Historical Events on June 20

  • 1819: The SS Savannah becomes the first steam-propelled ship to cross the Atlantic when it arrives at Liverpool in the United Kingdom.
  • 1837: Queen Victoria takes the British throne.
  • 1840: A patent for the telegraph is given to Samuel Morse.
  • 1863: West Virginia becomes the 35th State is the U.S.
  • 1877: The first commercial telephone services in Hamilton, Ontario is installed by Alexander Graham Bell.
  • 1893: Lizzie Borden is found innocent of the murders of her father and stepmother.
  • 1895: The Kiel Canal is opened on this date.
  • 1900: An almost 2-month siege of Legation Quarter in Beijing, China is begun by the Imperial Chinese Army during the Boxer Rebellion.
  • 1900: The leader of the Russian Polar Expedition of 1900 – Baron Eduard Toll – leaves the city of Saint Petersburg, Russian aboard the explorer ship named Zarya. He is never seen again.
  • 1940: During World War II on this date, Italy attempts to invade France but fails.
  • 1941: Just 2-days before Hitler invades Russia, the U.S. Army Air Corps is downgraded to just being the training and logistical army of the U.S Army Air Forces.
  • 1942: Kazimierz Piechowski and 3 other political prisoners manage to escape an Auschwitz Concentration Camp by dressing as members of the SS-Totenkopfverbände and stealing an SS stafe car.
  • 1943: The Detroit Race Riots begin. They will last for 3 more days.
  • 1944: The Battle of the Philippine Sea ends during World War 2. It was a decisive naval victory and the aerial portion of the battle is often known as the Great Marianas Turkey Shoot.
  • 1945: Under Operation Paperclip, the U.S Secretary of State approves the transfer of Wernher von Braun and his team of Nazi scientists to the United States.

Famous Birthdays on June 20

  • English biochemist and Nobel Prize laureate, Frederick Gowland Hopkins is born in 1861.
  • American actress Olympia Dukakis is born in 1931.
  • American actor Danny Aiello is born in 1933.
  • English actor John Mahoney is born in 1940.
  • American singer-songwriter and producer, Lionel Richie is born in 1949.