Today:
In 1523, Gustav Vasa was elected King of Sweden, effectively ending the Kalmar Union.
In 1674, Shivaji, the founder of the Maratha Empire in India, was crowned king.
In 1833, President Andrew Jackson became the first U.S. President to ride on a train.
In 1844, the Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA) was founded in London.
In 1889, the Great Seattle Fire destroyed much of the city’s downtown business district and waterfront.
In 1912, the eruption of Novarupta in Alaska began, which would become the largest volcanic eruption of the 20th century.
In 1933, the first drive-in movie theater opened in Camden, New Jersey.
In 1942, the U.S. Navy decisively defeated the Imperial Japanese Navy at the Battle of Midway, a major turning point in the Pacific Theater of World War II.
In 1944, Operation Overlord, also known as D-Day, commenced with the Allied invasion of Normandy, France, marking the largest seaborne invasion in history.
In 1966, civil rights activist James Meredith was shot and wounded by a sniper during his “March Against Fear” in Mississippi.