Historical Events On June 18

Today is Wednesday, June 18, the 169th day of 2014. There are 196 days left in the year. June 18, 1964, President Lyndon B. Johnson and Japanese Prime Minister Hayato Ikeda spoke to each other by telephone as they inaugurated the first trans-Pacific cable completed by AT&T between Japan and Hawaii, and linked to existing cables between Hawaii and California.

In 1778, American forces entered Philadelphia as the British withdrew during the Revolutionary War.

In 1812, the War of 1812 began as the United States Congress approved, and President James Madison signed, a declaration of war against Britain.

In 1815, Napoleon Bonaparte met his Waterloo as British and Prussian troops defeated the French in Belgium.

In 1912, the Republican National Convention, which would nominate President William Howard Taft for another term of office, opened in Chicago.

In 1940, during World War II, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill urged his countrymen to conduct themselves in a manner that would prompt future generations to say, "This was their finest hour."

In 1953, a U.S. Air Force Douglas C-124 Globemaster II crashed near Tokyo, killing all 129 people on board. Egypt's 148-year-old Muhammad Ali Dynasty came to an end with the overthrow of the monarchy and the proclamation of a republic.

In 1972, 118 people were killed in the crash of a Brussels-bound British European Airways Hawker Siddeley Trident 1C shortly after takeoff from London Heathrow Airport.

In 1979, President Jimmy Carter and Soviet President Leonid I. Brezhnev signed the SALT II strategic arms limitation treaty in Vienna.

In 1983, astronaut Sally K. Ride, 32, became America's first woman in space as she and four colleagues blasted off aboard the space shuttle Challenger on a six-day mission.

In 2004: An al-Qaida cell in Saudi Arabia beheaded American engineer Paul M. Johnson Jr., 49, posting grisly photographs of his severed head; hours later, Saudi security forces tracked down and killed the alleged mastermind of the kidnapping and murder. European Union leaders agreed on the first constitution for the bloc's 25 members.

In 2009: Tens of thousands of protesters filled the streets of Tehran again, joining opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi (meer hoh-SAYN' moo-SAH'-vee) to mourn demonstrators killed in clashes over Iran's disputed presidential election.

Washington Capitals forward Alex Ovechkin was named the NHL's most valuable player for the second straight year after leading the league with 56 goals.

In 2013: The Taliban and the U.S. said they would hold talks on finding a political solution to ending nearly 12 years of war in Afghanistan, as the international coalition formally handed over control of the country's security to the Afghan army and police.