June 30th in History

1097 - The Crusaders defeated the Turks at Dorylaeum.

1894 - Korea declared independence from China and asked for Japanese aid.


1912 - Belgian workers went on strike to demand universal suffrage.

1913 - Fighting broke out between Bulgaria and Greece and Spain. It was the beginning of the Second Balkan War.

1915 - During World War I, the Second Battle Artois ended when the French failed to take Vimy Ridge.


1922 - Irish rebels in London assassinate Sir Henry Wilson, the British deputy for Northern Ireland.

1930 - France pulled its troops out of Germany’s Rhineland.

1934 - Adolf Hitler purged the Nazi Party by destroying the SA and bringing to power the SS in the "Night of the Long Knives."

1935 - Fascists caused an uproar at the League of Nations when Haile Selassie of Ethiopia speaks.


1957 - The American occupation headquarters in Japan was dissolved.

1958 - The U.S. Congress passed a law authorizing the admission of Alaska as the 49th state in the Union.

1960 - The Katanga province seceded from Congo (upon Congo's independence from Belgium).

Famous Birthdays:


1768 - Elizabeth Monroe, First lady of the United States, wife of James Monroe the fifth President


1901 - Willie "The Actor" Sutton, bank robber who stole $2 million

1917 - Lena Horne, singer

1950 -  Leonard Whiting, actor

1966 - Mike Tyson, professional boxer, former undisputed heavyweight champion of the world

1975 - Ralf Schumacher, Formula One driver

1983 - Cheryl Cole, singer

The Tudor dynasty

The House of Tudor was an English royal dynasty of Welsh origins. The house would rule England from 1485 until 1603 during which they would gain control of Ireland. The Tudor house would change the face of England and Ireland, the effects of which changed history.

The Tudor Rose
Family emblem 

The Tudors descended on Henry VII's mother's side from John Beaufort, one of the illegitimate children of the 14th century English Prince John of Gaunt, 1st Duke of Lancaster (the third surviving son of Edward III of England) by Gaunt's long-term mistress Katherine Swynford. The descendants of an illegitimate child of English Royalty would normally have no claim on the throne, but the situation was complicated when Gaunt and Swynford eventually married in 1396, when John Beaufort was 25. The church retroactively declared the Beauforts legitimate by way of a papal bull the same year, confirmed by an Act of Parliament in 1397. A subsequent proclamation by John of Gaunt's legitimate son, King Henry IV, also recognised the Beauforts' legitimacy, but declared them ineligible ever to inherit the throne. Nevertheless, the Beauforts remained closely allied with Gaunt's legitimate descendants from his first marriage, the Royal House of Lancaster.

ohn Beaufort's granddaughter Lady Margaret Beaufort, a considerable heiress, was married to Edmund Tudor, 1st Earl of Richmond. Tudor was the son of Welsh courtier Owen Tudor (Welsh: Owain ap Tewdwr) and Katherine of Valois, widowed Queen Consort of the Lancastrian King Henry V. Edmund Tudor and his siblings were either illegitimate, or the product of a secret marriage, and owed their fortunes to the good will of their legitimate half-brother King Henry VI.

Edmund's son Henry Tudor, born in Pembroke, grew up in south Wales and in exile in Brittany, while his mother Lady Margaret remained in England and remarried, quietly advancing the cause of her son in a Kingdom now ruled by the rival House of York. With most of the House of Lancaster now dead, Henry proclaimed himself the Lancastrian heir. Capitalising on the unpopularity of King Richard III, his mother was able to forge an alliance with discontented Yorkists in support of her son, who landed in England and defeated Richard III at the Battle of Bosworth Field in 1485, proclaiming himself King Henry VII. By marrying Richard III's niece, Elizabeth of York, Henry VII successfully bolstered his own disputed claim to the throne, whilst moving to end the Wars of the Roses by presenting England with a new dynasty, of both Lancastrian and Yorkist descent. The new dynasty was symbolised by the "Tudor Rose", a fusion of the White Rose symbol of the House of York, and the Red Rose of the House of Lancaster.

King Henry VII
Founder of the House of Tudor

Queen Elizabeth of York
Wife of King Henry VII

Henry VII and Queen Elizabeth had several children, four of which survived infancy: Arthur, Prince of Wales, Henry, Duke of Richmond, Margaret, who married James IV of Scotland, and Mary, who married Louis XII of France. One of the objectives of Henry VII's foreign policy was dynastic security, which is portrayed through the alliance forged with the marriage of his daughter Margaret to James IV of Scotland and through the marriage of his eldest son. Henry VII married his son Arthur to Catherine of Aragon, cementing an alliance with the Spanish monarchs, Ferdinand II of Aragon and Isabella I of Castile. Four months after the marriage, Arthur died, leaving his younger brother Henry as heir apparent. Henry VII acquired a Papal dispensation allowing Prince Henry to marry Arthur's widow; however, Henry VII delayed the marriage. Henry VII limited his involvement in European politics. He only went to war twice, once in 1489 during the Breton crisis and the invasion of Brittany, and in 1496–1497 in revenge for Scottish support of Perkin Warbeck and for their invasion of Northern England. Henry VII made peace with France in 1492 and the war against Scotland was abandoned because of the Western Rebellion of 1497. Henry VII came to peace with James IV in 1502, paving the way for the marriage of his daughter Margaret.

After a reign of nearly 24 years, he died at Richmond Palace on 21 April 1509 of tuberculosis, was buried at Westminster Abbey, and was succeeded by his second son, King Henry VIII 

The new King Henry VIII married Catherine of Aragon on 11 June 1509; they were crowned at Westminster Abbey on 24 June the same year. 

When Henry first came to the throne, he had very little interest in actually ruling; rather, he preferred to indulge in luxuries and to partake in sports. He let others control the kingdom for the first two years of his reign, and then when he became more interested in military strategy, he took more interest in ruling his own throne. 

King Henry VIII

Catherine did not bear Henry the sons he was desperate for; Catherine's first child, a daughter, was stillborn, and her second child, a son named Henry, Duke of Cornwall, died 52 days after the birth. A further set of stillborn children were conceived, until a daughter Mary was born in 1516. When it became clear to Henry that the Tudor dynasty was at risk, he consulted his chief minister Cardinal Thomas Wolsey about the possibility of divorcing Catherine. Along with Henry's concern that he would not have an heir, it was also obvious to his court that he was becoming tired of his ageing wife, who was much older than him. Wolsey visited Rome, where he hoped to get the Pope's consent for a divorce. However, the church was reluctant to rescind the earlier papal dispensation and felt heavy pressure from Catherine's nephew, Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, in support of his aunt. 

