Today:
1812 – The United States declared war on Great Britain, beginning the War of 1812.
1815 – Napoleon Bonaparte was defeated at the Battle of Waterloo in present-day Belgium.
1873 – Suffragist Susan B. Anthony was fined $100 for voting illegally in the 1872 U.S. presidential election.
1928 – Aviator Amelia Earhart became the first woman to fly across the Atlantic Ocean, as a passenger aboard the Friendship.
1940 – During World War II, Charles de Gaulle delivered his famous Appeal of 18 June, urging French resistance against Nazi Germany.
1945 – William Joyce, known as “Lord Haw-Haw,” was charged with treason in Britain for his wartime propaganda broadcasts.
1953 – Egypt was declared a republic, ending the monarchy and removing King Fuad II.
1983 – Sally Ride became the first American woman in space aboard the Space Shuttle Challenger.
1996 – Ted Kaczynski, the “Unabomber,” was indicted by a federal grand jury.
2018 – President Donald Trump directed the Pentagon to begin planning for a new military branch, the U.S. Space Force.