Moments in Time – June 1, 2022

#Middlebury

• On June 13, 1381, a large mob of English peasants marches into London and begins burning and looting the city. The revolt began with the bubonic plague in the late 1340s, which killed nearly a third of the population of England and led to higher wages due to scarcity of labor. Parliament, however, passed laws to hold down wages.
• On June 19, 1856, the first national convention of the Republican Party comes to its conclusion. After the Civil War, the Republican-dominated Congress forced a radical Reconstruction policy on the South, which saw the passage of the 13th, 14th and 15th Amendments to the Constitution.
• On June 17, 1885, the dismantled Statue of Liberty, a gift from France, arrives in New York Harbor after being shipped across the Atlantic Ocean in 350 individual pieces packed in more than 200 cases. The copper and iron statue was reassembled and dedicated the following year.
• On June 15, 1904, more than 1,000 people taking a pleasure trip on New York City’s East River are drowned or burned to death when fire sweeps through the riverboat-style steamer General Slocum.
• On June 14, 1951, the U.S. Census Bureau dedicates UNIVAC, the first commercially produced general-purpose electronic digital computer in the U.S. UNIVAC used thousands of vacuum tubes for computation.
• On June 16, 1961, Rudolf Nureyev, the young star of the Soviet Union’s Kirov Opera Ballet Company, defects during a stopover in Paris. While preparing to board the return flight, Nureyev threw himself into the arms of airport security people, screaming, “Protect me!” He was given political asylum.
• On June 18, 1983, Dr. Sally K. Ride becomes the first American woman in space when the shuttle Challenger is launched on its second mission. Ride, as a mission specialist, was the first woman to operate the shuttle’s mechanical arm used to remove ice from its exterior.

© 2022 Hearst Communications, Inc.
All Rights Reserved