What Happened On
Flag Burning
June 21, 1989
Burning of the American flag in protest is ruled legal by the U.S. Supreme Court.
Computer Mouse
June 21, 1967
Patent filed by Douglas Engelbart for the first computer mouse. It was awarded in 1970 (patent #3541541).
Mississippi Burning
June 21, 1964
Three civil rights workers (two white, one black) are murdered in Mississippi. The film Mississippi Burning (1988) is loosely based on these murders and ensuing FBI investigation. In 2005, preacher and Ku Klux Klan (KKK) organizer, Edgar Ray Killen was found guilty of recruiting the mob that committed these crimes. The three had been working to register African American voters in Mississippi. They were returning from talking to a Mississippi church that had been burned when they were pulled over for speeding and escorted to jail. While in jail, the KKK organized a group, including law enforcement officers, that followed them when they were released. They were then abducted and killed. When the state of Mississippi refused to prosecute, the federal courts stepped in. Seven were convicted and received minor sentences for their actions. Killen was convicted 41 years later and received 60 years prison time, dying in prison 13 years later.
American servicemen inspecting a shell crater after the Japanese attack on Fort Stevens
American servicemen inspecting a shell crater after the Japanese attack on Fort Stevens
World War II - First Attack On a Military Installation On the U.S. Mainland
June 21, 1942
A Japanese submarine shells Fort Stevens, Oregon. No one is injured during what was the first attack of the war on a military installation on the U.S. mainland. The submarine fired 17 rounds, but the commander of Fort Stevens had ordered a blackout and all rounds missed their target. It was also determined that the sub was out of range and the fort commander ordered his men to hold their fire, as the flashes would have given away their position. A U.S. bomber attacked the sub, but the sub was able to submerge and escape.
John Dillinger's First Bank Robbery
June 21, 1933
The notorious criminal John Dillinger commits his first bank robbery, robbing an Ohio bank of $10,000. He had been released from prison the previous month after serving eight and a half years for armed robbery.
First Woman to Parachute from an Airplane
June 21, 1913
20-year-old Tiny Broadwick from 1,000 feet above Los Angeles.
She had made her first parachute jump in 1908 out of a hot air balloon.
In 1914, she invented the ripcord and became the first woman to parachute into a body of water, by jumping into Lake Michigan.
Woolworth Bros store, opened in 1880 in Scranton, PA
Woolworth Bros store, opened in 1880 in Scranton, PA
Woolworth's
June 21, 1879
F. W. Woolworth opens his second store. It was named "Woolworth's Great Five Cent Store" and was located in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. It led to what became at one time the largest department store chain in the world. His first store, opened the previous year in Utica, New York, failed. (If at first you don't succeed…)
U.S. Constitution
June 21, 1788
New Hampshire ratifies the U.S. Constitution reaching the minimum requirement of nine states (two-thirds majority) needed to make it law. It went into effect the following March.
SpaceShipOne
June 21, 2004
SpaceShipOne becomes the first privately-funded spaceplane to achieve space flight. In October, it would win the $10 million Ansari X Prize by becoming the first non-governmental reusable manned spacecraft to make two space flights in less than 14 days.
Hinckley Found Not Guilty
June 21, 1982
John Hinckley, Jr. is found not guilty by reason of insanity. He had shot U.S. President Ronald Reagan and James Brady in an attempt impress actress Jodie Foster. Hinckley had developed an obsession with Foster after seeing the film Taxi Driver.
He was sentenced to institutional psychiatric care, from which he was released in 2016 to live full-time at his mother's home.
National Mediation Board
June 21, 1934
The government board is established to handle disputes in the railroad and airline industries.
Cyrus McCormick and an 1884 ad for his reaper
Cyrus McCormick and an 1884 ad for his reaper
First Practical Reaper
June 21, 1834
American inventor Cyrus McCormick patents the machine that would be largely responsible for the U.S. agricultural revolution. He had been demonstrating his reaper in Virginia since 1831.
St. Paul's Cathedral
June 21, 1675
The construction of Christopher Wren's building begins in London.
Birthdays
Jane Russell in The Outlaw (1943)
Jane Russell in The Outlaw (1943)
Jane Russell
Born June 21, 1921 d. 2011
American actress, full-figured gal. Bob Hope once joked, "Culture is the ability to describe Jane Russell without moving your hands." Film: Gentleman Prefer Blondes (1953) and Gentlemen Marry Brunettes (1955).
First Black Member of House of Representatives
Joseph Hayne Rainey
Born June 21, 1832 d. 1887
American politician. First black member of the U.S. House of Representatives (1870-79). He was the second black to serve in the U.S. Congress, and the first black presiding officer of the House of Representatives. Born into slavery, he was freed when his father purchased the freedom of his entire family and himself.
Photo Credit: Robert Payne
Photo Credit: Robert Payne
Prince William (William Arthur Philip Louis)
Born June 21, 1982
Britain's Prince of Wales. He is the elder son of Charles III, King of Britain and the grandson of Queen Elizabeth II. Since birth, he has been second in the line of succession to the British throne after his father.
Michael Gross
Born June 21, 1947
American actor. TV: Family Ties (1982-89, Mr. Keaton).
He and Family Ties co-star Meredith Baxter share the same birthday of June 21, 1947.
Meredith Baxter
Born June 21, 1947
American actress. TV: Bridget Loves Bernie (1972-73, Bernie) and Family Ties (1982-89, Elyse Keaton).
She and Family Ties co-star Michael Gross share the same birthday of June 21, 1947.
