the Napoleonic Code, a new system of French law, and in 1804 was crowned emperor of France in Notre Dame Cathedral. By 1807, Napoleon controlled an empire that stretched from the River Elbe in the north, down through Italy in the south, and from the Pyrenees to the Dalmatian coast.  

Beginning in 1812, Napoleon began to encounter the first significant defeats of his military career, suffering through a disastrous invasion of Russia, losing Spain to the Duke of Wellington in the Peninsula War, and enduring total defeat against an allied force by 1814. Exiled to the island of Elba in the Mediterranean, he escaped to France in early 1815 and set up a new regime. As allied troops mustered on the French frontiers, he raised a new Grand Army and marched into Belgium. He intended to defeat the allied armies one by one before they could launch a united attack.  

On June 16, 1815, he defeated the Prussians under Gebhard Leberecht von Blucher at Ligny, and sent 33,000 men, or about one-third of his total force, in pursuit of the retreating Prussians. On June 18, Napoleon led his remaining 72,000 troops against the Duke of Wellington's 68,000-man allied army, which had taken up a strong position 12 miles south of Brussels near the village of Waterloo. In a fatal blunder, Napoleon waited until mid-day to give the command to attack in order to let the ground dry. The delay in fighting gave Blucher's troops, who had eluded their pursuers, time to march to Waterloo and join the battle by the late afternoon.  

In repeated attacks, Napoleon failed to break the center of the allied center. Meanwhile, the Prussians gradually arrived and put pressure on Napoleon's eastern flank. At 6 p.m., the French under Marshal Michel Ney managed to capture a farmhouse in the allied center and began decimating Wellington's troops with artillery. Napoleon, however, was preoccupied with the 30,000 Prussians attacking his flank and did not release troops to aid Ney's attack until after 7 p.m. By that time, Wellington had reorganized his defenses, and the French attack was repulsed. Fifteen minutes later, the allied army launched a general advance, and the Prussians attacked in the east, throwing the French troops into panic and then a disorganized retreat. The Prussians pursued the remnants of the French army, and Napoleon left the field. French casualties in the Battle of Waterloo were 25,000 men killed and wounded and 9,000 captured, while the allies lost about 23,000.  

Napoleon returned to Paris and on June 22 abdicated in favor of his son. He decided to leave France before counterrevolutionary forces could rally against him, and on July 15 he surrendered to British protection at the port of Rochefort. He hoped to travel to the United States, but the British instead sent him to Saint Helena, a remote island in the Atlantic off the coast of Africa. Napoleon protested but had no choice but to accept the exile. With a group of followers, he lived quietly on St. Helena for six years. In May 1821, he died, most likely of stomach cancer. He was only 51 years old. In 1840, his body was returned to Paris, and a magnificent funeral was held. Napoleon's body was conveyed through the Arc de Triomphe and entombed under the dome of the Invalides.

1821 - Opera "Der Freischutz" is produced (Berlin)

1822 - Part of US-Canadian boundary determined

1822 - Slave revolt leaders Denmark Vesey & Peter Poyas arrested in SC

British Botanist Charles Darwin

• 1836 - HMS Beagle/Charles Darwin leave South Africa

1837 - Spain gets new Constitution

1863 - After long neglect, Confederates hurriedly fortify Vicksburg

1864 - At Petersburg, Grant ends 4 days of assaults

1872 - Woman's Suffrage Convention held at Merchantile Liberty Hall

1873 - Susan B Anthony fined $100 for voting for President

1879 - W H Richardson, a black inventor, patents the children's carriage

1887 - The Reinsurance Treaty between Germany and Russia is signed.

Naturalist Charles DarwinNaturalist Charles Darwin 1892 - Macademia nuts 1st planted in Hawaii

1894 - Premier Roseberry declares Uganda a British protectorate

1898 - 1st amusement pier opens in Atlantic City, NJ

• 1900 - Empress Douairiere orders I-Ho-Chuan (Boxers) to kill all foreigners

1900 - Gen Luigi Pelloux resigns as premier of Italy

1903 - 1st transcontinental auto trip begins in SF; arrives NY 3-mo later

1908 - Japanese immigration to Brazil begins when 781 people arrive in Santos aboard the Kasato-Maru ship

1909 - Nannie Burroughs forms national training School for Women

A war monument in Champlitte, France

On this day in 1915 during the Great War, better known now as World War I, French troops halted the fighting in the Artois region.

