June 2
is the 153rd day of the year in the
Gregorian calendar (154th in
leap years), with 212 days remaining.
*
455 - The
Vandals enter
Rome, and plunder the city for two weeks.
*
575 -
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 is held for the first time.
*
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 their first tour of the
United States.
*
1848 -
Slavic congress in
Prague begins.
*
1855 - The
Portland Rum Riot occurs in
Portland, Maine.
*
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.
*
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.
*
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 is 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 riots, 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 Centre opens its doors to the public for the first time.
*
1975 -
French sex workers occupied a
Lyon church in protest against excessive fines and taxes, as well as a lack of police action against violence, thereby sparking the birth of the modern sex worker rights movement.
*
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.
*
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 - 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 -
Europe launches its first voyage to another planet,
Mars. The
European Space Agency's
Mars Express probe launches from the
Baikonur space centre in
Kazakhstan.
*
926 -
Murakami,
Emperor of Japan (d.
967)
*
1535 -
Pope Leo XI (d.
1605)
*
1731 -
Martha Washington, First American first lady (d.
1802)
*
1740 -
Marquis de Sade, French author (d.
1814)
*
1743 -
Count Alessandro di Cagliostro, Sicilian Occultist (d.
1795)
*
1773 -
John Randolph, U.S. Senator from Virginia (d.
1833)
*
1823 -
Gédéon Ouimet, French Canadian politician (d.
1905)
*
1835 -
Pope Pius X (d.
1914)
*
1840 -
Thomas Hardy, English writer (d.
1928)
*
1857 -
Edward Elgar, English composer (d.
1934)
* 1857 -
Karl Adolph Gjellerup, Danish writer,
Nobel Prize laureate (d.
1919)
*
1863 -
Felix Weingartner, Yugoslavian conductor (d.
1942)
*
1865 -
George Lohmann, English cricketer (d.
1901)
*
1869 -
Jack O'Connor, baseball player (d.
1937)
*
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)
*
1915 -
Walter Tetley, American voice actor (d.
1975)
*
1917 -
Heinz Sielmann, German photographer and filmmaker
*
1920 -
Marcel Reich-Ranicki, Polish-born critic
* 1920 -
Tex Schramm, American football team president and general manager (d.
2003)
* 1920 -
Frank G. Clement, Governor of Tennessee (d.
1969)
*
1922 -
Charlie Sifford, American golfer
*
1926 -
Milo O'Shea, Irish actor
*
1929 -
Norton Juster, American author and architect
*
1930 -
Pete Conrad, American astronaut (d.
1999)
* 1930 -
Bob Lillis, baseball player
*
1931 -
Larry Jackson, baseball player (d.
1990)
*
1935 -
Carol Shields, American-born novelist (d.
2003)
*
1936 -
Sally Kellerman, American actress
*
1937 -
Jimmy Jones (singer), American singer and songwriter
*
1940 - King
Constantine II of Greece*
1941 -
Stacy Keach, American actor
* 1941 -
Charlie Watts, English musician (
The Rolling Stones)
* 1941 -
William Guest, American singer (
Gladys Knight & the Pips)
*
1943 -
Charles Haid, American actor
* 1943 -
Ilayaraaja, Indian composer
*
1944 -
Marvin Hamlisch, American composer and musician
*
1945 -
Jon Peters, American film producer and hairdresser
*
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
*
1952 -
Gary Bettman, American National Hockey League commissioner
*
1953 -
Craig Stadler, American golfer
*
1954 -
Dennis Haysbert, American actor
*
1955 -
Dana Carvey, American actor and comedian
* 1955 -
Michael Steele, American musician, singer, and songwriter (
The Bangles)
*
1956 -
Mani Ratnam, Indian director
*
1957 -
King Lizzard, American entertainer
*
1958 -
Lawrence Pfohl, American professional wrestler
*
1959 -
Lydia Lunch, American singer
*
1960 -
Kyle Petty, American race car driver
* 1960 -
Tony Hadley, English singer (
Spandau Ballet)
*
1965 -
Mark Waugh, Australian cricketer
* 1965 -
Steve Waugh, Australian cricketer
*
1967 -
Mike Stanton, Baseball player
*
1968 -
Jon Culshaw, British impressionist and comedian
*
1971 -
Anthony Montgomery, American actor
*
1972 -
Wayne Brady, American actor and comedian
* 1972 -
Wentworth Miller, American actor
*
1974 -
Gata Kamsky, American chess player
*
1976 -
Earl Boykins, American basketball player
* 1976 -
Tim Rice-Oxley, English musician (
Keane)
*
1978 -
Nikki Cox, American actress
* 1978 -
Justin Long, American actor
* 1978 -
A.J. Styles, American professional wrestler
*
1980 -
Fabrizio Moretti, American rock drummer (
The Strokes)
*
1982 -
Andres Nuiamäe, Estonian soldier (killed in action) (d.