She married her co-star David Birney from Bridget Loves Bernie in 1974, divorcing in 1989.
Joe Flaherty (Joseph O'Flaherty)
Born June 21, 1941 d. 2024
American Emmy-winning actor, comic. TV: Second City TV (1976-81) and Maniac Mansion (1990-93, Dr. Fred Edison).
Mariette Hartley
Born June 21, 1940
American actress. TV: Polaroid commercials (fictional wife of James Garner) and Incredible Hulk (David Banner's wife).
Ron Ely (Ronald Pierce Ely)
Born June 21, 1938 d. 2024
American actor. TV: Tarzan (1966-68, title role), The Aquanauts (1960-61), Face the Music (1980-81, host), and Miss America Pageant (1980-81, host). Ely did virtually all of his stunts for the Tarzan series, and as a consequence suffered two dozen major injuries in the process, including two broken shoulders and various lion bites.
Film: Doc Savage: The Man of Bronze (1975, title role).
Bernie Kopell
Born June 21, 1933
American actor. TV: The Love Boat (Doc).
Carl Burton Stokes
Born June 21, 1927 d. 1996
American politician, TV newscaster. He was the first African-American elected mayor of a major U.S. city (1967-72, Cleveland, Ohio).
In 1994, U.S. President Bill Clinton appointed him U.S. Ambassador to the Republic of Seychelles.
Note: Richard G. Hatcher was also elected mayor of Gary, Indiana on the same day Stokes was elected.
Maureen Stapleton
Born June 21, 1925 d. 2006
American Oscar-Tony-Emmy-winning actress. Film: Reds (1981, Oscar) and Cocoon (1985). TV: Queen of the Stardust Ballroom (1975).
Jean-Paul Sartre
Born June 21, 1905 d. 1980
French philosopher, dramatist. He and his lover Simone de Beauvoir founded "Existentialism."
Daniel Carter Beard
Born June 21, 1850 d. 1941
American artist, author. He created and taught the first animal-drawing class (1893, Woman's School of Applied Design), organized the first Boy Scout group in America (1910), and is for whom Mt. Beard is named.
Herman Munster
Born June 21, 1815
Fictional TV character of The Munsters, played by Fred Gwynne. According to the show, Herman was created in 1815 at the University of Heidelberg by Dr. Victor Frankenstein.
Daniel D. Tompkins
Born June 21, 1774 d. 1825
American politician. 6th U.S. Vice-President (1817-25), and governor of New York (1807-17).
During the War of 1812, Tompkins personally financed New York's war effort with borrowed money, but both the New York legislature and the federal government refused him full reimbursement.
Saint Leo IX
Born June 21, 1002 d. 1054
French-born religious leader, 152nd Pope (1049-54).
Deaths
Carroll O'Connor
Died June 21, 2001 b. 1924
American Emmy-winning actor. TV: All in the Family (1971-79, Archie Bunker), Archie Bunker's Place (1979-83), and In the Heat of the Night (1988-95, Police Chief Bill Gillespie).
After O'Connor's adopted son Hugh O'Connor committed suicide in 1995 after battling drug addiction, O'Connor became an advocate to raise awareness of drug addition and lobbied to get the Drug Dealer Civil Liability Act in California (also known as the Hugh O'Connor Memorial Law). It allowed people to sue drug dealers for reimbursement for losses due to drug use.
Remember the Alamo
Santa Anna (Antonio López de Santa Anna)
Died June 21, 1876 b. 1794
Mexican president (1833-35, 1841-45, 1846-47, 1853-55) and general. He led the Mexican army at the Fall of the Alamo (1836), where his army defeated 187 Texans - including Davy Crockett and Jim Bowie - who had declared their independence from Mexico in an effort to establish their own country.
John Lee Hooker
Died June 21, 2001 b. 1912
American blues singer. One of the most successful blues musicians of the 1960s.
Maureen "Little Mo" Connolly
Died June 21, 1969 b. 1934
American tennis player. She was the first woman to win the Grand Slam (1953, by winning Wimbledon, French Open, Australian Open, and U.S. Open in the same year).
Leland Stanford
Died June 21, 1893 b. 1824
American politician, railroad builder, philanthropist, president of the Central Pacific Railroad (1863-93), president of the Southern Pacific Railroad (1885-90), and founder of Stanford University (1885).
Dunglas levitating in front of witnesses
Dunglas levitating in front of witnesses
Claimed to Levitate and Speak with the Dead
Daniel Dunglas Home
Died June 21, 1886 b. 1833
Scottish medium. He claimed to levitate and speak with the dead and was one of the most famous mediums of his time, performing for royalty and high society. Three witnesses claim that he levitated out of a third-story window and reentered the building through the window of an adjoining room.
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle believed that Home's abilities were unequaled, while Harry Houdini claimed he was a fraud. Another of his critics, poet Robert Browning wrote a poem critical of Home, Sludge the Medium (1864), while his wife Elizabeth Barrett Browning remained a Home's believer.
Anders Jonas Ångström
Died June 21, 1874 b. 1814
Swedish physicist, for whom the angstrom (a unit of length equal to 10-10 meters) is named. He showed that hydrogen is present in the Sun's atmosphere (1862).
Friedrich Froebel
Died June 21, 1852 b. 1782
German educator. He founded the first kindergarten (1837). Because of his radical teaching beliefs, in 1851 kindergartens were banned by the Prussian minister of education.
Edward III
Died June 21, 1377 b. 1312
King of England (1327-77). His reign was marked by numerous successful military ventures.