1615: The fortress of Osaka, Japan, fell to shogun Ieyasu after a six month siege.
1647: The British army seized King Charles I and held him as a hostage.
1674: Horse racing was prohibited in Massachusetts.
1717: The Freemasons were founded in London.
1784: Marie Thible became the first woman to fly in a hot-air balloon. The flight was 45 minutes long and reached a height of 8,500 feet.
1792: Captain George Vancouver claimed Puget Sound for Britain.
1794: British troops captured Port-au-Prince, Haiti.
1805: Tripoli was forced to conclude peace with U.S. after conflicts over tribute.
1812: The Louisiana Territory had its name changed to the Missouri Territory.
1816: The Washington was launched at Wheeling, WV. It was the first stately, double-decker steamboat.
1878: Turkey turned Cyprus over to Britain.
1892: The Sierra Club was incorporated in San Francisco.
1896: Henry Ford made a successful test drive of his new car in Detroit, MI. The vehicle was called a quadricycle.
1911: Gold was discovered in Alaska's Indian Creek.
1918: French and American troops halted Germany's offensive at Chateau-Thierry, France.
1919: The U.S. Senate passed the Women's Suffrage bill.
1924: An eternal light was dedicated at Madison Square in New York City in memory of all New York soldiers who died in World War I.
1931: The first rocket-glider flight was made by William Swan in Atlantic City, NJ.
1935: "Invisible" glass was patented by Gerald Brown and Edward Pollard.
1939: The first shopping cart was introduced by Sylvan Goldman in Oklahoma City, OK. It was actually a folding chair that had been mounted on wheels.
1940: The British completed the evacuation of 300,000 troops at Dunkirk, France.
1942: The Battle of Midway began. It was the first major victory for America over Japan during World War II. The battle ended on June 6 and ended Japanese expansion in the Pacific.
1943: In Argentina, Juan Peron took part in the military coup that overthrew Ramon S. Castillo.
1944: The U-505 became the first enemy submarine captured by the U.S. Navy.
1944: During World War II, the U.S. Fifth Army entered Rome, which began the liberation of the Italian capital.
1944: "Leonidas Witherall" was first broadcast on the Mutual Broadcasting System.
1946: Juan Peron was installed as Argentina's president.
1947: The House of Representatives approved the Taft-Hartley Act. The legislation allowed the President of the United States to intervene in labor disputes.
1954: French Premier Joseph Laniel and Vietnamese Premier Buu Loc initialed treaties in Paris giving "complete independence" to Vietnam.
1960: The Taiwan island of Quemoy was hit by 500 artillery shells fired from the coast of Communist China.
1972: Angela Davis was found not guilty of murder, kidnapping, and criminal conspiracy.
1974: The Cleveland Indians had "Ten Cent Beer Night". Due to the drunken and unruly fans the Indians forfeited to the Texas Rangers.
1974: Sally Murphy became the first woman to qualify as an aviator with the U.S. Army.
1984: For the first time in 32 years, Arnold Palmer failed to make the cut for the U.S. Open golf tournament.
1985: The U.S. Supreme Court upheld a lower court ruling striking down an Alabama law that provided for a daily minute of silence in public schools.
1986: Jonathan Jay Pollard, a former Navy intelligence analyst, pled guilty in Washington to spying for Israel. He was sentenced to life in prison.
1989: 645 people were killed in the Soviet Union when a gas explosion engulfed two passing trains.
1989: In Beijing, Chinese army troops stormed Tiananmen Square to crush the pro-democracy movement. It is believed that hundreds, possibly thousands, of demonstrators were killed.
1992: The U.S. Postal Service announced that people preferred the "younger Elvis" stamp design in a nationwide vote.
1998: Terry Nichols received a life sentence for his role in the bombing of an Oklahoma City Federal Building.
1998: George and Ira Gershwin received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
2000: Julius "Dr. J" Erving reported his 19-year-old son, Cory, missing. His body was found on July 6, 2000.
2001: Nepal's King Dipendra died. Three days earlier, he had reportedly shot and killed most members of the royal family before turning the gun on himself.
2003: Martha Stewart was indicted on federal charges of using illegal privileged information and then obrstructing an investigation. She resigned as chairman and chief executive officer of her company the same day.
2003: The U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill that would ban "partial birth" abortions with a 282-139 vote.
2003: Amazon.com announced that it had received more than 1 million orders for the book "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix." The released date was planned for June 21.
2008: The United Kingdom and Canada became the first countries to be able to buy and rent films at the iTunes Store.
