This Day in History

On June 18, 1812, the War of 1812 began as the United States Congress approved, and President James Madison signed, a declaration of war against Britain.

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In 1778, American forces entered Philadelphia as the British withdrew during the Revolutionary War.

In 1815, Napoleon Bonaparte was defeated in the Battle of Waterloo as British and Prussian troops defeated the French Imperial Army in Belgium.

In 1979, President Jimmy Carter and Soviet President Leonid Brezhnev signed the SALT II strategic arms limitation treaty in Vienna.

In 1983, astronaut Sally Ride became America's first woman in space as she and four other NASA astronauts blasted off aboard the space shuttle Challenger on a six-day mission.

In 1986, 25 people were killed when a twin-engine plane and a helicopter carrying sightseers collided over the Grand Canyon.

In 1992, the U.S. Supreme Court, in Georgia v. McCollum, ruled that criminal defendants could not use race as a basis for excluding potential jurors from their trials.

In 2007, nine firefighters died when they were overwhelmed by a fast-spreading fire in a furniture showroom and warehouse facility in Charleston, South Carolina. It was one of the deadliest days for firefighting since the 9/11 attacks in the U.S.

In 2018, President Donald Trump announced he was directing the Pentagon to create the Space Force as an independent branch of the United States Armed Forces.

In 2023, the submersible vessel Titan, on an undersea expedition to view the wreck of the Titanic in the North Atlantic Ocean, imploded, killing all five people aboard.

Today's Birthdays: Musician Paul McCartney is 84. Actor Carol Kane is 74. Actor Isabella Rossellini is 74. Singer Alison Moyet is 65. Football Hall of Famer Bruce Smith is 63. Hockey Hall of Famer Martin St. Louis is 51. Actor Alana de la Garza is 50. Country musician Blake Shelton is 50. Football Hall of Famer Antonio Gates is 46. Actor Jeremy Irvine is 36. Actor Bailey Bass is 23.