1834 – American inventor and businessman Cyrus McCormick patents the reaping machine
1858 – Louisiana chess prodigy Paul Morphy arrives in Europe
1923 – Marcus Garvey sentenced to 5 years for using mail to defraud
1932 – German champion Max Schmeling loses NYSAC, NBA and lineal heavyweight boxing titles in controversial split points decision to American Jack Sharkey in NYC, New York
1937 – French People’s Popular Front government of Socialist Léon Blum falls
1983 – Tennis ace Arthur Ashe undergoes double bypass heart surgery
2019 – UK police called to house of leader contender Boris Johnson over alleged altercation with his girlfriend
2021 – New Zealand weightlifter Laurel Hubbard is the first openly transgender athlete to be selected for the Olympics
Category: Historical Events
Historical Events for 20th June 2026
1789 – French Revolution: The Third Estate of the French Estates-General swears the Tennis Court Oath at the Palace of Versailles, vowing not to disband until a new constitution is formed
1863 – West Virginia admitted as 35th US state of the Union
1944 – Great storm of 1944: Heavy Atlantic storm destroys Mulberry Harbor – allies artificial harbour used during D-Day at Omaha Beach
1949 – Tennis star Gussie Moran shocks Wimbledon by wearing a short dress “to look good and move more freely on the court”
1969 – A constitutional referendum in Rhodesia on declaring a republic is approved by 72% of the voting population
1975 – Film “Jaws,” based on Peter Benchley’s novel, directed by Steven Spielberg, and starring Roy Scheider, is released
1980 – Panamanian boxer Roberto Durán takes WBC welterweight title from Sugar Ray Leonard at Olympic Stadium in Montreal by unanimous points decision
1990 – Nelson Mandela lands in NYC to begin a tour of US
Historical Events for 19th June 2026
1269 – King Louis IX of France decrees all Jews must wear a yellow badge in public or be fined 10 livres of silver
1778 – George Washington’s Continental Army troops finally leave Valley Forge, their winter encampment
1926 – DeFord Bailey is 1st African American to perform on Nashville’s “Grand Ole Opry”
1937 – Francisco Franco’s Nationalist troops take Bilbao during their victorious Biscay Campaign in the Basques region during the Civil War
1940 – German 7th Armoured division under command of Rommel occupies Cherbourg
1960 – Loretta Lynn records “I’m a Honky Tonk Girl”
1992 – Evander Holyfield beats Larry Holmes in 12 for heavyweight boxing title
2016 – NBA Finals: Cleveland Cavaliers win first title beating defending champion Golden State Warriors, 93-89 in Game 7; first team to overcome 3–1 deficit; MVP: LeBron James
Historical Events for 18th June 2026
1580 – States of Utrecht forbid Catholic worship
1980 – Dutch 2nd Chamber joins oil boycott of South Africa
2003 – Google launches AdSense, a program that enables website publishers to serve ads targeted to the specific content of their individual web pages, many of which like On This Day (then HistoryOrb.com) go on to start their own publishing businesses
2005 – David Tennant’s first appearance as the Tenth Doctor in BBC “Doctor Who” episode “The Parting of the Ways”
2013 – 27 people are killed and 30 are injured by a suicide bomb in Sher Garh, Pakistan
2017 – ICC Men’s Cricket Champions Trophy, The Oval, London: Pakistan wins the competition for the first time with a 180-run victory over India; Player of the Series: Hasan Ali (PAK) 13 wickets
2020 – World record for greatest duration for a single lighting flash of 17.1 seconds during thunderstorm over Uruguay and Argentina according to World Meteorological Organization
2022 – Flooding in Bangladesh and nearby Indian states leave four million stranded and without electricity, with at least 41 dead as monsoon floods become more frequent and extreme
Historical Events for 17th June 2026
1397 – Union of Kalmar established between Denmark, Sweden and Norway
1631 – Mumtaz Mahal dies during childbirth. Her husband, Mughal emperor Shah Jahan I, then spends more than 20 years building her tomb, the Taj Mahal
1789 – French Revolution: During the meeting of the Estates-General, the Third Estate proclaims itself the ‘National Assembly’
1916 – US troops under General Pershing march into Mexico
1990 – US Open Men’s Golf, Medinah CC: Hale Irwin wins his 3rd Open title; defeats Mike Donald at the 91st hole, the first in sudden-death, after tying the 18-hole Monday playoff
2012 – US Open Men’s Golf, Olympic Club, SF: American Webb Simpson wins his first major title, 1 stroke ahead of runners-up Graeme McDowell and Michael Thompson
2020 – First major breakthrough in treating COVID-19 using steroid dexamethasone announced by Oxford University
2024 – NBA Finals: Boston Celtics beat Dallas Mavericks 106-88 in Game 5 to clinch the club’s record 18th Championship; MVP: Boston forward Jaylen Brown
Historical Events for 16th June 2026
1823 – Dutch King William I opens the Fijenoord shipyard at Rotterdam
1913 – South African Government pass the segregationist Native Land Act, which restricts purchase or lease of land by native Africans
1922 – Irish republicans are beaten in a national election; the vote is in favor of the Treaty of London, which leaves the Irish Free State as a dominion within the British Commonwealth
1929 – Otto E. Funk, 62, ends marathon walk (NY to SF, 4165 miles in 183 days)
1985 – US Open Men’s Golf, Oakland Hills CC: 1978 champion Andy North wins by 1 stroke ahead of runners-up Dave Barr, T C Chen and Denis Watson
2000 – Israel complies with UN Security Council Resolution 425 after 22 years, which calls on Israel to completely withdraw from Lebanon. Israel withdraws from all of Lebanon, except the disputed Shebaa Farms.
