June 8
June 8 is the 159th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (160th in leap years), with 206 days remaining.
Events
- 536 - St. Silverius becomes Pope (probable date).
- 1776 - American Revolutionary War: Battle of Trois-Rivières - American invaders are driven back at Trois-Rivières, Quebec.
- 1783 - The volcano Laki, in Iceland, begins an eight-month eruption which kills over 9,000 people and starts a seven-year famine.
- 1861 - American Civil War: Tennessee secedes from the Union.
- 1862 - American Civil War: Battle of Cross Keys - Confederate forces under General Stonewall Jackson save the Army of Northern Virginia from a Union assault on the James Peninsula led by General George McClellan.
- 1866 - The Canadian Parliament meets for the first time in Ottawa.
- 1887 - Herman Hollerith receives a patent for his punch card calculator.
- 1912 - Carl Laemmle incorporated Universal Pictures.
- 1941 - World War II: Allies invade Syria and Lebanon.
- 1948 - Milton Berle hosts the debut of Texaco Star Theater.
- 1949 - Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell is published.
- 1949 - Red Scare: Such celebrities as Helen Keller, Dorothy Parker, Danny Kaye, Fredric March, John Garfield, Paul Muni and Edward G. Robinson are named in an FBI report as Communist Party members.
- 1950 - Sir Thomas Blamey becomes the only Field Marshal in Australian history.
- 1953 - Flint-Worcester Tornadoes: A tornado hits in Flint, Michigan and kills 115. This is the last tornado to claim more than 100 lives.
- 1953 - The United States Supreme Court rules that Washington, D.C. restaurants could not refuse to serve black patrons.
- 1959 - The first (and only) delivery of Missile Mail.
- 1967 - 6-Day War: The USS Liberty incident occurs, killing 34 and wounding 171.
- 1968 - James Earl Ray is arrested for the murder of Doctor Martin Luther King Jr.
- 1968 - The body of assassinated U.S. Senator Robert F. Kennedy is laid to rest at Arlington National Cemetery.
- 1969 - After the Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS) cancels the program, the last Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour airs.
- 1984 - Homosexuality is decriminalised in the state of New South Wales, Australia.
- 1986 - Former United Nations Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim is elected president of Austria.
- 1995 - Downed U.S. Air Force pilot Captain Scott O'Grady is rescued by U.S. Marines in Bosnia.
- 1998 - Charlton Heston assumes the presidency of the National Rifle Association.
- 1999 - War on Drugs: The government of Colombia announces it will include the estimated value of the country's illegal drug crops, exceeding half a billion US dollars, in its gross national product.
- 2001 - Popular editorial site suck.com, one of the first original content sites on the internet, publishes its final article, "Gone Fishin'."
- 2004 - First Transit of Venus in this millennium.
Births
- 1625 - Giovanni Domenico Cassini, scientist (d. 1712)
- 1724 - John Smeaton, civil engineer (d. 1794)
- 1743 - Alessandro Cagliostro, adventurer (d. 1795)
- 1810 - Robert Schumann, composer (d. 1856)
- 1847 - Ida McKinley, former First Lady of the United States (d. 1907)
- 1867 - Frank Lloyd Wright, architect (d. 1959)
- 1903 - Marguerite Yourcenar, author (d. 1987)
- 1903 - Ralph Yarborough, U.S. Senator and Texas politician (d. 1996)
- 1910 - John W. Campbell Jr., science fiction writer, publisher, editor (d. 1971)
- 1916 - Francis Crick, scientist, Nobel laureate, helped discover the molecular structure of DNA
- 1917 - Byron White, Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court (d. 2002)
- 1918 - Robert Preston, actor (d. 1987)
- 1921 - Suharto, former President of Indonesia
- 1921 - Alexis Smith, actress (d. 1993)
- 1924 - Lyn Nofziger, political operative
- 1925 - Barbara Bush, former First Lady of the United States (to 41st President, George Bush, mother to 43rd President George W. Bush)
- 1927 - LeRoy Neiman, painter
- 1929 - Jerry Stiller, comedian, actor
- 1933 - Joan Rivers, comedienne, author
- 1934 - Millicent Martin, singer, actress
- 1940 - Nancy Sinatra, singer
- 1941 - Fuzzy Haskins, musician ("P Funk")
- 1942 - Doug Mountjoy, Welsh snooker player
- 1944 - Boz Scaggs, singer, songwriter
- 1947 - Kathy Baker, actress
- 1948 - Jürgen von der Lippe, German show master
- 1950 - Sonia Braga, actress
- 1950 - Kathy Baker, actress
- 1951 - Bonnie Tyler, singer, guitarist
- 1955 - Griffin Dunne, actor
- 1957 - Scott Adams, cartoonist ("Dilbert")
- 1958 - Keenen Ivory Wayans, comedian, actor, director
- 1960 - Mick Hucknall, singer/songwriter Simply Red
- 1962 - John Rhodes, musician (Duran Duran)
- 1966 - Julianna Margulies, actress (ER)
- 1970 - Kelli Williams, actress (The Practice)
- 1973 - Lexa Doig, Canadian actress (Andromeda)
- 1975 - Rick Oliver, technologist
- 1982 - Nadia Petrova, Russian tennis player
Deaths
- 218 - Macrinus, Roman Emperor (b. c. 165)
- 632 - Muhammad, founder of Islam (b. c. 570)
- 1042 - Harthacanute, King of England (b. 1018)
- 1795 - King Louis XVII of France (b. 1785)
- 1809 - Thomas Paine, American revolutionary and writer: Common Sense (b. 1737)
- 1845 - Andrew Jackson, 7th President of the United States (b. 1767)
- 1857 - Douglas Jerrold, British dramatic playwright and political satirist (b. 1803)
- 1874 - Cochise, Apache leader (b. c. 1812)
- 1876 - George Sand, author (b. 1804)
- 1924 - George Leigh Mallory (b. 1886) and Andrew Irvine (b. 1902), mountaineers
- 1929 - Bliss Carman, poet (b. 1861)
- 1966 - Anton Melik, Slovene geographer (b. 1890)
- 1969 - Robert Taylor, actor (b. 1911)
- 1970 - Abraham Maslow, psychologist (b. 1908)
- 1979 - Herb Polesie, playwright
- 1982 - Satchel Paige, baseball player (b. 1906)
- 1998 - Sani Abacha, then President of Nigeria (b. 1904)
- 2000 - Jeff MacNelly, political cartoonist
Holidays and observances
June 7 - June 9 - May 8 - July 8 -- listing of all days
