On June 12, 1630, John Winthrop, who became the first governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, sailed into Salem harbor.
In 1665 New York City was incorporated under English law.
In 1776 Virginia adopted a Bill of Rights, the first colonial legislature to do so.
In 1838 the Iowa Territory was organized.
In 1917 King Constantine of Greece abdicated in favor of his son, Alexander.
In 1939 the Baseball Hall of Fame was established in Cooperstown, N.Y.
In 1940 Japanese planes bombed Chungking, China.
In 1943 the Trans-Canadian Highway linking Alaska to the 48 mainland states was opened.
In 1963 Medgar Evers, Mississippi civil rights leader, was shot to death. In 1967 the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that states could not outlaw interracial marriages.
In 1972 the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the right of private clubs to exclude blacks.
In 1974 crowds of cheering Egyptians greeted President Richard Nixon on the first stop of his tour of the Middle East.
In 1984 the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that courts could not upset valid seniority systems in an effort to protect the jobs of minority workers hired under affirmative action.
