June 9
1772
In an incident regarded as the first naval engagement of the American Revolution John Brown, an American merchant angered by high British taxes on his goods, and other colonists rowed out to the Gaspee, which had run aground off Namquit Point in Providence’s Narragansett Bay while pursuing the Hanna, an American smuggling ship. The colonists set the Gaspee aflame. British officials attempted to prosecute the colonists involved in the so-called “Gaspee Affair,”, but could find no one to testify againt them. This renewed the tension in British-American relations and inspired the Boston Patriots to found the “Committee of Correspondence,” a propaganda group that rallied Americans to their cause by publicizing all anti-British activity that occurred throughout the 13 colonies.
1915
United States Secretary of State William Jennings Bryan resigned due to his concerns over President Woodrow Wilson’s handling of the crisis generated by a German submarine’s sinking of the British passenger liner Lusitania the previous month, in which 1,201 people—including 128 Americans—died. The United States maintained a policy of strict neutrality during the first two years of World War I, but Germany's announcement of unrestricted submarine warfare was viewed by Wilson as a provocation and illegal. Wilson penned a strongly worded note to Germany, but objecting to the strong position taken by Wilson in the note, and believing it could be taken as a precursor to a war declaration, Bryan tendered his resignation rather than sign it.
1973
With a spectacular victory at the Belmont Stakes, Secretaria became the first horse since Citation in 1948 to win America’s coveted Triple Crown: the Kentucky Derby, the Preakness and the Belmont Stakes. In one of the finest performances in racing history, Secretariat, ridden by Ron Turcotte, completed the 1.5-mile race in 2 minutes and 24 seconds, a dirt-track record for that distance. In November 1973, the “horse of the century” was retired and put to stud at Claiborne Farm in Paris, Kentucky. In 1999, ESPN ranked Secretariat No. 35 in its list of the Top 50 North American athletes of the 20th century, the only non-human on the list.
June 10
1752
Benjamin Franklin was said to have flown a kite during a thunderstorm to collect ambient electrical charge in a Leyden jar, enabling him to demonstrate the connection between lightning and electricity. Franklin became interested in electricity in the mid-1740s, a time when much was still unknown on the topic, and spent almost a decade conducting electrical experiments. He coined a number of terms used today, including battery, conductor and electrician. He also invented the lightning rod, used to protect buildings and ships.
1944
15-year-old Joe Nuxhall became the youngest person ever to play Major League Baseball when he pitched in a game for the Cincinnati Reds. Nuxhall threw two-thirds of the ninth inning in an 18-0 loss to the St. Louis Cardinals; he was pulled only after one wild pitch and allowing five runs on five walks and two hits. The game was played during World War II, when it became common for adolescent and older players to fill in for big leaguers fighting overseas. After the 1942 season, more than 500 big league players enlisted, including stars Ted Williams, Joe DiMaggio, Bob Feller, Dom DiMaggio and Pee Wee Reese. Though the June 10 outing was Nuxhall's only appearance in 1944, he rejoined the Reds in 1952 when he was 23 years old and pitched 15 seasons in the big leagues.
1928
Author and illustrator Maurice Sendak, who revolutionized children’s literature with such best-selling books as Where the Wild Things Are and became one of the most celebrated children’s authors in contemporary history, was born in Brooklyn, New York. First published in 1963, Where the Wild Things Are was pioneering in its realistic depiction of childhood anxieties and rebellious behavior at a time when many stories for young readers presented a sugar-coated version of life. Sendak, who wrote or illustrated close to 100 books during his career, also designed productions for operas, plays and ballets. He died of complications from a stroke at age 83 on May 8, 2012.
June 11
1949
Hank Williams made his debut on the Grand Ole Opry. The then-25-year-old performed "Lovesick Blues," his first No.1 hit, as well as his self-penned single "Mind Your Own Business" ... and earned an incredible six encores. Three years following his debut performance, in 1952, after making numerous performances at the Grand Ole Opry, Williams was fired from the organization, with his heavy drinking cited as the reason. Only a few months later, on Jan. 1, 1953, he passed away from heart failure, which was brought on by his excessive drinking.