Jun 18, 1915: French troops halt fighting in Artois region        

After several weeks of heavy fighting, including savage hand-to-hand combat, with little success, French troops halt their attacks on the German trenches in the Artois region of France on June 18, 1915.  

Artois, located in northern France between Picardy and Flanders, near the English Channel, was a strategically important battlefield during World War I and saw heavy fighting throughout the conflict. Over the course of 1915, the most significant Allied offensives on the Western Front all took place in Artois. On May 9, French and British troops launched a two-pronged offensive around Vimy Ridge and Aubers Ridge respectively. Known as the Second Battle of Artois, the French attack was modestly successful, though the Germans retreated to better lines while inflicting significant casualties. More importantly, the battle convinced French and British commanders alike that the key to breaking through the German lines was twofold: attacking with sufficient artillery along a broad front, and having supporting formations move in behind the lead troops to carry the attack beyond the front lines, enabling the breakthrough to happen in one swift thrust.  

The French consequently began to build up a force of 900 heavy guns, over 1,000 field guns and 37 divisions for another major Artois offensive that fall. Meanwhile, fighting continued throughout May and into June, with the French opening up a diversionary assault on the Somme River, some 40 kilometers to the south, in an attempt to secure the village of Serre. In Artois, the town of Neuville St. Vaast finally fell to the French 5th Army on June 9. On June 16, hoping to press their advantage, the French launched further assaults on the German lines in Artois. Over the next 24 hours, French artillery fired over 300,000 shells around Neuville St. Vaast; the Germans still managed to outgun them, as the higher altitude of their lines allowed them to fire on French positions with greater ease. On June 18, the French command called off the battle in Artois, after many small advances and changes of control of territory, as well as some 18,000 French casualties.

1924 - Pope Pius XI's encyclical Maximam gravissimamque

1926 - Theodor Lessing laid-off "because he is a Jew" in Hanover

1927 - Paavo Nurmi runs world record 2000 m: 5:24.6

• 1928 - Amelia Earhart becomes 1st female to fly across Atlantic Ocean

1930 - Groundbreaking ceremonies for the Franklin Institute held.

1934 - US Highway planning surveys nationwide authorized

1936 - 1st bicycle traffic court in America established, Racine, WI

1936 - Polish parliament gives pres Ignacy Moscicki dictatorial power

On this day in 1940 during World War II, German Fuhrer Adolf Hitler and Il Duce Benito Mussolini of Italy met in Munich, Germany.

Jun 18, 1940: Hitler and Mussolini meet in Munich

On this day in 1940, Benito Mussolini arrives in Munich with his foreign minister, Count Ciano, to discuss immediate plans with the Fuhrer, and doesn't like what he hears.  

Embarrassed over the late entry of Italy in the war against the Allies, and its rather tepid performance since, Mussolini met with Hitler determined to convince his Axis partner to exploit the advantage he had in France by demanding total surrender and occupying the southern portion still free. The Italian dictator clearly wanted "in" on the spoils, and this was a way of reaping rewards with a minimum of risk. But Hitler, too, was in no mood to risk, and was determined to put forward rather mild terms for peace with France. He needed to ensure that the French fleet remained neutral and that a government-in-exile was not formed in North Africa or London determined to further prosecute the war. He also denied Mussolini's request that Italian troops occupy the Rhone Valley, and that Corsica, Tunisia, and Djibouti (adjacent to Italian-occupied Ethiopia) be disarmed.  

Ciano recorded in his diary that Mussolini left the meeting frustrated and "very much embarrassed," feeling "that his role is secondary." Ciano also records a newfound respect for Hitler: "Today he speaks with a reserve and perspicacity which, after such a victory, are really astonishing."  

