June 8 in history — What Happened Today in History

Bluff Cove Air Attacks during the Falklands War: Fifty-six British servicemen are killed by an Argentine air attack on two landing ships, RFA Sir Galahad and RFA Sir Tristram.

VASP Flight 168 crashes in Pacatuba, Ceará, Brazil, killing 128 people.

Vietnam War: Nine-year-old Phan Thị Kim Phúc is burned by napalm, an event captured in a photograph moments later while the young girl is seen running naked down a road, in what would become an iconic, Pulitzer Prize-winning photo.

James Earl Ray, the man who assassinated Martin Luther King Jr. is arrested at London Heathrow Airport.

Six-Day War: The USS Liberty incident: A United States Navy spy ship is attacked by the Israeli Air Force and Navy, resulting in 34 deaths and 171 wounded.

An F-104 Starfighter collides with XB-70 Valkyrie prototype no. 2, destroying both aircraft during a photo shoot near Edwards Air Force Base. Joseph A. Walker, a NASA test pilot, and Carl Cross, a United States Air Force test pilot, are both killed.

Topeka, Kansas, United States is devastated by a tornado that registers as an "F5" on the Fujita scale, exceeding US$200 million in damages. Seventeen people are killed, over five hundred more injured, and thousands of homes damaged or destroyed.

Marriage of Prince Edward, Duke of Kent to Katharine Worsley at York Minster.

USS Barbero and the United States Postal Service attempt the delivery of mail via Missile Mail.

An F5 tornado hits Beecher, Michigan, United States, killing 116, injuring 844, and destroying 340 homes.

The United States Supreme Court rules in District of Columbia v. John R. Thompson Co. that restaurants in Washington, D.C., cannot refuse to serve black patrons.

George Orwell's dystopian novel Nineteen Eighty-Four is published in the United States

World War II: The two-day Battle of Porta between the Royal Italian Army and the Greek People's Liberation Army begins.

World War II: The Imperial Japanese Navy submarines I-21 and I-24 shell the Australian cities of Sydney and Newcastle.

World War II: The Allies commence the Syria–Lebanon Campaign against the possessions of Vichy France in the Levant.

World War II: The completion of Operation Alphabet, the evacuation of Allied forces from Narvik at the end of the Norwegian campaign.

Margaret Bondfield is appointed Minister of Labour. She is the first woman appointed to the Cabinet of the United Kingdom.

Second Northern Expedition: The National Revolutionary Army captures Beijing, whose name is changed to Beiping ("Northern Peace").

British Mount Everest expedition: British mountaineers Andrew Irvine and George Mallory go missing.

Theodore Roosevelt signs the Antiquities Act into law, authorizing the President to restrict the use of certain parcels of public land with historical or conservation value.

Herman Hollerith applies for US patent #395,781 for the 'Art of Compiling Statistics', which was his punched card calculator.

Coronation of Franz Joseph as King of Hungary following the Austro-Hungarian compromise (Ausgleich).

American Civil War: A Confederate victory by forces under General Stonewall Jackson at the Battle of Cross Keys, along with the Battle of Port Republic the next day, prevents Union forces from reinforcing General George B. McClellan in his Peninsula campaign.

American Civil War: Tennessee secedes from the Union.

A group of 194 Pitcairn Islanders, descendants of the mutineers of HMS Bounty, arrives at Norfolk Island, commencing the Third Settlement of the Island.

Maximilien Robespierre inaugurates the French Revolution's new state religion, the Cult of the Supreme Being, with large organized festivals all across France.

James Madison introduces twelve proposed amendments to the United States Constitution in Congress.

Laki, a volcano in Iceland, begins an eight-month eruption which kills over 9,000 people and starts a seven-year famine.

Rachel Held Evans, American Christian author (died 2019)

Sara Watkins, American fiddle, ukulele, and guitar player

Derek Trucks, American guitarist, former member of the Allman Brothers band

Maria Menounos, American television personality, professional wrestler, author, and actress

Kanye West, American rapper, producer, director, and fashion designer

Lindsay Davenport, American tennis player

Mark Ricciuto, Australian footballer and sportcaster

Lauren Burns, Australian taekwondo practitioner

Bernard Grech, Maltese lawyer and politician

Gabby Giffords, American politician and advocate for ending gun violence in the United States

Steve Renouf, Australian rugby league player

Kelli Williams, American actress and director

David Barnhill, Australian rugby league player

Charles E. M. Pearce, New Zealand-Australian mathematician and academic (born 1940)

Ghassan Tueni, Lebanese journalist, academic, and politician (born 1926)

Denise Narcisse-Mair, Canadian musician (born 1940)

Omar Bongo, Gabonese captain and politician, President of Gabon (born 1935)

Jaxon, American illustrator and publisher, co-founded Rip Off Press (born 1941)

Matta El Meskeen, Egyptian monk, theologian, and author (born 1919)

Charles Hyder, American astrophysicist and academic (born 1930)

Mack Jones, American baseball player (born 1938)

Alex de Renzy, American director and producer (born 1935)

Frédéric Dard, French author and screenwriter (born 1921)

Sani Abacha, Nigerian general and politician, 10th President of Nigeria (born 1943)

Maria Reiche, German mathematician and archaeologist (born 1903)

George Turner, Australian author and critic (born 1916)