TODAY’S HISTORY LESSON: JUNE 18
618 Coronation of the Chinese governor Li Yuan as Emperor Gaozu of Tang, the new Emperor of China, initiating three centuries of the Tang Dynasty’s rule over China
1155 Frederick I Barbarossa was crowned emperor of Rome.
1178 Proposed time of origin of lunar crater Giordano Bruno 5 Canterbury monks report explosion on the moon (only such observation known)
1583 Richard Martin of London takes out 1st life insurance policy, on William Gibbons. The premium was œ383
1667 The Dutch fleet sailed up the Thames toward London.
1812 The War of 1812 begins when the United States declares war against Great Britain.
1815 At the Battle of Waterloo, Napoleon Bonaparte is defeated by an international army under the Duke of Wellington.
1863 After repeated acts of insubordination, General Ulysses S. Grant relieves General John McClernand during the Siege of Vicksburg.
1863 J.J. Richardson received a patent for the ratchet wrench.
1864 At Petersburg, Union General Ulysses S. Grant realizes the town can no longer be taken by assault and settles into a siege.
1873 Suffragist Susan B. Anthony was fined $100 for attempting to vote in the 1872 presidential election.
1898 Amusement pier opens, Atlantic City, NJ
1934 US Highway planning surveys nationwide authorized
1940 Winston Churchill’s “this was their finest hour” speech urging perseverance during Battle of Britain delivered to British House of Commons
1942 The U.S. Navy commissioned its first black officer, Harvard University medical student Bernard Whitfield Robinson.
1948 The United Nations Commission on Human Rights adopted its International Declaration of Human Rights. The General Assembly would give it final approval on Dec. 10, 1948.
1959 A Federal Court annulled the Arkansas law allowing school closings to prevent integration.
1968 Supreme Court bans racial discrimination in sale & rental of housing
1976 NBA & ABA agree to merge
1979 In Vienna, U.S. President Jimmy Carter and Leonid Brezhnev signed the Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty (SALT) 2.
1980 “Blues Brothers” with Dan Akwoyd & John Belushi premiers
1981 Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart retires (replaced by Sandra Day O’Connor, 1st woman on high court)
1982 The U.S. Senate approved the renewal of the 1965 Voting Rights Act for an additional twenty-five years.
1991 Pres Zachary Taylors body is exhumed to test how he died
1998 “The Boston Globe” asked Patricia Smith to resign after she admitted to inventing people and quotes in four of her recent columns.
2009 Greenland assumed control over its law enforcement, judicial affairs, and natural resources from the Kingdom of Denmark. Greenlandic became the official language.
REFERENCE: HISTORY.NET, ONTHISDAY.COM, TIMEANDDATE.COM, INFOPLEASE.COM, FACTMONSTER.COM, SCOPESYS.COM, ON-THIS-DAY.COM, THEPEOPLEHISTORY.COM
