ON THIS DATE

2006: Prelate Katharine Jefferts Schori was elected presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church in the United States of America, becoming the first woman chosen as a churchwide leader in the 400-year history of the Anglican Communion.

1983: The first American woman to fly into outer space, Sally Ride, was launched with four other astronauts aboard the space shuttle Challenger.

1979: The SALT (Strategic Arms Limitation Talks) II treaty was signed by U.S. President Jimmy Carter and Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev.

1940: Broadcasting from London after France fell to the Nazis, French General Charles de Gaulle appealed to his compatriots to continue World War II under his leadership.

1886: British explorer and mountaineer George Mallory, whose disappearance on Mount Everest in 1924 became one of the mostcelebrated mysteries of the 20th century, was born in Mobberley, Cheshire.

1873: American suffragist Susan B. Anthony was fined after being convicted for voting in the 1872 presidential election, though she refused to pay it; in 2020 President Donald Trump pardoned Anthony, but the move was criticized by those who argued that it validated the trial.

1815: Napoleon was defeated in the Battle of Waterloo, ending 23 years of recurrent warfare between France and the other powers of Europe.

1812: On this day U.S. President James Madison signed a declaration of war against Great Britain, initiating the War of 1812, which arose chiefly from U.S. grievances over oppressive maritime practices during the Napoleonic Wars.

1429: Joan of Arc led the French army against the English at Patay, France.