French President Charles De Gaulle

• 1940 - Gen Charles de Gaulle on BBC tells French to defy nazi occupiers

1940 - German occupiers slaughter cattle, pigs & chickens

Statue of soldier, author and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill in Parliament Square, London

• 1940 - Winston Churchill urges perseverance so that future generations would remember that "this was their finest hour"

1941 - Joe Louis KOs Billy Conn in 13 for heavyweight boxing title

1941 - Turkey signs peace treaty with nazi-Germany

1942 - Bernard W Robinson, becomes 1st black ensign in US Navy

1942 - Eric Nessler of France stays aloft in a glider for 38h21m

1943 - SS Police in Amsterdam sentence for 12 resistance fighter to death (Jewish, communists, homosexuality) at the census bureau

1944 - Farewell concert of Willem Mengelberg in Paris

1944 - U-767 sinks

1945 - William Joyce (Lord Haw-Haw) charged with treason

1946 - Dr. Ram Manohar Lohia, a Socialist calls for a Direct Action Day against the Portuguese in Goa. A road is named after this date in Panjim.

1947 - Cincinnati Red Ewell Blackwell no-hits Boston Braves, 6-0

1948 - American Library Association adopts Library Bill of Rights

Soldier, Author and British Prime Minister Winston ChurchillSoldier, Author and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill 1948 - National Security Council authorizes covert operations for 1st time

1948 - Phillies pitching great Robin Roberts debut, loses 2-0 to Pirates

1948 - UN Commission on Human Rights adopts Intl Decl of Human Rights

1949 - "Along Fifth Avenue" closes at Broadhurst Theater NYC after 180 perfs

1950 - Cleve Indians score 14 runs in 1st inning, beat A's 21-2

• 1951 - De Gaulle wins French parliamentary election

• 1953 - Egypt proclaimed a republic, General Neguib becomes president

1953 - USAF C124 Globemaster crashes near Tokyo killing 129 servicemen

1953 - Eugene Stephens is 1st to get 3 hits & Red Sox score 17 runs in 1 Inning (7th) Red Sox beat Detroit 23-3

1954 - Pierre Mendèsforms French government

1955 - "3 for Tonight" closes at Plymouth Theater NYC after 85 performances

1956 - Last of foreign troops leaves Egypt as British leave Suez Canal

• 1957 - John Diefenbacker (C) takes office as PM of Canada

1959 - 1st telecast transmitted from England to US

1959 - Governor of Louisiana Earl K. Long is committed to a state mental hospital; he responds by having the hospital's director fired and replaced with a crony who proceeds to proclaim him perfectly sane.

1960 - "Destry Rides Again" closes at Imperial Theater NYC after 472 perfs

Golfer Arnold PalmerGolfer Arnold Palmer 1960 - 60th US Golf Open: Arnold Palmer shoots 280 at Cherry Hills in Denver

1960 - Giants hire Tom Sheehan as baseball's oldest debuting manager (66)

1960 - Real Madrid wins 5th Europe Cup 1

1961 - CBS radio cancels Gunsmoke

1961 - KBMT TV channel 12 in Beaumont, TX (ABC) begins broadcasting

1961 - Mary Lena Faulk wins LPGA Eastern Golf Open

1963 - 3,000 blacks boycott Boston public school

1964 - African Groundnut Council forms in Dakar

1967 - 67th US Golf Open: Jack Nicklaus shoots 275 at Baltusrol GC NJ

1967 - Houston Don Wilson no-hits Atlanta Braves, 2-0

1967 - Monterey International Pop Festival rocks Southern California

1967 - Susie Maxwell wins LPGA Milwaukee Jaycee Golf Open

1968 - Supreme Court bans racial discrimination in sale & rental of housing

1972 - BEA Trident crashes after takeoff from Heathrow killing 118

• 1972 - West Germany wins soccer world championship

1972 - US Supreme Court, 5-3, confirms lower court rulings in Curt Flood case, upholding baseball's exemption from antitrust laws

1973 - NCAA makes urine testing mandatory for participants

1974 - Gaston Thorn forms Luxembourg government

1975 - Fred Lynn gets 10 RBIs in a Red Sox 15-1 victory over Tigers

1975 - Gary Gilmour takes 6-14 in Cricket World Cup semi v England

1975 - NBC News & Information Service (24 hr news) premieres on radio

1976 - A Joseph William Turner watercolor auctioned for £340,000

1976 - St Louis Cards Lou Brock & Hector Cruz hit inside-the-park HRs

1976 - Bowie Kuhn voids A's sales, totaling $35 million, of Joe Rudi & Rollie Fingers to Red Sox, & Vida Blue to Yankees

