Also on this date
the Revolutionary War Battle of Bunker Hill resulted in a costly victory for the British.
President Herbert Hoover signed the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act, which boosted U.S. tariffs to historically high levels, prompting foreign retaliation.
in the “Kansas City Massacre” outside Union Station in Kansas City, Missouri, as a group of gunmen attacked law enforcement officers escorting federal prisoner Frank Nash; four of the officers were killed, along with Nash.
U.S. Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas stayed the execution of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, set for the next day, the couple’s 14th wedding anniversary. (They were put to death June 19.)
the U.S. Supreme Court, in Abington (Pa.) School District v. Schempp, struck down rules requiring the recitation of the Lord’s Prayer or reading of biblical verses in public schools.
after leading police on a slow-speed chase, O.J. Simpson was arrested and charged with murder in the slayings of his exwife, Nicole, and her friend, Ronald Goldman. (Simpson was acquitted but held liable in a civil trial.)
President Barack Obama extended some benefits to samesex partners of federal employees.
BP chief executive Tony Hayward told a congressional hearing he was “deeply sorry” for the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, but infuriated lawmakers as he disclaimed knowledge of the problems leading up to the disaster.
Nine people were shot to death in an African American church in Charleston, South Carolina; suspect Dylann Roof was arrested the next morning. (Roof was convicted of federal hate crimes and sentenced to death; he later pleaded guilty to state murder charges and was sentenced to life in prison without parole.)
Iran announced it was breaking the international deal that kept it from making nuclear weapons; the Trump administration announced it was sending 1,000 more troops to the Middle East.