This Day in History, June 1

In 1812, U.S. President James Madison warned Congress that war with Britain was imminent. The War of 1812 started 17 days later.

In 1880, the first public pay telephone began operation in New Haven, Conn.

In 1954, Linus of "Peanuts" was shown with his security blanket for the first time.

In 1964, the U.S. Supreme Court banned prayers and Bible teaching in public schools on the constitutional grounds of separation of church and state.

In 1968, Helen Keller, a world-renowned author and lecturer despite being blind and deaf from infancy, died in Westport, Conn., at the age of 87.

In 1973, Greek Prime Minister George Papadopoulos abolished the Greek monarchy and proclaimed Greece a republic with himself as president.

In 1980, the Cable News Network (CNN), TV's first all-news service, went on the air.

In 1990, U.S. President George H.W. Bush and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev agreed to sharp cuts in chemical and nuclear weapons.

Also in 1990, the South African government proposed a bill to scrap the 37-year-old law segregating buses, trains, toilets, libraries, swimming pools and other public amenities.

In 1991, U.S. Secretary of State James Baker and Soviet Foreign Minister Aleksandr Bessmertnykh resolved differences over a conventional weapons reduction treaty.

In 1993, the Guatemalan military, acting in response to appeals from the judiciary and the public, ousted President Jorge Serrano Elias from office.

Also in 1993, President Dobrica Cosic of Yugoslavia was voted out of office by parliament.

In 1997, French parliamentary elections brought parties of the left into power for the first time since 1986.

In 2003, with hostilities continuing in Iraq, coalition leaders decided against creating a large national assembly soon but rather devised a plan for an advisory council of 25 to 30 Iraqis instead.

In 2004, oil prices jumped to $42.33 a barrel, highest reported at that time.

Also in 2004, the Iraq Governing Council chose Ghazi al-Yawer to be the country's president as shells killed 15 near Baghdad's "Green Zone," home of the U.S. Army command and Coalition Authority.

In 2005, Dutch voters joined France in overwhelmingly rejecting the proposed EU constitution.

In 2006, Indonesian authorities raised the Java earthquake death toll to 6,200.

In 2007, Russian President Vladimir Putin warned the United States that if it installs missile defense bases in Eastern Europe as planned, his nation would focus its own missiles on European sites.

Also in 2007, U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates acknowledged that a U.S. force might remain in Iraq for decades, possibly in some sort of mission to protect the sovereignty of the host nation.

And, a mass grave found in Baquba, Iraq, contained bodies of at least 15 people who police said appeared to have been buried within the previous two weeks.