June 13
Alexander the Great, the young Macedonian military genius who forged an empire stretching from the eastern Mediterranean to India, dies in Babylon, in present-day Iraq, at the age of 33. – 323 B.C.E..
The U.S. Supreme Court hands down its decision in Miranda v. Arizona to establish the principle that all criminal suspects must be advised of their rights prior to interrogation. – 1966.
After more than a decade in space, Pioneer 10, the world’s first outer-planetary probe, leaves the solar system. The next day, it radioed back its first scientific data on interstellar space. – 1983.
June 14
During the American Revolution, the Continental Congress adopts a resolution stating that “the flag of the United States be thirteen alternate stripes red and white” and that “the Union be thirteen stars, white in a blue field, representing a new Constellation.” – 1777.
Residents in Paris, France are awakened to the sound of a German-accented voice announcing by loudspeakers that a curfew was being imposed for 8 p.m. that evening when German troops enter and occupy Paris. – 1940.
The first commercial computer, UNIVAC I, is installed at the U.S. Census Bureau. – 1951.
TWA Flight 847 from Athens to Rome is hijacked by Shiite Hezbollah terrorists who immediately demand to know the identity of ‘’those with Jewish-sounding names.” Two of the Lebanese terrorists, armed with grenades and a 9-mm. pistol, force the plane to land in Beirut, Lebanon. – 1985.
Michael Jordan leads the Chicago Bulls to an 87-86 victory over the Utah Jazz in Game Six of the NBA Finals to clinch their third consecutive NBA championship, for the second time in the 1990s. Jordan scores 45 points and makes the game-winning jump shot with 5.2 seconds remaining in the game. – 1998.
June 15
More than 1,000 individuals taking a pleasure trip on New York City’s East River on the riverboat-style steamer General Slocum, are drowned, or burned to death, when a fire sweeps through the boat. It was one of the United States’ worst maritime disasters. – 1904.
June 16
The first roller coaster in America opens at Coney Island, in Brooklyn, N.Y.. Its speed is approximately six miles per hour and cost a nickel to ride. – 1884.
When daylight breaks, survivors of a tsunami in Japan find that more than 20,000 of their friends and family have perished overnight. Waves may have reached as high as 115 feet in some places and entire villages all along the coast were washed away during the evening. – 1896.
National Industrial Recovery Act becomes law. It establishes the right to unionize, sets maximum hours and minimum wages for every major industry, abolishes sweatshops and child labor. – 1933.
Aboard Vostok 6, Soviet Cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova becomes the first woman to travel into space. After 48 orbits and 71 hours, she returned to earth, having spent more time in space than all U.S. astronauts combined to that date. – 1963.
June 17
Susan B. Anthony goes on trial in Canandaigua, N.Y. for casting her ballot in a federal election the previous November, in violation of existing statutes barring women from the vote. – 1873.
The dismantled Statue of Liberty, a gift of friendship from the people of France to the people of America, arrives in New York Harbor after being shipped across the Atlantic Ocean in 350 individual pieces packed in more than 200 cases. – 1885.
Viewers across the Nation are glued to their television screens when a fleet of police cars pursue a white Ford Bronco with “O.J.” Simpson inside. – 1994.
June 18
The War of 1812 begins in response to the British economic blockade of France, the induction of American seamen into the British Royal Navy against their will, and the British support of hostile Indian tribes along the Great Lakes frontier. – 1812.
At Waterloo in Belgium, Napoleon Bonaparte suffers defeat at the hands of the Duke of Wellington, which brings an end to the Napoleonic era of European history. – 1815.
From Cape Canaveral, Fla., the space shuttle Challenger is launched into space on its second mission. Aboard the shuttle is Dr. Sally Ride, who becomes the first American woman to travel into space. – 1983.
June 19
Eight-hour work day adopted for federal employees. – 1912.
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, N.Y.. – 1953.