June 2
1851 - Maine became the first state to enact a law prohibiting alcohol.
1886 - President Grover Cleveland, age 49, married Frances Folsom, age 21, in the first wedding ceremony held at the White House.
1897 - Mark Twain was quoted by the New York Journal as saying "the report of my death was an exaggeration."
1924 - Congress passed legislation granting U.S. citizenship to all American Indians.
1946 - In Italy, a plebiscite rejected the monarchy in favor of a republic.
1953 - Queen Elizabeth II of Britain was crowned at Westminster Abbey in London, 16 months after the death of her father, King George VI.
1962 - Soviet forces opened fire on striking workers in the Russian city of Novocherkassk; a retired general in 1989 put the death toll at 22 to 24.
1966 - U.S. space probe Surveyor 1 landed on the moon and began transmitting detailed photographs of the lunar surface.
1979 - Pope John Paul II arrived in his native Poland on the first visit by a pope to a Communist country.
1981 - The Japanese video arcade game "Donkey Kong" made its U.S. debut.
1987 - President Ronald Reagan announced he was nominating economist Alan Greenspan to succeed Paul Volcker as chairman of the Federal Reserve Board.
1995 - A U.S. Air Force F-16C was shot down by a Bosnian Serb surface-to-air missile while on a NATO air patrol in northern Bosnia; the pilot, Capt. Scott F. O’Grady, was rescued by U.S. Marines six days later.
1997 - Timothy McVeigh was found guilty of the bombing of the federal building in Oklahoma City that killed 168 people. (McVeigh was executed in June 2001.)
1998 - Voters in California passed Proposition 227, requiring that all schoolchildren be taught in English.
1999 - South Africans went to the polls in their second post-apartheid election, giving the African National Congress a decisive victory; retiring president Nelson Mandela was succeeded by Thabo Mbeki.
2003 - The European Space Agency launched the Mars Express probe. Contact with the lander Beagle 2 was lost in December.
2008 - Bo Diddley, 79, a founding father of rock ‘n’ roll, died in Archer, Florida, at age 79.
2009 - Scott Roeder, an anti-abortion activist, was charged with first-degree murder in the shooting death of late-term abortion provider Dr. George Tiller in Wichita, Kansas. (Roeder was later convicted and sentenced to life in prison with no possibility of parole for 50 years.)
2011 - Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney announced his bid for the Republican presidential nomination.
2011 - A judge in Placerville, California, sentenced serial sex offender Phillip Garrido to life in prison for kidnapping and raping Jaycee Dugard; Garrido’s wife, Nancy, received a decades-long sentence.
2012 - Ousted Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak was sentenced to life in prison after a court convicted him on charges of complicity in the killing of protesters during the 2011 uprising that forced him from power.
2016 - President Barack Obama, speaking at the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado, implored the next generation of U.S. military leaders not to give in to isolationism or pull back from U.S. leadership in the world, drawing a contrast with a foreign policy vision laid out by Donald Trump.
2016 - Autopsy results showed superstar musician Prince died of an accidental overdose of fentanyl, a powerful opioid painkiller.
2020 - Defying curfews, protesters streamed back into the nation’s streets, hours after President Donald Trump urged governors to put down the violence set off by the death of George Floyd. Police said four officers were hit by gunfire after protests in St. Louis that began peacefully became violent. The bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Washington sharply criticized Trump for staging a visit to St. John’s Church across from the White House after authorities had cleared the area of peaceful protesters. Mayors and governors from both parties rejected Trump’s threat to use the military against protesters. Outrage over George Floyd’s death spread around the world; tear gas choked Paris as riot police faced off with protesters setting fires.
