What Happened on June 11?

June 11 is National Corn on the Cob Day — a summer favorite — on the same date Henry VIII married Catherine of Aragon, and Buddhist monk Thich Quang Duc protested in Saigon.

• 1509 — Henry VIII marries Catherine of Aragon

  Eighteen-year-old King Henry VIII wed Catherine of Aragon on June 11, 1509, beginning a marriage that would later split England from the Catholic Church. Read the full story →

• 1776 — Continental Congress appoints a committee to draft the Declaration of Independence

  On June 11, 1776, the Continental Congress named Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, and others to write a declaration breaking from Britain. Read the full story →

• 1963 — Buddhist monk Thich Quang Duc protests religious persecution in Saigon

  On June 11, 1963, Buddhist monk Thich Quang Duc burned himself to death at a Saigon intersection to protest South Vietnam's discrimination against Buddhists. Read the full story →

• 2001 — Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh is executed

  Timothy McVeigh was put to death by lethal injection on June 11, 2001, for the 1995 bombing that killed 168 people in Oklahoma City. Read the full story →

• 2008 — NASA launches the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope

  A Delta II rocket carried the Fermi telescope into orbit on June 11, 2008, to study the universe's most energetic light — gamma rays. Read the full story →

Famous birthdays

Jacques Cousteau (1910–1997) · Jeannette Rankin (1880–1973) · Shia LaBeouf (1986) · Peter Dinklage (1969)

Days & observances

National Corn on the Cob Day · National German Chocolate Cake Day · National Making Life Beautiful Day · Kamehameha Day (Hawaii)