Following are some of the major events to have occurred on June 20:
1944 – The battle of the Philippine Sea ended with Japan losing almost all its remaining trained pilots and at least 4,000 seamen in action against the United States.
1969 – In the British colony of Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe), a referendum held on the proposed constitution resulted in a landslide victory for Ian Smith’s proposals for a republic.
1999 – NATO Secretary-General Javier Solana said all Serb forces had left Kosovo and NATO’s bombing of Yugoslavia had officially ended.
2001 – General Pervez Musharraf, Pakistan’s military ruler, was formally sworn in as president, removing Mohammad Rafiq Tarar, the figurehead president since Musharraf’s seizure of power in 1999.
2004 – Cincinnati Reds star Ken Griffey Jr. hits 500th career home run.
2005 – Jack Kilby, inventor of the integrated circuit, the basis of the computer chip revolution and foundation of what is now a trillion-dollar industry, died. He was 81.
2006 – Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi announced Japan would withdraw its troops from Iraq, ending the Japanese military’s riskiest and most ambitious overseas mission since World War Two.
2007 – U.S. President George W. Bush vetoed legislation to expand federally funded embryonic stem cell research, triggering an uphill battle in the Democratic-led Congress to override him.
2009 – First weightless wedding aboard specially-equipped Boeing 727.
2013 – Protesters, police clash outside Confederations Cup soccer match in Salvador.
2016 – Record-setting heat wave in U.S. Southwest.
