On This Day: Tuesday June 21, 2005 This is the 172nd day of the year, with 193 days remaining in 2005. Fact of the Day: Wimbledon Wimbledon, England, is the site of the All-England Championships in tennis. The tournament, first held in 1877, is now one of the four grand slam events in professional tennis. Wimbledon was originally played by amateurs but the championships were opened up to professionals in 1968. Women joined the tournament in 1884, mixed doubles and women's doubles in 1913. Rod Laver of Australia and Billie Jean King of the United States won the singles events in 1968. Holidays Feast day of St Aloysius Gonzaga, St Leufred, St Mewan, St Engelmund, St John Rigby, St Eusebius of Samosata, and St Leutfridus. Summer solstice (or June 20). Greenland: National Day. Events 1788 - The US Constitution went into effect as New Hampshire became the ninth state to ratify it. 1834 - Cyrus Hall McCormick received a patent for his reaping machine. 1887 - Britain celebrates the golden jubilee of Queen Victoria. 1945 - Japanese troops surrendered the Pacific Island of Okinawa to the United States after one of the longest and bloodiest battles of World War II. 1977 - Menachem Begin became Israel's sixth prime minister. 1982 - A jury in Washington DC found John Hinckley, Jr. innocent by reason of insanity in the shootings of President Ronald Reagan and three other men. 1989 - The Supreme Court ruled that burning the American flag as a form of political protest is protected by the First Amendment. Births 1731 - Martha Washington (Dandridge Custis), first First Lady of the US. 1892 - Reinhold Niebuhr, Protestant theologian. 1905 - Jean-Paul Sartre, French existentialist philosopher, writer.