June 20 in history — What Happened Today in History

The Argentine Corbeta Uruguay base on Southern Thule surrenders to Royal Marine commandos in the final action of the Falklands War.

ABC News correspondent Bill Stewart is shot dead by a Nicaraguan National Guard soldier under the regime of Anastasio Somoza Debayle during the Nicaraguan Revolution. The murder is caught on tape and sparks an international outcry against the regime.

The film Jaws is released in the United States, becoming the highest-grossing film of that time and starting the trend of films known as "summer blockbusters".

Snipers fire upon left-wing Peronists in Buenos Aires, Argentina, in what is known as the Ezeiza massacre. At least 13 are killed and more than 300 are injured.

Aeroméxico Flight 229 crashes on approach to Licenciado Gustavo Díaz Ordaz International Airport, killing all 27 people on board.

Watergate scandal: An 18+1⁄2-minute gap appears in the tape recording of the conversations between U.S. President Richard Nixon and his advisers regarding the recent arrests of his operatives while breaking into the Watergate complex.

A Curtiss C-46 Commando crashes in the Shengang District of Taiwan, killing 57 people.

Following the Cuban Missile Crisis, the Soviet Union and the United States sign an agreement to establish the so-called "red telephone" link between Washington, D.C., and Moscow.

The Mali Federation gains independence from France (it later splits into Mali and Senegal).

A rare June hurricane strikes Canada's Gulf of St. Lawrence killing 35.

A Venezuelan Super-Constellation crashes in the Atlantic Ocean off Asbury Park, New Jersey, killing 74 people.

In Western Allied-occupied Germany, the Currency Reform of 1948 goes into effect, introducing the Deutsche Mark. The Soviet Military Administration in Germany responded by imposing the Berlin Blockade four days later.

The United States Secretary of State approves the transfer of Wernher von Braun and his team of Nazi rocket scientists to the U.S. under Operation Paperclip.

World War II: The Battle of the Philippine Sea concludes with a decisive U.S. naval victory. The lopsided naval air battle is also known as the "Great Marianas Turkey Shoot".

World War II: During the Continuation War, the Soviet Union demands unconditional surrender from Finland during the beginning of partially successful Vyborg–Petrozavodsk Offensive. The Finnish government refuses.

The experimental MW 18014 V-2 rocket reaches an altitude of 176 km, becoming the first man-made object to reach outer space.

The Detroit race riot breaks out and continues for three more days.

World War II: The Royal Air Force launches Operation Bellicose, the first shuttle bombing raid of the war. Avro Lancaster bombers damage the V-2 rocket production facilities at the Zeppelin Works while en route to an air base in Algeria.

The Holocaust: Kazimierz Piechowski and three others, dressed as members of the SS-Totenkopfverbände, steal an SS staff car and escape from the Auschwitz concentration camp.

The 28th International Eucharistic Congress begins in Chicago, with over 250,000 spectators attending the opening procession.

Workers of Buckingham and Carnatic Mills in the city of Chennai, India, begin a four-month strike.

Boxer Rebellion: The Imperial Chinese Army begins a 55-day siege of the Legation Quarter in Beijing, China.

Baron Eduard Toll, leader of the Russian Polar Expedition of 1900, departs Saint Petersburg in Russia on the explorer ship Zarya, never to return.

The Kiel Canal, crossing the base of the Jutland peninsula and the busiest artificial waterway in the world, is officially opened.

Lizzie Borden is acquitted of the murders of her father and stepmother.

Alexander Graham Bell installs the world's first commercial telephone service in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.

American Civil War: West Virginia is admitted as the 35th U.S. state.

Barbu Catargiu, the Prime Minister of Romania, is assassinated.

Kalidou Koulibaly, Senegalese footballer

Rick ten Voorde, Dutch footballer

Ding Ning, Chinese table tennis player

DeQuan Jones, American basketball player

Mohamed Mbougar Sarr, Senegalese writer

Christopher Mintz-Plasse, American actor

Javier Pastore, Argentinian footballer

Terrelle Pryor, American football player

A-fu, Taiwanese singer and songwriter

Carsten Ball, Australian tennis player

Asmir Begović, Bosnian footballer

Joseph Ebuya, Kenyan runner

Jakub Štěpánek, Czech ice hockey player

Roberto Rosato, Italian footballer (born 1943)

Harry B. Whittington, English palaeontologist and academic (born 1916)

Larry Collins, American journalist, historian, and author (born 1929)

Jack Kilby, American physicist and engineer, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1923)

Jim Bacon, Australian politician, 41st Premier of Tasmania (born 1950)

Erwin Chargaff, Austrian-American biochemist and academic (born 1905)

Tinus Osendarp, Dutch runner (born 1916)

Clifton Fadiman, American game show host, author, and critic (born 1902)

Cahit Külebi, Turkish poet and author (born 1917)

Emil Cioran, Romanian-French philosopher and educator (born 1911)

Estelle Winwood, English actress (born 1883)

Mark Robson, Canadian-American director and producer (born 1913)

Suzanne Comhaire-Sylvain, Haitian anthropologist (born 1898)