MOMENTS IN TIME

Jun 07, 20120

The History Channel

• On June 21, 1788, New Hampshire becomes the ninth and last necessary state to ratify the Constitution of the United States, thereby making the document the law of the land. Massachusetts had initially opposed the document as it failed to reserve undelegated powers to the states.

• On June 23, 1902, German automaker Daimler-Motoren-Gesellschaft (DMG) first registers “Mercedes” as a brand name. The famous Mercedes symbol, a three-point star, was registered as a trademark in 1909.

• On June 24, 1915, young German fighter pilot Oswald Boelcke makes the first operational flight of the Fokker Eindecker plane. The Fokker was equipped with machine guns that could fire straight ahead through the aircraft’s propellers. The precise timing of the propeller blades allowed them to avoid being struck by the machine gun bullets.

• On June 18, 1923, the first Checker Cab rolls off the line at the Checker Cab Manufacturing Company in Kalamazoo, Mich. The shipment stood out as a major landmark in the history of the company, which by then employed some 700 people.

• On June 19, 1953, Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, who were convicted of conspiring to pass U.S. atomic secrets to the Soviets, are executed by the electric chair at Sing Sing Prison in Ossining, N.Y. Both refused to admit any wrongdoing and proclaimed their innocence right up to the time of their deaths.

• On June 22, 1964, Dan Brown, author of the international blockbuster “The Da Vinci Code” as well as other best-selling thrillers, is born in New Hampshire. Brown’s novels are known for involving symbols, conspiracies and secret societies. His first novel, “Digital Fortress,” was published in 1998.

• On June 20, 1980, in a match in Montreal, Roberto Duran out-points “Sugar” Ray Leonard to win the World Boxing Council welterweight title. Yet, five months later in a rematch, with less than 30 seconds left in the eighth round, Duran looked at the referee and famously uttered the words “no mas” or “no more,” giving up.