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 - Mexican Emperor Maximillian was executed.

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 - Father's Day was celebrated for the first time, in Spokane, WA.

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. On July 17, 1917, the family took the name "Windsor".

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.

1953 - Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were executed at Sing Sing Prison in Ossining, NY. They had been convicted of conspiring to pass U.S. atomic secrets to the Soviet Union.

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).

1976 - During three days of violence, black student protestors were massacred in Soweto, South Africa.

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.

1986 - University of Maryland basketball star Len Bias died of a cocaine-induced seizure.

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.

Music History

1708 - Composer Johann Gottlieb Janitsch was born.

1717 - Composer Johann Wenzel Anton Stamitz was born.

1976 - Blue Oyster Cult released the album, "Agents of Fortune."

1980 - Donna Summer became the first act to sign with Geffen Records.

1988 - Over 3,000 East Germans gathered at the Berlin Wall to hear Michael Jackson. Jackson was performing a concert on the other side of the wall in West Berlin.

1998 - Loretta Lynn appeared on the Friday Night Opry.

Elvis Presley History

1965 - Elvis Presley's single "Crying In The Chapel" hit #1 in the U.K.




Random Elvis Quote


People don't realize what they had till it's gone. Like President Kennedy - nobody like him. Like The Beatles, there will never be anything like them. Like my man, Elvis Presley - I was the Elvis of boxing.
- Muhammad Ali
Sports History

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.

1867 - In New York, the Belmont Stakes was run for the first time.

1943 - The National Football League approved the merger of the Philadelphia Eagles and the Pittsburgh Steelers.

1972 - The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the anti-trust exemption that major league baseball uses was Constitutional. The court called upon the U.S. Congress to repeal the sport's special status.

1973 - Pete Rose (Cincinnati Reds) got his 2,000-career-hit.

1973 - Gordie Howe left the NHL to join his sons Mark and Marty in the WHA (World Hockey League).

1986 - University of Maryland basketball star Len Bias died of a cocaine-induced seizure.

1999 - The Dallas Stars won their first NHL Stanley Cup by defeating the Buffalo Sabres in the third overtime of game six. The game actually ended on June 20th.

U.S. President History

1778 - U.S. General George Washington's troops finally left Valley Forge after a winter of training.

1862 - U.S. President Abraham Lincoln outlined his Emancipation Proclamation, which outlawed slavery in U.S. territories.

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.



U.S. President Quotes


"No man has ever yet been hanged for breaking the spirit of a law."
- Grover Cleveland


Birthdays

Blaise Pascal 1623
Moe Howard 1897
Charles Cunningham Boycott 1897
Elbert Hubbard 1856
Guy Lombardo 1902
Lou Gehrig 1903
Earl Bascom 1906
Mildred Natwick 1908
Abe Fortas 1910
Martin Gabel 1912
Pat Buttram 1917
Pauline Kael 1919
Louis Jourdan 1920
Shelley Mayfield 1924
Nancy Marchand 1928
Pier Angeli 1932
Marisa Pavan 1932
Gena Rowlands 1934
Tommy DeVito (The Four Seasons) 1936
Robert Aspromonte 1938
Al Wilson 1939
Spanky McFarlane (Spanky and Our Gang) 1942
Aung San Suu Kyi 1945
Salman Rushdie 1947
Walt McKechnie 1947
Phylicia Rashad 1948
Ann Wilson (Heart) 1951
Larry Dunn (Earth, Wind & Fire) 1953
Kathleen Turner 1954
Doug Stone 1956
Mark DeBarge (DeBarge) 1959
Paula Abdul 1962
Brian Vander Ark 1964
Andy Lauer 1965
Bumper Robinson 1974

Deaths which occurred on June 19:

1867 Maximilian Mexican emperor, executed, Mexican republic restored
1939 Grace Abbott social worker (US Children Bureau), dies at 60
1953 Rosenbergs executed at Sing Sing, Julius takes 3 tries, Ethel 5
1962 Frank Borzage academy award winning director, dies at 69
1966 Ed Wynn comedian (Ed Wynn Show), dies at 86
1973 Roger Delgado actor (Adventures of Sir Francis Drake), dies at 53
1986 Len Bias 1st pick of Celtics, suffers fatal cocaine-induced seizure
1986 Murray P Haydon artificial heart recipient, dies in Louisville, Ky
1989 Hy Gardner newspaper columnist, dies at 80
1989 I.F. Stone author, dies at 81 of heart failure