History of the Day for:
June 16
- 1567: Mary, Queen of Scots, was imprisoned in Scotland.
- 1858: In a speech, Abraham Lincoln declared that slavery must be resolved saying, "A house divided against itself cannot stand."
- 1890: Stan Laurel, half of Laurel and Hardy comedy team, was born in Ulvertson, Lancashire, England.
- 1897: The United States signed a treaty of annexation with Hawaii.
- 1903: Ford Motor Co. was incorporated.
- 1943: Comedian/filmmaker Charlie Chaplin married his fourth wife, 18-year-old Oona O'Neill.
- 1961: Russian ballet dancer Rudolf Nureyev defected to the West.
- 1963: The first female space traveler, Valentina Tereshkova, was launched into orbit by the Soviet Union aboard Vostok Six.
- 1967: The Monterey Pop Festival began, featuring performances by Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin and The Who.
- 1968: Lee Trevino became the first golfer in 68 years to play all four rounds of the U.S. Open golf tournament with sub?par totals of 69, 68, 69 and 67, respectively.
- 1970: Kenneth Gibson became the first African-American to become mayor of a major Northeast city when he was elected in Newark, N.J.; Football player Brian Piccolo of the Chicago Bears died. His life inspired the made-for-television film "Brian's Song."
- 1972: The New York Jazz Museum opened.
- 1977: Soviet Communist Party General Secretary Leonid Brezhnev was named president, becoming the first person to hold both posts simultaneously.
- 1978: The film adaptation of the Broadway show "Grease" premiered in New York City.
- 1980: "The Blues Brothers," starring John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd as Jake and Elwood Blues, opened in Chicago.
- 1989: Imre Nagy, the former Hungarian Prime Minister, is reburied in Budapest.
- 1994: A Chinese operated Tupolev TU-154 crashes 10 minutes after takeoff killing 160.
- 1997: The Dairat Labguer massacre in Algeria; 50 people are killed.
- 2000: Israel complies with UN Security Council Resolution 425 after 22 years of it issuance, which calls on Israel to completely withdraw from Lebanon. Israel withdraws from all of Lebanon, except the disputed Sheba Farms.