Today in History.....June 15

On this day in …

* 1215, England's King John put his seal to Magna Carta ("the Great
Charter") at Runnymed

* 1775, the Second Continental Congress voted unanimously to appoint George Washington head of the Continental Army

* 1844, Charles Goodyear received a patent for his process to strengthen rubber

* 1864, Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton signed an order establishing a military burial ground, which became Arlington National Cemetery

* 1904, more than a thousand people died when fire erupted aboard the steamboat General Slocum in New York's East River

* 1944, American forces began their successful invasion of Saipan during World War II. Meanwhile, B-29 Superfortresses made their first raids on Japan

* 1994, Israel and the Vatican established full diplomatic relations

* 1995, at the O.J. Simpson murder trial, Simpson struggled to don a pair of gloves that prosecutors said were worn the night Simpson's ex-wife, Nicole, and her friend Ronald Goldman were murdered

* 2001, on the eve of his first meeting with Vladimir Putin, President Bush, in Poland, chastised Russia for suspected nuclear commerce and encouraged the former Cold War rival to help "erase the false lines that have divided Europe."