Today in History: EPA bans use of pesticide DDT

Today is Saturday, June 14, the 165th day of 2025. There are 200 days left in the year. This is Flag Day.

Today in history:

On June 14, 1972, the Environmental Protection Agency ordered a ban on domestic use of the pesticide DDT, to take effect at year’s end.

Also on this date:

In 1775, the Continental Army, forerunner of the United States Army, was created by the Second Continental Congress.

In 1777, the Second Continental Congress approved the design of the first “stars and stripes” American flag.

In 1846, a group of U.S. settlers in Sonoma proclaimed the breakaway state of the California Republic, declaring independence from Mexico.

In 1919, British aviators John Alcock and Arthur Whitten Brown embarked on the first non-stop flight across the Atlantic Ocean.

In 1940, German troops entered Paris during World War II; the same day, the Nazis transported their first prisoners to the Auschwitz concentration camp in German-occupied Poland.

In 1943, the U.S. Supreme Court, in West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette, ruled 6-3 that public school students could not be forced to salute the flag of the United States or recite the Pledge of Allegiance.

In 1954, President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed a bill adding the phrase “under God” to the Pledge of Allegiance.

In 1982, Argentine forces surrendered to British troops on the disputed Falkland Islands.