What Happened Today in History on June 6

The Treaty of Wallingford is signed, ending the civil war in England between King Stephen and Empress Matilda, and establishing Henry II as the undisputed king.

The Council of Pisa officially opens on June 6, 1409, attempting to resolve the Western Schism by electing a new pope, Alexander V.

Sweden National Day. Celebrates the election of King Gustav Vasa and the new constitutions of 1809 and 1974. The election of King Gustav Vasa was the de facto end of the Kalmar Union and has been seen as a formal declaration of independence.

The oldest continuously maintained cemetery in Massachusetts, and according to the American Cemetery Association, in the United States, is the Myles Standish Burial Ground (or Old Burying Ground) in Duxbury. It was established around 1638 and It is the final resting place for many Pilgrims, including the Mayflower's first recorded burial, John Alden.  Expand +

Sir George Williams founded the Young Men's Christian Association (YMCA) in London. He, along with a group of eleven other young men, established the first YMCA in the living quarters of Hitchcock & Rogers, a drapers shop in St Paul’s Churchyard.  Expand +

Pioneering feminist, Susan B. Anthony, was fined for voting in a presidential election at Rochester, New York. More

The Great Seattle Fire, the most destructive fire in the history of Seattle, destroyed the entire central business district of Seattle, Washington and part of the Water Front. The fire was accidentally started by an overheated glue pot in a carpentry shop, lasted less than a day, burning through the afternoon and into the night. Seattle quickly reacted, wooden buildings were banned and rebuilt using brick buildings that sat 20 feet (6.1 m) above the original street level. Its population swelled during reconstruction, becoming the largest city in the newly admitted state of Washington. More

The first drive-in movie theater opens in Camden New Jersey with space to accommodate around 400 cars. The ticket price was 25 cents per car plus 25 cents per person. The first film ever shown at this drive-in was the British comedy "Wives Beware". The film was chosen because it had played for only one week in theaters a few weeks earlier and they wanted a film that would not conflict with major releases. More

Allied forces launch the D-Day invasion of Normandy, France, during World War II - Over 160,000 Allied troops landed on the beaches of Normandy along a 50-mile stretch of heavily-fortified French coastline to fight Nazi Germany. Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower called the operation a crusade in which, “we will accept nothing less than full victory.” By day’s end, the Allies gained a foot-hold in Continental Europe. The cost in lives on D-Day was high; more than 9,000 Allied Soldiers were killed or wounded. More

Edward Snowden, a former CIA employee, reveals thousands of classified NSA documents to journalists Glenn Greenwald, Laura Poitras, Barton Gellman, and Ewen MacAskill. Snowden came to international attention after stories based on the material appeared in The Guardian, The Washington Post, and other publications. Later in June, Edward Snowden, comes forward and admits that he is the source of the recent NSA leaks. On September 2, 2020, a U.S. federal court ruled in United States v. Moalin that the U.S. intelligence's mass surveillance program exposed by Snowden was illegal and possibly unconstitutional. More