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Comic Phil Hartman killed by wife






1998
May 28


On May 28, 1998, the comedian and actor Phil Hartman, famous for his work on
Saturday Night Live and NewsRadio, is shot to death by his wife, Brynn, in a
murder-suicide. He was 49.

In 1986, Hartman earned a spot on the long-running NBC sketch comedy show
Saturday Night Live. In his eight years on the show, Hartman became known for
his spot-on impersonations of a variety of celebrities, notably President Bill Clinton.
He also made frequent guest appearances on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno.
In 1989, Hartman shared an Emmy Award for his writing contributions to Saturday
Night Live. He went on to set a record for the most appearances (153) as one of
the show’s regulars.

Hartman joined the cast of the TV sitcom NewsRadio in 1995. He played the egotistical
anchorman of an AM radio news station in New York City through four seasons of the
show’s five-year run. The ensemble cast also included Dave Foley, Maura Tierney and
Andy Dick. Hartman also notably provided the voices for a number of characters,
including the has-been actor Troy McClure and the incompetent lawyer Lionel Hutz,
on the acclaimed animated series The Simpsons.In addition to his TV work as an
actor and pitchman (for MCI, McDonald’s and Cheetos, among others), Hartman
appeared on the big screen in Blind Date (1987), Jingle All the Way (1996) and
Small Soldiers, released after his death.

Off-screen, Hartman was popular among his Hollywood colleagues and known for
being completely different from some of the more unlikable characters he had
portrayed. The murder-suicide, which shocked fans and friends alike, occurred
early on the morning of May 28, 1998, at the couple’s home in the Los Angeles
suburb of Encino. According to news reports, Brynn, Hartman’s third wife
(two previous marriages ended in divorce) had a history of drug and alcohol
problems. The couple had two children.




ALSO ON THIS DAY




NATIVE AMERICAN HISTORY
1830
Andrew Jackson signs the
Indian Removal Act into law

On May 28, 1830, President Andrew Jackson signs the Indian
Removal Act into law. The bill enabled the federal government to
negotiate with southeastern Native American tribes for their
ancestral lands in states such as Florida, Georgia, North Carolina
and Tennessee. As a result, ... read more


SPORTS
2006
Barry Bonds hits 715th home run to
pass Babe Ruth on MLB list

On May 28, 2006, San Francisco Giants outfielder Barry Bonds hits a
90-mph fastball from the Colorado Rockies' Byung-Hyun Kim over the
center-field fence for his 715th career home run to pass Babe Ruth for
the second-most home runs in MLB history. "I knew it was definitely gone," ... read more





MIDDLE EAST
2010
Terrorists attack Ahmadiyya
mosques in Pakistan

As Friday prayers came to a close on May 28, 2010 in Lahore, Pakistan,
seven terrorists wielding guns, grenades and suicide vests stormed into
two crowded Ahmadi Muslim mosques and opened fire, killing 94 victims
and injuring more than 120. The coordinated attacks took place just ... read more





MIDDLE EAST
1964
Palestine Liberation Organization is founded

On May 28, 1964, the Palestine Liberation Organization was founded.
In February of 1969, Yasir Arafat was elected as its leader. By 1974,
when he addressed the United Nations, Arafat had made significant
strides towards establishing new respectability for the PLO’s campaign for a ... read more





COLONIAL AMERICA
1754
First blood of the French and Indian War

In the first engagement of the French and Indian War, a Virginia militia
under 22-year-old Lieutenant Colonel George Washington defeats a
French reconnaissance party in southwestern Pennsylvania. In a surprise
attack, the Virginians killed 10 French soldiers from Fort Duquesne, ... read more


AFRICA
1991
Ethiopian capital falls to rebels,
ending 17 years of Marxist rule

Addis Ababa, the capital of Ethiopia, falls to forces of the Ethiopian People’s
Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF), formally ending 17 years of Marxist
rule in the East African country. In 1974, Haile Selassie, the leader of Ethiopia
since 1930, was deposed in a military ... read more





GREAT BRITAIN
1961
Appeal for Amnesty campaign launches

On May 28, 1961, the British newspaper The London Observer publishes
British lawyer Peter Benenson’s article “The Forgotten Prisoners” on its
front page, launching the Appeal for Amnesty 1961—a campaign calling
for the release of all people imprisoned in various parts of the ... read more





VIETNAM WAR
1969
U.S. troops abandon “Hamburger Hill”

U.S. troops abandon Ap Bia Mountain. A spokesman for the 101st
Airborne Division said that the U.S. troops “have completed their
search of the mountain and are now continuing their reconnaissance-in-force
mission throughout the A Shau Valley.” This announcement came amid the ... read more


SPORTS
1957
Baseball owners allow Dodgers
and Giants to move

On May 28, 1957, National League owners vote unanimously to allow
the New York Giants and Brooklyn Dodgers to move to San Francisco
and Los Angeles, respectively, at the mid-season owner’s meeting in
Chicago, Illinois. There were, however, conditions attached to the owners’ ... read more





ART, LITERATURE, AND FILM HISTORY
1935
John Steinbeck publishes "Tortilla Flat"

John Steinbeck’s first successful novel, Tortilla Flat, is published on
May 28, 1935. Steinbeck, a native Californian, had studied writing intermittently
at Stanford between 1920 and 1925, but never graduated. He moved to
New York and worked as a manual laborer and journalist ... read more





ART, LITERATURE, AND FILM HISTORY
1983
Irene Cara has a #1 pop hit with
the "Flashdance" theme

Irene Cara’s song “Flashdance (What a Feeling)”, from the Flashdance
movie soundtrack, goes to the top of the U.S. pop charts on May 28, 1983.
“Flashdance (What a Feeling)” was not the first hit song from a movie
soundtrack for Irene Cara, whose star was launched by the 1980 film ... read more





INVENTIONS & SCIENCE
1937
Volkswagen is founded

On May 28, 1937, the government of Germany—then under the control
of Adolf Hitler of the National Socialist (Nazi) Party—forms a new
state-owned automobile company, then known as Gesellschaft zur Vorbereitung
des Deutschen Volkswagens mbH. Later that year, it was renamed simply ... read more





WORLD WAR I
1918
U.S. troops score victory at Cantigny

In the first sustained American offensive of World War I, an Allied force
including a full brigade of nearly 4,000 United States soldiers captures
the village of Cantigny, on the Somme River in France, from their German
enemy. Though the United States formally entered World War ... read more

Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay
reach Everest summit







1953
May 29



At 11:30 a.m. on May 29, 1953, Edmund Hillary of New Zealand and
Tenzing Norgay, a Sherpa of Nepal, become the first explorers to reach
the summit of Mount Everest, which at 29,035 feet above sea level is
the highest point on earth. The two, part of a British expedition, made
their final assault on the summit after spending a fitful night at 27,900 feet.
News of their achievement broke around the world on June 2, the day
of Queen Elizabeth II’s coronation, and Britons hailed it as a good omen
for their country’s future.

Mount Everest sits on the crest of the Great Himalayas in Asia, lying on
the border between Nepal and Tibet. Called Chomo-Lungma, or
“Mother Goddess of the Land,” by the Tibetans, the English named the
mountain after Sir George Everest, a 19th-century British surveyor of
South Asia. The summit of Everest reaches two-thirds of the way through
the air of the earth’s atmosphere—at about the cruising altitude of jet
airliners—and oxygen levels there are very low, temperatures are extremely
cold, and weather is unpredictable and dangerous.

The first recorded attempt to climb Everest was made in 1921 by a British
expedition that trekked 400 difficult miles across the Tibetan plateau to
the foot of the great mountain. A raging storm forced them to abort their
ascent, but the mountaineers, among them George Leigh Mallory, had
seen what appeared to be a feasible route up the peak. It was Mallory
who quipped when later asked by a journalist why he wanted to climb
Everest, “Because it’s there.”

A second British expedition, featuring Mallory, returned in 1922, and
climbers George Finch and Geoffrey Bruce reached an impressive height
of more than 27,000 feet. In another attempt made by Mallory that year,
seven Sherpa porters were killed in an avalanche. (The Sherpas, native
to the Khumbu region, have long played an essential support role in
Himalayan climbs and treks because of their strength and ability to
endure the high altitudes.) In 1924, a third Everest expedition was
launched by the British, and climber Edward Norton reached an elevation
of 28,128 feet, 900 vertical feet short of the summit, without using artificial
oxygen. Four days later, Mallory and Andrew Irvine launched a summit
assault and were never seen alive again. In 1999, Mallory’s largely preserved
body was found high on Everest—he had suffered numerous broken bones
in a fall. Whether or not he or Irvine reached the summit remains a mystery.

