History Today
Today is Sunday, June 2, the 154th day of 2024. There are 212 days left this year.
Today’s History Highlights:
On June 2, 1953, Queen Elizabeth II was crowned at the age of 27 in a ceremony at Westminster Abbey in London, 16 months after the death of her father, King George VI.
On this date:
In 1924, the U.S. Congress passed a bill, signed by President Calvin Coolidge, guaranteeing full U.S. citizenship to all Native Americans born in U.S. territory.
In 1941, baseball’s “Iron Horse,” Lou Gehrig, died in New York at age 37 from the progressive disease amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).
In 1961, playwright and director George S. Kaufman (aged 71) died in New York.
In 1962, Soviet troops opened fire on striking workers in the Russian city of Novocherkassk. In 1989, a retired general estimated the death toll at 22-24 people.
In 1966, the American space probe Surveyor 1 landed on the moon and began transmitting detailed photographs of the lunar surface.
In 1979, Pope John Paul II became the first pope to visit a communist country, arriving in his native Poland.
In 1981, Nintendo released the Japanese video arcade game “Donkey Kong.”
In 1997, Timothy McVeigh was convicted of murder and conspiracy in the 1995 bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, which killed 168 people. (McVeigh was executed in June 2001.)
In 1999, South Africans held their second post-apartheid elections in which the African National Congress won a landslide victory. President Nelson Mandela was replaced by Thabo Mbeki (TAH’-boh um-BEH’-kee).
In 2011, a judge in Placerville, California, sentenced serial sex offender Philip Garrido to life in prison for kidnapping and raping Jaycee Dugard. Garrido’s wife, Nancy, received a decades-long sentence.
In 2012, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak was convicted by a court of conspiracy to kill protesters during the 2011 uprising that ousted him from power and sentenced to life in prison. (Mubarak was later acquitted and released in March 2017, but died in February 2020.)
In 2016, autopsy results revealed that superstar musician Prince died from an overdose of fentanyl, a powerful opioid painkiller.
In 2018, the number of homes destroyed by the eruption of Hawaii’s Kilauea volcano reached 80. (The eruption ultimately destroyed over 700 homes.)
Defying curfews, protesters again flooded the country’s streets hours after President Donald Trump called on state governors to quell violence sparked by the death of George Floyd in 2020. Four officers were shot in St. Louis after protests began peacefully and turned violent, police said.
In 2021, the NFL promised to stop using “race norming” in paying out a $1 billion settlement on brain injury claims, a practice that made it harder for Black players to prove disabilities and win awards.
In 2022, Queen Elizabeth II was greeted with rapturous cheers from a crowd of tens of thousands as she stepped gingerly onto the balcony of Buckingham Palace at the start of four days of ceremonies marking her 70th year on the throne. (Her reign ended with her death three months later.)
In 2023, a major accident occurred in India when two passenger trains derailed, killing more than 280 people and injuring hundreds.
Today’s birthdays: Actor Ron Ely (EE’-lee) is 86. Film director and film historian Kevin Brownlow is 86. Actor Stacy Keach is 83. Actor Charles Hade is 81. R&B singer Chubby Tavares (Tavares) is 80. Film director Lasse (LAH’-suh) Hallstrom is 78. Actor Jerry Mathers is 76. Actor Joanna Gleason is 74. NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman is 72. Actor Dennis Haysbert is 70. Comedian Dana Carvey is 69. Actor Gary Grimes is 69. Pop musician Michael Steele is 69. Rock singer Tony Hadley (Spandau Ballet) is 64. Actor Liam Cunningham is 63 years old. Actor Navid Negahban is 60 years old. Singer Merrill Bainbridge is 56 years old. Television personality and producer Andy Cohen (The Real Housewives TV series) is 56 years old. Rapper B-Real (Cypress Hill) is 54 years old. Actress Paula Kael is 54 years old. Actor Anthony Montgomery is 53 years old. Actor and comedian Wayne Brady is 52 years old. Actor Wentworth Miller is 52 years old. Rock musician Tim Rice-Oxley (Keane) is 48 years old. Actor Zachary Quinto is 47 years old. Actor Dominic Cooper is 46 years old. Actor Nikki Cox is 46 years old. Actor Justin Long is 46 years old. Actor Dion Richmond is 46 years old. Actor Morena Baccarin is 45 years old. Rock musician Fabrizio Moretti (The Strokes) is 44. Olympic gold medalist soccer player Abby Wambach is 44. Singer-songwriter ZZ Ward is 38. Rapper and actress Awkwafina is 36. Actor Brittany Curran is 34. Actor Sterling Beaumont is 29.
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