Catherine of Aragon

In order to allow Henry to divorce his wife, the English parliament enacted laws breaking ties with Rome, and declaring the king Supreme Head of the Church of England hus severing the ecclesiastical structure of England from the Catholic Church and the Pope. The newly appointed Archbishop of Canterbury, Thomas Cranmer, was then able to declare Henry's marriage to Catherine annulled. Catherine was removed from Court where she spent the last three years of her life in exile. 

This allowed Henry to marry one of his courtiers Anne Boleyn, the daughter of a minor diplomat Sir Thomas Boleyn. Anne had become pregnant by the end of 1532 and gave birth on 7 September 1533 to Elizabeth named in honour of Henry's mother.[12] Anne may have had later pregnancies which ended in miscarriage or stillbirth. Thomas Cromwell stepped in again, claiming that Anne had taken lovers during her marriage to Henry, and she was tried for high treason, witchcraft and incest; these charges were most likely fabricated, but she was found guilty, and executed in 1536.

King Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn 

Henry married again, for the third time, to Jane Seymour, the daughter of a Wiltshire knight. Jane became pregnant, and in 1537 produced a son, who became King Edward VI following Henry's death in 1547. Jane died of puerperal fever only a few days after the birth, leaving Henry devastated. 

Jane Seymour

Henry married for the fourth time to the daughter of a Protestant German duke, Anne of Cleves, thus forming an alliance with the Protestant German states. Henry was reluctant to marry again, especially to a Protestant, but he was persuaded when the court painter Hans Holbein the Younger showed him a flattering portrait of her. She arrived in England in December 1539, and Henry rode to Rochester to meet her on 1 January 1540. Although the historian Gilbert Burnet claimed that Henry called her a Flanders Mare, there is no evidence that he said this; in truth, court ambassadors negotiating the marriage praised her beauty. Whatever the circumstances were, the marriage failed, and Anne agreed to a peaceful annulment, assumed the title My Lady, the King's Sister, and received a massive divorce settlement, which included Richmond Palace, Hever Castle, and numerous other estates across the country.

Anne of Cleves

The fifth marriage was to the Catholic Catherine Howard, a cousin of Thomas Howard, the third Duke of Norfolk, who was promoted by Norfolk in the hope that she would persuade Henry to restore the Catholic religion in England. Henry called her his “rose without a thorn”, but the marriage ended in failure. She was accused of treason and was executed on 13 February 1542, destroying the English Catholic holdouts' hopes of a national reconciliation with the Catholic Church. Her execution also marked the end of the Howard Family's power within the court.

Catherine Howard

 Henry conducted another Protestant marriage with his final wife Catherine Parr in 1543, the old Roman Catholic advisers, including the powerful third Duke of Norfolk had lost all their power and influence. The duke himself was still a committed Catholic, and he was nearly persuaded to arrest Catherine for preaching Lutheran doctrines to Henry while she attended his ill health. However, she managed to reconcile with the King after vowing that she had only argued about religion with him to take his mind off the suffering caused by his ulcerous leg. Her peacemaking also helped reconcile Henry with his daughters Mary and Elizabeth and fostered a good relationship between her and the crown prince.

Catherine Parr

On the 28 January 1547, King Henry VIII died. His only son Prince Edward was now King Edward VI. Henry had specified a group of men to act as regents during Edward's minority, Edward Seymour, Edward's uncle, quickly seized complete control, and created himself Duke of Somerset on 15 February 1547. His domination of the Privy Council, the King's most senior body of advisers, was unchallenged. Somerset aimed to unite England and Scotland by marrying Edward to the young Scottish queen Mary, and aimed to forcibly impose the English Reformation on the Church of Scotland. 

In 1549, Edward ordered the publication of the Book of Common Prayer, containing the forms of worship for daily and Sunday church services. The controversial new book was not welcomed by either reformers or Catholic conservatives.

When Edward VI became ill in 1553, his advisers looked to the possible imminent accession of the Catholic Lady Mary, and feared that she would overturn all the reforms made during Edward's reign. Perhaps surprisingly, it was the dying Edward himself who feared a return to Catholicism, and wrote a new will repudiating the 1544 will of Henry VIII. This gave the succession to his cousin Lady Jane Grey, the granddaughter of Henry VIII's sister Mary Tudor, who, after the death of Louis XII of France in 1515 had married Henry VIII's favourite Charles Brandon, the first Duke of Suffolk. Edward VI died on 6 July 1553 from his battle with tuberculosis, Lady Jane was proclaimed queen. However, the popular support for the proper Tudor dynasty–even a Catholic member–overruled Northumberland's plans, and Jane, who had never wanted to accept the crown, was deposed after just nine days. Mary's supporters joined her in a triumphal procession to London, accompanied by her younger sister Elizabeth.

King Edward VI

Lady Jane Grey
"The Nine Days Queen"

Mary soon announced that she was intending to marry the Spanish prince Philip, son of her mother's nephew Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor. The prospect of a marriage alliance with Spain proved unpopular with the English people, who were worried that Spain would use England as a satellite, involving England in wars without the popular support of the people. Mary married Philip at Winchester Cathedral, on 25 July 1554. Philip found her unattractive, and only spent a minimal amount of time with her. Despite Mary believing she was pregnant numerous times during her five-year reign, she never reproduced. Devastated that she rarely saw her husband, and anxious that she was not bearing an heir to Catholic England, Mary became bitter. In her determination to restore England to the Catholic faith and to secure her throne from Protestant threats, she had many Protestants burnt at the stake between 1555 and 1558. Mary's main goal was to restore the Catholic faith to England; however, the Marian Persecutions were unpopular with the Protestant majority of England, though naturally supported by the Catholic minority. Because of her actions against the Protestants, Mary is to this day referred to as "Bloody Mary". Mary died on 17 November 1558 at the relatively young age of 42.Elizabeth Tudor, age 25, then succeeded to become Elizabeth I of England.

Queen Mary I
"Bloody Mary"

Elizabeth I, who was staying at Hatfield House at the time of her accession, rode to London to the cheers of both the ruling class and the common people. Elizabeth was a moderate Protestant; she was the daughter of Anne Boleyn, who played a key role in the English Reformation in the 1520s. At her coronation in January 1559, many of the bishops – Catholic, appointed by Mary, who had expelled many of the Protestant clergymen when she became Queen in 1553 – refused to perform the service in English. Eventually, the relatively minor Bishop of Carlisle, Owen Oglethorpe, performed the ceremony; but when Oglethorpe attempted to perform traditional Catholic parts of the Coronation, Elizabeth got up and left. Following the Coronation, two important Acts were passed through parliament: the Act of Uniformity and the Act of Supremacy, establishing the Protestant Church of England and creating Elizabeth Supreme Governor of the Church of England (Supreme Head, the title used by her father and brother, was seen as inappropriate for a woman ruler). These acts, known collectively as the Elizabethan Religious Settlement, made it compulsory to attend church services every Sunday; and imposed an oath on clergymen and statesmen to recognise the Church of England, the independence of the Church of England from the Catholic Church, and the authority of Elizabeth as Supreme Governor. Elizabeth made it clear that if they refused the oath the first time, they would have a second opportunity, after which, if the oath was not sworn, the offender would be deprived of their offices and estates. 

