On June 14, 1801, Benedict Arnold, the Revolutionary War general-turned-traitor, died in London at 60.
In 1811 Harriet Beecher Stowe (“Uncle Tom’s Cabin”) was born in Litchfield, Conn.
In 1855 Robert La Follette, a Wisconsin populist who would become that state’s governor and later a U.S. senator, was born in Primrose, Wis.
In 1940 German troops entered Paris. Also, the Nazis opened the Auschwitz concentration camp in German-occupied Poland.
In 1943 the Supreme Court ruled schoolchildren could not be compelled to salute the American flag if it would conflict with their religious beliefs.
In 1954 President Dwight Eisenhower signed an order adding the words “under God” to the Pledge of Allegiance.
In 1982 Argentine forces in the Falkland Islands surrendered to British troops.
In 1985, beginning a 17-day ordeal aboard a TWA jetliner, two Lebanese gunmen seized Flight 847 shortly after its takeoff from Athens. (Hours later, the hijackers killed U.S. Navy diver Robert Stethem, 23, after the plane landed in Beirut.)
In 1986 Marlin Perkins, host of TV’s ”Wild Kingdom” for years, died in suburban St. Louis at 81. Also, Broadway librettist Alan Jay Lerner (“Brigadoon,” “My Fair Lady,” “Camelot”) died in New York at 67.
In 1993 President Bill Clinton nominated Judge Ruth Bader Ginsburg for the Supreme Court.
In 1994 composer Henry Mancini, 70, died in Beverly Hills, Calif.
In 2000 the leaders of North and South Korea signed an agreement pledging to work for reconciliation and eventual reunification. Also, the Southern Baptist Convention declared that women should no longer serve as pastors.
In 2004 the Supreme Court allowed schoolchildren to keep affirming loyalty to one nation “under God.”
In 2005 Army deserter Charles Jenkins, who crossed into North Korea in 1965, arrived in the U.S. for his first visit in 40 years. Also, Michelle Wie became the first female player to qualify for the U.S. Golf Association championship.
