Browse Historical Events by Month:
What Happened in June?
Deaths, raids, and battles. Examine landmark historical events that took place in June. Dates for earlier events may be approximate.
Note: Sources for the historical content shown, include research and reviews of relevant Online History Resources or printed material. When possible, we show a link to a source which provides additional or unique perspective about the event.
We do our best to provide accurate information but would appreciate being notified if any incorrect information is found. You may do so by using our Feedback link.
Edward Snowden, a former CIA employee, reveals thousands of classified NSA documents to journalists Glenn Greenwald, Laura Poitras, Barton Gellman, and Ewen MacAskill; beginning on June 5, 2013. The stories based on the leaked material appeared in The Guardian, The Washington Post, and other publications.
Snowden, came forward later in June and admitted that he was 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
Freedom of the Press Foundation, CC BY 4.0 , via Wikimedia Commons
Former NSA contractor Edward Snowden reveals his identity to The Guardian and on June 9, 2013, is publicly identified as the source of leaked classified documents, exposing mass surveillance programs. More
The U.S. Supreme Court legalizes same-sex marriage nationwide. More
Activist Bree Newsome scales a thirty-foot flagpole and removes the Confederate battle flag from the South Carolina Statehouse grounds. She and a collaborator, James Tyson were arrested and the flag went back up. Following the controversy resulting from her action, a vote on the presence of the flag on the Statehouse grounds took place among South Carolina's House of Representatives on July 9, which resulted in the final removal of the flag the following Friday. The charges against Newsome and Tyson were later dropped. More
The United Kingdom votes in a referendum to withdraw from the European Union, with 51.9 percent supporting Britain's exit (“Brexit”) and 48.1 percent opposing the move. it marked the first time a country had decided to leave the organization.
The withdrawal process commenced following the referendum and the subsequent notification to the European Council on March 29, 2017. The actual withdraw was completed on 1 February 2020. The Withdrawal Agreement came into force regulated the orderly withdrawal of the UK from the EU the UK remained subject to EU law and remained part of the European Union Customs Union. The complete separation came into force at 23:00 GMT on January 31, 2020 (00:00 February 1 2020 CET). More