Several more unsuccessful summit attempts were made via Tibet’s
Northeast Ridge route, and after World War II Tibet was closed to foreigners.
In 1949, Nepal opened its door to the outside world, and in 1950 and 1951
British expeditions made exploratory climbs up the Southeast Ridge route.
In 1952, a Swiss expedition navigated the treacherous Khumbu Icefall in
the first real summit attempt. Two climbers, Raymond Lambert and
Tenzing Norgay, reached 28,210 feet, just below the South Summit,
but had to turn back for want of supplies.

Shocked by the near-success of the Swiss expedition, a large British
expedition was organized for 1953 under the command of Colonel John Hunt.
In addition to the best British climbers and such highly experienced
Sherpas as Tenzing Norgay, the expedition enlisted talent from the
British Commonwealth, such as New Zealanders George Lowe and
Edmund Hillary, the latter of whom worked as a beekeeper when not
climbing mountains. Members of the expedition were equipped with
specially insulated boots and clothing, portable radio equipment, and
open- and closed-circuit oxygen systems.

Setting up a series of camps, the expedition pushed its way up the
mountain in April and May 1953. A new passage was forged through
the Khumbu Icefall, and the climbers made their way up the Western Cwm,
across the Lhotse Face, and to the South Col, at about 26,000 feet.
On May 26, Charles Evans and Tom Bourdillon launched the first assault
on the summit and came within 300 feet of the top of Everest before
having to turn back because one of their oxygen sets was malfunctioning.

On May 28, Tenzing and Hillary set out, setting up high camp at 27,900
feet. After a freezing, sleepless night, the pair plodded on, reaching the
South Summit by 9 a.m. and a steep rocky step, some 40 feet high,
about an hour later. Wedging himself in a crack in the face, Hillary inched
himself up what was thereafter known as the Hillary Step. Hillary
threw down a rope, and Norgay followed. At about 11:30 a.m., the
climbers arrived at the top of the world.

News of the success was rushed by runner from the expedition’s base
camp to the radio post at Namche Bazar, and then sent by coded
message to London, where Queen Elizabeth II learned of the achievement
on June 1, the eve of her coronation. The next day, the news broke
around the world. Later that year, Hillary and Hunt were knighted by
the queen. Norgay, because he was not a citizen of a Commonwealth
nation, received the lesser British Empire Medal.

Since Hillary and Norgay’s historic climb, numerous expeditions have
made their way up to Everest’s summit. In 1960, a Chinese expedition
was the first to conquer the mountain from the Tibetan side, and in
1963 James Whittaker became the first American to top Everest.
In 1975, Tabei Junko of Japan became the first woman to reach the
summit. Three years later, Reinhold Messner of Italy and Peter Habeler
of Austria achieved what had been previously thought impossible:
climbing to the Everest summit without oxygen. More than 300
climbers have died attempting to summit the mountain.

Everest’s deadliest day occurred on April 25, 2015, when 19 people
were killed in an avalanche at base camp following a 7.8 earthquake,
which killed more than 9,000 people and injured more than 23,000
in Nepal.

A major tragedy occurred in 1996 when eight climbers died after being
caught in a blizzard high on the slopes in an incident made famous by
Jon Krakauer’s book Into Thin Air. Krakauer's book did nothing to stem
the tide of people willing to shell out tens of thousands of dollars for a
chance to summit Earth’s highest mountain. Traffic jams have been
reported near the top, and a fistfight broke out in 2013 between
three European climbers and more than 100 Sherpas, over what the
guides deemed to be rude and dangerous behavior during an attempted
ascent. Meanwhile, the deaths keep coming, including over 10 in 2019.





ALSO ON THIS DAY



BLACK HISTORY
1851
Sojourner Truth delivers powerful speech
on African American women's rights

At the Ohio Women’s Rights Convention, on May 29, 1851, the
formerly enslaved woman, Sojourner Truth, rises to speak and
assert her right to equality as a woman, as well as a Black American.
The exact wording of her speech, which becomes famous for the
refrain, “Ain’t I a Woman?” ... read more


ART, LITERATURE, AND FILM HISTORY
1913
Controversial ballet "Le Sacre du printemps"—
"The Rite of Spring"—performed in Paris

On the night of Thursday, May 29, 1913, the pioneering Russian
ballet corps Ballet Russes performs Igor Stravinsky’s ballet 
Le Sacre du printemps (The Rite of Spring), choreographed
by the famous dancer Vaslav Nijinsky, at the Theatre de
Champs-Elysees in Paris. In founding the ... read more



19TH CENTURY
1848
Wisconsin enters the Union

Following approval of statehood by the territory’s citizens, Wisconsin
enters the Union as the 30th state. In 1634, French explorer Jean Nicolet
landed at Green Bay, becoming the first European to visit the lake-heavy
northern region that would later become Wisconsin. In 1763, at ... read more


U.S. PRESIDENTS
1917
Future President John F. Kennedy is born

One of America’s best-loved presidents, John Fitzgerald Kennedy,
is born into a politically and socially prominent family in Brookline,
Massachusetts, on May 29, 1917. He was the first American president
to be born and then serve in the 20th century. In 1935,
Kennedy enrolled at ... read more


ART, LITERATURE, AND FILM HISTORY
2003
Bob Hope celebrates 100th birthday

Some 35 U.S. states declare it to be Bob Hope Day on May 29, 2003,
when the iconic comedic actor and entertainer turns 100 years old.
In a public ceremony held in Hollywood, city officials renamed the
intersection of Hollywood Boulevard and Vine Avenue–famous for
its historic ... read more


CRIME
1979
Woody Harrelson’s father is arrested for murder

Judge John Wood, known as “Maximum John,” is assassinated outside
his San Antonio, Texas, home as he bent down to look at a flat tire
on his car. Actor Woody Harrelson’s father, Charles Harrelson, was
charged with the murder after evidence revealed that drug kingpin
Jimmy Chagra, ... read more


INVENTIONS & SCIENCE
2005
Danica Patrick becomes first woman to lead Indy 500

On May 29, 2005, 23-year-old Danica Patrick becomes the first female
driver to take the lead in the storied Indianapolis 500. Having
previously distinguished herself in the Toyota Atlantic series, Patrick
had qualified fourth—another best for a woman—for the 89th
Indianapolis ... read more


AMERICAN REVOLUTION
1780
British Colonel Tarleton gives “quarter” in South Carolina

On May 29, 1780, the treatment of Patriot prisoners by British Colonel
Banastre Tarleton and his Loyalist troops leads to the coining of a
phrase that comes to define British brutality for the rest of the War
for Independence: “Tarleton’s Quarter.” After the surrender of ... read more


May 29, 1942.
WORLD WAR II
1942
Jews in Paris are forced to sew a yellow star on their coats

On May 29, 1942, on the advice of Nazi propaganda minister Joseph
Goebbels, Adolf Hitler orders all Jews in occupied Paris to wear an
identifying yellow star on the left side of their coats. Joseph Goebbels
had made the persecution, and ultimately the extermination, of Jews a ... read more


ART, LITERATURE, AND FILM HISTORY
1913
Controversial ballet "Le Sacre du printemps"—
"The Rite of Spring"—  performed in Paris

On the night of Thursday, May 29, 1913, the pioneering Russian ballet
corps Ballet Russes performs Igor Stravinsky’s ballet Le Sacre du
printemps (The Rite of Spring), choreographed by the famous dancer
Vaslav Nijinsky, at the Theatre de Champs-Elysees in Paris.
In founding the ... read more

Jonathan Levin is tortured and
killed by his former student





1997
May 30


Jonathan Levin, a popular 31-year-old English teacher, is stabbed and shot to death in
his Upper West Side apartment in New York City. The son of Time Warner chairman
Gerald Levin, Jonathan was known by many to be wealthy. When he did not show up for
work, investigators searched his apartment and found his lifeless body bound to a chair
with duct tape. Levin’s bankcard was missing from his wallet, and $800 had been removed
from his account around the time that he was killed.