1977 - Billy Martin & Reggie Jackson get into a dug out altercation

1977 - Sex Pistols Johnny Rotten & Paul Cook, beaten & robbed by London pub

1977 - Space Shuttle test model "Enterprise" carries a crew aloft for 1st time, It was fixed to a modified Boeing 747

1978 - 78th US Golf Open: Andy North shoots a 285 at Cherry Hill CC in Denver

1978 - Nancy Lopez wins LPGA Bankers Trust Golf Classic

1978 - Victor de la Torre wins Peru election

1979 - Billy Martin becomes Yankee manager (2nd time), replacing Bob Lemon

1979 - Sri Lanka beat India by 47 runs in Cricket World Cup upset

American President Jimmy Carter

• On this day in 1979, US President Jimmy Carter & Soviet Premier Leonid Brezhnev signed the SALT II treaty limiting nuclear weapons.

Jun 18, 1979: Carter and Brezhnev sign the SALT-II treaty

During a summit meeting in Vienna, President Jimmy Carter and Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev sign the SALT-II agreement dealing with limitations and guidelines for nuclear weapons. The treaty, which never formally went into effect, proved to be one of the most controversial U.S.-Soviet agreements of the Cold War.  

The SALT-II agreement was the result of many nagging issues left over from the successful SALT-I treaty of 1972. Though the 1972 treaty limited a wide variety of nuclear weapons, many issues remained unresolved. Talks between the United States and the Soviet Union began almost immediately after SALT-I was ratified by both nations in 1972. Those talks failed to achieve any new breakthroughs, however. By 1979, both the United States and Soviet Union were eager to revitalize the process. For the United States, fear that the Soviets were leaping ahead in the arms race was the primary motivator. For the Soviet Union, the increasingly close relationship between America and communist China was a cause for growing concern.  

In June 1979, Carter and Brezhnev met in Vienna and signed the SALT-II agreement. The treaty basically established numerical equality between the two nations in terms of nuclear weapons delivery systems. It also limited the number of MIRV missiles (missiles with multiple, independent nuclear warheads). In truth, the treaty did little or nothing to stop, or even substantially slow down, the arms race. Nevertheless, it met with unrelenting criticism in the United States. The treaty was denounced as a "sellout" to the Soviets, one that would leave America virtually defenseless against a whole range of new weapons not mentioned in the agreement. Even supporters of arms control were less than enthusiastic about the treaty, since it did little to actually control arms.  

Debate over SALT-II in the U.S. Congress continued for months. In December 1979, however, the Soviets launched an invasion of Afghanistan. The Soviet attack effectively killed any chance of SALT-II being passed, and Carter ensured this by withdrawing the treaty from the Senate in January 1980. SALT-II thus remained signed, but unratified. During the 1980s, both nations agreed to respect the agreement until such time as new arms negotiations could take place.

1980 - Dutch 2nd Chamber joins oil boycott of South Africa

1980 - Mrs Shakuntala Devi mentally multiplies 2 13-digit #s in 28 sec

1981 - Kimberley Ann Smith, of NC, 17, crowned America's Junior Miss

1981 - Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart retires (replaced by Sandra Day O'Connor, 1st woman on US Supreme Court)

1981 - Test cricket debut of Terry Alderman, v England at Trent Bridge

1981 - Vaccine to prevent hoof & mouth disease announced

1981 - The AIDS epidemic is formally recognized by medical professionals in San Francisco, California.

1982 - ABC's All Talk radio network expands to 22 stations

1982 - Voting Rights Act of 1965 extended by Senate by 85-8 vote

1983 - "Pump Boys & Dinettes" closes at Princess Theater NYC after 573 perfs

In 1983 on this day, Sally Ride became the first woman in space when the 7th Shuttle Mission-Challenger 2 was launched.

Jun 18, 1983: First American woman in space

From Cape Canaveral, Florida, the space shuttle Challenger is launched into space on its second mission. Aboard the shuttle was Dr. Sally Ride, who as a mission specialist became the first American woman to travel into space. During the six-day mission, Ride, an astrophysicist from Stanford University, operated the shuttle's robot arm, which she had helped design.  

