Today in History

On This Day in:

1064 – Coimbra, Portugal fell to Ferdinand, the King of Castile.

1534 – Jacques Cartier became the first to sail into the river he named Saint Lawrence.

1790 – John Barry copyrighted 'Philadelphia Spelling Book.' It was the first American book to be copyrighted.

1860 – The Ms. Ann Stevens book 'Malaeska, the Indian Wife of the White Hunter' was offered for sale for a dime. It was the first published 'dime novel.'

1861 – Mary Ann 'Mother' Bickerdyke began working in Union hospitals.

1923 – Bulgaria's government was overthrown by the military.

1931 – Robert H. Goddard patented a rocket-fueled aircraft design.

1934 – Donald Duck made his debut in the Silly Symphonies cartoon 'The Wise Little Hen.'

1940 – Norway surrendered to the Nazis during World War II.

1943 – The withholding tax on payrolls was authorized by the U.S. Congress.

1945 – Japanese Premier Kantaro Suzuki declared that Japan would fight to the last rather than accept unconditional surrender.

1946 – Mel Ott (with the New York Giants) became the first manager to be ejected from a doubleheader (both games).

1959 – The first ballistic missile carrying submarine, the USS George Washington, was launched.

1965 – Michel Jazy ran the mile in 3 minutes, 53.6 seconds. He broke the record set by Peter Snell in 1964.

1973 – Secretariat won the 105th Belmont Stakes by 31 lengths and ran the fastest 1 1/2 miles on dirt at 2:24.

1978 – Leaders of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints struck down a 148-year-old policy of excluding black men from the Mormon priesthood.

1980 – Richard Pryor was severely burned by a 'free-base' mixture that exploded. He was hospitalized more than two months.

1985 – Thomas Sutherland, an American educator, was kidnapped in Lebanon. He was not released until November 1991.

1986 – The Rogers Commission released a report on the Challenger disaster. The report explained that the spacecraft blew up as a result of a failure in a solid rocket booster joint.

1999 – NATO and Yugoslavia signed a peace agreement over Kosovo.

2000 – Canada and the United States signed a border security agreement. The agreement called for the establishment of a border- enforcement team.

2000 – The U.S. House of Representatives voted to repeal gift and estate taxes. The bill called for the taxes to be phased out over 10 years.

2001 – Patrick Roy (Colorado Avalanche) became the first National Hockey League (NHL) player to win three Conn Smythe Trophies. The award is given to the playoff's Most Valuable Player.

2011 – The world's first artificial organ transplant was performed. It was an artificial windpipe coated with stem cells.

Born on June 9:

Leopold I (Leopold Ignaz Joseph Balthasar Felician) 1640 – Holy Roman emperor Peter the Great 1672 – Peter I of Russia George Stephenson 1781 – Civil engineer and mechanical engineer, built the first public railway John Howard Payne 1791 – Actor, poet, playwright Carl Nielsen 1865 – Composer, conductor, violinist Meta Vaux Warrick 1877 – Artist Cole Porter (Cole Albert Porter) 1891 – Composer, songwriter Fred Waring 1900 – Musician (The Pennsylvanians), bandleader, radio-television personality Louis Kutner 1908 – Human rights activist, lawyer, helped to found Amnesty International Robert 'Bob' Cummings (Charles Clarence Robert Orville Cummings) 1910 – Actor Les Paul (Lester William Polsfuss) 1915 – Musician, songwriter, inventor (solid-body electric guitar) Charles Loloma 1921 – Artist George Axelrod 1922 – Screenwriter Mona Freeman (Monica Elizabeth Freeman) 1926 – Actress Marvin L. Kalb 1930 – Journalist Joe Santos 1931 – Actor Jimmy Spruill 1934 – Musician Jackie Wilson (Jack Leroy 'Jackie' Wilson, Jr.) 1934 – Singer, performer Diana Van Der Vlis 1935 – Actress Letty Cottin Pogrebin 1939 – Writer, journalist Dick Vitale (Richard J. 'Dick' Vitale) 1940 – Basketball sportscaster Billy Hatton 1941 – Musician (The Fourmost) Jon Lord 1941 – Musician (White Snake, Deep Purple) Trevor Bolder 1950 – Musician (Spiders from Mars, Uriah Heep) Dave Parker (David Gene 'The Cobra' Parker) 1951 – Baseball player Billy Knight (William R. 'Billy' Knight) 1952 – Basketball player Patricia Cornwell 1956 – Mystery author Michael J. Fox 1961 – Actor ('Family Ties') Aaron Sorkin 1961 – Writer, producer ('The West Wing') Johnny Depp (John Christopher 'Johnny' Depp II) 1963 – Actor, musician Wayman Tisdale 1964 – Basketball player Gloria Reuben 1965 – Singer, actress ('ER') Dean Felber 1967 – Musician (Hootie & the Blowfish) Dean Dinning 1967 – Musician (Toad the Wet Sprocket)