Even though Elizabeth was only twenty-five when she came to the throne, she was absolutely sure of her God-given place to be the queen and of her responsibilities as the 'handmaiden of the Lord'. She never let anyone challenge her authority as queen, even though many people, who felt she was weak and should be married, tried to do so.The popularity of Elizabeth was extremely high, but her Privy Council, her Parliament and her subjects thought that the unmarried Queen should take a husband; it was generally accepted that, once a Queen regnant was married, the husband would relieve the woman of the burdens of head of state. Also, without an heir, the Tudor dynasty would end; the risk of civil war between rival claimants was a possibility if Elizabeth died childless. 

Despite the uncertainty of Elizabeth's – and therefore the Tudor dynasty's – hold on England, she never married. The closest she came to marriage was between 1579 and 1581, when she was courted by Francis, Duke of Anjou, the son of Henry II of France and Catherine de' Medici. 

Queen Elizabeth I

On the 24 March 1603 Queen Elizabeth I died at Richmond Palace aged 69. This brought to an end the 118 year reign of the House of Tudor. King James VI of Scotland succeeded her as King James I of England and the beginning of the House of Stuart. 

The House of Tudor has influenced England and Ireland centuries after the last Tudor monarch. It saw one of the largest reformations in any country. It was a witness of marriages, childbirth and death.Even to this day descendent's of the Tudors have survived. Queen Elizabeth II is a descendent of King Henry VIII. The memory and fascination of the Tudors will continue well into the future...

June 29th in History

1236 - Ferdinand III of Castile and Leon took Cordoba in Spain.

1652 - Massachusetts declared itself an independent commonwealth.

1776 - The Virginia constitution was adopted and Patrick Henry was made governor.


1917 - The Ukraine proclaimed independence from Russia.

1926 - Fascists in Rome added an hour to the work day in an economic efficiency measure. 

1932 - Siam’s army seized Bangkok and announced an end to the absolute monarchy. 

1946 - British authorities arrested more than 2,700 Jews in Palestine in an attempt to end alleged terrorism. 

1967 - Israel removed barricades, re-unifying Jerusalem. 

1982 - Israel invaded Lebanon. 

Famous Birthdays

1397 - John II of Aragon

1596 - Emperor Go-Mizunoo of Japan

1849 - John Hunn, businessman

1902 - Ellen Clara Pollock, actress

1930 - Robert Evans, director/actor 

1969 - Ilan Mitchell-Smith, actor

1993 - George Sampson, dancer

June 28th in History

1635 - The French colony of Guadeloupe was established in the Caribbean.

1675 - Frederick William of Brandenburg crushed the Swedes.

1709 - The Russians defeated the Swedes and Cossacks at the Battle of Poltava.

1776 - American Colonists repulsed a British sea attack on Charleston, South Carolina

1914 - Archduke Francis Ferdinand and the Mrs. Archduke were assassinated by Serb nationalist in (what is now known as) Sarajevo, Bosnia.


1919 - The Treaty of Versailles was signed ending World War I exactly five years after it began. The treaty also established the League of Nations.

1921 - A coal strike in Great Britain was settled after three months.

1930 - More than 1,000 communists were routed during an assault on the British consulate in London.

1950 - North Korean forces captured Seoul, South Korea. 

Famous Birthdays:

1367 - Sigismund, German Emperor/king of Hungary/Bohemia

1476 - Pope Paul IV

1491 - King Henry VIII of England

1824 - William Tatus Wofford, Brigadier General of Confederate Army

1912 - Sergiu Celibidache, conductor

1926 - Mel Brooks, actor and director 

1930 - Itamar Franco, former President of Brazil

1948 - Kathy Bates, actress

1955 - Eric Gates, footballer

1971 - Tichina Arnold, actress

1973 - Ingrid Seynhaeve, model

June 27th in History

363 - The death of Roman Emperor Julian brought an end to the Pagan Revival.

1693 - "The Ladies' Mercury" was published by John Dunton in London. It was the first women's magazine and contained a "question and answer" column that became known as a "problem page."

1743 - King George II of England defeated the French at Dettingen, Bavaria, in the War of the Austrian Succession.

1801 - British forces defeated the French and took control of Cairo, Egypt.

1871 - The yen became the new form of currency in Japan.

1944 - During World War II, American forces completed their capture of the French port of Cherbourg from the German army.

2012 - Britain's Queen Elizabeth II met and shook hands with Martin McGuinness,Sinn Féin's Deputy first Minister of Northern Ireland (former leader of the IRA)

Famous Birthdays:



1040 - King Ladislaus I of Hungary (d. 1095)

1350 - Manuel II Palaiologos, Eastern Roman Emperor

1462 - Louis XII, the Just, King of France


1550 - Charles IX, King of France 


1907 - Valerie Cossart, actress


1944 - Cornelis J "Kees" Ouwens, writer/poet


1951 - Mary McAleese, former President of Ireland


1975 - Tobey Maguire, actor


1986 - Drake Bell, musician, songwriter, actor

June 26th in History

1096 - Peter the Hermit's crusaders forced their way across Sava, Hungary.

1243 - The Seljuk Turkish army in Asia Minor was wiped out by the Mongols.

1483 - Richard III usurped himself to the English throne.

1794 - The French defeated an Austrian army at the Battle of Fleurus.

1900 - The United States announced that it would send troops to fight against the Boxer rebellion in China.

1924 - After eight years of occupation, American troops left the Dominican Republic.

1963 - U.S. President John Kennedy announced "Ich bin ein Berliner" (I am a Berliner) at the Berlin Wall.


1979 - Muhammad Ali, at 37 years old, announced that he was retiring as world heavyweight boxing champion.

Famous Birthdays:

1575 - Anne Catherine of Brandenburg, Queen consort of Denmark and Norway

1681 - Hedwig Sophia, Duchess of Holstein-Gottorp, Swedish writer

1742 - Arthur Middleton, signer (Declaration of Independence)

1760 - Johann I Joseph, Prince of Liechtenstein

1891 - Sidney Coe Howard, dramatist

1899 - Grand Duchess Maria Nikolaevna of Russia, daughter of Tsar Nicholas II

1909 - Nicholas Polunin, environmentalist

1956 - Chris Isaak, singer

1970 - Chris O'Donnell, actor

2005 - HRH Princess Alexia of the Netherlands, daughter of Willem-Alexander, Prince of Orange and Princess Máxima of the Netherlands, Princess of Orange-Nassau

June 25th in History

841 - Charles the Bald and Louis the German defeated Lothar at Fontenay.