Police learned from Levin’s answering machine tape that Corey Arthur, a former student in
Levin’s remedial English class at William H. Taft High School in the Bronx, called Levin on
May 30 to arrange a meeting. Apparently, Arthur and his accomplice, Montoun Hart, tortured
Levin with a kitchen knife in order to get him to tell them his debit card code. They turned on
the vacuum cleaner and stereo to cover up his screams.

Arthur, arrested a week after the murders, first claimed that he had been at Levin’s apartment
smoking crack when two other men came in and killed him. However, his story lost its credibility
at trial when his fingerprints were found on the duct tape. Even still, Arthur denied being the
one who pulled the trigger of the fatal shot.

Arthur was found guilty of second-degree murder and received 25 years to life in prison. Hart,
despite his 11-page signed confession, was acquitted after convincing jurors that the confession
had been coerced out of him when he was drunk.




ALSO ON THIS DAY



STORIES
1942
Japanese American Fred Korematsu is
arrested for resisting internment

On May 30, 1942, Fred Korematsu is arrested in San Leandro, California for resisting
internment under President Franklin Roosevelt’s controversial Executive Order 9066,
which called for the incarceration of nearly all Japanese Americans in the United States
in the wake of Japan’s ... read more





AFRICA
1967
Republic of Biafra proclaimed

After suffering through years of suppression under Nigeria’s military government, the
breakaway state of Biafra proclaims its independence from Nigeria. In 1960, Nigeria
gained independence from Britain. Six years later, the Muslim Hausas in northern
Nigeria began massacring the ... read more


SPACE EXPLORATION
1971
Mariner 9 departs for Mars

The U.S. unmanned space probe Mariner 9 is launched on a mission to gather scientific
information on Mars, the fourth planet from the sun. The 1,116-pound spacecraft entered
the planet’s orbit on November 13, 1971, and circled Mars twice each day for almost a year,
photographing ... read more





19TH CENTURY
1868
Civil War dead honored on Decoration Day

By proclamation of General John A. Logan of the Grand Army of the Republic, the first
major Memorial Day observance is held to honor those who died “in defense of their
country during the late rebellion.” Known to some as “Decoration Day,” mourners
honored the Civil War dead by ... read more


FRANCE
1431
Joan of Arc is burned at the stake for heresy

On May 30, 1431, at Rouen in English-controlled Normandy, Joan of Arc, the peasant
girl who became the savior of France, is burned at the stake for heresy. Joan was born
in 1412, the daughter of a tenant farmer at Domremy, on the borders of the duchies
of Bar and Lorraine. In ... read more


U.S. PRESIDENTS
1922
Former President Taft dedicates Lincoln Memorial

Former President William Howard Taft dedicates the Lincoln Memorial on the Washington
Mall on May 30, 1922. At the time, Taft was serving as chief justice of the U.S. Supreme
Court. A crowd gathered on the Mall to witness the ceremony.  The neoclassical
monument honors 16th U.S. ... read more





U.S. PRESIDENTS
1806
Future president Andrew Jackson kills
Charles Dickinson in a duel

On May 30, 1806, future President Andrew Jackson kills a man who accused him of cheating
on a horse race bet and then insulted his wife, Rachel. Contemporaries described Jackson,
who had already served in Tennessee’s Senate and was practicing law at the time of the
duel, as ... read more





CRIME
1899
Bandit Pearl Hart holds up an Arizona stagecoach

The amateur bandit Pearl Hart and her boyfriend hold up an Arizona stagecoach on
May 30, 1899. Little is known about Pearl Hart’s early life. She was born in Ontario,
Canada in 1871, and moved to Toronto as a child. She eloped when she was 16, but
her husband abused her and the ... read more


ART, LITERATURE, AND FILM HISTORY
1593
Playwright Christopher Marlowe killed in tavern brawl

Playwright Christopher Marlowe, 29, is killed in a brawl over a bar tab on this day.
Marlowe, born two months before William Shakespeare, was the son of a Canterbury
shoemaker. A bright student, he won scholarships to prestigious schools and earned
his B.A. from Cambridge in ... read more


COLD WAR
1990
Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev arrives
in Washington for a summit

Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev arrives in Washington, D.C., for three days of talks
with President George Bush. The summit meeting centered on the issue of Germany
and its place in a changing Europe. When Gorbachev arrived for this second summit
meeting with President Bush, his ... read more


SPORTS
1911
First Indianapolis 500 held

On May 30, 1911, Ray Harroun drives his single-seater Marmon Wasp to victory in
the inaugural Indianapolis 500, now one of the world’s most famous motor racing
competitions. The Indiana automobile dealer Carl Fisher first proposed building a
private auto testing facility in ... read more


WORLD WAR I
1913
The First Balkan War ends

On May 30, 1913, a peace treaty is signed ending the First Balkan War, in which the
newly aligned Slavic nations of Serbia, Montenegro, Bulgaria and Greece had driven
Turkish forces out of Macedonia, a territory of the Ottoman Empire located in the
tumultuous Balkans region of ... read more

The BBC bans the Sex Pistols’
“God Save the Queen”







1977
May 31



Thirty years after its release, John Lydon—better known as Johnny Rotten—offered this assessment
of the song that made the Sex Pistols the most reviled and revered figures in England in the spring
of 1977: “There are not many songs written over baked beans at the breakfast table that went on
to divide a nation and force a change in popular culture.” Timed with typical Sex Pistols flair to
coincide with Queen Elizabeth II’s Silver Jubilee, the release of “God Save The Queen” was greeted
by precisely the torrent of negative press that Sex Pistols manager Malcolm McLaren had hoped.
On May 31, 1977, the song earned a total ban on radio airplay from the BBC—a kiss of death for
a normal pop single, but a powerful endorsement for an anti-establishment rant like
“God Save The Queen.”

While some in the tabloid press accused the Sex Pistols of treason and called for their public
hanging, the BBC was more moderate in its condemnation. In response to lyrics like “God Save
The Queen/She ain’t no human being,” the BBC labeled the record an example of “gross bad taste”—a
difficult charge to argue, and one the Sex Pistols wouldn’t have wanted to dispute. Even with the
radio ban in place, however, and with major retailers like Woolworth refusing to sell the controversial
single, “God Save The Queen” flew off the shelves of the stores that did carry it, selling up to
150,000 copies a day in late May and early June. With sales figures like that, it seems implausible
that “God Save The Queen” really stalled at #2 on the official UK pop charts, yet that is where it
appeared, as a blank entry below “I Don’t Want to Talk About It” by Rod Stewart, the ultimate
anti-punk. Like every other effort to suppress the song, refusing even to print its name in the
official pop charts played right into the Sex Pistols’ hands

Like naughty schoolboys concerned only with the approval of their peers, the Sex Pistols baited
the British establishment throughout their brief career, but never more so than during the Silver Jubilee.
When they took to the waters of the Thames and attempted to blast “God Save The Queen” from
giant speakers loaded onto a boat chartered by Virgin Records chief Richard Branson, the police
dutifully responded by chasing the boat down and arresting its passengers when they reached
the dock. When members of Parliament threatened to ban all sales of the single, a Virgin spokesman
replied: “It is remarkable that MPs should have nothing better to do than get agitated about records
which were never intended for their Ming vase sensibilities.” Like the BBC ban announced on this
day in 1977, these incidents only fed the controversy the Sex Pistols had set out to create.







