June 20 in History

• 1837

  June 20, 1837:

  Queen Victoria ascends the throne of the United Kingdom upon the death of her uncle King William IV.

• 1893

  June 20, 1893:

  A New Bedford court acquits Lizzie Borden, a Fall River, Massachusetts woman who was accused of killing her father and stepmother.

• 1895

  June 20, 1895:

  Caroline Willard Baldwin earns the first PhD in science awarded to a woman by an American university.

• 1940

  June 20, 1940:

  Joe Louis beats Chilean boxer Arturo Godoy to emerge as the world’s heavyweight champion.

• 1947

  June 20, 1947:

  Bugsy Siegel, the man credited with introducing organized crime to the West Coast of the United States, is shot thrice in the head and dies immediately.

• 1949

  June 20, 1949:

  Tennis player Gussie Moran causes a stir with a “scandalous” short dress which she wore for her Wimbledon match.

• 1975

  June 20, 1975:

  “Jaws” by filmmaker Steven Spielberg hits theatres.

• 1980

  June 20, 1980:

  Sugar Ray Leonard loses his WBC welterweight title to Panamanian boxer, Roberto Duran.

• 1987

  June 20, 1987:

  New Zealand emerges champion of the first Rugby World Cup.

• 1992

  June 20, 1992:

  Paraguay adopts a new constitution, bringing to an end military rule which started in the 1950s.