1080 - At Brixen, a council of bishops declared Pope Gregory to be deposed and Archbishop Guibert as antipope Clement III.

1580 - The Book of Concord was first published. The book is a collection of doctrinal standards of the Lutheran Church.

1658 - Aurangzeb proclaimed himself emperor of the Moghuls in India.

1767 - Mexican Indians rioted as Jesuit priests were ordered home.

1788 - Virginia ratified the U.S. Constitution and became the 10th state of the United States.

1870 - In Spain, Queen Isabella abdicated in favor of Alfonso XII.


1917 - The first American fighting troops landed in France.

1920 - The Greeks took 8,000 Turkish prisoners in Smyrna.

1938 - Douglas Hyde was inaugurated as the first President of the Irish Republic.


1941 - Finland declared war on the Soviet Union.

1946 - Ho Chi Minh traveled to France for talks on Vietnamese independence.

1950 - North Korea invaded South Korea initiating the Korean War. 

1959 - Éamon De Valera became President of Ireland at the age of 76. 

1973 - Erskine Childers Jr. became President of Ireland after the retirement of Éamon De Valera.

1975 - Mozambique became independent. Samora Machel was sworn in as president after 477 years of Portuguese rule. 

Famous Birthdays 

1242 - Beatrice of England, Duchess of Brittanny

1373 - Johanna II, Queen of Naples

1897 - Hans Barth, composer

1903 - Anne Revere, actress

1923 - Samuel Lewis Francis, painter

1963 - George Michael, Musician

June 24th in History

1314 - Scottish forces led by Robert the Bruce won over Edward II of England at the Battle of Bannockburn in Scotland.

1340 - The English fleet defeated the French fleet at Sluys, off the Flemish coast.

1497 - Italian explorer John Cabot, sailing in the service of England, landed in North America on what is now Newfoundland.

1509 - King Henry VIII was crowned King of England.

1664 - New Jersey, named after the Isle of Jersey, was founded.

1675 - King Philip's War began when Indians massacre colonists at Swansee, Plymouth colony.

1793 - The first republican constitution in France was adopted.

1812 - Napoleon crossed the Nieman River and invaded Russia.


1859 - At the Battle of Solferino, also known as the Battle of the Three Sovereigns, the French army led by Napoleon III defeated the Austrian army under Franz Joseph I in northern Italy.


1910 - The Japanese army invaded Korea.

1913 - Greece and Serbia annulled their alliance with Bulgaria following border disputes over Macedonia and Thrace.

1940 - France signed an armistice with Italy.

Famous Birthdays


1771 - Éleuthère Irénée du Pont, Chemist

1842 - Ambrose Bierce, journalist

1900 -  Wilhelm Cauer, mathematician

1955 - Betsy Randle, actress

1987 - Lionel Messi, footballer

June 23rd in History

1683 - William Penn signed a friendship treaty with Lenni Lenape Indians in Pennsylvania.

1700 - Russia gave up its Black Sea fleet as part of a truce with the Ottoman Empire.

1758 - British and Hanoverian armies defeated the French at Krefeld in Germany.

1760 - The Austrians defeated the Prussians at Landshut, Germany.

1757 - Robert Clive defeated the Indians at Plassey and won control of Bengal.

1848 - A bloody insurrection of workers in Paris erupted.


1884 - A Chinese Army defeated the French at Bacle, Indochina.

1902 - Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Italy renewed the Triple Alliance for a 12 year duration.

1934 - Italy gained the right to colonize Albania after defeating the country.

Famous Birthdays:


1456 - Margaret of Denmark, wife of James III of Scotland


1763 - Joséphine de Beauharnais, Queen consort of Italy then later Empress consort of France (first wife of Napoleon I)

1877 - Hermann Stephani, composer

1894 - King Edward VIII of Great Britain, Emperor of India (who would abdicate the throne)

1925 - Miriam Karlin, actress

1955 - Maggie Greenwald, director and writer

1972 - Zinedine Zidane, footballer

1974 - HRH Maria Carolina Christina, Princess of Netherlands, Marchioness of Sala

June 22nd in History

1558 - The French took the French town of Thioville from the English.

1611 - English explorer Henry Hudson, his son and several other people were set adrift in present-day Hudson Bay by mutineers.

1772 - Slavery was outlawed in England.

1815 - Napoleon Bonaparte abdicated a second time.


1911 - King George V of England was crowned.

1915 - Austro-German forces occupied Lemberg on the Eastern Front as the Russians retreat.

1925 - France and Spain agreed to join forces against Abd el Krim in Morocco.

1933 - Germany became a one political party country when Hitler banned parties other than the Nazis.

Famous Birthdays:


1906 - Billy Wilder, Director

1936 - Kris Kristofferson, Actor

1949 - Meryl Streep, Actress

1953 - Cyndi Lauper, Singer

1974 - Donald Faison, Actor

1980 - Eric Stretch, Band member

June 21st in History

1404 - Owain Glyndwr established a Welsh Parliament at Machynlleth and was crowned Prince of Wales. 

1788 - The U.S. Constitution went into effect when New Hampshire became the ninth state to ratify it. 

1940 - Richard M. Nixon and Thelma Catherine ‘Pat’ Ryan were married. 

1941 - German troops entered Russia on a front from the Arctic to Black Sea. 

1963 - France announced that they were withdrawing from the North Atlantic NATO fleet. 

Famous Birthdays:

1731 - Martha Washington, Wife of former President of George Washington

1905 - Jean Paul Sartre, Philosopher

1925 - Maureen Stapleton, Actress

1947 - Meredith Baxter, Actress

1982 - HRH Prince William the Duke of Cambridge, Eldest son of HRH Price Charles the Prince of Wales. Second in line to the British throne after his father. 

June 20th in History

451 - Roman and Barbarian warriors brought Attila's army to a halt at the Catalaunian Plains in eastern France.

1397 - The Union of Kalmar united Denmark, Sweden, and Norway under one monarch.

1756 - In India, 150 British soldiers were imprisoned in a cell that became known as the "Black Hole of Calcutta."


1791 - King Louis XVI of France was captured while attempting to flee the country in the so-called Flight to Varennes.

1837 - Queen Victoria ascended the British throne following the death of her uncle, King William IV. 

1863 - West Virginia became the 35th state to join the U.S. 

1923 - France announced it would seize the Rhineland to assist Germany in paying its war debts. 

