TODAY’S HISTORY LESSON: JUNE 4
780 BC- 1st total solar eclipse reliably recorded by Chinese
1070 Roquefort cheese created in a cave near Roquefort, France
1615 The fortress at Osaka, Japan, falls to Shogun Leyasu after a six-month siege.
1647 Parliamentary forces capture King Charles I and hold him prisoner.
1717 The Freemasons are founded in London.
1760 Great Upheaval: New England planters arrive to claim land in Nova Scotia, Canada taken from the Acadians
1783 The Montgolfier brothers demonstrate the first hot air balloon
1792 Capt George Vancouver claims Puget Sound for Britain
1812 Louisiana Territory officially renamed “Missouri Territory”
1896 Henry Ford made a successful test drive of his new car in Detroit, MI. He called the vehicle was called a “Quadricycle.”
1912 Massachusetts passes 1st US minimum wage law
1919 The U.S. Senate passes the Women’s Suffrage bill.
1919 US marines invade Costa Rica
1924 An eternal light was dedicated at Madison Square in New York City in memory of all New York soldiers who died in World War I.
1940 British complete the “Miracle of Dunkirk” by evacuating 338,226 allied troops from France via a flotilla of over 800 vessels including Royal Navy destroyers, merchant marine boats, fishing boats, pleasure craft and even lifeboats
1942 The Battle of Midway began. It was the first major victory for America over Japan during World War II. The battle ended on June 6 and ended Japanese expansion in the Pacific.
1944 The U.S. Fifth Army entered Rome, leading to the liberation of the city during World War II.
1945 US, Soviet Union, Britain and France agree to divide up occupied Germany
1947 The House of Representatives approved the Taft-Hartley Act. The legislation allowed the President of the United States to intervene in labor disputes.
1953 North Korea accepts the United Nations proposals in all major respects.
1957 1st commercial coal pipeline placed in operation
1972 Black activist Angela Davis is found not guilty of murder, kidnapping, and criminal conspiracy.
1974 The Cleveland Indians had “Ten Cent Beer Night”. Due to the drunken and unruly fans the Indians forfeited to the Texas Rangers.
1984 Bruce Springsteen releases Born in the U.S.A.
1985 The U.S. Supreme Court upheld a lower court ruling striking down an Alabama law that provided for a daily minute of silence in public schools.
1986 Jonathan Jay Pollard, a former Navy intelligence analyst, pled guilty in Washington to spying for Israel. He was sentenced to life in prison.
1989 Poland holds the first free elections after World War II
2003 The U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill that would ban “partial birth” abortions with a 282-139 vote.
REFERENCE: HISTORY.NET, ONTHISDAY.COM, TIMEANDDATE.COM, INFOPLEASE.COM, FACTMONSTER.COM, SCOPESYS.COM, ON-THIS-DAY.COM, THEPEOPLEHISTORY.COM
