Scott Allsop's Blog, page 32

25th June 1950: Korean War begins when North Korean forces cross the 38th parallel, invading South Korea

North Korean troops launched a surprise and quickly advanced southward to capture Seoul, the capital of South Korea, within ...

24th June 1947: The first widely-reported UFO sighting was made by private pilot Kenneth Arnold

In what Kenneth Arnold later complained was an ‘historic misquote’, the press coined the now-ubiquitous phrase ‘flying saucers’ to describe the ...

23rd June 1960: The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved Enovid as the first combined oral contraceptive pill in the world

400,000 women saw their doctors to obtain Enovid contraceptive prescriptions in the first ...

22nd June 1940: France signs the Second Armistice of Compiègne with Nazi Germany which signals the Fall of France

Adolf Hitler seized the opportunity to inflict a symbolic humiliation on the French by signing the armistice in the same location, and in the same railway carriage, as the armistice of the First World ...

21st June 1877: Ten Irish immigrants hanged for murder, having been accused of membership of the Molly Maguires secret society

Historians have since questioned the convictions, which saw ten men hanged for murder – six in the prison at Pottsville, and four at Mauch Chunk in Carbon ...

20th June 1945: The United States approves the transfer of Nazi rocket scientist Wernher von Braun to America

Wernher von Braun initially developed rockets for the United States Army, but was later made director of the Marshall Space Flight Center where he oversaw the design of the Saturn V rocket that launched the Apollo spacecraft to the ...

19th June 1865: Juneteenth is established when enslaved people in Galveston, Texas, are informed of their freedom

On June 19, 1865, Union General Gordon Granger arrived in Galveston, Texas, and issued General Order No. 3 which informed the enslaved African Americans of their ...

18th June 1812: The War of 1812 began when President James Madison signed a declaration of war against Great Britain

Madison signed the declaration of war against Great Britain, marking the first time that the United States declared war on another ...

17th June 1775: Battle of Bunker Hill fought during the early stages of the American Revolutionary War

While the Battle of Bunker Hill resulted in a British victory and the successful capture of the hill, it came the cost of 1,000 casualties that included many ...

16th June 1884: The Switchback Railway, America’s first purpose-built roller coaster, opened at Coney Island in New York City

Having opened on 16 June 1884, passengers paid 5 cents to ride the Switchback Railways and achieved speeds of up to 6 miles per ...