ALSO ON THIS DAY



Tulsa Race Riot
BLACK HISTORY
1921
Tulsa Race Massacre begins

Beginning on the night of May 31, 1921, thousands of white citizens in Tulsa, Oklahoma
descended on the city’s predominantly Black Greenwood District, burning homes and
businesses to the ground and killing hundreds of people. Long mischaracterized as a
race riot, rather than mass ... read more





AFRICA
1902
The Boer War ends in South Africa

In Pretoria, representatives of Great Britain and the Boer states sign the Treaty of
Vereeniging, officially ending the three-and-a-half-year South African Boer War. The Boers,
also known as Afrikaners, were the descendants of the original Dutch settlers of southern
Africa. ... read more


MIDDLE EAST
1996
Netanyahu elected
prime minister of Israel

Israeli Prime Minister Shimon Peres is narrowly defeated in national elections by Likud Party
leader Benjamin Netanyahu. Peres, leader of the Labor Party, became prime minister in
1995 after Yitzhak Rabin was assassinated by a right-wing Jewish extremist. Netanyahu,
who promised ... read more





HOLOCAUST
1962
Architect of the Holocaust
hanged in Israel

Near Tel Aviv, Israel, Adolf Eichmann, the Nazi SS officer who organized Adolf Hitler’s
“final solution of the Jewish question,” was executed for his crimes against humanity.
Eichmann was born in Solingen, Germany, in 1906. In November 1932, he joined the
Nazi’s elite SS ... read more





INVENTIONS & SCIENCE
1929
Ford Motor Company signs
agreement with Soviet Union

After two years of exploratory visits and friendly negotiations, Ford Motor Company
signs a landmark agreement to produce cars in the Soviet Union on May 30, 1929.
The Soviet Union, which in 1928 had only 20,000 cars and a single truck factory,
was eager to join the ranks of ... read more


GREAT BRITAIN
1859
Big Ben rings out over London
for the first time

The famous tower clock known as Big Ben, located at the top of the 320-foot-high
Elizabeth Tower, rings out over the Houses of Parliament in Westminster, London, for
the first time on May 31, 1859. After a fire destroyed much of the Palace of
Westminster—the headquarters of the ... read more





WORLD WAR II
1941
Germans conquer Crete

On May 31, 1941, the last of the Allies evacuate after 11 days of battling a successful
German parachute invasion of the island of Crete. Crete is now Axis-occupied territory.
On the morning of May 20, some 3,000 members of Germany’s Division landed on
Crete, which was patrolled ... read more





U.S. PRESIDENTS
1988
Three U.S. presidents close
chapters on the Cold War

On May 30, 1988, three U.S. presidents in three different years take significant steps
toward ending the Cold War. Beginning on May 28, 1988, President Ronald Reagan met
Soviet General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev for a four-day summit in Russia. Upon his
election in 1980, Reagan ... read more


ART, LITERATURE, AND FILM HISTORY
1819
Poet Walt Whitman,
author of “Leaves of Grass,” is born

May 31, 1819 is the birthday of poet Walt Whitman, born in West Hills, Long Island, and
raised in Brooklyn. Although Whitman loved music and books, he left school at the age
of 14 to become a journeyman printer. Later, he worked as a teacher, journalist, editor,
carpenter, and ... read more


ART, LITERATURE, AND FILM HISTORY
1930
Actor and director Clint Eastwood is born

Best known to his many fans for one of his most memorable screen incarnations—San
Francisco Police Inspector “Dirty” Harry Callahan—the actor and Oscar-winning filmmaker
Clint Eastwood is born on May 31, 1930, in San Francisco, California. With his father,
Eastwood wandered the ... read more





NATURAL DISASTERS & ENVIRONMENT
1889
Over 2,000 die in the Johnstown Flood

The South Fork Dam in Pennsylvania collapses on May 31, 1889, causing the Johnstown
Flood, killing more than 2,200 people. Johnstown is 60 miles east of Pittsburgh in a valley
near the Allegheny, Little Conemaugh and Stony Creek Rivers. It is located on a floodplain
that has ... read more


US POLITICS
2005
Identity of “Deep Throat,” source
who helped unravel the Watergate scandal,
is revealed

On May 31, 2005, W. Mark Felt’s family ends 30 years of speculation, identifying Felt, the
former FBI assistant director, as “Deep Throat,” the secret source who helped unravel the
Watergate scandal. Felt's admission, made in an article in Vanity Fair magazine,
took legendary ... read more





CRIME
1964
Convicted murderer Charles Schmid
brags about his crimes

Fifteen-year-old Alleen Rowe is killed by Charles Schmid in the desert outside Tucson, Arizona.
Earlier in the night, Schmid allegedly had said to his friends, “I want to kill a girl! I want to
do it tonight. I think I can get away with it!” Schmid went on to kill three other ... read more





WORLD WAR I
1916
Battle of Jutland,
greatest naval battle of WWI, begins

Just before four o’clock on the afternoon of May 31, 1916, a British naval force commanded
by Vice Admiral David Beatty confronts a squadron of German ships, led by Admiral Franz
von Hipper, some 75 miles off the Danish coast. The two squadrons opened fire on
each other ... read more

Old West outlaw John Wesley Hardin
arrives in Abilene






1871
June 01



John Wesley Hardin, one of the deadliest men in the history of the Old West, arrives in
Abilene, Kansas, where he briefly becomes friends with Marshal Wild Bill Hickok.

Hardin revealed a tendency toward violent rages at an early age. When he was 14, he
nearly killed another boy in a fight over a girl, stabbing his victim twice with a knife. A
year later, he shot a black man to death after the two tangled in a wrestling match. By
the time he finally went to prison in 1878, Hardin claimed to have killed 44 men. The
outlaw may have been exaggerating, though historians have positively confirmed about
half that number.

In 1871, when Hardin was 18 years old, a Texas rancher hired the young gunman as trail
boss for a cattle drive up the Chisholm Trail to Abilene, Texas. Hardin was eager to get
out of Texas—a few days earlier, he had murdered a Texas state police guard who was
transferring him to Waco for a trial. Hardin needed to lay low, but he proved incapable
of keeping his hot temper under control for long. During the cattle drive, a Mexican herd
crowded Hardin’s animals from behind. Hardin complained to the Mexican in charge of the
other herd, and when the exchange grew heated, shot him through the heart.

When Hardin and his herd arrived at Abilene, Kansas, on this day in 1871, the town marshal,
Wild Bill Hickok, was apparently unconcerned with prosecuting a murder that had taken place
outside of his jurisdiction. To the contrary, he took an almost paternalistic interest in the young
gunslinger–Hardin was 16 years his junior–and the two men struck up an uneasy friendship.
Like many of the early western lawmen, Wild Bill Hickok had won a formidable reputation by
committing several killings of his own. He may have seen something of himself in Hardin,
believing he was a hot-tempered young man who would eventually grow up to be a reasonably
useful and law-abiding citizen. For his part, Hardin was simply proud to be associated with the
celebrated gunfighter.

For several weeks, Hickok and Hardin drank and womanized together, but the marshal’s faith
in the basic decency of his young friend was ultimately undermined. During his stay in Abilene,
Hardin rented a room at the American House Hotel. One night, a stranger in the next room
began to snore loudly. Hardin became so annoyed that he began firing bullets through the wall
to quiet him. The first bullet was high, and it merely woke the man. The second bullet silenced
the unsuspecting stranger permanently.

Hardin realized that his friendship with Hickok would not save him. “I believed,” Hardin later said,
“that if Wild Bill found me in a defenseless condition, he would take no explanation, but would kill
me to add to his reputation.” Wearing only his undershirt, Hardin escaped through the hotel window
and jumped down to the street. He spent the night hiding in a haystack, stole a horse at dawn, and
returned to the cow camp. The next day he left for Texas, never to set foot in Abilene again.

Years later, after he had become a notorious outlaw, Hardin recalled that the Abilene murder had
given rise to an exaggeration. “They tell lots of lies about me,” he complained. “They say I killed six
or seven men for snoring. Well, it ain’t true, I only killed one man for snoring.”

Hardin eventually served 15 years in the Huntsville, Texas, state penitentiary. He was pardoned in
1892 and made an unsuccessful attempt to go straight. In August 1895, he died after being shot
in the back by an El Paso policeman who was looking to embellish his reputation as a gunman.
Hardin was 42 years old.




