Portal:United States/On this day/June 11

On this day for the United States

June 11:

Events

• 1776 - Continental Congress appoints Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Roger Sherman, and Robert R. Livingston to a committee to draft a declaration of independence.
• 1788 - Russian explorer Gerasim Izmailov reaches Alaska.
• 1805 - A fire consumed large portions of Detroit in the Michigan Territory.
• 1825 - The first cornerstone is laid for Fort Hamilton in New York City.
• 1837 - The Broad Street Riot occurred in Boston, fueled by ethnic tensions between English-Americans and Irish-Americans.
• 1898 - Spanish-American War: U.S. war ships start to sail for Cuba.
• 1935 - Inventor Edwin Armstrong gives the first public demonstration of FM broadcasting in the United States, at Alpine, New Jersey.
• 1942 - World War II: The United States agrees to send Lend-Lease aid to the Soviet Union.
• 1962 - Frank Morris, John Anglin and Clarence Anglin become the only prisoners to successfully escape from the prison on Alcatraz Island.
• 1963 - American Civil Rights Movement: Alabama Governor George Wallace stands at the door of Foster Auditorium at the University of Alabama in an attempt to block two black students from attending that school.
• 1970 - After being appointed on May 15, Anna Mae Hays and Elizabeth P. Hoisington officially receive their ranks as U.S. Army Generals, becoming the first females to do so.
• 1998 - Compaq Computer pays $9 billion for Digital Equipment Corporation in largest high-tech acquisition.
• 2001 - Timothy McVeigh is executed for his role in the Oklahoma City bombing.
• 2002 - Antonio Meucci is acknowledged as the first inventor of the telephone by the United States Congress.
• 2004 - Cassini-Huygens makes its closest flyby of Phoebe.
• 2004 - Ronald Reagan's funeral held at Washington National Cathedral.