The Custer Fight 1903.

1876

Battle of the Little Bighorn

Born on This Day

George Michael Press Conference

George Michael

1963 - 2016

British singer-songwriter who found 1980s fame with the group Wham and solo success with hits like "Faith" and "Father Figure."

King Felipe Receives Sonia Sotomayor, Associate Justice Of The Supreme Court Of The United States

Sonia Sotomayor

1954 -

First Hispanic and first Latina justice of the U.S. Supreme Court. Bronx native whose legal work has supported civil rights issues.

Larry Kramer At Home

Larry Kramer

1935 - 2020

Playwright and activist who co-founded the AIDS advocacy group ACT UP and dramatized his experiences in "The Normal Heart."

1947

JUN

25

Anne Frank’s diary is first published, recounting her life in hiding during the Holocaust. Her father said the book revealed a side of his daughter he never knew: “I had had no idea of the depth of her thoughts and feelings."

Timeline

Also on This Day in History

Discover more of the major events, famous births, notable deaths and everything else history-making that happened on June 25th

1864

Union begins tunneling toward Rebels at Petersburg

On June 25, 1864, four years into the Civil War, Pennsylvania troops for the Union, begin digging a tunnel toward the Rebels at Petersburg, Virginia, in order to blow a hole in the Confederate lines and break the stalemate. The great campaign between Confederate General Robert E. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia and Ulysses S. […]

1910

Congress passes Mann Act, aimed at curbing sex trafficking

Congress passes the Mann Act, which was ostensibly aimed at keeping young women from being lured into prostitution, but really offered a way to make a crime out of many kinds of consensual sexual activity. The outrage over sex work began with a commission appointed in 1907 to investigate the problem of immigrant prostitutes. Allegedly, […]

1915

Germans release statement on use of poison gas at Ypres

On June 25, 1915, the German press publishes an official statement from the country’s war command addressing the German use of poison gas at the start of the Second Battle of Ypres two months earlier. The German firing of more than 150 tons of lethal chlorine gas against two French colonial divisions at Ypres in […]

1941

FDR signs order banning discrimination in the defense industry

On June 25, 1941, with World War II heating up in Europe, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs Executive Order 8802 prohibiting ethnic and racial discrimination in the country’s growing defense industry. The order, issued after adamant protest by African American leaders, marked the U.S. government’s first move to ban employment discrimination and promote equal opportunity—and […]

1942

Eisenhower takes command

Following his arrival in London, Major General Dwight D. Eisenhower takes command of U.S. forces in Europe on June 25, 1942. Although Eisenhower had never seen combat during his 27 years as an army officer, his knowledge of military strategy and talent for organization were such that Army Chief of Staff General George C. Marshall […]

1950

Korean War begins

On June 25, 1950, armed forces from communist North Korea smash into South Korea, setting off the Korean War. The United States, acting under the auspices of the United Nations, quickly sprang to the defense of South Korea and fought a bloody and frustrating war for the next three years. Korea, a former Japanese possession, […]

1953

Jacqueline Bouvier and Senator John F. Kennedy announce engagement

On June 25, 1953, Jacqueline Bouvier and Massachusetts Senator John F. Kennedy publicly announce their engagement. Kennedy went on to become the 35th president and Jackie, as she was known, became one of the most popular first ladies ever to grace the White House. Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy was born into a prominent New York family […]

1956

Last Packard—the classic American luxury car—produced

The last Packard—the classic American luxury car with the famously enigmatic slogan “Ask the Man Who Owns One”—rolls off the production line at Packard’s plant in Detroit, Michigan on June 25, 1956. Mechanical engineer James Ward Packard and his brother, William Dowd Packard, built their first automobile, a buggy-type vehicle with a single cylinder engine, […]

1965

Viet Cong blow up a floating restaurant

On June 25, 1965, two Viet Cong terrorist bombs rip through the My Canh floating restaurant on the Saigon River. The first exploded in the dining room; the second one, a few minutes later, detonated on the gangplank as panicked survivors tried to flee. More than 30 people, including nine Americans, were killed in the […]

1978

First rainbow Pride flag premieres at San Francisco parade

On June 25, 1978, activists hoist a vibrant rainbow flag in the midst of the festivities for San Francisco’s Gay and Lesbian Freedom Day parade. According to its creator, Gilbert Baker, the crowd immediately recognized the flag’s significance: “It completely astounded me that people just got it, in an instant like a bolt of lightning—that […]

1988

Teenager Debbie Gibson earns a #1 hit with “Foolish Beat”

On June 25, 1988, 17-year-old Debbie Gibson becomes the youngest person ever to write, produce and perform her own #1 pop single when her single “Foolish Beat” reaches the top of the Biilboard Hot 100. Contrary to what some critics of teen pop might imagine, pop sensation Debbie Gibson saw herself not as the next […]

1993

Kim Campbell becomes Canada’s first female prime minister

In Ottawa, Kim Campbell is sworn in as Canada’s 19th prime minister, becoming the first woman to hold the country’s highest office. Born in Port Alberni, British Columbia, in 1947, Campbell studied law and political science before entering Canadian politics during the 1980s. In 1986, she was elected to the British Columbia legislature as a […]

1996

Khobar Towers bombing in Saudi Arabia kills 19 U.S. airmen

On June 25, 1996, a tanker truck loaded with 25,000 pounds of explosives rips through the U.S. Air Force military housing complex Khobar Towers in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, killing 19 U.S. airmen and wounding nearly 500 others. The terrorist attack that blew off much of the eight-story Building 131, leaving a crater 50 feet wide […]

2009

“King of Pop” Michael Jackson dies at age 50

On June 25, 2009, Michael Jackson, one of the most commercially successful entertainers in history, dies at the age of 50 at his home in Los Angeles, California, after suffering from cardiac arrest caused by a fatal combination of drugs given to him by his personal doctor. Jackson, who grew up as the talented lead […]

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