Congress adopts the Stars and Stripes
During the American Revolution, the Continental Congress adopts a resolution stating that “the flag of the United States be thirteen alternate stripes red and white” and that “the Union be thirteen stars, white in a blue field, representing a new Constellation.” The national flag, which became known as the “Stars and Stripes,” was based on the “Grand Union” flag, a banner carried by the Continental Army in 1776 that also consisted of 13 red and white stripes. According to legend, Philadelphia seamstress Betsy Ross designed the new canton for the Stars and Stripes, which consisted of a circle of 13 stars and a blue background, at the request of General George Washington. Historians have been unable to conclusively prove or disprove this legend.
With the entrance of new states into the United States after independence, new stripes and stars were added to represent new additions to the Union. In 1818, however, Congress enacted a law stipulating that the 13 original stripes be restored and that only stars be added to represent new states.
On June 14, 1877, the first Flag Day observance was held on the 100th anniversary of the adoption of the Stars and Stripes. As instructed by Congress, the U.S. flag was flown from all public buildings across the country. In the years after the first Flag Day, several states continued to observe the anniversary, and in 1949 Congress officially designated June 14 as Flag Day, a national day of observance.
GREAT BRITAIN
2017
Grenfell Tower fire kills 72 in London
Shortly before 1:00 A.M. on June 14, 2017, a fire tears through West London’s 24-story Grenfell tower. 72 people died, scores were injured and hundreds were left homeless in Britain’s deadliest fire in more than a century.
CRIME
2017
Five people shot, including Republican congressman, at charity baseball game
On June 14, 2017, a gunman walked onto a baseball field at Eugene Simpson Park in Alexandria, Virginia, opening fire on politicians and wounding House GOP Whip Steve Scalise of Louisiana and four others.
LATIN AMERICA
1982
Falklands War ends
After suffering through six weeks of military defeats against Britain’s armed forces, Argentina surrenders to Great Britain, ending the Falklands War. The Falkland Islands, located about 300 miles off the southern tip of Argentina, had long been claimed by the British.
INVENTIONS & SCIENCE
1951
UNIVAC, the first commercially produced digital computer, is dedicated
On June 14, 1951, the U.S. Census Bureau dedicates UNIVAC, the world’s first commercially produced electronic digital computer. UNIVAC, which stood for Universal Automatic Computer, was developed by J. Presper Eckert and John Mauchly, makers of ENIAC, the first general-purpose Computer.
EXPLORATION
1789
Bounty mutiny survivors reach Timor
English Captain William Bligh and 18 others, cast adrift from the HMS Bounty seven weeks before, reach Timor in the East Indies after traveling nearly 4,000 miles in a small, open boat.
WORLD WAR II
1940
Germany invades Paris
On June 14, 1940, Parisians awaken to the sound of a German-accented voice announcing via loudspeakers that a curfew was being imposed for 8 p.m. that evening as German troops enter and occupy Paris.
VIETNAM WAR
1968
Dr. Spock convicted for aiding draft resisters
A Federal District Court jury in Boston convicts Dr. Benjamin Spock and three others, including Yale University Chaplain William Sloane Coffin, Jr., of conspiring to aid, abet and counsel draft registrants to violate the Selective Service Act.
U.S. PRESIDENTS
1922
Warren G. Harding becomes the first president to be heard on the radio
On June 14, 1922, President Warren G. Harding, while addressing a crowd at the dedication of a memorial site for the composer of the “Star Spangled Banner,” Francis Scott Key, becomes the first president to have his voice transmitted by radio.
19TH CENTURY
1846
California’s Bear Flag Revolt begins
Anticipating the outbreak of war with Mexico, American settlers in California rebel against the Mexican government and proclaim the short-lived California Republic. The political situation in California was tense in 1846.
ART, LITERATURE, AND FILM HISTORY
1811
Writer and abolitionist Harriet Beecher Stowe is born
Harriet Beecher Stowe, author of Uncle Tom’s Cabin, is born on June 14, 1811 in Litchfield, Connecticut, the seventh child of Congregationalist minister Lyman Beecher. Stowe studied at private schools in Connecticut and worked as a teacher in Hartford for five years until her father moved to Cincinnati in 1832. She accompanied him and continued to teach while writing stories and essays. In 1836, she married Calvin Ellis Stowe, with whom she had seven children. She published her first book, Mayflower, in 1843.
CRIME
1985
TWA flight 847 is hijacked by terrorists
TWA Flight 847 from Athens to Rome is hijacked by Shiite Hezbollah terrorists who immediately demand to know the identity of ”those with Jewish-sounding names.” Two of the Lebanese terrorists, armed with grenades and a 9-mm. pistol, then forced the plane to land in Beirut.
WORLD WAR I
1917
U.S. President Woodrow Wilson gives Flag Day address
On June 14, 1917, as the soldiers of the American Expeditionary Force (AEF) travel to join the Allies on the battlefields of World War I in France, United States President Woodrow Wilson addresses the nation’s public on the annual celebration of Flag Day.
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