Today in History
Today is Friday, June 2, the 153rd day of 2023. There are 212 days left in the year.
Today’s Highlight in History:
On June 2, 1997, Timothy McVeigh was convicted of murder and conspiracy in the 1995 bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City that killed 168 people. (McVeigh was executed in June 2001.)
On this date:
In 1924, Congress passed, and President Calvin Coolidge signed, a measure guaranteeing full American citizenship for all Native Americans born within U.S. territorial limits.
In 1941, baseball’s “Iron Horse,” Lou Gehrig, died in New York of a degenerative disease, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis; he was 37.
In 1953, the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II took place in London’s Westminster Abbey, 16 months after the death of her father, King George VI.
In 1961, playwright and director George S. Kaufman, 71, died in New York.
In 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.
In 1966, U.S. space probe Surveyor 1 landed on the moon and began transmitting detailed photographs of the lunar surface.
In 1979, Pope John Paul II arrived in his native Poland on the first visit by a pope to a Communist country.
In 1981, the Japanese video arcade game “Donkey Kong” was released by Nintendo.
In 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 (TAH’-boh um-BEH’-kee).
In 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.
In 2016, autopsy results showed superstar musician Prince died of an accidental overdose of fentanyl, a powerful opioid painkiller.
In 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.
Ten years ago: Egypt’s highest court ruled that the nation’s interim parliament was illegally elected, though it stopped short of dissolving the chamber immediately. Indiana Pacers center Roy Hibbert was fined $75,000 by the NBA for using a gay slur and profanity during his news conference after Game 6 of the Eastern Conference finals; Hibbert apologized for the comments.
Five years ago: The number of homes destroyed reached 80 in an eruption of Hawaii’s Kilauea Volcano. (The eruption would eventually destroy more than 700 homes.) Bare-knuckle boxing matches took place in front of 2,000 rowdy fans at a hockey rink in Cheyenne, Wyoming; the event, promoted as the first legal, regulated and sanctioned bare-knuckle fight event in U.S. history, featured 10 bouts and was viewed by tens of thousands via pay-per-view. In England, Masar beat odds-on favorite Saxon Warrior to win horse racing’s Epsom Derby.
One year ago: After a school shooting in Uvalde, Texas that killed 19 students and two teachers, President Joe Biden delivered an address to the nation about the latest round of mass shootings in an attempt to increase the pressure on Congress to pass stricter gun limits after such efforts failed in the wake of past violence. A man who blamed his surgeon for continuing pain after a recent back operation bought an AR-style rifle and opened fire hours later at a Tulsa, Oklahoma medical office, killing the doctor and three other people in an attack that ended with him taking his own life. Queen Elizabeth II drew wild cheers from a crowd of tens of thousands as she carefully stepped on to the Buckingham Palace balcony at the start of four days of celebrations of her 70 years on the throne. (The queen’s reign would end with her death three months later).
Today’s Birthdays: Actor Ron Ely (EE’-lee) is 85. Filmmaker and movie historian Kevin Brownlow is 85. Actor Stacy Keach is 82. Actor Charles Haid is 80. R&B singer Chubby Tavares (Tavares) is 79. Movie director Lasse (LAH’-suh) Hallstrom is 77. Actor Jerry Mathers is 75. Actor Joanna Gleason is 73. NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman is 71. Actor Dennis Haysbert is 69. Comedian Dana Carvey is 68. Actor Gary Grimes is 68. Pop musician Michael Steele is 68. Rock singer Tony Hadley (Spandau Ballet) is 63. Actor Liam Cunningham is 62. Actor Navid Negahban is 59. Singer Merril Bainbridge is 55. TV personality-producer Andy Cohen (“The Real Housewives” TV franchise) is 55. Rapper B-Real (Cypress Hill) is 53. Actor Paula Cale is 53. Actor Anthony Montgomery is 52. Actor-comedian Wayne Brady is 51. Actor Wentworth Miller is 51. Rock musician Tim Rice-Oxley (Keane) is 47. Actor Zachary Quinto is 46. Actor Dominic Cooper is 45. Actor Nikki Cox is 45. Actor Justin Long is 45. Actor Deon Richmond is 45. Actor Morena Baccarin is 44. R&B singer Irish Grinstead (702) is 43. Rock musician Fabrizio Moretti (The Strokes) is 43. Olympic gold medal soccer player Abby Wambach is 43. Singer-songwriter ZZ Ward is 37. Rapper/actor Awkwafina is 35. Actor Brittany Curran is 33. Actor Sterling Beaumon is 28.
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