This Day in History

Third Estate makes Tennis Court Oath

20 Jun 1212

French and Spanish crusaders unite against the Almohaden at Toledo

20 Jun 1567

Jews are expelled from Brazil by order of regent Don Henrique

20 Jun 1582

Bishop Domingo de Salazar of Manila suppresses the Philippines

20 Jun 1591

Mauritius and Willem van Nassau occupy Devente

More History

Oil flows in Alaska

With a flip of a switch in Prudhoe Bay crude oil from the nations largest oil field begins flowing south down the trans-Alaska pipeline to the ice-free...

Boxer Rebellion begins in China

In response to widespread foreign encroachment upon Chinas national affairs Chinese nationalists launch the so-called Boxer Rebellion in Peking. Callin...

Jaws released

On this day in 1975 Jaws a film directed by Steven Spielberg that made countless viewers afraid to go into the water opens in theaters. The story of a great ...

William Westmoreland becomes Commander of MACV

Gen. William Westmoreland succeeds Gen. Paul Harkins as head of U.S. Military Assistance Command Vietnam (MACV). Westmoreland had previously been Harkins...

Creighton Abrams appointed as Army Chief of Staff

President Richard Nixon appoints General Creighton W. Abrams commander of U.S. Military Assistance Command Vietnam to be U.S. Army Chief of Staff. Abrams had ...

Roberto Duran outpoints Sugar Ray Leonard for welterweight title

On June 20 1980 in a match in Montreal Canada Roberto Duran out-points Sugar Ray Leonard to win the World Boxing Council (WBC) welterweight ti...

Solar energy system installed at White House

President Jimmy Carter and first lady Rosalynn Carter climb to the White House roof to celebrate the installation of solar-energy panels there on this day in 19...

Mountain man Joe Meek dies

A skilled practitioner of the frontier art of the tall tale the mountain man Joe Meek dies on his farm in Oregon. His life was nearly as adventurous as his sto...

Writer Lillian Hellman is born

Playwright and screenwriter Lillian Hellman is born in New Orleans on this day.Hellman grew up shuttling between New Orleans and New York Her parents spent six...

Beatles and Disco equals a 1 pop hit for Stars on 45

It was the summer of 1981 and after an 11-year hiatus the sound of the Fab Four once again ruled the radio airwaves. Only instead of John Paul George and Ri...

Coal mine explosion kills 111 in China

A gas explosion in a Chinese coal mine kills 111 workers on this day in 2002. Perhaps the most disturbing aspect of this tragic incident is that it was not uni...

Bugsy Siegel organized crime leader is killed

Benjamin Bugsy Siegel the man who brought organized crime to the West Coast is shot and killed at his mistress Virginia Hills home in Be...

United States and Soviet Union agree to establish a nuclear hot line

To lessen the threat of an accidental nuclear war the United States and the Soviet Union agree to establish a hot line communication system betwe...

West Virginia enters the Union

During the Civil War West Virginia is admitted into the Union as the 35th U.S. state or the 24th state if the secession of the 11 Southern states were taken i...

Ford signs first contract with autoworkers union

After a long and bitter struggle on the part of Henry Ford against cooperation with organized labor unions Ford Motor Company signs its first contract with the...

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