Today in History

Protestant loyalists in Belfast, Ireland, begin an 11-week picket of the Holy Cross Catholic school for girls, sparking rioting.

Russia and China sign a demarcation agreement to end dispute over a stretch of their border and agree they will no longer target each other with nuclear weapons.

US begins shipping military aircraft and weapons to Columbia for use against that country’s drug lords.

Fearne Cotton, English radio and television presenter.

Ashley Jones, actress (True Blood and The Young and the Restless TV series).

Ho Chi Minh, the leader of North Vietnam, dies.

Lieutenant General Nguyen Van Thieu is elected president of South Vietnam.

Charlie Sheen (Carlos Irwin Estevez), actor (Platoon, Two and a Half Men TV series).

Adam Curry, co-founder of Mevio, Inc., Internet entertainment company.

Petros VII (Petros Papapetrou), Greek Orthodox Pope and Patriarch of Alexandria and all Africa (1997–2004).

General Tomoyuki Yamashita, the Japanese commander of the Philippines, surrenders to Lieutenant General Jonathan Wainwright at Baguio.

The U.S. Seventh Army captures Lyons, France.

British troops invade Italy, landing at Calabria.

Alan Charles “Al” Jardine, musician, composer, vocalist, member of Rock and Roll Hall of Fame; founding member of the band The Beach Boys.

The British passenger ship Athenia is sunk by a German submarine in the Atlantic, with 30 Americans among those killed. American Secretary of State Cordell Hull warns Americans to avoid travel to Europe unless absolutely necessary.

Eileen Brennan, actress; won Golden Globe and Emmy for her role in the TV adaptation of Private Benjamin.

Albert Henry DeSalvo, a serial killer and rapist known as the “Boston Strangler”; though he confessed to 13 murders, debate continues over which crimes he actually committed.

Hugh Sidey, news correspondent and author of John F. Kennedy, President.

The United States recognizes the nation of Czechoslovakia.

The German Somme front is broken by an Allied offensive.

Dixie Lee Ray, Chair of the Atomic Energy Commission who received the U.N. Peace Prize in 1977.

Carl Anderson, physicist and 1936 Nobel prize winner for his discovery of the positron.

The first professional American football game is played in Latrobe, Pennsylvania between the Latrobe Young Men’s Christian Association and the Jeannette Athletic Club. Latrobe wins 12-0.

Richard Niebuhr, theologian.

Ferdinand Porsche, automotive engineer, designer of the Volkswagen in 1934 and the Porsche sports car in 1950.

Louis H. Sullivan, architect who gained fame for his design of the Chicago Auditorium Theater.

General William Harney defeats Little Thunder’s Brule Sioux at the Battle of Blue Water in Nebraska.

Sarah Orne Jewett, author (Tales of New England, The Country of the Pointed Firs).

Frederick Douglass escapes slavery disguised as a sailor. He would later write The Narrative Life of Frederick Douglass, his memoirs about slave life.

The Treaty of Paris is signed by Great Britain and the new United States, formally bringing the American Revolution to an end.

The American flag (stars & stripes), approved by Congress on June 14th, is carried into battle for the first time by a force under General William Maxwell.

The English under Cromwell defeat a superior Scottish army under David Leslie at the Battle of Dunbar.

Edward III of England begins the siege of Calais, along the coast of France.

Mamelukes under Sultan Qutuz defeat Mongols and Crusaders at Ain Jalut.

After the death of Henry II, Richard Lionheart is crowned king of England.