1963
Facing Alabama National Guard troops federalized by President John F. Kennedy, Alabama Governor George Wallace ended his blockade of the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa and allowed two African American students to enroll. George Wallace, one of the most controversial politicians in U.S. history, was elected governor of Alabama in 1962 under an ultra-segregationist platform. When African American students attempted to desegregate the University of Alabama, Alabama’s new governor, flanked by state troopers, literally blocked the door of the enrollment office. The U.S. Supreme Court, however, had declared segregation unconstitutional in 1954’s Brown v. Board of Education and the executive branch undertook aggressive tactics to enforce the ruling.
1982
Steve Spielberg's science-fiction classic E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial was released. With E.T., Spielberg created an appealing vision of alien life, in the form of a diminutive creature with wrinkled skin and a glowing belly. From the time that E.T. had its first showing, on closing night at the 1982 Cannes Film Festival, the film’s buzz was overwhelmingly positive. TIME also included the fictional alien in its list of candidates for Man of the Year–the first film character to receive that honor. E.T. had stupendous success at the box office, eventually raking in some $435 million (it was re-released in 1985 and a special 20th-anniversary edition was issued in 2002).
June 12
1982
A diverse crowd of one million people descended upon New York City’s Central Park, demanding nuclear disarmament and an end to the Cold War arms race. The US and the USSR had been locked in an arms race since WWII and President Reagan strongly opposed any disarmament treaty. Fearing that Reagan would prefer nuclear war to nuclear disarmament, the demonstration coincided with the United Nations Second Special Session on Disarmament. The 1982 rally and UN special session did not immediately lead to new disarmament treaties, but five years later the US and the USSR signed the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty, the first time in history that the superpowers had agreed to shrink their nuclear stockpiles.
1987
Berlin was separated into repressive East Germany, controlled by the Soviets, and West Germany, controlled by the British, French and and the US, following Germany's WW2 defeat. The two countries were separated by the Berlin Wall, formed to prevent people from escaping East Germany. In one of his most famous Cold War speeches, President Ronald Reagan declared to a West Berlin crowd, “There is one sign the Soviets can make that would be unmistakable, that would advance dramatically the cause of freedom and peace.” He then called upon his Soviet counterpart: “Mr. Gorbachev, open this gate. Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall.” Reagan then went on to ask Gorbachev to undertake serious arms reduction talks with the United States.
2017
Otto Warmbier, a 22-year-old University of Virginia student who was taken prisoner in North Korea 17 months earlier, returned home in a comatose state after suffering torture and abuse. During a school trip, he was arrested for allegedly taking a propaganda poster from a hotel room and sentenced 15 years hard labor. After one week home, he died from extensive brain damage. Known for its human-rights abuses, North Korea claimed Warmbier had contracted botulism and taken a sleeping pill. A month after Warmbier’s death, American citizens were banned from traveling to North Korea.
June 13
1807
President Thomas Jefferson received a subpoena to testify in the treason trial of his former vice president, Aaron Burr. In the subpoena, Burr asked Jefferson to produce documents that might exonerate him. After killing Alexander Hamilton in a duel, Burr went into hiding and concocted a seditious plan to enlist the help of Britain and Spain to create a new nation in the southwest he would rule over. Jefferson refused to appear in Burr’s defense, invoking his presidential right to protect the public interest. If Jefferson’s intent was to help get Burr convicted, his refusal to supply documentation backfired. In the end, Supreme Court Chief Justice John Marshall found Burr not guilty by lack of evidence.
1966
The U.S. Supreme Court handed down its decision in Miranda v. Arizona, establishing the principle that all criminal suspects must be advised of their rights before interrogation. Now considered standard police procedure, “You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can, and will, be used against you in court of law. You have the right to an attorney. If you cannot afford one, one will be appointed to you,” has been heard so many times in television and film dramas that it has become almost cliche.
