June 15: Today in History – Historical Events
Early Centuries – June 15 Historic Events – Before the 1700s
1. 15th June 1215: At Runnymede near Windsor in England, King John signed the Magna Carta today.
2. 15th June 1219: King Valdemar brings victory to Denmark.
3. 15th June 1219: Dannebrog, the flag of Denmark is considered to be the world’s oldest National Flag. Legend has it that the flag fell from the sky during the battle of Lyndanisse in Estonia and turned the Danes luck.
4. 15th June 1246: In Austria, the Babenberg dynasty came to an end with the death of Duke Fredrick II.
5. 15th June 1389: Turks defeated Serbs today in the battle of Kosovo.
6. 15th June 1567: Jews were expelled from its entire territory by the Republic of Genoa.
7. 15th June 1626: The English was disbanded by King Charles I.
8. 15th June 1643: Abel Tasman today returned to Batavia after discovering Tasmania.
9. 15th June 1667: In the first fully documented blood transfusion, French physician Dr. Jean-Baptiste Denys transfused a small amount of sheep blood into a 15-year-old boy, who survived the procedure.
18th Century – What Happened on June 15 – The 1700s
10. 15th June 1762: Austria introduced the first paper currency.
11. 15th June 1775: The day after Congress established the Continental Army, George Washington was appointed its Commander-in-Chief.
12. 15th June 1785: In the world’s first-ever fatal aviation accident, 2 French balloonists lost their lives today.
19th Century – June 15 This Day That Year – The 1800s
13. 15th June 1804: Congress today, ratified the 12th amendment to the US Constitution which establishes a procedure for the election of President, and Vice-President.
14. 15th June 1808: Joseph Bonaparte became the King of Spain today.
15. 15th June 1834: In Safed, Palestine, many Jews were killed by rioters.
16. 15th June 1836: Arkansas today became the 25th State of the Union.
17. 15th June 1844: The process of vulcanization of rubber was patented today by Charles Goodyear a chemist and inventor.
18. 15th June 1851: The first ice cream factory was set up today by Jacob Fussell a dairyman in Baltimore.
19. 15th June 1857: The San Francisco Water Works was organized on this day.
20. 15th June 1863: The Federals were defeated in the second battle of Winchester Virginia. They suffered a casualty of 1350.
21. 15th June 1864: Marks the beginning of the battle of Petersburg with Union General Ulysses S Grant launching an attack on the Confederate line at the important Southern rail center of Petersburg.
22. 15th June 1864: The US Congress today passed a resolution through which they equalized pay for Black soldiers.
23. 15th June 1869: John Wesley Hyatt patented the world’s first plastic celluloid.
24. 15th June 1876: Sara Spencer addresses a US Presidential convention today. She was the first woman to address the presidential convention.
25. 15th June 1876: Followed by an earthquake tsunami flooded the NE coast of Japan killing 28,000 people.
26. 15th June 1877: Former slave Henry Ossian Flipper graduated from the West Point Military Academy today, becoming the first African American to do so.
27. 15th June 1878: In the world’s first moving pictures caught on camera, 12 cameras were used each taking one picture to see if all four horses’ hooves left the ground.
28. 15th June 1888: Wilhelm II became the Emperor of Germany today.
29. 15th June 1896: In Japan, 27,000 people were killed, 9000 were injured and 13,000 houses were destroyed as the Tsunami struck the Shinto festival on the beach at Sanriku.
30. 15th June 1898: The US House of Representatives today passed a resolution to annex Hawaii.
20th Century – Important Events On This Day June 15th – The 1900s
31. 15th June 1902: Canada’s Maritime Provinces changed over from Eastern to Atlantic time.
32. 15th June 1903: The Serbian assembly met today to elect Prince Peter Karageorgevich as King.
33. 15th June 1904: The General Slocum, an excursion steamer with over 1300 people from St Marks German Lutheran Church, who were on their 17th annual Sunday school picnic, burst into flames on New York East River. More than 1000 people died.
34. 15th June 1916: The first Boeing product “Boeing Modal 1, flew for the first time today.
35. 15th June 1917: The US Congress today passed the US Espionage Act which provides harsh penalties for anyone found interfering in the US War efforts by sharing information with the country’s enemies.
36. 15th June 1919: The first non-stop Atlantic flight by Alcock and Brown landed in Ireland today.
37. 15th June 1920: Three African American men were today lynched by a 5000-strong mob in Duluth, Minnesota. The trio were jailed for raping a 17-year-old white woman.
38. 15th June 1921: Bessie Coleman the first black pilot of the US reaches France today.
39. 15th June 1923: Mine Strike, Postal Strike, and Rail Strike brought about a fall of the Theunis-led government in Belgium.
40. 15th June 1924: Ford Motor Company produced its 10 millionth automobile today.
41. 15th June 1927: The continuing harassment of Negros in the Southern States by the Ku Klux Klan has prompted many in the North to demand the disbandment of the Klan. Recently a woman and her son were dragged from their bed, taken out of town flogged, and told to leave the area. 82 lash marks were found on the woman’s body when she was admitted to the hospital.
42. 15th June 1935: In an attempt to get President Roosevelt’s New Deal Legislation passed in a rush, both houses of Congress were called in on Saturday.
43. 15th June 1940: Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) was formed today.