ALSO ON THIS DAY




ART, LITERATURE, AND FILM HISTORY
2008
Universal Studios fire

On June 1, 2008, a massive, early morning fire at the Universal Studios Hollywood
theme park and studio backlot in Universal City, California destroys a trove of irreplaceable
recordings by some of the greatest musical artists in American history, thousands of
archived digital ... read more


COLD WAR
1990
George H.W. Bush and Mikhail Gorbachev agree
to end production of chemical weapons

At a superpowers summit meeting in Washington, D.C., U.S. President George H.W. Bush
and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev sign a historic agreement to end production of
chemical weapons and begin the destruction of both nations’ sizable reserves of them.
According to the ... read more


WOMEN’S HISTORY
1968
Writer and lecturer Helen Keller dies

On June 1, 1968, Helen Keller dies in Easton, Connecticut, at the age of 87. Blind and deaf
from infancy, Keller became a world-renowned writer and lecturer. Helen Adams Keller
was born on June 27, 1880, on a farm near Tuscumbia, Alabama. A normal infant,
she was stricken with an ... read more





WORLD WAR II
1941
Crete falls to German forces

During World War II, Crete, the last Allied stronghold in Greece, is captured by German
forces at high cost to both sides. In late 1940, the Greek army, reinforced by the British
air force, decisively repulsed an Italian invasion of their nation.
In April 1941, these triumphs ... read more


INVENTIONS & SCIENCE
1934
Nissan Motor Company founded

On June 1, 1934, the Tokyo-based Jidosha-Seizo Kabushiki-Kaisha (Automobile Manufacturing
Co., Ltd. in English) takes on a new name: Nissan Motor Company. Jidosha-Seizo Kabushiki-Kaisha
had been established in December 1933. The company’s new name, adopted in June 1934,
was an ... read more


ART, LITERATURE, AND FILM HISTORY
1980
CNN launches

On June 1, 1980, CNN (Cable News Network), the world’s first 24-hour television news network,
makes its debut. The network signed on from its headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia, with a lead
story about the attempted assassination of civil rights leader Vernon Jordan. 
CNN went on ... read more


WORLD WAR II
1942
News of Holocaust death camp killings
becomes public for first time

On June 1, 1942, a Warsaw underground newspaper, the Liberty Brigade, makes public the news
of the gassing of tens of thousands of Jews at Chelmno, a Nazi-operated death camp in
Poland—almost seven months after extermination of prisoners began.
A year earlier, the means of ... read more


U.S. PRESIDENTS
1900
Future President Hoover caught in Boxer Rebellion

On June 1, 1900, future President Herbert Hoover and his wife Lou are caught in the middle
of the Boxer Rebellion in China. After marrying in Monterey, California, on February 10, 1899,
Herbert and Lou Hoover left on a honeymoon cruise to China,
where Hoover was to start a new ... read more


ART, LITERATURE, AND FILM HISTORY
1967
The Beatles release “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band”

Bob Dylan’s instant reaction to the recently completed album Paul McCartney brought by his
London hotel room for a quick listen in the spring of 1967 may not sound like the most
thoughtful analysis ever offered, but it still hit the nail on the head. “Oh I get it,”
Dylan said to ... read more





ART, LITERATURE, AND FILM HISTORY
1926
Marilyn Monroe born

Norma Jeane Mortenson—who will become better known around the world as the
glamorous actress and sex symbol Marilyn Monroe—is born on June 1, 1926, in
Los Angeles, California. She was later given her mother’s name, and baptized
Norma Jeane Baker. After a tumultuous childhood—both ... read more


CRIME
2004
Opening statements begin in
Scott Peterson murder trial

On June 1, 2004, opening statements begin in the trial of Scott Peterson, accused
of murdering his wife Laci and the couple’s unborn son. On Christmas Eve 2002, the
pregnant Laci had disappeared from Modesto, California. The case captivated millions
across America and saturated ... read more


AMERICAN REVOLUTION
1779
Benedict Arnold is court-martialed

The court-martial of Benedict Arnold convenes in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. After a
relatively clean record in the early days of the American Revolution, Arnold was charged
with 13 counts of misbehavior, including misusing government wagons and illegally
buying and selling ... read more

Babe Ruth retires





1935
June 02



On June 2, 1935, Babe Ruth, one of the greatest players in the history of baseball,
ends his Major League playing career after 22 seasons, 10 World Series and 714 home
runs. The following year, Ruth, a larger-than-life figure whose name became synonymous
with baseball, was one of the first five players inducted into the sport’s hall of fame.

George Herman Ruth was born February 6, 1895, into a poor family in Baltimore. As a
child, he was sent to St. Mary’s Industrial School for Boys, a school run by Roman Catholic
brothers, where he learned to play baseball and was a standout athlete. At 19, Ruth was
signed by the Baltimore Orioles. Ruth’s fellow teammates and the media began referring
to him as team owner Jack Dunn’s newest “babe,” a nickname that stuck. Ruth would
later acquire other nicknames, including “The Sultan of Swat” and “The Bambino.”

Ruth made his Major League debut as a left-handed pitcher with the Red Sox in July 1914
and pitched 89 winning games for the team before 1920, when he was traded to the
New York Yankees. After Ruth left Boston, in what became known as “the curse of the Bambino,”
the Red Sox didn’t win another World Series until 2004. In New York, Ruth’s primary position
changed to outfielder and he led the Yankees to seven American League pennants and four
World Series victories. Ruth was a huge star in New York and attracted so many fans that
the team was able to open a new stadium in 1923, Yankee Stadium, dubbed
“The House That Ruth Built.”

The southpaw slugger’s final season, in 1935, was with the Boston Braves. He had joined the
Braves with the hope that he’d become the team’s manager the next season. However, this
dream never came to pass for a disappointed Ruth, who had a reputation for excessive
drinking, gambling and womanizing.

Many of the records Ruth set remained in place for decades. His career homerun record stood
until 1974, when it was broken by Hank Aaron. Ruth’s record of 60 homeruns in a single season
(1927) of 154 games wasn’t bested until 1961, when Roger Maris knocked out 61 homers in
an extended season of 162 games. The Sultan of Swat’s career slugging percentage of .690
remains the highest in Major League history.

Ruth died of throat cancer at age 53 on August 16, 1948, in New York City. His body lay in
state at Yankee Stadium for two days and was visited by over 100,000 fans.





ALSO ON THIS DAY




SPORTS
2015
FIFA president Sepp Blatter announces
resignation amidst corruption scandal

On June 2, 2015, Sepp Blatter, president of international soccer’s governing body
FIFA, steps down, just a few days after he had been re-elected to a fifth four-year
term. His resignation came amid rumors that he would soon be under investigation
by the United States and Sweden ... read more





CRIME
1997
Timothy McVeigh convicted for
Oklahoma City bombing

Timothy McVeigh, a former U.S. Army soldier, 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. On April 19, 1995, just after 9 a.m., a massive
truck bomb exploded outside the ... read more





NATIVE AMERICAN HISTORY
1924
Congress enacts the Indian Citizenship Act

With Congress’ passage of the Indian Citizenship Act, the government of the
United States confers citizenship on all Native Americans born within the territorial
limits of the country. Before the Civil War, citizenship was often limited to
Native Americans of one-half or less ... read more


GREAT BRITAIN
1953
Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II

On June 2, 1953, Queen Elizabeth II is formally crowned monarch of the
United Kingdom in a lavish ceremony steeped in traditions that date back a
millennium. A thousand dignitaries and guests attended the coronation at
London’s Westminster Abbey, and hundreds of millions listened ... read more





CIVIL WAR
1865
American Civil War ends

In an event that is generally regarded as marking the end of the Civil War,
Confederate General Edmund Kirby Smith, commander of Confederate forces
west of the Mississippi, signs the surrender terms offered by Union negotiators.
With Smith’s surrender, the last Confederate army ... read more


INVENTIONS & SCIENCE
1970
Race car driver and designer
Bruce McLaren dies in crash

The 32-year-old race car driver Bruce McLaren dies in a crash while testing an
experimental car of his own design at a track in Goodwood, England on June 2, 1970.
Born in Auckland, New Zealand, McLaren contracted a childhood hip disease
that would keep him in hospitals for ... read more


SPORTS
1985
English football clubs banned from Europe

On June 2, 1985, the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) bans
English football (soccer) clubs from competing in Europe. The ban followed
the death of 39 Italian and Belgian football fans at Brussels’ Heysel Stadium
in a riot caused by English football hooligans at that ... read more


U.S. PRESIDENTS
1886
Grover Cleveland gets married
in the White House

President Grover Cleveland becomes the first sitting president to marry in
the White House on June 2, 1886. Cleveland entered the White House as
a bachelor and left a married man and father of two. His new wife was a
young woman 27 years his junior named Frances Folsom. Frances ... read more


ART, LITERATURE, AND FILM HISTORY
1989
“Dead Poets Society” released in selected theaters

On June 2, 1989, the boys’ prep school drama Dead Poets Society, starring
Robin Williams, is released in selected U.S. theaters. Set in 1959 at a fictional
all-male preparatory school called Welton Academy, the film starred
Robin Williams as John Keating, a charismatic English ... read more


CRIME
1985
Killing spree by dual killers is put to an end

Leonard Lake is arrested near San Francisco, California, ending one of
the rare cases of serial killers working together. Lake and Charles Ng
were responsible for a series of particularly brutal crimes against young
women in California and the Pacific Northwest during the ... read more





