History of the Day for:
June 15
- 1215: King John signed the Magna Carta.
- 1752: Ben Franklin's performed his kite-flying experiment, demonstrating lightning and electricity were related.
- 1775: The Second Continental Congress appointed George Washington commander-in-chief of the Continental Army.
- 1836: Arkansas became the 25th state.
- 1844: Charles Goodyear received a patent for his process to strengthen rubber.
- 1849: James Polk, the 11th president of the United States, died in Nashville, Tenn.
- 1864: The Secretary of War established a military cemetery at Arlington National Cemetery.
- 1904: More than 1,000 died in a fire on the steamboat "General Slocum" in New York's East River.
- 1909: Benjamin Shibe patented the cork center baseball.
- 1944: U.S. forces began the invasion of Saipan in World War II.
- 1956: Sixteen-year-old John Lennon met 14-year-old Paul McCartney and invited him to join the Quarrymen, which would later become the Beatles.
- 1985: The Chicago Cubs played their 16,000th game, a 2-0 loss to the St. Louis Cardinals.
- 1987: Michael Spinks defeated Gerry Cooney in round five of their heavyweight boxing match in Atlantic City, N.J.
- 1993: Former Texas Governor John Connally, who was wounded in the gunfire that killed President Kennedy, died at age 76.
- 1994: Israel and Vatican City establish full diplomatic relations.
- 1996: In Manchester, United Kingdom, a terrorist bomb injures over 200 people and devastates a large part of the city centre.
- 2002: Near earth asteroid 2002 MN misses the Earth by 75,000 miles (121,000 km), about one-third of the distance between the Earth and the Moon.