Birthdays
25 - Brittany O'Grady (actress)
26 - Sterling Beaumon (actor)
31 - Brittany Curran (actress)
33 - Awkwafina (rapper)
41 - Abby Wambach (soccer player)
42 - Morena Baccarin (actress)
43 - Deon Richmond (actor)
43 - Justin Long (actor)
43 - Nikki Cox (actress)
43 - Dominic Cooper (actor)
44 - AJ Styles (professional wrestler)
44 - Zachary Quinto (actor)
49 - Wentworth Miller (actor)
49 - Wayne Brady (actor/comedian/game show host)
50 - Anthony Montgomery (actor)
51 - Paula Cale (actress)
53 - Andy Cohen (TV personality)
60 - Liam Cunningham (actor)
66 - Michael Steele (musician)
66 - Gary Grimes (actor)
66 - Dana Carvey (actor/comedian)
67 - Dennis Haysbert (actor)
69 - Gary Bettman (NHL commissioner)
71 - Joanna Gleason (actress)
73 - Jerry Mathers (actor)
78 - Charles Haid (actor)
80 - Charlie Watts (musician)
80 - Stacy Keach (actor)
83 - Ron Ely (actor)
84 - Sally Kellerman (actress/singer)
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Today in Sports History - June 2
1883 - The first baseball game under electric lights was played in Fort Wayne, Indiana.
1935 - Babe Ruth announced his retirement from baseball.
1941 - Baseball great Lou Gehrig died at age 37 from Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), a rare type of paralysis now referred to as "Lou Gehrig's disease".
1942 - Boston Red Sox star Ted Williams enlists in the U.S. Navy.
1948 - The NHL announced that the Art Ross Trophy would be awarded annually to the scoring leader. Elmer Lach (Montreal Canadiens) was the first winner with 61 points in 1947-48.
1987 - The Seattle Mariners select Ken Griffey Jr. with the first pick in the MLB Draft.
1990 - Randy Johnson recorded the first no-hitter in franchise history for the Seattle Mariners.
2000 - Fred McGriff of the Tampa Bay Devil Rays became the 31st player in major league history to hit 400 career home runs.
2010 - Detroit Tigers pitcher Armando Galarraga lost his bid for a perfect game against the Cleveland Indians with two outs in the ninth inning on a call that first base umpire Jim Joyce later admitted he'd blown.
1851 - Maine became the first state to enact a law prohibiting alcohol.
1886 - President Grover Cleveland, age 49, married Frances Folsom, age 21, in the first wedding ceremony held at the White House.
1897 - Mark Twain was quoted by the New York Journal as saying "the report of my death was an exaggeration."
1924 - Congress passed legislation granting U.S. citizenship to all American Indians.
1946 - In Italy, a plebiscite rejected the monarchy in favor of a republic.
1953 - Queen Elizabeth II of Britain was crowned at Westminster Abbey in London, 16 months after the death of her father, King George VI.
1962 - Soviet forces opened fire on striking workers in the Russian city of Novocherkassk; a retired general in 1989 put the death toll at 22 to 24.
1966 - U.S. space probe Surveyor 1 landed on the moon and began transmitting detailed photographs of the lunar surface.
1979 - Pope John Paul II arrived in his native Poland on the first visit by a pope to a Communist country.
1981 - The Japanese video arcade game "Donkey Kong" made its U.S. debut.
1987 - President Ronald Reagan announced he was nominating economist Alan Greenspan to succeed Paul Volcker as chairman of the Federal Reserve Board.
1995 - A U.S. Air Force F-16C was shot down by a Bosnian Serb surface-to-air missile while on a NATO air patrol in northern Bosnia; the pilot, Capt. Scott F. O’Grady, was rescued by U.S. Marines six days later.
1997 - Timothy McVeigh was found guilty of the bombing of the federal building in Oklahoma City that killed 168 people. (McVeigh was executed in June 2001.)
1998 - Voters in California passed Proposition 227, requiring that all schoolchildren be taught in English.
1999 - South Africans went to the polls in their second post-apartheid election, giving the African National Congress a decisive victory; retiring president Nelson Mandela was succeeded by Thabo Mbeki.
2003 - The European Space Agency launched the Mars Express probe. Contact with the lander Beagle 2 was lost in December.
2008 - Bo Diddley, 79, a founding father of rock ‘n’ roll, died in Archer, Florida, at age 79.