1941 - The U.S. Army Air Force was established.

Famous Birthdays: 

1723 - Adam Ferguson, Philosopher, historian.

1899 - Jean Moulinn, member of the French Resistance during World War II 

1931 - Martin Landau, Actor

1940 - John Mahoney, Actor

1954 - Michael Anthony, Musician

1967 - Nicole Kidman, Actress

*Apologies for the delay. 

Aung San Suu Kyi receives the Ambassador of Conscience award in Dublin

June 19th in History

240 BC - Eratosthenes estimated the circumference of the Earth using two sticks.

1586 - English colonists sailed away from Roanoke Island, NC, after failing to establish England's first permanent settlement in America.

1778 - U.S. General George Washington's troops finally left Valley Forge after a winter of training.

1821 - The Ottomans defeated the Greeks at the Battle of Dragasani.

1862 - U.S. President Abraham Lincoln outlined his Emancipation Proclamation, which outlawed slavery in U.S. territories.

1865 - The emancipation of slaves was proclaimed in Texas.

1917 - During World War I, King George V ordered the British royal family to dispense with German titles and surnames. On July 17, 1917, the family took the name "Windsor".

1942 - British Prime Minister Winston Churchill arrived in Washington, DC, to discuss the invasion of North Africa with U.S. President Roosevelt.

Famous Birthdays:





1623 - Blaise Pascal, Mathematician, Physicist, Inventor, The unit of pressure is named after him (pascal, pa)

1936 - Tommy DeVito, Singer

1945 - Aung San Suu Kyi, Political activist, Politician, Human rights activist.

1954 - Kathleen Turner, Actress

1962 - Paula Abdul, Singer/dancer

1980 - Lauren Lee Smith, Actress

Aung San Suu Kyi Nobel Peace Prize Speech

June 18th in History

1155 - Frederick I Barbarossa was crowned emperor of Rome.

1429 - French forces defeated the English at the battle of Patay. The English had been retreating after the siege of Orleans.

1621 - The first duel in America took place in the Plymouth Colony in Massachusetts.

1667 - The Dutch fleet sailed up the Thames toward London.

1778 - Britain evacuated Philadelphia during the U.S. Revolutionary War.

1812 - The War of 1812 began as the U.S. declared war against Great Britain. The conflict began over trade restrictions.

1815 - At the Battle of Waterloo Napoleon was defeated by an international army under the Duke of Wellington. Napoleon abdicated on June 22.


1915 - During World War I, the second battle of Artois ended.

1918 - Allied forces on the Western Front began their largest counter-attack against the German army.


1948 - The United Nations Commission on Human Rights adopted its International Declaration of Human Rights.

1951 - General Vo Nguyen Giap ended his Red River Campaign against the French in Indochina.

1953 - Egypt was proclaimed to be a republic with General Neguib as its first president.

Famous Birthdays:


1581 - Sir Thomas Overbury, Poet

1769 - Robert Stewart, Viscount Castlereagh (Lord Castlereagh), Politician

1884 - Édouard Daladier, Prime Minister of France

1910 - E.G. Marshall, Actor

1928 - Maggie McNamara, Actress

1942 - Paul McCartney, Musician

1952 - Isabella Rossellini, Actress

June 17th in History

362 - Emperor Julian issued an edict banning Christians from teaching in Syria. 

1579 - Sir Francis Drake claimed San Francisco Bay for England. 

1775 - The British took Bunker Hill outside of Boston. 

1789 - The Third Estate in France declared itself a national assembly, and began to frame a constitution. 

1799 - Napoleon Bonaparte incorporated Italy into his empire.

1848 - Austrian General Alfred Windischgratz crushed a Czech uprising in Prague. 

1854 - The Red Turban revolt broke out in Guangdong, China. 

1885 - The Statue of Liberty arrived in New York City aboard the French ship Isere.

1924 - The Fascist militia marched into Rome. 

1926 - Spain threatened to quit the League of Nations if Germany was allowed to join. 

1928 - Amelia Earhart began the flight that made her the first woman to successfully fly across the Atlantic Ocean. 

1940 - The Soviet Union occupied Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia. 

1940 - France asked Germany for terms of surrender in World War II. 

1944 - French troops landed on the island of Elba in the Mediterranean. 

1944 - The republic of Iceland was established. 

Famous Birthdays:

1229 - Edward I, King of England

1703 - John Wesley, Co-founder of the Methodist church

1910 - Red Foley, Singer

1944 - Randy Johnson, Football player

1980 - Venus Williams, Tennis player

June 16th in History

455 - Rome was sacked by the Vandal army. 

1487 - The War of the Roses ended with the Battle of Stoke. 

1567 - Mary, Queen of Scots, was imprisoned in Lochleven Castle in Scotland. 

1815 - Napoleon defeated the Prussians at the Battle of Ligny, Netherlands. 

1846 - Giovanni Maria Mastai-Ferretti was crowned Pius XII, and he would become the longest-reigning elected pope in the history of the Catholic Church.

1897 - The U.S. government signed a treaty of annexation with Hawaii. 

1903 - Ford Motor Company was incorporated. 

1904 - The novel "Ulysses" by James Joyce took place. The main character of the book was Leopold Bloom. 

1907 - The Russian czar dissolved the Duma in St. Petersburg. 

1925 - France accepted a German proposal for a security pact. 

1932 - The ban on Nazi storm troopers was lifted by the von Papen government in Germany. 

1940 - Marshal Henri-Philippe Petain became the Prime Minister of the Vichy government of occupied France. 

1955 - Pope Pius XII excommunicated Argentine President Juan Peron. The ban was lifted eight years later. 

1955 - Argentine naval officers launched an attack on President Juan Peron's headquarters. The revolt was suppressed by the army. 

1977 - Leonid Brezhnev was named the first Soviet president of the USSR. He was the first person to hold the post of president and Communist Party General Secretary. He replaced Nikolai Podgorny. 

1979 - General Ignatius Kutu Acheampong was executed for corruption. He was the former military ruler of Ghana from 1972-1978. 

1996 - Russian voters had their first independent presidential election. Boris Yeltsin was the winner after a run-off. 

