Today in History, 6/28

1491: King Henry VIII is born.
1577: Peter Paul Reubens, Flemish painter, is born. He was an artist for the English Stuart kings for many years and, along with Anthony van Dyck, created the lasting images of the Stuart court. He did the massive paintings of the royal family on the ceiling of the Banqueting House at Whitehall.1712: Jean-Jacques Rousseau, French philosopher, is born. Much of what is thought of as Liberalism today came from him. The back to nature ethos, natural education, love of the common man, sexual liberation, dislike of cities and a bunch more. He practically invented the Western notion of environmentalism. Not really into women's lib, though.1776: Thomas Hickey, bodyguard to George Washington, is hanged for mutiny and sedition.
1778: During the American Revolution, the Battle of Monmouth is fought.
1838: Victoria is crowned Queen of the United Kingdom.
1865: The Army of the Potomac is disbanded.
1883: Pierre Laval is born. He was the Prime Minister of the Nazi puppet state of Vichy France and was later executed for treason.1891: Carl Spaatz is born. He was the first Chief of Staff of the US Air Force.1894: Labor Day becomes and official US holiday.
1903: The US Congress passes the Spooner Act, authorizing President Teddy Roosevelt to acquire the rights from Columbia for the Panama Canal.
1914: Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria and his wife Sophie are assassinated in Sarajevo, Serbia by Gavrillo Princip. This is the spark that ignited WWI.1919: The Treaty of Versailles is signed in Paris, formally ending WWI.
1922: The Irish Civil War begins with the shelling of the Four Courts by Irish Free State forces.
1922: Michael Vale is born. He was the "Time to make the doughnuts" guy.

1926: Mel Brooks is born.

1932: Pat Morita is born.1938: John Byner is born. Here are the credits to his old sketch comedy show Bizarre.

1935: John Inman is born. He played the sexually ambiguous menswear salesman Mr. Humphries in the Britcom Are You Being Served?

1946: Gilda Radner is born.

1948: Kathy Bates is born.
1950: Seoul is captured by North Korea.
1954: Alice Krige is born. She played the wicked Borg Queen in the various Star Trek franchises. Here she is without all the makeup and fetish gear as the Lady Jessica Atreides in the Sci Fi Channel version of Children of Dune.1964: Malcolm X forms the Organization of Afro-American Unity.
1966: John Cusack is born. Here's the famous "In Your Eyes" scene from Say Anything. Good thing he didn't use "Shock the Monkey" or that weird "Here come the birds" song.

1983: The Mianus River Bridge collapses in Greenwich, CT, killing three.1994: The Aum Shinryko cult releases a sarin gas attack in the subway at Matsumoto, Japan, killing seven and injuring 660.
1997: Mike Tyson is disqualified in the third round for biting a chunk out of Evander Hollyfield's ear.

Today in History elements mostly cribbed from The History Channel, Wikipedia, The New York Times, The Jewish World Review, The Writer's Almanac and anything else I can dig up.