Historical Events on June 9

68 Roman Emperor Nero commits suicide, imploring his secretary Epaphroditos to slit his throat to evade a Senate-imposed death by flogging

1075 Battle at Homburg/Unstrut: German King Henry IV beats Saksen

1531 Pope Clemens VII and Francois I sign secret treaty against the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V

1534 Jacques Cartier 1st sails into mouth of St Lawrence River

1869 Charles E. Hires sells his 1st root beer, in Philadelphia

1891 French painter Paul Gauguin arrives in Papeete, Tahiti

1899 James J. Jeffries KOs Bob Fitzsimmons in 11 for heavyweight boxing title

1908 King Edward VII of Great Britain visits Tsar Nicholas II at Reval, Russia, where the two discuss the growing power of Germany and British plans for reform in Macedonia

1914 Honus Wagner is 2nd to get 3,000 hits

1915 William Jennings Bryan quits as US Secretary of State

1915 US President Woodrow Wilson sends 2nd Lusitania note to Germany protesting sinking of the Lusitania and refuting German claim British blockade illegal

1930 Paavo Nurmi runs world record 6 mile (29:36.4)

1930 Chicago Tribune reporter Jake Lingle is killed during rush hour at the Illinois Central train station by the Leo Vincent Brothers, allegedly over a $100,000 USD gambling debt owed to Al Capone.

1931 First rocket-powered aircraft design patented by Robert Goddard

1933 Walter Johnson takes over as Cleveland manager

1940 General Charles de Gaulle's 1st meeting with Winston Churchill

1942 Nazis kill all inhabitants of Lidice, which had been implicated in the assassination of Reinhard Heydrich, Nazi controller of Bohemia and Moravia, to “teach the Czechs a final lesson of subservience and humility”

1945 Following an 8-7 win over the Phils, Brooklyn manager Leo Durocher is arrested on a complaint by a fan that Durocher slugged him

1946 Bhumibol Adulyadej becomes King of Thailand after the death of his brother King Ananda Mahidol

1946 Joe Louis KOs Billy Conn in 8 for heavyweight boxing title

1954 Joseph Welch asks US Senator Joseph McCarthy "Have you no sense of decency, sir?" during Senate-Army hearings

1958 HM Queen Elizabeth II officially opens London Gatwick Airport, (LGW), Crawley, West Sussex, United Kingdom.

1962 Tony Bennett debuts in concert at Carnegie Hall in NYC

1963 Barbra Streisand appears on "Ed Sullivan Show"

1968 Yugoslav president Tito promises reforms

1968 French Open Men's Tennis: In an all-Australian final Ken Rosewall beats Rod Laver 6-3, 6-1, 2-6, 6-2; first Grand Slam of Open Era allowing professional players to compete

1970 Bob Dylan given honorary Doctorate of Music at Princeton University

1971 Paul McCartney's album "Ram" goes gold

1972 Bruce Springsteen signs a record deal with Columbia

1978 Johannes Gutenberg's Bible, the first book produced using the printing press, (1 of 21 complete versions) sells for $2.4 million, London

1978 Larry Holmes beats Ken Norton in 15 for heavyweight boxing title

1980 14th Music City News Country Awards: Statler Brothers & Loretta Lynn

1980 Comedian Richard Pryor suffers burns from free basing cocaine

1982 General Efraín Rios Montt declares himself President of Guatemala

1983 Margaret Thatcher's Conservative Party wins British parliamentary election

1984 Weird Al Yankovic gives a live performance at Starlight Amphitheater

1984 French Open Women's Tennis: Martina Navratilova beats Chris Evert 6-3, 6-1; 2nd women in Open Era to hold all 4 Grand Slam titles at once

1985 French Open Men's Tennis: Sweden's Mats Wilander wins 4th career Grand Slam title; beats Czech star Ivan Lendl 3-6, 6-4, 6-2, 6-2

1990 Dodger Eddie Murray ties Mickey Mantle with baseball's switch hit HRs in 10 games

1990 Michael Jackson is hospitalized with inflamed rib cartilage

1990 French Open Women's Tennis: Monica Seles of Yugoslavia wins her first Grand Slam singles title; beats Steffi Graf 7-6, 6-4

1991 French Open Men's Tennis: Jim Courier wins first career Grand Slam title; beats fellow American Andre Agassi 3-6, 6-4, 2-6, 6-1, 6-4