Famous Birthdays:

1910 - Jack Albertson, Actor and comedian

1938 - Joyce Carol Oates, Author

1943 - Joan Van Ark, Actress

1952 - Gino Vannelli, Singer

1982 - Missy Peregrym, Actress

The Battle of Clontarf

The Irish High King, Brian Boru (Brian mac Cenneidigh) had ruled most of Ireland since 1002, but the island was still highly fractional and the title of "High King" had been largely ceremonial. Brian looked to change this, and unite the island, which he set about doing over a period of years. In 1012 the King of Leinster, Mael Morda, rose in revolt. His attempts were quickly thwarted when Brian arranged a series of cross-marriages, giving his daughter to Sigtrygg Silkbeard, leader of the Dublin Vikings, himself marrying Sigtrygg's mother and Mael's sister, Gormlaith. However this alliance was destined not to last, and in 1013 Mael again went to the Sigtrygg after being admonished by Gormlaith for accepting Brian's rule. This time Sigtrygg was ready to fight, and various Irish clans who were envious of Brian quickly joined. Brian immediately threw Gormlaith in jail, and went on a series of raids around Dublin in order to tie down any Irish who would attempt to join the Viking forces. Meanwhile Gormlaith contacted Sigurd, the Viking Earl of the Orkney Isles, to come to her aid. He not only agreed, but in turn contacted Brodir of the Isle of Man to join the fight. Sigurd and Brodir both planned on killing the other after the battle to take the seat of High King for themselves, while Sigtrygg was busy trying to form alliances with everyone involved in an attempt to at least retain his own seat in Dublin.

Brian Boru
High King of Ireland

In 1014 Brian's army had mustered and set off towards Dublin. As they approached, the Irishmen of Meath, commanded by ex-high king Malachi, refused to take part in the battle. This left him with 7,000 men, outnumbering the 2,000 or so under Sigtrygg, but considerably worse equipped in comparison. They arrived outside the walls of Dublin and set up camp. That night Brian received news that the Viking forces had boarded their longships and headed out to sea, deserting Sigtrygg. This was in fact a ruse. After nightfall they turned around and landed on the beaches of Clontarf, just over a mile to the north of Dublin, in order to surprise Brian's army the next day. At the time Dublin was only on the south shore of the Liffey River, connected to the north bank, and Clontarf, only by a single bridge. This allowed the vikings time to disembark and prepare in relative safety. The Viking army formed up into five divisions on the field, while Sigtrygg and 1,000 of his men remained in town. Sigtrygg's son commanded the extreme left of the line with 1,000 of the men from Dublin that decided to fight in the open. Mael Morda added another 3,000 men from Leinster in two divisions.

The battle - 23rd April 1014

Although numerous, they too were poorly armed in comparison to the Vikings on either side. Sigurd's Orkney Vikings manned the center with 1,000 men, and Brodir's Vikings added another 1,000 or more on the right, on the beaches.

Brian's forces were arranged in a similar fashion. On the right (the viking left) were 1,000 foreign mercenaries and Manx Vikings. Next to them, 1,500 clansmen of Connacht were gathered under their kings, while more than 2,000 Munster warriors under Brian's son Murchad continued the front, flanked by 1,400 Dal Caissans on the extreme left led by Murchad's 15-year-old son, Tordhelbach, and Brian's brother, Cuduiligh. Off to the right and several hundred yards to the rear stood Malachi's 1,500 men who simply watched. The battle opened with several personal taunts between men in either line, often ending with the two men marching out into the middle of the field to enter personal battle, while the forces on either side cheered. While this went on the two groups slowly edged towards each other. They engaged early in the morning.

Brian Boru's castle

At first the battle went the vikings way, with their heavier weapons prevailing over their opponents as everyone had expected. This advantage also served Brian, who's Viking mercenaries on his right slowly pushed back the forces facing them. On the left, Brodir himself led the charge and gained ground, until he met a local warrior, Wolf the Quarrelsom. Although Wolf was unable to break Brodir's armor, he knocked him to the ground and Brodir fled to hide. This left the now leaderless Viking force facing Murchad's forces, who considered themselves the "kings own" (containing many of Brian's more distant relatives) and by the afternoon Brodir's forces were fleeing to their ships.
In the center things were going more the Viking's way. Both Sigurd's and Morda's forces were hammering into the Leinster forces. However Sigurd carried a "magical" standard into battle which drew the Irish warriors to it, eventually forcing their way in and killing the bearer. Although the standard was supposed to guarantee a victory for the bearer's forces, it also guaranteed the bearer's death. Fearing it, no one else would pick it up, so Sigurd did and was quickly killed. By the end of the day, after several mutual pauses for rest, the Vikings found themselves with both flanks failing, Sigurd dead, and everyone exhausted. The beaches in front of the ships were already lost, and many men took to trying to swim to the ships further offshore, drowning in the process. The battle was now clearly going Brian's way, and the Dublin Vikings decided to flee to the town. At this point Malachi decided to re-enter the battle, and cut them off from the bridge. The result was a rout, with every "invading" Viking leader being killed in the battle.

Meanwhile Brodir, hiding in the woods near Dublin, noticed Brian praying in his tent. Gathering several followers they ran into the tent and killed him and his retainers. Then they retreated, with Brodir yelling, Now let man tell man that Brodir felled Brian. He was later captured, and according to Viking accounts, killed.
Of the 7,000 to 8,000 Vikings and allied forces, an estimated 6,000, including almost all the leaders, were killed. Irish losses were least 1,600, and perhaps as high as 4,000, including their king and most of his sons. There was no longer any clear line of succession. With the Irish now leaderless, and the power of the Vikings as a political force broken, Ireland soon returned to a series of bloody fractional fighting. However things had changed as a result of the battle, with Viking and Gael culture no longer contesting power. After a number of years this led to a lasting peace, and the Vikings would instead turn to England and Scotland, eventually taking power when Canute was installed as King in 1015.
Sigtrygg had watched the battle with Gormlaith from Dublin, and with the Irish army melting away the next day, ended up perhaps the only "winner" of the contest, leading in Dublin until his death in 1042.

Brodir kills Brian

The King's grave

June 15th in History

1215 - King John of England put his seal on the Magna Carta. 

1381 - The English peasant revolt was crushed in London. 

1389 - Ottoman Turks crushed Serbia in the Battle of Kosovo. 

1752 - Benjamin Franklin experimented by flying a kite during a thunderstorm. The result was a little spark that showed the relationship between lightning and electricity. 

1775 - George Washington was appointed head of the Continental Army by the Second Continental Congress. 

1836 - Arkansas became the 25th U.S. state. 

1846 - The United States and Britain settled a boundary dispute concerning the boundary between the U.S. and Canada, by signing a treaty. 

1866 - Prussia attacked Austria. 

1917 - Great Britain pledged the release of all the Irish captured during the Easter Rising of 1916. 

1947 - The All-Indian Congress accepted a British plan for the partition of India.

1964 - The last French troops left Algeria. 

1978 - King Hussein of Jordan married 26-year-old American Lisa Halaby, who became Queen Noor. 

1982 - In the capital city of Stanley, the Falklands war ended as Argentine troops surrendered to the British.

