June 8th in History

This Pulitzer Prize-winning photo of a naked 9-year-old Phan Thị Kim Phúc running down a road after being burned by napalm was taken June 8, 1972

Today in History

  • Edward the Confessor ascends the English throne (1042)
  • James Madison introduces what will become the Bill of Rights in the House of Representatives (1789)
  • American Civil War: Tennessee secedes from the Union (1861)
  • Herman Hollerith applies for a patent for his punch card calculator (1887)
  • Lassie premiers on radio (1947)
  • Milton Berle’s Texaco Star Theater premiers (1948)
  • The FBI names Helen Keller, Dorothy Parker, Danny Kaye, Edward G. Robinson, and others as Communist Party members (1949)
  • George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four is published (1949)
  • The US Supreme Court rules that Washington, DC, restaurants cannot refuse to serve black patrons (1953)
  • Vietnam War: The Associated Press photographer Nick Ut takes his Pulitzer Prize-winning photo of a naked 9-year-old Phan Thị Kim Phúc running down a road after being burned by napalm (1972)
  • The first modern-era transit of Venus takes place (2004)

Birthdays

  • Giovanni Cassini, astronomer (1625)
  • Robert Schumann, composer (1810)
  • Frank Lloyd Wright, architect (1867)
  • C. C. Beck, Captain Marvel artist (1910)
  • John W. Campbell, Jr., science fiction editor and author (1910)
  • Francis Crick, co-discoverer of DNA (1916)
  • Byron White, football player and Supreme Court justice (1917)
  • Robert Preston, music man (1918)
  • Suharto, Indonesian president (1921)
  • LeRoy Neiman, painter (1921)
  • Alexis Smith, actress (1921)
  • Lyn Nofziger, press secretary (1924)
  • Barbara Bush, first lady (1925)
  • Del Ennis, baseball player (1925)
  • Jerry Stiller, comedian (1927)
  • Joan Rivers, comedienne (1933)
  • James Darren, actor (1936)
  • Nancy Sinatra, singer (1940)
  • Andrew Weil, naturopath and author (1942)
  • Colin Baker, 6th Doctor Who (1943)
  • Boz Scaggs, singer-songwriter (1944)
  • Sara Paretsky, mystery writer (1947)
  • Sônia Braga, actress (1950)
  • Tim Berners-Lee, invented the World Wide Web (1955)
  • Scott Adams, Dilbert cartoonist (1957)
  • Don Robinson, baseball player (1957)
  • Keenen Ivory Wayans, actor (1958)
  • Rob Pilatus, member of Milli Vanilli (1965)
  • Julianna Margulies, actress (1966)
  • Troy Vincent, football player (1970)
  • Kanye West, rapper (1977)

Deaths

  • محمد (Muhammad), prophet of Islam (632)
  • Edward, the Black Prince, royal heir and military leader (13760
  • Thomas Paine, pamphleteer (1809)
  • Andrew Jackson, 7th US President (1845)
  • Cochise, Native American tribal chief (1874)
  • George Sand, author (1876)
  • Gerard Manley Hopkins, poet (1889)
  • Robert Taylor, actor (1969)
  • Abraham Maslow, psychologist, creator of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs (1970)
  • Root Boy Slim, singer-songwriter (1993)
  • Jeff MacNelly, cartoonist (2000)

Holidays and Celebrations

  • Bounty Day (Norfolk Island)
  • Colonial Constitution Day (Bermuda)
  • Lindisfarne Day (Norway)
  • Primož Trubar Day (Slovakia)
  • Temotu Province Holiday (Solomon Islands)
  • World Brain Tumor Day (international)
  • World Oceans Day (international)
Informal and made-up holidays include Abused Women and Children’s Awareness Day, Best Friends Day, Betty Picnic Day, Calla Lily Day, Dragon Boat Festival Day, Lassie Day, Multicultural American Child Awareness Day, Name Your Poison Day, Race Unity Day, Send a Postcard Day, Upsy Daisy Day, Vacuum Cleaner Day, and Watch Day.
• • •
June 8 is the 159th day of the year (160th in leap years). There are 206 days remaining until the end of the year.