2013 – “Despicable Me 2” directed by Pierre Coffin and Chris Renaud with voices by Steve Carell and Kristen Wiig premieres at the Champs-Elysées Film Festival
2019 – India imposes retaliatory tariffs on 28 US goods
Historical Events for 15th June 2026
1667 – The first fully documented human blood transfusion is performed by French physician Dr. Jean-Baptiste Denys when a small amount of sheep blood is transfused into a 15-year-old boy, who survives the procedure
1894 – Phillies beat Cincinnati Reds, 21-8
1957 – US Open Men’s Golf, Inverness Club: Dick Mayer defeats defending champion Cary Middlecoff by 7 strokes in an 18-hole playoff to win his only major title
1965 – South Africa begins economic boycott of Dutch products
1980 – Jorge Orta of Cleveland gets 6 hits in a baseball game
2014 – NBA Finals: San Antonio Spurs beat Miami Heat, 104-87 in Game 5 for 5th NBA Championship in franchise history; MVP: Kawhi Leonard
2019 – Anthony Davis’s opera “The Central Park Five” premieres at the Long Beach Opera Company, California (Pulitzer Prize for Music 2020)
2021 – US death toll from COVID-19 tops 600,000 (Johns Hopkins), with 65% of adults vaccinated with at least one dose
Historical Events for 14th June 2026
1876 – George Hall of the Philadelphia Athletics becomes first MLB player to hit for cycle (single, double, triple, and home run), in 20-5 win over Cincinnati Reds at the Jefferson Street Grounds, Philadelphia
1877 – Henry Ossian Flipper becomes 1st African American to graduate from West Point Military Academy
1952 – British runner Jim Peters runs world record marathon (2:20:42.2)
1965 – John Lennon’s second book “A Spaniard in the Works” is published
1968 – “In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida” second studio album by Iron Butterfly is released
1975 – Janis Ian releases “At Seventeen”
1981 – No Nukes concert at Hollywood Bowl
1993 – Japanese space probe Sakigake passes Earth
Historical Events for 13th June 2026
1727 – Spain underwrites Preliminairy of Paris
1895 – British Open Men’s Golf, St Andrews: Englishman J.H. Taylor retains title; beats Sandy Herd of Scotland by 4 shots
1925 – 57th Belmont: Albert Johnson aboard American Flag wins in 2:16.8
1925 – American William DeHart Hubbard sets men’s long jump world record at 7.89m (25 ft 10 3⁄4 in) in Chicago, Illinois
1937 – Joe DiMaggio hits 3 consecutive HRs against St Louis Browns
1953 – English Cricketer Alec Bedser takes 14-99 (7-55 and 7-44) vs Australia
1962 – Norway named ombudsman
1988 – Fed jury finds Liggett liable in death of NJ woman of lung cancer
Historical Events for 12th June 2026
1775 – 1st naval battle of Revolution-Unity (US) captures Margaretta (Br)
1939 – Baseball Hall of Fame is dedicated in Cooperstown, New York
1942 – Tornado kills 35 in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
1950 – The first of two Air France DC-4 aircraft flying the same route from Saigon to Paris crashes near Bahrain, killing 46 passengers and crew, while 6 survive; a second DC-4 on the same route crashes two days later a few miles away under similar circumstances
1978 – David Berkowitz sentenced in NY Supreme Court to 25 yrs to life
1993 – “Three Little Pigs” by Green Jelly hits #17
2011 – 65th Tony Awards: “The Book of Mormon” (musical) and “War Horse” (play) win
2017 – Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny sentenced to 30 days administrative arrest for organizing rallies