 1994 - Israel and the Vatican established full diplomatic relations. #

Famous Birthdays:

1330 - Edward the Black, Prince of Wales and Aquitaine. Eldest son of King Edward III and father of King Richard II.

1902 - Erik H. Erickson, Psychologist

1946 - Janet Lennon, Singer

1964 - Courtney Cox, Actress

1969 - O'Shea Jackson (Ice Cube), Rapper

1981 - Billy Martin, Musician 

John F. Kennedy - The People's President

John Fitzgerald "Jack" Kennedy (May 29, 1917 – November 22, 1963), often referred to by his initials JFK, was the 35th President of the United States, serving from 1961 until his assassination in 1963.
The second son of Joseph P. Kennedy, Sr., and Rose Fitzgerald; Rose was the eldest child of John "Honey Fitz" Fitzgerald, a prominent Boston political figure who was the city's mayor and a three-term member of Congress.  JFK had four brothers and five sisters. Jack was not a very healthy baby, and Rose recorded on his notecard the childhood diseases from which he suffered, such as: "whooping cough, measles, chicken pox."

Young JFK

When he was a student at Harvard College and having a difficult time fitting in as an Irish Catholic, he swore to himself he would make a million dollars by the age of 35. There was a lot of prejudice against Irish Catholics in Boston at that time.  Jack’s great-grandparents had come from Ireland and managed to provide for their families, despite many hardships. Jack’s grandfathers did even better for themselves, both becoming prominent Boston politicians. Jack, because of all his family had done, could enjoy a very comfortable life. The Kennedy's had everything they needed and more.

Jack was a senior at Harvard and decided to write his thesis on why Great Britain was unprepared for war with Germany. It was later published as a book called Why England Slept.  In June 1940, Jack graduated from Harvard. His father sent him a cablegram from London:
Soon after graduating, both Joe and Jack joined the Navy. Joe was a flyer and sent to Europe, while Jack was made Lieutenant (Lt.) and assigned to the South Pacific as commander of a patrol torpedo boat, the PT-109. Lt. Kennedy had a crew of twelve men whose mission was to stop Japanese ships from delivering supplies to their soldiers. On the night of August 2, 1943, Lt. Kennedy’s crew patrolled the waters looking for enemy ships to sink. A Japanese destroyer suddenly became visible. But it was traveling at full speed and headed straight at them. Holding the wheel, Lt. Kennedy tried to swerve out of the way, but to no avail. The much larger Japanese warship rammed the PT-109, splitting it in half and killing two of Lt. Kennedy’s men. The others managed to jump off as their boat went up in flames. Lt. Kennedy was slammed hard against the cockpit, once again injuring his weak back. Patrick McMahon, one of his crew members, had horrible burns on his face and hands and was ready to give up. In the darkness, Lt. Kennedy managed to find McMahon and haul him back to where the other survivors were clinging to a piece of the boat that was still afloat. At sunrise, Lt. Kennedy led his men toward a small island several miles away. Despite his own injuries, Lt. Kennedy was able to tow Patrick McMahon ashore, a strap from McMahon’s life jacket clenched between his teeth. Six days later two native islanders found them and went for help, delivering a message Jack had carved into a piece of coconut shell. The next day, the PT-109 crew was rescued. Jack’s brother Joe was not so lucky. He died a year later when his plane blew up during a dangerous mission in Europe.

Lt Kennedy

When he returned home, Jack was awarded the Navy and Marine Corps Medal for his leadership and courage. With the war finally coming to an end, it was time to choose the kind of work he wanted to do. Jack had considered becoming a teacher or a writer, but with Joe’s tragic death suddenly everything changed. After serious discussions with Jack about his future, Joseph Kennedy convinced him that he should run for Congress in Massachusetts' eleventh congressional district, where he won in 1946. This was the beginning of Jack’s political career. As the years went on, John F. Kennedy, a Democrat, served three terms (six years) in the House of Representatives, and in 1952 he was elected to the U.S. Senate.

Jacqueline Lee Bouvier was born on July 28, 1929, in Southampton, New York. Jacqueline met John F. Kennedy, who was a congressman and soon to be elected a Senator from Massachusetts. On September 12, 1953, they married at St. Mary’s Church in Newport, Rhode Island. After their honeymoon in Mexico, the Kennedys returned to Washington D.C. Early on in their marriage, Senator Kennedy suffered crippling pain in his back from football and wartime injuries and had two operations. While recovering from surgery, Mrs. Kennedy encouraged him to write a book about several U.S. senators who had risked their careers to fight for the things they believed in. The book, called Profiles in Courage, was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for biography in 1957. That same year, the Kennedys’ first child, Caroline, was born.

Jacqueline and John in their wedding day

On January 2, 1960, Kennedy initiated his campaign for President in the Democratic primary election, where he faced challenges from Senator Hubert Humphrey of Minnesota and Senator Wayne Morse of Oregon. Kennedy visited a coal mine in West Virginia; most miners and others in that predominantly conservative, Protestant state were quite wary of Kennedy's Roman Catholicism. His victory in West Virginia confirmed his broad popular appeal. At the Democratic Convention, he gave his well-known "New Frontier" speech, saying: "For the problems are not all solved and the battles are not all won—and we stand today on the edge of a New Frontier ... But the New Frontier of which I speak is not a set of promises—it is a set of challenges. It sums up not what I intend to offer the American people, but what I intend to ask of them." on July 13 the Democratic convention nominated Kennedy as its candidate. Kennedy asked Lyndon Johnson to be his Vice Presidential candidate, despite opposition from many liberal delegates and Kennedy's own staff, including his brother, Robert.
He needed Johnson's strength in the South to win what was considered likely to be the closest election since 1916. Major issues included how to get the economy moving again, Kennedy's Roman Catholicism, Cuba, and whether the Soviet space and missile programs had surpassed those of the U.S. To address fears that his being Catholic would impact his decision-making, he famously told the Greater Houston Ministerial Association on September 12, 1960, "I am not the Catholic candidate for President. I am the Democratic Party candidate for President who also happens to be a Catholic. I do not speak for my Church on public matters – and the Church does not speak for me."
In September and October, Kennedy appeared with Republican candidate Richard Nixon, then Vice President, in the first televised U.S. presidential debates in U.S. history.
On November 8, Kennedy defeated Nixon in one of the closest presidential elections of the 20th century. In the national popular vote Kennedy led Nixon by just two-tenths of one percent (49.7% to 49.5%), while in the Electoral College he won 303 votes to Nixon's 219 (269 were needed to win). Another 14 electors from Mississippi and Alabama refused to support Kennedy because of his support for the civil rights movement; they voted for Senator Harry F. Byrd of Virginia, as did the elector from Oklahoma. Kennedy was the youngest man elected president, succeeding Eisenhower, who was then the oldest (Ronald Reagan surpassed Eisenhower as the oldest president in 1981).

