Today in History Monday June 24

451 – 10th recorded perihelion passage of Halley’s Comet

843 – Vikings destroy Nantes

1441 – Eton College founded by Henry VI

1497 – John Cabot claims eastern Canada for England, believed he found Asia in Nova Scotia)

1664 – The colony of New Jersey is founded.

1794 – Bowdoin College is founded in Maine

1813 – Battle of Beaver Dam – British and Indian forces defeat US forces

1853 – Gadsden Purchase 29,670-square-mile (76,800 square km) from Mexico (now southern Arizona and New Mexico) for $10 million signed by President Franklin Pierce

1863 – Planning an invasion of Pennsylvania, Lee’s army crosses Potomac

1901 – First exhibition by Pablo Picasso, 19, opens in Paris

	Mary Pickford

1916 – Mary Pickford becomes the first female film star to get a million dollar contract.

1931 – USSR and Afghanistan sign neutrality treaty

1932 – Coup ends absolute monarchy in Thailand

1939 – Pan Am’s first US to England flight

1947 – Flying saucers sighted over Mount Rainier by pilot Ken Arnold

1951 – Persian army takes over nationalized oil installations

1961 – Iraq demands dominion over Kuwait

1964 – FTC rules health warnings must appear on all cigarette packages

1975 – Eastern 727 crashes at JFK airport killing 113

1976 – 1975 movie “Rocky Horror Picture Show” released in Germany

1982 – Supreme Court rules president can’t be sued for actions in office

1992 – John Gotti begins life sentence in jail

1993 – Arab terrorist group planning bombing of Holland and Lincoln Tunnels caught

1993 – Yale computer science professor Dr. David Gelernter loses the sight in one eye, the hearing in one ear, and part of his right hand after receiving a

mailbomb from the Unabomber.

2004 – Capital punishment is declared unconstitutional in New York

2012 – Mohamed Morsi of the Muslim Brotherhood becomes President of Egypt

1771 – E I Du Pont, France, chemist/scientist (Du Pont)

1797 – John Hughes, archbishop, founded Fordham University in the Bronx

1895 – Jack Dempsey, “Manassa Mauler”, heavyweight boxing champion (1919-26)

1911 – Juan Manuel Fangio, racing driver

1935 – Pete Hamill, Brooklyn, NY, journalist (NY Post)

1944 – Jeff Beck, Surrey England, singer/guitarist (Jeff Beck Group)

1945 – George E Pataki, Peekskill NY, (Gov-R-NY, 1995- )

1908 – Grover Cleveland, 22nd & 24th US President (1885-89, 93-97), dies at 71

1987 – Jackie Gleason, comedian (Honeymooners), dies at 71

1991 – Rufino Tamayo, Mexican painter, dies at 91