2004)
* 1982 -
Jewel Staite, Canadian actress
*
1983 -
Christopher Higgins, American hockey player
*
1988 -
Sergio Agüero, Argentinian footballer
* 1988 -
Patrik Berglund, Swedish hockey player
*
1989 -
Freddy Adu, Ghanaian-born footballer
*
829 -
Saint Nicephorus, Patriarch of Constantinople (b.
758)
*
1418 -
Katherine of Lancaster, wife of
Henry III of Castile*
1567 -
Shane O'Neill, Irish chieftain
*
1581 -
James Douglas, 4th Earl of Morton, regent of Scotland
*
1693 -
John Wildman, English soldier and politician
*
1701 -
Madeleine de Scudéry, French writer (b.
1607)
*
1716 -
Ogata Korin, Japanese painter
*
1754 -
Ebenezer Erskine, Scottish religious dissenter (b.
1680)
*
1761 -
Jonas Alströmer, Swedish industrialist (b.
1685)
*
1785 -
Jean Paul de Gua de Malves, French mathematician (b.
1713)
*
1865 -
Ner Alexander Middleswarth, American politician (b.
1783)
*
1875 -
Józef Kremer, Polish messianistic philosopher (b.
1806)
*
1876 -
Hristo Botev, Bulgarian revolutionary (b.
1848)
*
1881 -
Émile Littré, French lexicographer (b.
1801)
*
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, American baseball player (b.
1903)
*
1948 -
Karl Gebhardt, Nazi doctor (b.
1897)
* 1948 -
Karl Brandt, personal physician of
Adolf Hitler (b.
1904)
*
1956 -
Jean Hersholt, Danish actor and humanitarian (b.
1886)
*
1961 -
George S. Kaufman, American playwright (b.
1889)
*
1962 -
Vita Sackville-West, English writer, and gardener (b.
1892)
*
1969 -
Leo Gorcey, American actor (b.
1917)
*
1970 -
Bruce McLaren, New Zealand car racer, designer, and manufacturer (b.
1937)
* 1970 -
Giuseppe Ungaretti, Italian poet (b.
1888)
*
1977 -
Stephen Boyd, Northern Irish actor (b.
1931)
*
1979 -
Jim Hutton, American actor (b.
1934)
*
1982 -
Fazal Ilahi Chaudhry, Pakistani politician (b.
1904)
*
1986 -
Aurel Joliat, Canadian hockey player (b.
1901)
*
1987 -
Sammy Kaye, American bandleader (b.
1910)
* 1987 -
Andrés Segovia, Spanish guitarist (b.
1893)
*
1990 -
Jack Gilford, American actor (b.
1908)
* 1990 -
Rex Harrison, English actor (b.
1908)
*
1992 -
Phillip Dunne, American film director (b.
1908)
*
1993 -
Johnny Mize, American baseball player (b.
1913)
*
1996 -
Ray Combs, American game show host and comedian (b.
1956)
* 1996 -
Leon Garfield, English children's author (b.
1921)
* 1996 -
Amos Tversky, Israeli psychologist (b.
1937)
*
1997 -
Doc Cheatham, American jazz trumpeter (b.
1905)
*
1998 -
Sylvester Ritter, American professional wrestler (b.
1952)
*
1999 -
Junior Braithwaite, Jamaican musician (
The Wailers) (b.
1949)
*
2000 -
Svyatoslav Fyodorov, Russian ophthalmologist (b.
1927)
* 2000 -
Gerald Whitrow, British mathematician (b.
1912)
*
2001 -
Imogene Coca, American actress (b.
1908)
* 2001 -
Joey Maxim, American boxer (b.
1922)
*
2003 -
Fred Blassie, American professional wrestler (b.
1918)
*
2005 -
Samir Kassir, Lebanese journalist and teacher (b.
1950)
* 2005 -
Melita Norwood, British spy (b.
1912)
*
2006 -
Vince Welnick, musician, keyboardist (
The Grateful Dead) (b.
1951)
*
Italy's
Festa della Repubblica (
Republic Day), which commemorates the
birth of the
Repubblica Italiana and the end of the
monarchy.
*
Xenia name day in
Slovakia.
*
Shavuoth (
Judaism) (
2006).
Liturgical feasts
* The
Greek Orthodox Church commemorates
Saint Nicephorus' death -
see also March 13.The following Catholic saints:
*
Saint Erasmus*
Saint Eugene I (died 657)
*
Saints Marcellinus and Petrus (died 304)
*
Saint Blandina*
BBC: On This Day*
The New York Times: On This Day*
On This Day in CanadaJune 1 -
June 3 -
May 2 -
July 2 --
listing of all days
