June 11

Events

• 1184 BC - Trojan War: Troy was sacked and burned, according to the calculations of Eratosthenes.
• 1776 - Continental Congress appoints Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Roger Sherman, and Robert R. Livingston to a committee to draft a declaration of independence.
• 1788 - Russian explorer Gerasim Izmailov reaches Alaska.
• 1837 - The Broad Street Riot occurred in Boston, fueled by ethnic tensions between English-Americans and Irish-Americans.
• 1898 - Spanish-American War: U.S. war ships start to sail for Cuba.
• 1937 - Great Purge: The Soviet Union executes eight army leaders under Joseph Stalin.
• 1942 - World War II: The United States agrees to send Lend-Lease aid to the Soviet Union.
• 1962 - Frank Morris, John Anglin and Clarence Anglin become the only prisoners to successfully escape from the prison on Alcatraz Island.
• 1963 - Alabama Governor George Wallace stands at the door of Foster Auditorium at the University of Alabama in an attempt to block two black students from attending that school.
• 2001 - Timothy McVeigh is executed for his role in the Oklahoma City bombing.

Births

• 1864 - Richard Strauss, German composer and conductor (d. 1949)
• 1888 - Bartolomeo Vanzetti, Italian anarchist (d. 1927)
• 1900 - Lawrence E. Spivak, American journalist (d. 1994)
• 1910 - Jacques-Yves Cousteau, French explorer and inventor (d. 1997)
• 1930 - Charles B. Rangel, American politician
• 1947 - Israel Shamir, Anti-Zionist Jew

Deaths

• 1936 - Robert E. Howard, American author (b. 1906)
• 1970 - Alexander Kerensky, second Prime Minister of the Russian Provisional Government. (b. 1881)
• 1974 - Julius Evola, Italian philosopher (b. 1898)
• 1979 - John Wayne (born Marion Morrison), American actor (b. 1907)
• 2001 - Timothy McVeigh, American terrorist (b. 1968)