RED SCARE
1954
Senator Joseph McCarthy charges
communists are in the CIA

Senator Joseph McCarthy charges that communists have infiltrated the
Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and the atomic weapons industry.
Although McCarthy’s accusations created a momentary controversy,
they were quickly dismissed as mere sensationalism from a man
whose career was ... read more


AMERICAN REVOLUTION
1774
Parliament completes the Coercive Acts
with the Quartering Act

On June 2, 1774, the British Parliament renews the Quartering Act.
The Quartering Act, in conjunction with the Massachusetts Government Act,
the Administration of Justice Act and the Boston Port Act, were known
as the Coercive Acts. ... read more


WORLD WAR I
1915
Austro-German forces attack
Russians at Przemysl

On June 2, 1915, Austro-Hungarian and German troops continue their attacks
on the Russian soldiers holding Przemysl (now in Poland), the citadel guarding
the northeastern-most point of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Used as the
Austrian army headquarters during the first months of ... read more

Rock 'n' roll is banned in Santa Cruz, California






1956
June 03



Santa Cruz, California, a favorite early haunt of author Ken Kesey and his
Merry Pranksters, was an established capital of the West Coast counterculture
scene by the mid-1960s. Yet just 10 years earlier, the balance of power in
this crunchy beach town 70 miles south of San Francisco tilted heavily toward
the older side of the generation gap. In the early months of the rock-and-roll
revolution, in fact, at a time when adult authorities around the country were
struggling to come to terms with a booming population of teenagers with vastly
different musical tastes and attitudes, Santa Cruz captured national attention
for its response to the crisis. On June 3, 1956, city authorities announced a
total ban on rock and roll at public gatherings, calling the music “Detrimental
to both the health and morals of our youth and community.”

It was a dance party the previous evening that led to this reaction on the part
of Santa Cruz authorities. Some 200 teenagers had packed the Santa Cruz Civic
Auditorium on a Saturday night to dance to the music of Chuck Higgins and his
Orchestra, a Los Angeles group with a regional hit record called “Pachuko Hop.”
Santa Cruz police entered the auditorium just past midnight to check on the
event, and what they found, according to Lieutenant Richard Overton, was a
crowd “engaged in suggestive, stimulating and tantalizing motions induced by
the provocative rhythms of an all-negro band.” But what might sound like a
pretty great dance party to some did not to Lt. Overton, who immediately shut
the dance down and sent the disappointed teenagers home early.

It may seem obvious now that Santa Cruz’s ban on “Rock-and-roll and other
forms of frenzied music” was doomed to fail, but it was hardly the only such
attempt. Just two weeks later in its June 18, 1956 issue, Time magazine reported
on similar bans recently enacted in Asbury Park, New Jersey, and in
San Antonio, Texas, where the city council’s fear of “undesirable elements”
echoed the not-so-thinly-veiled concerns of Santa Cruz authorities over the
racially integrated nature of the event that prompted the rock-and-roll ban issued
on this day in 1956.



ALSO ON THIS DAY



WORLD WAR II
1943
Zoot Suit Riots begin in Los Angeles

On June 3, 1943, a group of U.S. sailors marches through downtown
Los Angeles, carrying clubs and other makeshift weapons and attacking
anyone wearing a “zoot suit”—the baggy wool pants, oversized coats
and porkpie hats favored by many young men of color at the time.
Over ... read more





GREAT BRITAIN
2017
Terrorists attack London Bridge

During one horrific 8-minute period on June 3, 2017, eight people
were killed as a band of terrorists drove a van through a pedestrian
walkway on the London Bridge. The men then exited, armed with
pink steak knives, and proceeded to slash and stab people in a
nearby market. The ... read more





CRIME
2010
Joran van der Sloot arrested
for murder in South America

On June 3, 2010, Joran van der Sloot, a longtime suspect in the unsolved
2005 disappearance of American teen Natalee Holloway in Aruba, is arrested
in Chile in connection with the slaying of 21-year-old Stephany Flores,
in Lima, Peru. Flores was murdered on May 30, 2010, exactly ... read more





GREAT BRITAIN
1937
Duke of Windsor weds American socialite

In France, the duke of Windsor—formerly King Edward VIII of Great Britain
and Northern Ireland—marries Wallis Warfield, a divorced American socialite
for whom he abdicated the British throne in December 1936. Edward,
born in 1896, was the eldest son of King George V, who became ... read more





U.S. PRESIDENTS
1800
President John Adams moves
into a tavern in Washington, D.C.

John Adams, the second president of the United States, becomes the
first president to reside in Washington, D.C., when he takes up residence
at Union Tavern in Georgetown. The city of Washington was created
to serve as the nation’s capital because of its geographical position in ... read more


SPACE EXPLORATION
1965
First American astronaut walks in space

On June 3, 1965, 120 miles above the Earth, Major Edward H. White II
opens the hatch of the Gemini 4 and steps out of the capsule, becoming
the first American astronaut to walk in space. Attached to the craft by
a 25-foot tether and controlling his movements with a hand-held ... read more





CHINA
1989
Crackdown at Tiananmen begins

With protests for democratic reforms entering their seventh week, the
Chinese government authorizes its soldiers and tanks to reclaim Beijing’s
Tiananmen Square at all costs. By nightfall on June 4, Chinese troops
had forcibly cleared the square, killing hundreds and arresting ... read more





ART, LITERATURE, AND FILM HISTORY
1936
Western author Larry McMurtry is born

Larry McMurtry, one of the most well-known modern writers working
in the western genre, is born in Wichita Falls, Texas. McMurtry’s family
had been involved in Texas ranching for three generations, and he was
exposed to ranching life from an early age. McMurtry, however, ... read more


CIVIL WAR
1864
Union disaster at Cold Harbor

Union General Ulysses S. Grant makes what he later recognizes to be
his greatest mistake by ordering a frontal assault on entrenched
Confederates at Cold Harbor, Virginia. The result was some 7,000
Union casualties in less than an hour of fighting. Grant’s Army of
the Potomac and ... read more


WORLD WAR I
1916
U.S. President Woodrow Wilson
signs National Defense Act

On June 3, 1916, United States President Woodrow Wilson signs into
law the National Defense Act, which expanded the size and scope of
the National Guard—the network of states’ militias that had been
developing steadily since colonial times—and guaranteed its 
status as the ... read more


WORLD WAR II
1940
Germans bomb Paris,
killing hundreds of civilians

On June 3, 1940, the German air force bombs Paris, killing 254 people,
most of them civilians. Determined to wreck France’s economy and military,
reduce its population, and in short, cripple its morale as well as its ability
to rally support for other occupied nations, the ... read more

Jonathan Pollard admits to selling
top-secret information to Israel






1986
June 04



Jonathan Pollard pleads guilty to espionage for selling top-secret U.S. military
intelligence information to Israel. The former Navy intelligence analyst sold enough
classified documents to fill a medium-sized room.

Pollard was arrested in November 1985 after authorities learned that he had been
meeting with Israeli agents every two weeks for the last year. He was paid
approximately $50,000 for the highly sensitive documents and expected to receive
as much as $300,000 in a secret Swiss bank account. The top-secret information
included satellite photos and data on Soviet weapons.

Pollard was sentenced to life in prison while his wife Anne received a five-year sentence
for being an accessory to the crimes. The discovery of his betrayal put a chill on the
relationship between the U.S. and Israel. Viewing the U.S. as its ally, Israel believed that
the information should have been passed along anyway. But the fact that some Israeli
agents remained in high positions despite their involvement in the espionage angered
the United States.

Israel has since stuck by Pollard. During peace negotiations mediated by President Clinton
in the late 1990s, the nation made Pollard’s release from prison a key point.

Pollard was released from prison, and put on parole, in 2015.




