What Happened On This Day – June 18
1979 Leonid Brezhnev and Jimmy Carter sign SALT II
The second “Strategic Arms Limitation Talks” (SALT) agreement was a ground-breaking arms reduction treaty between the Soviet Union and the United States.
1972 118 die in the Staines Air Disaster
The Hawker Siddeley Trident aircraft entered a deep stall and plummeted to the ground shortly after takeoff from London Heathrow Airport.
1948 The LP record is introduced
The 33⅓ rpm microgroove vinyl Long Playing record developed by Columbia Records soon became the music industry's standard medium. It allowed for a total playing time of 20 minutes per side.
1940 A speech by Charles de Gaulle sparks the French Resistance to German occupation
The Appeal of June 18, transmitted by radio from de Gaulle's exile in the United Kingdom, was pivotal in mobilizing the French after Germany had declared more than half of the country an occupied zone. On August 25, French and Allied troops liberated Paris.
1815 Napoleon suffers a shattering defeat at the Battle of Waterloo
The battle was Napoleon's last. The French Emperor was exiled to Saint Helena where he died six years later. “To meet one's Waterloo” is still a figure of speech today indicating total defeat.
Births On This Day – June 18
1986 Richard Gasquet
French tennis player
1942 Paul McCartney
English singer-songwriter, musician, producer
1942 Thabo Mbeki
South African politician, 23rd President of South Africa
1942 Roger Ebert
American journalist, critic, screenwriter
1929 Jürgen Habermas
German sociologist, philosopher
Deaths On This Day – June 18
2010 José Saramago
Portuguese author, Nobel Prize laureate
2003 Larry Doby
American baseball player
1989 I. F. Stone
American journalist, author
1974 Georgy Zhukov
Russian general
1928 Roald Amundsen
Norwegian explorer