This Day in History – June 15, 2011

1215 King John signs Magna Carta at Runnymede, England 1664 NJ established 1775 George Washington appointed commander-in-chief of American Army 1785 2 French balloonists die in world’s 1st fatal aviation accident 1804 12th amendment ratified; deals with manner of choosing president 1836 Arkansas becomes 25th state 1844 Goodyear patents vulcanization of rubber 1846 Oregon Treaty signed, setting US-British boundary at 49ø N 1851 Jacob Fussell, Baltimore dairyman, sets up 1st ice-cream factory 1860 1st White settlement in Idaho (Franklin) 1864 Robert E Lee’s home area (Arlington, VA) becomes a miltary cemetery 1869 Celluloid patented by John Wesley Hyatt, Albany, NY 1871 Phoebe Couzins is 1st woman graduate of a US collegiate law school 1876 Sara Spencer (R) is 1st woman to address a US presidential cconvention 1877 Henry O Flipper becomes 1st black graduate at West Point 1878 1st attempt at motion pictures (used 12 cameras, each taking 1 picture) done to see if all 4 of a horse’s hooves leave the ground 1915 US government mints 1st $50 gold pieces, for Panama Pacific Expo 1918 1″ of snow falls in Northern Pennsylvania 1924 Ford Motor Company manufactures its 10 millionth automobile 1924 Native Americans are proclaimed US citizens 1934 Great Smokey Mountains National Park dedicated 1951 Joe Louis scored his last knock out victory 1956 John Lennon (15) & Paul McCartney (13) meet for the 1st time as Lennon’s rock group The Quarrymen perform at a church dinner 1962 South Africa passes a bill setting death penalty for many crimes 1967 Gov Reagan signs liberalized California abortion bill 1969 “Hee Haw” with Roy Clark & Buck Owens premiers on CBS TV 1971 Vernon E Jordan Jr, appointed exec director of National Urban League 1978 Jordan’s King Hussein marries Elizabeth Halaby, 26-yr-old American 1983 Supreme Court struck down state & local restrictions on abortion 1985 En route to Halley’s Comet, USSR’s Vega 2 drops lander on Venus 1986 Pravda announces high-level Chernobyl staff fired for stupidity 1989 Ronald Reagan is knighted by Queen Elizabeth 1991 Philippines volcano Mount Pinatubo errupts]]]]> ]]>