EVENTS
- 1775 – Battle of Bunker Hill.
Battle of Bunker Hill - 1885 – The Statue of Liberty arrives in New York from France.
- 1928 – Amelia Earhart becomes the first woman to fly across the Atlantic. Wilmer Stultz piloted the Fokker F.VII aircraft, Earhart kept the flight log. They arrived at Burry Port in Wales, the United Kingdom, 20 hours and 40 minutes later.
- 1940 – The three Baltic states fall under Soviet occupation. While the world’s attention was focused on the recent German invasion of Paris, the Soviet Union annexed Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania.
- 1944 – Iceland becomes an independent country.
- 1960 – Ted Williams hits his 500th home run.
- 1972 – Following a seemingly routine burglary, five men were arrested at the National Democratic Headquarters in the Watergate complex in Washington, D.C. However, subsequent investigations revealed the burglars were actually agents hired by the Committee for the Re-election of President Richard Nixon. A long chain of events then followed in which the president and top aides became involved in an extensive cover-up of this and other White House sanctioned illegal activities, eventually leading to the resignation of President Nixon on August 9, 1974.
BIRTHDAYS
- 1239 – Edward I (King of England)
- 1882 – Russian composer Igor Stravinsky (1882-1971) was born near St. Petersburg
- 1898 – M. C. Escher (Dutch illustrator)
- 1943 – Newt Gingrich (Politician)
- 1943 – Barry Manilow (Singer)
Barry Manilow - 1945 – Eddy Merckx (Belgian cyclist)
- 1945 – Ken Livingstone (British politician)
- 1963 – Greg Kinnear (Actor)
- 1965 – Dan Jansen (Speed skater)
- 1966 – Jason Patric (Actor)
- 1980 – Venus Williams (Tennis Player)
DEATHS
- 1025 – BolesΕaw I Chrobry
- 1898 – Edward Burne-Jones (British artist)
Edward Burne-Jones - 1981 – Richard O’Connor (British army general)
- 1996 – Curt Swan (American illustrator)
- 2012 – Rodney King (American victim of police brutality)