2009 - Scott Roeder, an anti-abortion activist, was charged with first-degree murder in the shooting death of late-term abortion provider Dr. George Tiller in Wichita, Kansas. (Roeder was later convicted and sentenced to life in prison with no possibility of parole for 50 years.)
2011 - Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney announced his bid for the Republican presidential nomination.
2011 - A judge in Placerville, California, sentenced serial sex offender Phillip Garrido to life in prison for kidnapping and raping Jaycee Dugard; Garrido’s wife, Nancy, received a decades-long sentence.
2012 - Ousted Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak was sentenced to life in prison after a court convicted him on charges of complicity in the killing of protesters during the 2011 uprising that forced him from power.
2016 - President Barack Obama, speaking at the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado, implored the next generation of U.S. military leaders not to give in to isolationism or pull back from U.S. leadership in the world, drawing a contrast with a foreign policy vision laid out by Donald Trump.
2016 - Autopsy results showed superstar musician Prince died of an accidental overdose of fentanyl, a powerful opioid painkiller.
2020 - Defying curfews, protesters streamed back into the nation’s streets, hours after President Donald Trump urged governors to put down the violence set off by the death of George Floyd. Police said four officers were hit by gunfire after protests in St. Louis that began peacefully became violent. The bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Washington sharply criticized Trump for staging a visit to St. John’s Church across from the White House after authorities had cleared the area of peaceful protesters. Mayors and governors from both parties rejected Trump’s threat to use the military against protesters. Outrage over George Floyd’s death spread around the world; tear gas choked Paris as riot police faced off with protesters setting fires.
Birthdays
25 - Brittany O'Grady (actress)
26 - Sterling Beaumon (actor)
31 - Brittany Curran (actress)
33 - Awkwafina (rapper)
41 - Abby Wambach (soccer player)
42 - Morena Baccarin (actress)
43 - Deon Richmond (actor)
43 - Justin Long (actor)
43 - Nikki Cox (actress)
43 - Dominic Cooper (actor)
44 - AJ Styles (professional wrestler)
44 - Zachary Quinto (actor)
49 - Wentworth Miller (actor)
49 - Wayne Brady (actor/comedian/game show host)
50 - Anthony Montgomery (actor)
51 - Paula Cale (actress)
53 - Andy Cohen (TV personality)
60 - Liam Cunningham (actor)
66 - Michael Steele (musician)
66 - Gary Grimes (actor)
66 - Dana Carvey (actor/comedian)
67 - Dennis Haysbert (actor)
69 - Gary Bettman (NHL commissioner)
71 - Joanna Gleason (actress)
73 - Jerry Mathers (actor)
78 - Charles Haid (actor)
80 - Charlie Watts (musician)
80 - Stacy Keach (actor)
83 - Ron Ely (actor)
84 - Sally Kellerman (actress/singer)
====================================
Today in Sports History - June 2
1883 - The first baseball game under electric lights was played in Fort Wayne, Indiana.
1935 - Babe Ruth announced his retirement from baseball.
1941 - Baseball great Lou Gehrig died at age 37 from Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), a rare type of paralysis now referred to as "Lou Gehrig's disease".
1942 - Boston Red Sox star Ted Williams enlists in the U.S. Navy.
1948 - The NHL announced that the Art Ross Trophy would be awarded annually to the scoring leader. Elmer Lach (Montreal Canadiens) was the first winner with 61 points in 1947-48.
1987 - The Seattle Mariners select Ken Griffey Jr. with the first pick in the MLB Draft.
1990 - Randy Johnson recorded the first no-hitter in franchise history for the Seattle Mariners.
2000 - Fred McGriff of the Tampa Bay Devil Rays became the 31st player in major league history to hit 400 career home runs.
2010 - Detroit Tigers pitcher Armando Galarraga lost his bid for a perfect game against the Cleveland Indians with two outs in the ninth inning on a call that first base umpire Jim Joyce later admitted he'd blown.
