History of the Day for:
June 11
- 1509: England's King Henry the Eighth married Catherine of Aragon.
- 1776: The Continental Congress created a committee to draft a Declaration of Independence.
- 1919: "Sir Barton" won the Belmont Stakes, becoming horse racing's first Triple Crown winner.
- 1927: Charles Lindbergh was awarded the first Distinguished Flying Cross.
- 1936: The Presbyterian Church of America was formed in Philadelphia.
- 1950: Ben Hogan, returning to tournament play after a near-fatal auto accident, won the U.S. Open in a three-way playoff with Lloyd Mangrum and George Fazio.
- 1966: Janis Joplin made her first appearance on stage, at the Avalon ballroom in San Francisco.
- 1977: "Seattle Slew" won the Belmont Stakes, capturing the Triple Crown.
- 1978: Joseph Freeman Jr. became the first black priest in the Church Of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.
- 1979: Actor John Wayne died at age 72.
- 1981: The first baseball player's strike in major-league history began during midseason after Seattle defeated Baltimore, 8-2, at the Kingdome in Seattle.
- 1982: The movie "E.T.: The Extra Terrestrial" debuted.
- 1985: Karen Ann Quinlan, the comatose patient whose case prompted a historic right-to-die court decision, died in Morris Plains, N.J., at age 31.
- 1986: The Supreme Court struck down a Pennsylvania abortion law, while reaffirming its 1973 decision establishing a constitutional right to abortion.
- 1998: Compaq Computer pays $9 billion for Digital Equipment Corporation in the largest high-tech acquisition.
- 2001: Timothy McVeigh is executed for his role in the Oklahoma City bombing.
- 2002: Antonio Meucci is acknowledged as the first inventor of the telephone by the United States Congress.
- 2004: Cassini-Huygens makes its closest flyby of Phoebe.
- 2004: Ronald Reagan's funeral is held at Washington National Cathedral.
- 2008: Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper makes an historic official apology to Canada's First Nations in regard to a residential school abuse in which children are isolated from their homes, families and cultures for a century.
- 2008: An EF3 tornado touch down at The Little Sioux Scout Ranch in Iowa killing four boy scouts Josh Fennen 13, Sam Thomsen 13, Ben Petrzilka 14, and Aaron Eilerts 14.
- 2009: A Texas mother was hit by lightning while standing in her kitchen inside her Texas home. Witnesses say the lightning came through a light fixture and struck her chest and exited her foot. Her 9-year-old son franticly called 9-1-1 to save her life. She had to spend three days in the hospital.