Her historic journey was preceded almost 20 years to the day by cosmonaut Valentina V. Tereshkova of the Soviet Union, who on June 16, 1963, became the first woman ever to travel into space. The United States had screened a group of female pilots in 1959 and 1960 for possible astronaut training but later decided to restrict astronaut qualification to men. In 1978, NASA changed its policy and announced that it had approved six women to become the first female astronauts in the U.S. space program. The new astronauts were chosen out of some 3,000 original applicants. Among the six were Sally Ride and Shannon Lucid, who in 1996 set a new space endurance record for an American and a world endurance record for a woman during her 188-day sojourn on the Russian space station Mir.

1983 - IRA's Joseph Doherty arrested in NYC

1984 - 84th US Golf Open: Fuzzy Zoeller shoots a 276 at Winged Foot GC NY

1985 - Boston Red Sox Fred Lynn gets 10 RBIs

1986 - De Havilland Twin Otter & Bell 206 helicopter collide, kills 25

1986 - Don Sutton becomes 19th pitcher to win 300 games

1986 - Heike Friedrich swims female world record 200m freestyle (1:57.55)

1986 - Papua New Guinea score 9-455 in 60 overs v Gibraltar, ICC Trophy

1987 - Charles Glass, ABC journalist, kidnapped in Lebanon

1988 - Jeff Hamilton, hits 8,000th Dodger home run

1989 - "Starmites" closes at Criter Ctr SR Theater NYC after 60 performances

1989 - 89th US Golf Open: Curtis Strange shoots a 278 at Oak Hill CC NY

1989 - Comet Churyunov-Gerasimenko at perihelion

1989 - Laura Davies wins LPGA Lady Keystone Golf Open

1990 - 1st ever lose for Cameroon in Soccer World Cup, USSR-4 Cameroon-0

1990 - 1st sudden death US Open Golf Championship is won by Hale Irwin

Russian President Boris YeltsinRussian President Boris Yeltsin 1991 - Boris Yeltsin, president of Russia, arrives in US

1991 - Mud storm in Antofagasta Chile, kills 80

1991 - SF Giant pitcher Dave Dravecky's cancerous left arm is amputated

1991 - Yankee pitchers pick-off 3 Toronto Blue Jays

1992 - Ottawa Senators make goalie Peter Sidorkiewicz their 1st draft

1992 - Tampa Bay Lightning make goalie Wendell Young their 1st draft

1993 - Expo's Dennis Martinez is 92nd to win 200 games

1993 - Toru Takemitsu's "Archipelago" premieres in Aldeburgh England

1994 - Aleksander Popov swims world record 100m free style (48.21 sec)

1994 - Gay Games open in NYC

1994 - US ties Switzerland 1-1 in their 1st game of 1994 soccer World Cup

1995 - 95th US Golf Open: Corey Pavin shoots a 280 at Shinnecock Hills NY

1995 - Patty Sheehan wins LPGA Rochester International Golf Tournament

• 1996 - Ted Kaczynski, suspected of being the Unabomber, is indicted on ten criminal counts.

2000 - 100th US Golf Open: Tiger Woods shoots a 272 at Pebble Beach, California

Golfer Tiger WoodsGolfer Tiger Woods 2001 - Protests occur in Manipur over the extension of the ceasefire between Naga insurgents and the government of India.

2001 - 101st US Golf Open: Retief Goosen shoots a 276 at Southern Hills CC OK

2003 - Google launches AdSense, a program that enables website publishers to serve ads targeted to the specific content of their individual web pages, many of which like HistoryOrb.com go on to start their own publishing businesses

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

2012 - 15 people are killed and 40 injured in a suicide attack in Baquba, Iraq

2013 - 31 people are killed and 60 are injured by two suicide bombings in al-Qahira, Baghdad

2013 - 27 people are killed and 30 are injured by a suicide bomb in Sher Garh, Pakistan

2013 - Russia passes a law banning foreign same-sex couples from adopting children

