12 History Lessons + 4 Births & 6 Deaths for June 7, 2025
Today’s History:
- 1494 – Spain and Portugal sign the Treaty of Tordesillas, dividing the New World between them.
- 1654 – Louis XIV is crowned King of France at Reims Cathedral.
- 1776 – Richard Henry Lee presents the “Lee Resolution” to the Continental Congress, calling for American independence from Britain.
- 1892 – Homer Plessy is arrested for refusing to leave a whites-only railway car, leading to the landmark Plessy v. Ferguson case.
- 1929 – The Vatican City becomes an independent state with the signing of the Lateran Treaty.
- 1939 – King George VI and Queen Elizabeth become the first British monarchs to visit the United States.
- 1942 – The Battle of Midway ends in a decisive U.S. victory over Japan in World War II.
- 1955 – The quiz show The $64,000 Question premieres on CBS television.
- 1965 – The U.S. Supreme Court rules in Griswold v. Connecticut that married couples have the right to use birth control.
- 1981 – Israeli jets destroy Iraq’s Osirak nuclear reactor in a surprise airstrike.
- 2001 – Tony Blair’s Labour Party wins a second term in the UK general election by a landslide.
- 2013 – The Guardian publishes the first story based on Edward Snowden’s NSA surveillance leaks.
Today’s Birthdays:
- 1940 – Tom Jones, Welsh singer known for hits like It’s Not Unusual (85)
- 1952 – Liam Neeson, Irish actor (Schindler’s List, Taken) (73)
- 1981 – Anna Kournikova, Russian tennis player and model (44)
- 1990 – Iggy Azalea, Australian rapper and songwriter (Fancy) (35)
Today’s Deaths:
- 1329 – Robert the Bruce, King of Scots and hero of Scottish independence (Age ~54)
- 1843 – Friedrich Hölderlin, German lyric poet (Age 73)
- 1965 – Judy Holliday, American actress and Academy Award winner (Born Yesterday) (Age 43)
- 1993 – Dražen Petrović, Croatian basketball star, killed in a car crash (Age 28)
- 2008 – Dino Risi, Italian film director (Il Sorpasso) (Age 91)
- 2015 – Christopher Lee, British actor (Dracula, The Lord of the Rings) (Age 93)
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