June 2
2 June is the 153rd day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (154th in leap years), with 212 days remaining.
Events
- 455 - The Vandals enter Rome, and plunder the city for two weeks.
- 576 - Benedict I becomes Pope.
- 657 - St. Eugene I becomes Pope.
- 1615 - First Récollet missionaries arrive at Quebec City, from Rouen, France.
- 1763 - Pontiac's Rebellion: At what is now Mackinaw City, Michigan, Chippewas capture Fort Michilimackinac by diverting the garrison's attention with a game of lacrosse, then chasing a ball into the fort.
- 1774 - Intolerable Acts: The Quartering Act, requiring American colonists to let British soldiers into their homes, is reenacted.
- 1780 - The Derby, horse race, was first held.
- 1793 - Jean Paul Marat recites the names of 29 people to the French National Convention. Almost all of these are guillotined, followed by 17,000 more over the course of the next year during the Reign of Terror.
- 1800 - First smallpox vaccination in North America, at Trinity, Newfoundland.
- 1835 - P.T. Barnum and his circus begins first tour of the U.S.
- 1848 - Slavic congress in Prague begins.
- 1855 - the Portland Rum Riot occurs in Portland, Maine
- 1865 - American Civil War ends - Forces under Confederate General Edmund Kirby Smith surrender at Galveston, Texas, becoming the last to do so.
- 1886 - U.S. President Grover Cleveland marries Frances Folsom in the White House, becoming the only president to wed in the executive mansion.
- 1896 - Guglielmo Marconi receives a patent for his newest invention: the radio
- 1897 - Mark Twain, responding to rumors that he was dead, is quoted by the New York Journal as saying, "The report of my death was an exaggeration."
- 1909 - Alfred Deakin becomes Prime Minister of Australia for the third time.
- 1924 - U.S. President Calvin Coolidge signs Indian Citizenship Act into law, granting citizenship to all Native Americans born within the territorial limits of the United States.
- 1925 - Wally Pipp, first baseman of the New York Yankees, asks for a day off due to a headache. He is replaced in the lineup by Lou Gehrig, who also starts the next 2,128 consecutive games.
- 1935 - Baseballer Babe Ruth announces he is going to retire from the sport.
- 1946 - Birth of the Italian Republic: In a referendum Italians decide to turn Italy from a monarchy into a Republic. After this referendum the king of Italy Umberto II di Savoia was exiled.
- 1953 - Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom, the first to be televised.
- 1955 - USSR and Yugoslavia sign the Belgrade declaration and thus normalize relations between both countries, discontinued since 1948.
- 1965 - Vietnam War: The first contingent of Australian combat troops arrives in South Vietnam.
- 1966 - Surveyor program: Surveyor 1 lands in Oceanus Procellarumon the Moon, becoming the first US spacecraft to soft land on another world.
- 1967 - Protests in West Berlin against the arrival of the Shah of Iran turn into fights, during which Benno Ohnesorg is killed by a police officer. His death results in the founding of the terrorist group Movement 2 June.
- 1969 - In Ottawa, Canada the National Arts Center opens its doors to the public for the first time.
- 1979 - Pope John Paul II visits his native Poland, becoming the first Pope to visit a Communist country.
- 1985 - Serial killer Leonard Lake is arrested near San Francisco, California for shoplifting.
- 1985 - R.J. Reynolds and Nabisco propose a merger
- 1995 - United States Air Force Captain Scott O'Grady's F-16 is shot down over Bosnia while patrolling the NATO no-fly zone.
- 1997 - Timothy McVeigh is convicted on 15 counts of murder and conspiracy for his role in the 1995 terrorist bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.
- 1998 - Voters in California approved California Proposition 227, abolishing that state's bilingual education program.
- 1998 - The CIH computer virus is discovered in Taiwan.
- 1999 - The Bhutan Broadcasting Service finally brings television transmissions to the Kingdom for the first time.
- 2003 - Thousands of defeated Iraqi troops march on the U.S. occupation headquarters in Baghdad, demanding pay.
- 2004 - The first episode of Ken Jennings' incredible reign as Jeopardy! champion airs. He starts out with $37,201 and would go on to win more than two million dollars.
- 2005 - Sun Microsystems announces it will purchase Storage Technology Corporation for US$4.1 billion.
