TODAY’S HISTORY LESSON – JUNE 14
1381 The Peasants’ Revolt, led by Wat Tyler, climaxes when rebels plunder and burn the Tower of London and kill the Archbishop of Canterbury.
1642 Massachusetts passes the first compulsory education law in the colonies.
1775 The U.S. Army is founded when the Continental Congress authorizes the muster of troops.
1777 The Continental Congress authorizes the “stars and stripes” flag for the new United States.
1834 Sandpaper patented by Isaac Fischer Jr, Springfield, Vermont
1846 A group of settlers declare California to be a republic.
1927 Nicaraguan President Porfirio Diaz signs a treaty with the U.S. allowing American intervention in his country.
1929 The population in the US continues to grow at a rate of 1.4 million a year with current census estimates predicting 120,000,000 next year.
1932 Representative Edward Eslick dies on the floor of the House of Representatives while pleading for the passage of the bonus bill.
1938 Chlorophyll patented by Benjamin Grushkin
1943 In the case of West Virginia Board of Education v. Barnette, the United States Supreme Court decided that schoolchildren cannot be forced to give a salute to the United States flag.
1949 The State of Vietnam is formed.
1951 UNIVAC, the first computer built for commercial purposes, is demonstrated in Philadelphia by Dr. John W. Mauchly and J. Presper Eckert, Jr.
1954 Americans take part in the first nation-wide civil defense test against atomic attack.
1954 President Eisenhower signed the order inserting the words “under God” into the Pledge of Allegiance.
1967 USSR launches Kosmos 166 for observation of Sun from Earth orbit
1982 Argentine forces surrendered to British troops on the Falkland Islands.
1985 Lebanese Shiite Moslem gunmen hijack TWA 847 after Athens’ takeoff
1989 Former U.S. President Reagan received an honorary knighthood from Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II.
1990 The U.S. Supreme Court upheld police checkpoints that are used to examine drivers for signs of intoxication.
1995 Chechen rebels take 2,000 people hostage in a hospital in Russia.
2002 A large asteroid just misses the Earth – 2002 MN, a 73-meter lump, was three times closer to Earth than the Moon. It was first discovered three days after its closest approach.
** history.net, onthisday.com, infoplease.com, timeanddate.com, thepeoplehistory.com, on-this-day.com **
