Juneteenth National Independence Day, was signed into law by President Joe Biden, to become the first federal holiday established since Martin Luther King Jr. Day in 1983.
A "joint understanding" agreement on arms reduction is signed by U.S. president George Bush and Russian president Boris Yeltsin (this would be later codified in START II).
Space Shuttle program: STS-51-G mission: Space Shuttle Discovery launches carrying Sultan bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, the first Arab and first Muslim in space, as a payload specialist.
Watergate scandal: Five White House operatives are arrested for burgling the offices of the Democratic National Committee during an attempt by members of the administration of President Richard M. Nixon to illegally wiretap the political opposition a...
U.S. president Richard Nixon in a televised press conference called drug abuse "America's public enemy number one", starting the war on drugs.
Nuclear weapons testing: China announces a successful test of its first thermonuclear weapon.
A day after South Vietnamese president Ngô Đình Diệm announced the Joint Communiqué to end the Buddhist crisis, a riot involving around 2,000 people breaks out. One person is killed.
The Nez Perce tribe is awarded $4 million for 7 million acres (28,000 km2) of land undervalued at four cents/acre in the 1863 treaty.
Iceland declares independence from Denmark and becomes a republic.
World War II: RMS Lancastria is attacked and sunk by the Luftwaffe near Saint-Nazaire, France. At least 3,000 are killed in Britain's worst maritime disaster.
World War II: The British Army's 11th Hussars assault and take Fort Capuzzo in Libya from Italian forces.
Bonus Army: Around a thousand World War I veterans amass at the United States Capitol as the U.S. Senate considers a bill that would give them certain benefits.
U.S. president Herbert Hoover signs the Smoot–Hawley Tariff Act into law.
Portuguese naval aviators Gago Coutinho and Sacadura Cabral complete the first aerial crossing of the South Atlantic.
Aurel Vlaicu pilots an A. Vlaicu nr. 1 on its first flight.
The College Board introduces its first standardized test, the forerunner to the SAT.
American Indian Wars: Battle of White Bird Canyon: The Nez Perce defeat the U.S. Cavalry at White Bird Canyon in the Idaho Territory.
American Indian Wars: Battle of the Rosebud: One thousand five hundred Sioux and Cheyenne led by Crazy Horse beat back General George Crook's forces at Rosebud Creek in Montana Territory.
The Wairau Affray, the first serious clash of arms between Māori and British settlers in the New Zealand Wars, takes place.
The steam locomotive Best Friend of Charleston causes the first boiler explosion caused by a steam locomotive.