Today in History, June 25th
On June 25, 1950, North Korea invaded South Korea, starting the Korean War. Plus Custer's defeat at the Little Bighorn in 1876.
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June 25 is best known for 1950, when North Korean forces invaded South Korea and started the Korean War. The date also saw Lt. Col. George Armstrong Custer’s command wiped out at the Little Bighorn in 1876 and the first rainbow pride flag fly in San Francisco in 1978.
The big story: The Korean War begins (1950)
Korea had been a Japanese possession until the end of World War II. When Japan surrendered, U.S. troops took the surrender in the south and Soviet troops in the north, and a split meant to be temporary hardened into two rival states along the 38th parallel. The Soviets helped build a communist government in the north, and the U.S. became the south’s main backer. On June 25, 1950, North Korean forces stormed across the line, caught the South Korean army and a small U.S. contingent off guard and drove toward Seoul. Washington took the matter to the United Nations Security Council, which called for military help for South Korea. The Soviet Union was boycotting the council at the time and was not there to veto it. President Harry Truman sent American land, air and sea forces, calling it a “police action.” After Chinese troops entered late in 1950, the fighting bogged down into a bloody stalemate. The 1953 cease-fire left the border about where it started, at a cost of 33,651 American battle deaths.
More events on June 25
| Year | What happened |
|---|---|
| 1864 | Union soldiers from Pennsylvania began digging a tunnel toward Confederate lines at Petersburg, Virginia, planning to blow a hole in the defenses. |
| 1876 | Lakota and Northern Cheyenne warriors led by Sitting Bull killed Lt. Col. George A. Custer and every man under his direct command at the Battle of the Little Bighorn in Montana Territory. |
| 1910 | Congress passed the Mann Act, sold as a way to stop sex trafficking of young women, though it also criminalized much consensual behavior. |
| 1941 | President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed Executive Order 8802, banning racial and ethnic discrimination in the defense industry, the first federal move against job discrimination. |
| 1942 | Maj. Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower took command of U.S. forces in Europe, despite never having seen combat in 27 years as an Army officer. |
| 1947 | Anne Frank’s diary was first published in the Netherlands, under the title Het Achterhuis. |
| 1956 | The last Packard luxury car rolled out of the company’s Detroit plant. |
| 1978 | Gilbert Baker’s rainbow flag flew for the first time at San Francisco’s Gay Freedom Day parade. |
| 1993 | Kim Campbell was sworn in as Canada’s 19th prime minister and the first woman to hold the job. She served less than five months. |
| 1996 | A truck bomb destroyed much of the Khobar Towers housing complex in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, killing 19 U.S. airmen and wounding nearly 500 people. |
| 2009 | Michael Jackson, the “King of Pop,” died of cardiac arrest at his Los Angeles home at age 50. |
Born on June 25
- 1935: Larry Kramer, writer and activist who became a leading voice of the HIV/AIDS crisis, born in Bridgeport, Connecticut.
- 1954: Sonia Sotomayor, the first Hispanic justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, appointed in 2009, born in the Bronx, New York.
- 1963: George Michael, singer and songwriter who went from Wham! to solo pop stardom, born in London.
Sources
- Korean War begins, History.com
- This Day in History: June 25, History.com
- On This Day: June 25, Encyclopaedia Britannica
- Battle of the Little Bighorn, Encyclopaedia Britannica
- Larry Kramer, Encyclopaedia Britannica
- Sonia Sotomayor, Encyclopaedia Britannica
- George Michael, Encyclopaedia Britannica