Births
- 926 - Murakami, Emperor of Japan (d. 967)
- 1535 - Pope Leo XI (d. 1605)
- 1740 - Marquis de Sade, French author (d. 1814)
- 1773 - John Randolph, U.S. Senator from Virginia (d. 1833)
- 1835 - Pope Pius X (d. 1914)
- 1840 - Thomas Hardy, English poet, novelist (d. 1928)
- 1857 - Edward Elgar, English composer (d. 1934)
- 1857 - Karl Adolph Gjellerup, Danish writer (d. 1919)
- 1863 - Felix Weingartner, Yugoslavian conductor (d. 1942)
- 1865 - George Lohmann, English cricketer (d. 1901)
- 1887 - Howard Johnson, American songwriter (d. 1941)
- 1891 - Thurman Arnold, American attorney and jurist (d. 1969)
- 1899 - Lotte Reiniger, German film director (d. 1981)
- 1904 - Johnny Weissmuller, American swimmer and actor (d. 1984)
- 1907 - Dorothy West, American writer (d. 1998)
- 1913 - Barbara Pym, English novelist (d. 1980)
- 1917 - Heinz Sielmann, German photographer and filmmaker
- 1920 - Marcel Reich-Ranicki, Polish critic
- 1920 - Tex Schramm, American football team president and general manager (d. 2003)
- 1922 - Charlie Sifford, American golfer
- 1929 - Norton Juster, American author and architect
- 1935 - Carol Shields, American-born novelist (d. 2003)
- 1936 - Sally Kellerman, American actress
- 1941 - Stacy Keach, American actor
- 1941 - Charlie Watts, English musician (The Rolling Stones)
- 1942 - Barry Levinson, American producer
- 1944 - Marvin Hamlisch, American composer and musician
- 1946 - Peter Sutcliffe, English murderer
- 1948 - Jerry Mathers, American actor
- 1949 - Heather Couper, British astronomer
- 1949 - Frank Rich, American theater critic and political columnist
- 1951 - Larry Robinson, Canadian hockey player
- 1953 - Craig Stadler, American golfer
- 1954 - Dennis Haysbert, American actor
- 1955 - Dana Carvey, American actor and comedian
- 1958 - Lawrence Pfohl, American professional wrestler
- 1960 - Kyle Petty, American race car driver
- 1962 - Clyde Drexler, American basketball player
- 1965 - Mark Waugh, Australian cricketer
- 1965 - Steve Waugh, Australian cricketer
- 1971 - Anthony Montgomery, American actor
- 1972 - Wayne Brady, American actor and comedian
- 1976 - Earl Boykins, American basketball player
- 1978 - A.J. Styles, American professional wrestler
- 1982 - Jewel Staite, Canadian actress
- 1989 - Freddy Adu, Ghanaian footballer
Deaths
- 829 - Saint Nicephorus, Patriarch of Constantinople (b. 758)
- 1693 - John Wildman, English soldier and politician
- 1716 - Ogata Korin, Japanese painter
- 1754 - Ebenezer Erskine, Scottish religious dissenter (b. 1680)
- 1761 - Jonas Alströmer, Swedish industrialist (b. 1685)
- 1876 - Hristo Botev, Bulgarian revolutionary (b. 1848)
- 1882 - Giuseppe Garibaldi, Italian revolutionarist (b. 1807)
- 1901 - George Leslie Mackay, Canadian missionary (b. 1844)
- 1933 - Frank Jarvis, American athlete (b. 1878)
- 1941 - Lou Gehrig, baseball player (b. 1903)
- 1956 - Jean Hersholt, Danish actor and humanitarian (b. 1886)
- 1961 - George S. Kaufman, playwright (b. 1889)
- 1962 - Vita Sackville-West, English writer, and gardener (b. 1892)
- 1967 - Benno Ohnesorg, German student of Romance languages and literature (b. 1940)
- 1970 - Bruce McLaren, New Zealand car racer, designer, manufacturer (b. 1937)
- 1970 - Giuseppe Ungaretti, Italian poet (b. 1888)
- 1982 - Fazal Ilahi Chaudhry, Pakistani politician (b. 1904)
- 1987 - Sammy Kaye, American bandleader (b. 1910)
- 1987 - Andres Segovia, Spanish guitarist (b. 1893)
- 1990 - Rex Harrison, English actor (b. 1908)
- 1992 - Phillip Dunne, director (b. 1908)
- 1994 - Chinook crash on Mull of Kintyre
- 1996 - Ray Combs, American game show host, comedian (b. 1956)
- 1996 - Leon Garfield, children's author (b. 1921)
- 1998 - Sylvester Ritter, American professional wrestler (b. 1953)
- 2001 - Imogene Coca, American actress (b. 1908)
- 2001 - Joey Maxim, American boxer (b. 1922)
- 2003 - Fred Blassie, American professional wrestler (b. 1918)
- 2005 - George Mikan, Minneapolis Lakers basketball player (b. June 18, 1924)
- 2005 - Samir Kassir, Lebanese journalist and teacher (b. 1950)
Holidays and observances
- The Greek Orthodox Church commemorates Saint Nicephorus' death - see also March 13
- Italy's Festa della Repubblica (Republic Day), which commemorates the birth of the Repubblica Italiana and the end of the monarchy.
External links
June 1 - June 3 - May 2 - July 2 -- listing of all days