Campaign poster

John F. Kennedy was sworn in as the 35th President at noon on January 20, 1961. In his inaugural address he spoke of the need for all Americans to be active citizens, famously saying, "Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country." He asked the nations of the world to join together to fight what he called the "common enemies of man: tyranny, poverty, disease, and war itself". He added: "All this will not be finished in the first one hundred days. Nor will it be finished in the first one thousand days, nor in the life of this Administration, nor even perhaps in our lifetime on this planet. But let us begin." In closing, he expanded on his desire for greater internationalism: "Finally, whether you are citizens of America or citizens of the world, ask of us here the same high standards of strength and sacrifice which we ask of you."
President Kennedy's foreign policy was dominated by American confrontations with the Soviet Union, manifested by proxy contests in the early stage of the Cold War. In 1961, Kennedy anxiously anticipated a summit with Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev.

The prior Eisenhower administration had created a plan to overthrow the Fidel Castro regime in Cuba. The plan, led by the CIA with help from the U.S. military, was for an invasion of Cuba by a counter-revolutionary insurgency composed of U.S.-trained anti-Castro Cuban exiles led by CIA paramilitary officers. The intention was to invade Cuba and instigate an uprising among the Cuban people in hopes of removing Castro from power. On April 17, 1961, Kennedy ordered what became known as the "Bay of Pigs Invasion": 1,500 U.S.-trained Cubans, called "Brigade 2506", landed on the island. No U.S. air support was provided. Allen Dulles, director of the CIA, later stated that they thought the president would authorize any action required for success once the troops were on the ground. By April 19, 1961, the Cuban government had captured or killed the invading exiles, and Kennedy was forced to negotiate for the release of the 1,189 survivors. After twenty months, Cuba released the captured exiles in exchange for $53 million worth of food and medicine.The incident made Castro wary of the U.S. and led him to believe another invasion would occur.

President Kennedy

On October 14, 1962, CIA U-2 spy planes took photographs of intermediate-range ballistic missile sites being built in Cuba by the Soviets. The photos were shown to Kennedy on October 16; a consensus was reached that the missiles were offensive in nature and thus posed an immediate nuclear threat. Kennedy faced a dilemma: if the U.S. attacked the sites, it might lead to nuclear war with the U.S.S.R., but if the U.S. did nothing, it would be faced with the increased threat from close range nuclear weapons. More than a third of the members of the National Security Council (NSC) favored an unannounced air assault on the missile sites, but for some of them this conjured up an image of "Pearl Harbor in reverse". There was as well some reaction from the international community (asked in confidence) that the assault plan was an overreaction in light of U.S. missiles that had been placed in Turkey by Eisenhower. And there could be no assurance that the assault would be 100% effective. In concurrence with a majority vote of the NSC, Kennedy decided on a naval quarantine. On October 22 he dispatched a message to Khrushchev and announced the decision on TV.

In 1963, Germany was enduring a time of particular vulnerability due to Soviet aggression to the east, de Gaulle's French nationalism to the west, and the impending retirement of German Chancellor Adenauer. On June 26 Kennedy gave a public speech in West Berlin reiterating the American commitment to Germany and criticizing communism; he was met with an ecstatic response from a massive audience. Kennedy used the construction of the Berlin Wall as an example of the failures of communism: "Freedom has many difficulties and democracy is not perfect, but we have never had to put a wall up to keep our people in." The speech is known for its famous phrase "Ich bin ein Berliner" ("I am a citizen of Berlin")

The President in Berlin

During his visit to Ireland in 1963, Kennedy accepted a grant of armorial bearings from the Chief Herald of Ireland. He visited the cottage at Dunganstown, near New Ross, where his ancestors had lived before emigrating to America. On December 22, 2006, the Irish Department of Justice released declassified police documents indicating that security was heightened as Kennedy was the subject of three death threats during this visit.

The President in Ireland

On April 12, 1961, Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin became the first person to fly in space, reinforcing American fears about being left behind in a technological competition with the Soviet Union. Kennedy was eager for the U.S. to take the lead in the Space Race for reasons of strategy and prestige. He first announced the goal of landing a man on the Moon in the speech to a Joint Session of Congress on May 25, 1961, stating:
"First, I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the Moon and returning him safely to the Earth. No single space project in this period will be more impressive to mankind, or more important for the long-range exploration of space; and none will be so difficult or expensive to accomplish."


On November 21, 1963, President Kennedy flew to Texas to give several political speeches. At 12:30 p.m., as Kennedy's uncovered limousine entered Dealey Plaza, Nellie Connally, then the First Lady of Texas, turned around to Kennedy, who was sitting behind her, and commented, "Mr. President, you can't say Dallas doesn't love you," which President Kennedy acknowledged. From Houston Street, the presidential limousine made the planned left turn to put it on Elm Street to allow it to pass to the Stemmons Freeway exit. As it turned on Elm, the motorcade passed the Texas School Book Depository. As it continued down Elm Street, shots were fired at Kennedy; a clear majority of witnesses recalled hearing three shots. A minority of the witnesses did recognize the first gunshot blast they heard as a weapon blast, but there was hardly any reaction from a majority in the crowd or riding in the motorcade itself to the first shot, with many later saying they heard what they first thought to be a firecracker or the exhaust backfire of a vehicle just after the president started waving.

Moments before the President is shot

He was shot once in the upper back and killed with a final shot to the head. He was taken to Parkland Hospital for emergency medical treatment, but pronounced dead at 1:00 pm. Only 46, President Kennedy died younger than any U.S. president to date. Lee Harvey Oswald, an employee of the Texas School Book Depository from which the shots were suspected to have been fired, was arrested on charges for the murder of a local police officer and was subsequently charged with the assassination of Kennedy. He denied shooting anyone, claiming he was a patsy, but was killed by Jack Ruby on November 24, before he could be indicted or tried. Ruby was then arrested and convicted for the murder of Oswald. Ruby successfully appealed his conviction and death sentence but became ill and died of cancer on January 3, 1967, while the date for his new trial was being set.

Scene of the crime

A Requiem Mass was held for Kennedy at the Cathedral of St. Matthew the Apostle on November 25, 1963. Afterwards, John F. Kennedy's body was buried in a small plot, in Arlington National Cemetery. Kennedy's wife, Jacqueline and their two deceased minor children were buried with him later. His brother, Senator Robert Kennedy, was buried nearby in June 1968. In August 2009, his brother, Senator Edward M. Kennedy, was also buried near his two brothers. JFK's grave is lit with an "Eternal Flame."

The grave of President Kennedy and his wife Jackie