44. 15th June 1948: Cricket’s legendary batsman from Australia was out without scoring a run in a test match against England. Australia won the test match.
45. 15th June 1951: Heavyweight boxing champion Joe Louis scored his last knockout victory today.
46. 15th June 1954: In Great Britain, two of their largest steel factories are nationalized today.
47. 15th June 1955: The 17-day Rail Strike ended today after settling.
48. 15th June 1955: The first annual “Operations Alert” exercise, intended to assess the USA’s preparation for a nuclear attack, was staged today by the Eisenhower administration.
49. 15th June 1955: The House Civil Service Committee today approved a 7.5% pay hike across the board for the government’s civil service workers.
50. 15th June 1955: The International Olympic Committee today voted in favor of granting Rome the right to host the 1960 Summer Olympics.
51. 15th June 1960: Argentina today complained to the United Nations about Israel’s illicit transfer of Eichmann.
52. 15th June 1962: South Africa passed a bill today which sets the death penalty for many crimes.
53. 15th June 1963: The first Prime Minister of Israel, David Ben-Gurion resigned today.
54. 15th June 1965: As part of Operation Rolling Thunder launched in March of this year, US planes bombed targets in North Vietnam.
55. 15th June 1966: The world’s first Hovercraft show opened in the UK today. This was held to promote export sales of hovercraft ferry operations and for military use.
56. 15th June 1971: The proposal by the Conservative government led by Margaret Thatcher to end free milk to school children above the age of seven met with opposition. The labor-controlled local councils threatened to increase local rates to provide free school milk.
57. 15th June 1974: Investigative reporter Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward’s work “All The President’s Men”, which detailed their Watergate investigation was published by Simon and Schuster in the US.
58. 15th June 1978: Soyuz 29 carried 2 cosmonauts to Salyut 6 and they remained in space for 139 days.
59. 15th June 1982: The Supreme Court today ruled that all children, regardless of citizenship, are entitled to a public education.
60. 15th June 1983: The state and local restrictions on abortion were struck down by the Supreme Court today.
61. 15th June 1985: Hijackers of the TWA Boeing 727 which was forced to land in Beirut, today shot and killed an American Marine. They threatened to kill more unless their demands were met.
62. 15th June 1985: Vega 2, the Russian space probe landed on Venus today.
63. 15th June 1985: In a continued tit-for-tat expulsions by the USSR and the US an American envoy was today ordered to leave the Soviet Union after being arrested on espionage charges by the KGB.
64. 15th June 1992: The first Berlin Air Show in 60 years was held.
65. 15th June 1992: Flight to John F Kennedy Airport New York City was inaugurated by Ghana Airways.
66. 15th June 1992: In a spelling bee contest Dan Quayle, relaying on a faulty card instructs Trenton NJ elementary student to spell “potato” instead of the English spelling “Potato”.
67. 15th June 1996: The IRA today detonated a huge bomb outside the Arndale shopping center during lunchtime. 200 people were injured mostly by flying glass. Seven of them are said to be seriously injured. The damage was less since the IRA had earlier issued a warning.
68. 15th June 1997: British model and actress Naomi Campbell suffered a drug overdose and was hospitalized.
69. 15th June 1998: There was a major drop in share prices across the world as the Japanese Yen traded at ¥146 to a US dollar following an announcement that Japan is now technically in recession.
70. 15th June 1999: As part of the NATO peace plan, Yugoslav pulled out of Kosovo, exposing evidence of mass killings committed by Serb forces on ethnic Albanians in Kosovo. In addition to the withdrawal of Serb forces, the Peace Plan also called for the disarming of the Kosovo Liberation Army.
21st Century – June 15 This Day In History – The 2000s
71. 15th June 2002: The new Earth asteroid 2002 MN missed the Earth by 75,000 miles. This is one-third the distance between the Earth and the moon.
72. 15th June 2005: Microsoft was criticized for Censoring Chinese blogs. The MSN service blocked the usage of words like “democracy”, “human rights”, “demonstration”, “freedom” etc. Microsoft defended itself saying it will abide by the laws of the country in which it operates.
73. 15th June 2006: Bill Gates announced today that he will transition from day-to-day responsibilities at Microsoft and focus more on the charitable work of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
74. 15th June 2007: Seventy-one-year-old James Seale, a former member of the Ku Klux Klan is found guilty of the 1964 murder of African American teens and could face life in prison. He was arrested at the time of the murders but was released for lack of evidence.
75. 15th June 2010: Heavy rains in Bangladesh caused flooding and landslides. At least 53 people are reported killed and many are still missing. Many houses and buildings got buried during the landslide and flooding.
76. 15th June 2012: President Obama announced today that the US government would stop the deportation of illegal immigrants who came to the country as children. Immigrants between the ages of 16 and 30 would now be eligible for work permits. This could affect up to 800,000 people.
77. 15th June 2012: Five Dutch banks including ING, received downgrades of credit rating of one to two notches.
78. 15th June 2013: After Hassan Rouhani was elected President of Iran, Iranian citizens celebrated the event on the streets of Tehran.
79. 15th June 2014: In Columbia, Juan Manual Santo was today re-elected as President.
80. 15th June 2017: A day after the Grenfell Tower fire, British Prime Minister Theresa May announced a public inquiry and Scotland Yard has launched a criminal inquiry.
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