#Middlebury
On June 9, 1772, colonists, angered by the British Parliament’s passing of the Townshend Acts restricting colonial trade, board and set ablaze the HMS Gaspee, an armed British customs schooner that had run aground. British officials found no one willing to identify those involved, and the inquiry closed without result.- On June 4, 1919, the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, guaranteeing women the right to vote, is passed by Congress and sent to the states for ratification. On Aug. 18, 1920, Tennessee became the 36th state to ratify the amendment, giving it the two-thirds majority necessary to make it the law of the land.
- On June 3, 1937, the Duke of Windsor – formerly King Edward VIII – marries Wallis Warfield Simpson, the American divorcee for whom he abdicated the British throne in 1936.
- On June 5, 1942, President Franklin D. Roosevelt issues a stern statement warning Japan to stop using poison gas in its war on China. Japan continued its use of these weapons until the end of the war, managing to keep its activities secret.
- On June 8, 1966, the rival National Football League (NFL) and American Football League (AFL) announce that they will merge. The first Super Bowl between the two leagues took place at the end of the 1966 season.
- On June 6, 1971, “The Ed Sullivan Show” airs for the last time, 23 years after its 1948 premiere. Gladys Knight and the Pips were the musical guests.
- On June 7, 2002, Michael Skakel is convicted in the 1975 murder of his former neighbor, 15-year-old Martha Moxley, with a golf club. Skakel, a nephew of Ethel Kennedy, the wife of the late U.S. Senator Robert Kennedy, was sentenced to 20 years to life in prison. In 2018, the Connecticut Supreme Court vacated the conviction and ordered a new trial.
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