ALSO ON THIS DAY




WORLD WAR II
1944
The U-505, a submarine from Hitler’s
deadly fleet, is captured

One of Adolf Hitler’s deadly submarines, the U-505, is seized as it makes its
way home after patrolling the Gold Coast of Africa on June 4, 1944. The
German submarine was the first enemy warship captured on the high seas
by the U.S. Navy since the War of 1812. If ever there was a ... read more





CRIME
2003
Martha Stewart indicted for securities fraud
and obstruction of justice

For domestic guru and media mogul Martha Stewart, known for her
“good things” tips and tricks, things turn very bad when a federal grand
jury serves her and her former stock broker a nine-count indictment,
including charges of obstruction of justice, securities fraud,
conspiracy ... read more





ART, LITERATURE, AND FILM HISTORY
1976
Four dozen people witness
historic Sex Pistols set

It seems millions of people claim to have been at Woodstock when only
500,000 or so were really there, but the biggest pop-culture event of the
1960s has nothing on one of the most pivotal of the 1970s: the Sex Pistols’
appearance at the Lesser Free Trade Hall in Manchester, ... read more





WORLD WAR II
1940
Operation Dynamo at Dunkirk ends

As the German army advances through northern France during the early days
of World War II, it cuts off British troops from their French allies, forcing an
enormous evacuation of soldiers across the North Sea from the town of Dunkirk
to England. The Allied armies, trapped by the ... read more


UNITED STATES CONSTITUTION
1919
Congress passes the 19th Amendment,
giving women the right to vote

The 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, granting women the right to vote,
is passed by Congress and sent to the states for ratification. The women’s suffrage
movement was founded in the mid-19th century by women who had become
politically active through their work in the ... read more


US POLITICS
1972
Communist activist Angela Davis acquitted

Angela Yvonne Davis, a Black communist activist and former philosophy
professor at the University of California, Los Angeles, is acquitted on
charges of conspiracy, murder and kidnapping by a jury in San Jose, California.
In October 1970, Davis was arrested in New York City in ... read more





WORLD WAR II
1942
Battle of Midway begins

On June 4, 1942, the Battle of Midway—one of the most decisive U.S.
victories against Japan during World War II—begins. During the four-day
sea-and-air battle, the outnumbered U.S. Pacific Fleet succeeded in
destroying four Japanese aircraft carriers while losing only one of its ... read more


VIETNAM WAR
1961
Kennedy and Khrushchev agree on
neutrality for Laos

President John F. Kennedy and Premier Nikita Khrushchev of the
Soviet Union, meeting in Vienna, strike a bargain to support a
neutral and independent Laos. Laos had been the scene of an
ongoing communist insurgency by the Pathet Lao guerrillas.
In July 1959, the North Vietnamese ... read more


WESTWARD EXPANSION
1876
Express train crosses the nation in 83 hours

A mere 83 hours after leaving New York City, the Transcontinental
Express train arrives in San Francisco. That any human being could
travel across the entire nation in less than four days was inconceivable
to previous generations of Americans.
During the early 19th century, when ... read more


ART, LITERATURE, AND FILM HISTORY
1940
“The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter,” Carson McCullers’
debut novel, is published

On June 4, 1940 22-year-old Carson McCullers’ first novel, The Heart Is a
Lonely Hunter, is published. The novel, about misfits in a Georgia mill town,
is an instant success. McCullers, born Lula Carson Smith in Columbus,
Georgia, in 1917, was strongly encouraged in her childhood ... read more


Tiananmen Square
1989
Chinese crackdown on protests leads
to Tiananmen Square Massacre

Chinese troops storm through Tiananmen Square in the center of Beijing,
killing and arresting thousands of pro-democracy protesters. The brutal
Chinese government assault on the protesters shocked the West and brought
denunciations and sanctions from the United States. In May ... read more


INVENTIONS & SCIENCE
1896
Henry Ford test-drives his “Quadricycle”

At approximately 4:00 a.m. on June 4, 1896, in the shed behind his home on
Bagley Avenue in Detroit, Henry Ford unveils the “Quadricycle,” the first automobile
he ever designed or drove. Ford was working as the chief engineer for the main
plant of the Edison Illuminating Company ... read more


AMERICAN REVOLUTION
1754
Lieutenant Colonel George Washington
builds Fort Necessity

On June 4, 1754, during the Seven Years’ War, a 22-year-old lieutenant colonel
in the Virginia militia named George Washington begins construction of a makeshift
Fort Necessity. The fort was built to defend his forces from French soldiers enraged
by the murder of Ensign Joseph ... read more


WORLD WAR I
1916
Brusilov Offensive begins

On June 4, 1916, the Battle of Lutsk marks the beginning of the Brusilov Offensive,
the largest and most successful Allied offensive of World War I. When the fortress
city of Verdun, France, came under siege by the Germans in February 1916, the
French pleaded with the other ... read more

Robert F. Kennedy is fatally shot






1968
June 05



Shortly after midnight on June 5, 1968, Senator Robert Kennedy is shot at the
Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles after winning the California presidential primary.
Immediately after he announced to his cheering supporters that the country was
ready to end its fractious divisions, Kennedy was shot several times by 24-year-old
Palestinian Sirhan Sirhan. He was pronounced dead a day later, on June 6, 1968.

The summer of 1968 was a tempestuous time in American history. Both the Vietnam War
and the anti-war movement were peaking. Martin Luther King Jr. had been assassinated
in the spring, igniting riots across the country. In the face of this unrest,
President Lyndon B. Johnson decided not to seek a second term in the upcoming
presidential election. Robert Kennedy, John’s younger brother and former U.S. Attorney General,
stepped into this breach and experienced a groundswell of support.

Kennedy was perceived by many to be the only person in American politics capable of
uniting the people. He was beloved by the minority community for his integrity and devotion
to the civil rights cause. After winning California’s primary, Kennedy was in the position to
receive the Democratic nomination and face off against Richard Nixon in the general election.

As star athletes Rafer Johnson and Roosevelt Grier accompanied Kennedy out a rear exit of
the Ambassador Hotel, Sirhan Sirhan stepped forward with a rolled up campaign poster,
hiding his .22 revolver. He was only a foot away when he fired several shots at Kennedy.
Grier and Johnson wrestled Sirhan to the ground, but not before five bystanders were wounded.
Grier was distraught afterward and blamed himself for allowing Kennedy to be shot.

Sirhan, who was born in Palestine, confessed to the crime at his trial and received a death
sentence on March 3, 1969. However, since the California State Supreme Court invalidated
all death penalty sentences in 1972, Sirhan has spent the rest of his life in prison. According
to the New York Times, he has since said that he believed Kennedy was “instrumental” in the
oppression of Palestinians. Hubert Humphrey ended up running for the Democrats in 1968,
but lost to Nixon.





ALSO ON THIS DAY



1980S
1981
First scientific report on AIDS is published

On June 5, 1981, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention publishes an
article in its Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report describing five cases of a rare
lung infection, PCP, in young, otherwise healthy gay men in Los Angeles. It was
unknown at the time, but the article ... read more





MIDDLE EAST
1967
Six-Day War begins

Israel responds to a build-up of Arab forces along its borders by launching a
preemptive aerial attack against Egypt. Jordan subsequently entered the fray,
but the Arab coalition was no match for Israel’s armed forces. In six days of
fighting, Israel occupied the Gaza Strip and ... read more


U.S. PRESIDENTS
2004
Former U.S. president Ronald Reagan dies

On June 5, 2004, Ronald Wilson Reagan, the 40th president of the United States,
dies, after a long struggle with Alzheimer’s disease. Reagan, who was also a
well-known actor and served as governor of California, was a popular president
known for restoring American confidence ... read more





GREAT BRITAIN
1963
British Secretary of War John Profumo
resigns amid sex scandal

On June 5, 1963, British Secretary of War John Profumo resigns his post following
revelations that he had lied to the House of Commons about his sexual affair
with Christine Keeler, an alleged prostitute. At the time of the affair, Keeler was
also involved with Yevgeny “Eugene” ... read more





GREAT DEPRESSION
1933
FDR takes United States off gold standard

On June 5, 1933, the United States went off the gold standard, a monetary system
in which currency is backed by gold, when Congress enacted a joint resolution
nullifying the right of creditors to demand payment in gold. The United States had
been on a gold standard since 1879, ... read more


U.S. PRESIDENTS
1888
President Cleveland denies widow
her husband’s military pension

On June 5, 1888, President Grover Cleveland vetoes a bill that would have given a
pension to war widow Johanna Loewinger, whose husband died 14 years after being
discharged from the army. Mr. Loewinger served in the Civil War, enlisting on
June 28, 1861. He was discharged a ... read more


ART, LITERATURE, AND FILM HISTORY
1956
Elvis rocks the “The Milton Berle Show”

By the end of 1955, Elvis Presley had nearly 18 months of nonstop touring behind
him and two dozen singles already under his belt, though his only hits were on the
Country and Western charts. He was a hardworking and hard-to-categorize
up-and-comer, but the next six months would ... read more