1155 - Frederick I Barbarossa was crowned emperor of Rome.   1429 - French forces defeated the English at the battle of Patay. The English had been retreating after the siege of Orleans.   1621 - The first duel in America took place in the Plymouth Colony in Massachusetts.   1667 - The Dutch fleet sailed up the Thames toward London.   1778 - Britain evacuated Philadelphia during the U.S. Revolutionary War.   1812 - The War of 1812 began as the U.S. declared war against Great Britain. The conflict began over trade restrictions.   1815 - At the Battle of Waterloo Napoleon was defeated by an international army under the Duke of Wellington. Napoleon abdicated on June 22.   1817 - London's Waterloo Bridge opened. The bridge, designed by John Rennie, was built over the River Thames.   1861 - The first American fly-casting tournament was held in Utica, NY.   1873 - Susan B. Anthony was fined $100 for attempting to vote for a U.S. President.   1898 - Atlantic City, NJ, opened its Steel Pier.   1915 - During World War I, the second battle of Artois ended.   1918 - Allied forces on the Western Front began their largest counter-attack against the German army. (World War I)   1925 - The first degree in landscape architecture was granted by Harvard University.   1927 - The U.S. Post Office offered a special 10-cent postage stamp for sale. The stamp was of Charles Lindbergh’s "Spirit of St. Louis."   1928 - Amelia Earhart became the first woman to fly across the Atlantic Ocean as she completed a flight from Newfoundland to Wales.   1936 - The first bicycle traffic court was established in Racine, WI.   1939 - The CBS radio network aired "Ellery Queen" for the first time.   1942 - The U.S. Navy commissioned its first black officer, Harvard University medical student Bernard Whitfield Robinson.   1948 - The United Nations Commission on Human Rights adopted its International Declaration of Human Rights.   1951 - General Vo Nguyen Giap ended his Red River Campaign against the French in Indochina.   1953 - Seventeen major league baseball records were tied or broken in a game between the Boston Red Sox and the Detroit Tigers.   1953 - Egypt was proclaimed to be a republic with General Neguib as its first president.   1959 - A Federal Court annulled the Arkansas law allowing school closings to prevent integration.   1959 - The first telecast received from England was broadcast in the U.S. over NBC-TV.   1961 - "Gunsmoke" was broadcast for the last time on CBS radio.   1966 - Samuel Nabrit became the first African American to serve on the Atomic Energy Commission.   1975 - Fred Lynn of the Boston Red Sox hit three home runs, a triple and a single in a game against the Detroit Tigers.   1979 - In Vienna, U.S. President Jimmy Carter and Leonid Brezhnev signed the Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty (SALT) 2.   1982 - The U.S. Senate approved the renewal of the 1965 Voting Rights Act for an additional twenty-five years.   1983 - Dr. Sally Ride became the first American woman in space aboard the space shuttle Challenger.   1998 - The Walt Disney Co. purchased a 43% stake in the Web search engine company Infoseek Corp.  Disney movies, music and books   1998 - Nine commemorative U.S. postage stamps were reissued. The stamps were considered to be classically beautiful examples of stamp engraving.   1998 - "The Boston Globe" asked Patricia Smith to resign after she admitted to inventing people and quotes in four of her recent columns.   1999 - Walt Disney's "Tarzan" opened.  Disney movies, music and books   2000 - In Algiers, Algeria, the foreign ministers of Ethiopia and Eritrea signed a preliminary cease-fire accord and agreed to work toward a permanent settlement of their two-year border war.   2009 - NASA launched the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter/LCROSS probes to the Moon. It was the first American lunar mission since Lunar Prospector in 1998.   2009 - Greenland assumed control over its law enforcement, judicial affairs, and natural resources from the Kingdom of Denmark. Greenlandic became the official language.



1812 The War of 1812 began. 1815 Napoleon was defeated at the Battle of Waterloo by British, German, and Dutch forces. 1873 Suffragist Susan B. Anthony was fined $100 for attempting to vote in the 1872 presidential election. 1928 Aviator Amelia Earhart became the first woman to fly across the Atlantic Ocean. She completed the flight from Newfoundland to Wales in about 21 hours. 1948 The United Nations Commission on Human Rights adopted its International Declaration of Human Rights. The General Assembly would give it final approval on Dec. 10, 1948. 1983 Sally Ride became the first American woman in space.


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/jun18.htm

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

http://www.infoplease.com/dayinhistory