1967
President Lyndon B. Johnson appointed U.S. Court of Appeals Judge Thurgood Marshall to fill the seat of retiring Supreme Court Associate Justice Tom C. Clark. On August 30, after a heated debate, the Senate confirmed Marshall’s nomination by a vote of 69 to 11. Two days later, he was sworn in by Chief Justice Earl Warren, making him the first African American in history to sit on America’s highest court. During his 24 years on the high court, Associate Justice Marshall consistently challenged discrimination based on race or sex, opposed the death penalty, and supported the rights of criminal defendants. He also defended affirmative action and women’s right to reproductive freedom.
June 14
1846
Anticipating the outbreak of war with Mexico, American settlers in California rebelled against the Mexican government and proclaimed the short-lived California Republic, starting the Bear Flag Revolt.. Though nominally controlled by Mexico, the majority of California was made of former US citizens who distrusted the Mexican government. Having won a few skirmishes, the rebels constructed a makeshift flag with a crude drawing of a grizzly bear. Three weeks after it had been proclaimed, the California Republic quietly faded away. Ironically, the Bear Flag itself proved far more enduring than the republic it represented: it became the official state flag when California joined the union in 1850.
1922
President Warren G. Harding, while addressing a crowd at the dedication of a memorial site for the composer of the “Star Spangled Banner,” Francis Scott Key, became the first president to have his voice transmitted by radio. The broadcast heralded a revolutionary shift in how presidents addressed the American public. It was not until three years later, however, that a president would deliver a radio-specific address. That honor went to President Calvin Coolidge.
1968
A Federal District Court jury in Boston convicted Dr. Benjamin Spock and three others, including Yale University Chaplain William Sloane Coffin, Jr., of conspiring to aid, abet and counsel draft registrants to violate the Selective Service Act. Spock, a physician and the famous author of The Common Sense Book of Baby and Child Care, was a ubiquitous figure at antiwar demonstrations. He was one of the original signers of A Call to Resist Illegitimate Authority, published in September 1967, which supported draft resistance and the right of servicemen to refuse to obey “illegal and immoral orders.” The 1968 convictions were overturned in 1969. Dr Spock was arrested several times, but he continued his antiwar activities.
June 15
1846
Representatives of Great Britain and the United States signed the Oregon Treaty, which settles a long-standing dispute with Britain over who controlled the Oregon territory. The treaty established the 49th parallel from the Rocky Mountains to the Strait of Georgia as the boundary between the United States and British Canada. The United States gained formal control over the future states of Oregon, Washington, Idaho and Montana; and the British retained Vancouver Island and navigation rights to part of the Columbia River.
1877
Henry Ossian Flipper, born into slavery in Thomasville, Georgia, in 1856, became the first African American cadet to graduate from the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York. After graduation, Flipper was appointed to serve as second lieutenant in the all-African American 10th Cavalry and stationed at Fort Sill in Oklahoma where he supervised engineering projects. He was relieved of duty in 1881 when he was accused of commissary funds and dishonorably discharged. He vehemently maintained his innocence and went on to a distinguished career as a civilian engineer and surveyor, And in 1999, President Bill Clinton granted Flipper a posthumous pardon, Saying, "Henry Flipper did all his country asked him to do."
1916
President Woodrow Wilson signed a unanimously approved bill into law that granted federal incorporation to the Boy Scouts of America and protected the BSA’s name and insignia. In 1916, the 6-year-old Boy Scouts of America faced increasing competition from other organizations — groups that wished to capitalize on the growing interest in all things Scouting generated by the BSA. The BSA was granted a rare Title 36 congressional charter, which is presented to select patriotic and national organizations. President Wilson stated at the time that “every nation depends for its future upon the proper training and development of its youth.”