ART, LITERATURE, AND FILM HISTORY
2004
Jennifer Lopez marries Marc Anthony

On June 5, 2004, some 40 guests watch as the pop star and actress Jennifer Lopez
weds her third husband, the singer Marc Anthony, in an intimate ceremony held in
the backyard of Lopez’s home in Los Angeles. Lopez was born in 1970 in the
Bronx, New York, and went on to earn ... read more





NATURAL DISASTERS & ENVIRONMENT
1870
Constantinople burns, killing hundreds

A huge section of the city of Constantinople, Turkey, is set ablaze on June 5, 1870.
When the smoke finally cleared, 3,000 homes were destroyed and 900 people were
dead. A young girl was carrying a hot piece of charcoal to her family’s kitchen in
an iron pan when she tripped, ... read more


COLD WAR
1947
U.S. Secretary of State George Marshall
calls for aid to Europe

In one of the most significant speeches of the Cold War, Secretary of State George C.
Marshall calls on the United States to assist in the economic recovery of postwar Europe.
His speech provided the impetus for the so-called Marshall Plan, under which the
United States sent ... read more


WORLD WAR II
1944
Allies prepare for D-Day

On June 5, 1944, more than 1,000 British bombers drop 5,000 tons of bombs on
German gun batteries placed at the Normandy assault area, while 3,000 Allied ships
cross the English Channel in preparation for the invasion of Normandy—D-Day.
... read more

Edward Snowden discloses U.S. government operations






2013
June 06



On June 6, 2013, Americans learned that their government was spying broadly
on its own people.

That’s when The Guardian and The Washington Post published the first of a series
of reports put together from documents leaked by an anonymous source. The material
exposed a government-run surveillance program that monitored the communications
records of not just criminals or potential terrorists, but law-abiding citizens as well.

Three days later the source unmasked himself as Edward Snowden, a National Security
Agency contractor. But the question remained: Was he a whistleblower or a traitor?

In the wake of the 9/11 attacks and the perceived need for heightened national security,
the U.S. government relaxed its rules around surveillance. The first story published in
The Guardian revealed that the NSA was collecting and monitoring the telephone records
and the texts of citizens. Days later, The Washington Post and The Guardian reported that
the U.S. government was tapping into the servers of nine Internet companies, including
Apple, Facebook and Google, to spy on people’s audio and video chats, photographs,
emails, documents and connection logs, as part of a surveillance program called Prism.
Later articles revealed that the government was even spying on leaders of other countries,
including Germany’s Angela Merkel.

In the same month, Snowden was charged with theft of government property, unauthorized
communication of national defense information and willful communication of classified
communications intelligence. Facing up to 30 years in prison, Snowden left the country,
originally traveling to Hong Kong and then to Russia, to avoid being extradited to the U.S.

In the wake of the leak, President Obama assigned two five-person teams to investigate the
nation’s surveillance policy. The result: several new laws and regulations were enacted to
limit things like how long U.S. citizens’ data could be held or how data accidentally collected
on Americans through the surveillance of foreigners could be used. While the changes resulted
in greater transparency, many experts say the regulations improved the surveillance practices
only slightly and did not address the question of invasion of privacy.

“From a big-picture analysis, there’s been a lot of developments without a whole lot of movement…
These reforms just feel like gestures,” Elizabeth Goitein, co-director of the Brennan Center for
Justice’s program on liberty and national security, told PBS’ Frontline.

Since the first leak from Mr. Snowden, journalists have released more than 7,000 top-secret
documents, but some think that’s only a fraction of the entire archive. It’s unclear exactly how
many he downloaded, but intelligence officials testified in 2014 that he accessed 1.7 million files.

In July 2013, a petition was started to have Snowden pardoned, but the government rejected
it in 2015. Lisa Monaco, then-President Obama’s Advisor on Homeland Security and Counterterrorism,
said Snowden should return home to be “judged by a jury of his peers—not hide behind the
cover of an authoritarian regime,” and stop “running away from the consequences of his actions.”

In 2017, Moscow extended Snowden’s right to asylum until 2020. He released a memoir,
Permanent Record, in 2019.




ALSO ON THIS DAY



GREAT BRITAIN
1683
World’s first university museum
opens in Oxford, England

The Ashmolean, the world’s first university museum, opens in Oxford, England.
At the time of the English Restoration, Oxford was the center of scientific activity
in England. In 1677, English archaeologist Elias Ashmole donated his collection
of curiosities to Oxford University, ... read more


U.S. PRESIDENTS
1833
President Jackson rides the Iron Horse

In Ellicott's Mills, Maryland, President Andrew Jackson boards a Baltimore & Ohio
Railroad train for a pleasure trip to Baltimore. Jackson, who had never been on a
train before, was the first president to take a ride on the "Iron Horse," as locomotives
were known then. The steam ... read more


CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT
1966
Civil rights activist James Meredith shot

James H. Meredith, who in 1962 became the first African American to attend the
University of Mississippi, is shot by a sniper shortly after beginning a lone civil rights
march through the South. Known as the “March Against Fear,” Meredith had been
walking from Memphis, Tennessee, ... read more





INDIA
1984
Indian army storms Golden Temple

In a bloody climax to two years of fighting between the Indian government and Sikh
separatists, Indian army troops fight their way into the besieged Golden Temple
compound in Amritsar–the holiest shrine of Sikhism–and kill at least 500 Sikh rebels.
More than 100 Indian soldiers ... read more





WORLD WAR I
1918
Battle of Belleau Wood begins

The first large-scale battle fought by American soldiers in World War I begins in
Belleau Wood, northwest of the Paris-to-Metz road. In late May 1918, the third
German offensive of the year penetrated the Western Front to within 45 miles
of Paris. U.S. forces under General John ... read more


WORLD WAR II
1944
D-Day: Allies storm Normandy’s coast

On June 6, 1944, Supreme Allied Commander General Dwight D. Eisenhower
gives the go-ahead for the largest amphibious military operation in history:
Operation Overlord, the Allied invasion of northern France, commonly known
as D-Day. By daybreak, 18,000 British and American ... read more


VIETNAM WAR
1964
U.S. reconnaissance jets shot down over Laos

Two U.S. Navy jets flying low-altitude target reconnaissance missions over
Laos are shot down by communist Pathet Lao ground fire. Washington
immediately ordered armed jets to escort the reconnaissance flights, and
by June 9, escort jets were attacking Pathet Lao headquarters. ... read more


CIVIL WAR
1865
William Quantrill killed by Union soldiers

William Quantrill, the man who gave Frank and Jesse James their first
education in killing, dies from wounds sustained in a skirmish with Union
soldiers in Kentucky. Born and raised in Ohio, Quantrill was involved in a
number of shady enterprises in Utah and Kansas during his ... read more


ART, LITERATURE, AND FILM HISTORY
1971
“The Ed Sullivan Show” airs for the very last time

Sunday nights, 8:00 pm, CBS. Ask almost any American born in the 1950s
or earlier what television program ran in that timeslot on that network,
and they’ll probably know the answer: The Ed Sullivan Show. For more
than two decades, Sullivan’s variety show was the premiere ... read more





ART, LITERATURE, AND FILM HISTORY
1998
“Sex and the City” premieres on HBO

On June 6, 1998, the cable network HBO airs the pilot episode of Sex
and the City, a new comedy series chronicling the lives and loves of four
women living in New York City. The show’s creator, Darren Star, was
best known at the time for producing the long-running Fox TV series ... read more





INDIA
1981
Train derails in India, killing hundreds

More than 500 passengers are killed when their train plunges into the
Bagmati River in India on June 6, 1981. The rail accident—the worst in
India to that date—was believed to have been caused when an engineer
tried to avoid striking a cow. The nine-car train, filled with ... read more


CRIME
1997
A teenaged mother gives birth and
murders her baby at the prom

Eighteen-year-old Melissa Drexler gives birth to a baby boy in the bathroom
stall at an Aberdeen Township banquet hall in New Jersey during her high
school prom. Maintenance workers called to clean up blood found in the
stall discover a bag in the garbage with her dead baby ... read more





ART, LITERATURE, AND FILM HISTORY
1933
First drive-in movie theater opens

On June 6, 1933, eager motorists park their automobiles on the grounds of
Camden Drive-In, the first-ever drive-in movie theater, located on Admiral
Wilson Boulevard in Pennsauken, New Jersey. Park-In Theaters–the term
“drive-in” came to be widely used only later–was the ... read more