What Happened in June?

Djibouti, officially the Republic of Djibouti, gains independence from France. Djibouti is located in the Horn of Africa, bordered by Eritrea to the north, Somalia to the southeast and Ethiopia to the southwest. Djibouti's independence is observed annually on 27 June which is a national holiday.

Charon, the largest of Pluto's five moons and about half the size of Pluto, was discovered by James Christy and Robert Harrington at the U.S. Naval Observatory. Christy noticed that Pluto appeared elongated in some images, leading to the discovery of its moon. The discovery was announced later on July 7, 1978.  Expand +

Jimmy Carter and Leonid Brezhnev sign the SALT-II nuclear treaty. The US Senate chose not to ratify the treaty in response to the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, which took place later that year. The Supreme Soviet did not ratify it either. More

CNN, headquartered in Atlanta, debuts its 24-hour live news broadcasts, on June 1, 1980, from its headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia. It went on, in 1991 to gain worldwide attention for its around-the-clock coverage of the Persian Gulf War. More

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported in its June 5, 1981, issue of Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, the detection of a rare form of pneumonia in five homosexual men in Los Angeles, marking the first official reporting of what will later become known as the AIDS epidemic (Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome). Expand +

Over a million people march and gather at New York City’s Central Park demanding nuclear disarmament and an end to the Cold War arms race: making it the largest disarmament rally in American history. The cold war and the arms race between the United States and the Soviet Union had been going on since World War II, and the Cold War felt particularly dangerous in the early 1980s. especially since President Ronald Reagan, a staunch proponent of building up America’s nuclear arsenal and vehemently opposed the idea of disarmament treaties, appeared to prefer nuclear war to nuclear disarmament. More

The Falklands War ends as the Argentine garrison at Port Stanley surrenders to the British military. The Falkland Islands War was fought for the control of the Falkland Islands (Islas Malvinas) and its dependencies, a territory long disputed by the warring nations. More

Astronaut Sally Ride makes history by becoming the first American woman to fly in space, She was part of the STS-7 Space Shuttle Challenger mission, which deployed communication satellites and conducted experiments. Ride's achievement broke a significant barrier in the US space program and inspired generations. More

Deadline for ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment to the Constitution passes without the necessary votes. While there isn't a 28th amendment officially published in the U.S. Constitution, the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) is widely considered by some as the 28th amendment. It aims to guarantee equal rights for all regardless of sex. However, its ratification is still debated primarily on the basis that some States ratified the amendment after the deadline. The amendment is still not officially published as part of the Constitution. President Joe Biden released a statement on January 17, 2025 regarding the ERA Amendment. More

British Conservative Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, is reelected to a second term in office on June 9, 1983. Her reelection was reinforced by the victory in the Falkland Islands War and by deep divisions within the opposition Labor Party.

TWA Flight 847 is hijacked by Mohammed Ali Hamadei and a second terrorist brandishing grenades and pistols during a routine flight from Athens to Rome. More

The iconic Route 66 is decertified, after 59 years of existence, by the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials and votes to remove all its highway signs. Route 66 stretched 2,200 miles from Chicago to Santa Monica in California More

Jonathan Pollard, a former U.S. Navy intelligence analyst, pleads guilty on June 4, 1986, to espionage for selling top-secret U.S. military intelligence information to Israel. He was sentenced to life in prison, while his wife Anne received a five-year sentence for being an accessory. Expand +

In a speech in Berlin, on June 12, 1987, President Reagan challenges Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev to ― "Tear down this wall" and open Eastern Europe to political and economic reform. More

Protests in Beijing's Tiananmen square began on began on April 15, 1989. The protests were precipitated by the death of pro-reform Chinese Communist Party (CCP) general secretary Hu Yaobang in April 1989 in the midst of rapid economic development and social change in post-Mao China. Expand +

Chinese military cracks down on pro-democracy protesters in Tiananmen Square, Beijing bringing the protests to a halt. More

,George H.W. Bush and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev sign a bilateral agreement, on June 1, 1990, on Destruction and Non-production of Chemical Weapons and on Measures to Facilitate the Multilateral Convention on Banning Chemical Weapons". Expand +

Russia Day  is celebrated annually on June 12, commemorating the 1990 adoption of the Declaration of State Sovereignty of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (RSFSR).

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled (5-4) that it was unconstitutional for any state to require, without providing other options, for a minor to notify both parents before obtaining an abortion.

Day of Hungarian Freedom. Celebrates the restoration of Hungary's sovereignty after the withdrawal of Soviet troops in June 1991