TODAY IN HISTORY
TODAY IS SATURDAY, JUNE 2, the 153rd day of 2018. There are 212 days left in the year.
TODAY’S HIGHLIGHT IN HISTORY: On this date 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 1863, during the Civil War, Union Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman wrote a letter to his wife, Ellen, in which he commented, “Vox populi, vox humbug.” The voice of the people is the voice of humbug.
In 1886, President Grover Cleveland, 49, married Frances Folsom, 21, in the Blue Room of the White House. To date, Cleveland is the only president to marry in the executive mansion.
In 1897, Mark Twain was quoted by the New York Journal as saying from London that “the report of my death was an exaggeration.” Twain was responding to a report in the New York Herald that he was “grievously ill” and “possibly dying.”
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 1946, Italy held a referendum that resulted in the Italian monarchy being abolished in favor of a republic.
In 1966, U.S. space probe Surveyor 1 landed on the moon and began transmitting detailed photographs of the lunar surface.
In 1976, Arizona Republic investigative reporter Don Bolles was mortally wounded by a bomb planted underneath his car; he died 11 days later. Prosecutors believed Bolles was targeted because he had written stories that upset a liquor wholesaler; three men were convicted of the killing.
In 1983, half of the 46 people aboard an Air Canada DC-9 were killed after fire broke out on board, forcing the jetliner to make an emergency landing at Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport.
In 1986, for the first time, the public could watch the proceedings of the U.S. Senate on television as a six-week experiment began.
In 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.
TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS: Actress-singer Sally Kellerman is 81. Actor Ron Ely and filmmaker and movie historian Kevin Brownlow are 80. Actor Stacy Keach and rock musician Charlie Watts are 77. Actor Charles Haid is 75. Rhythm and blues singer Chubby Tavares (Tavares) is 74. Movie director Lasse Hallstrom is 72. Actor Jerry Mathers is 70. Actress Joanna Gleason is 68. NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman is 66. Actor Dennis Haysbert is 64. Comedian Dana Carvey, actor Gary Grimes and pop musician Michael Steele are 63. Rock singer Tony Hadley (Spandau Ballet) is 58. Actor Liam Cunningham is 57. Actor Navid Negahban is 54. Singer Merril Bainbridge and TV personality-producer Andy Cohen (“The Real Housewives” TV franchise) are 50. Actress Paula Cale is 48. Actor Anthony Montgomery is 47. Actor-comedian Wayne Brady and actor Wentworth Miller are 46. Rock musician Tim RiceOxley (Keane) is 42. Actor Zachary Quinto is 41. Actors Dominic Cooper, Justin Long and Deon Richmond, and actress Nikki Cox are 40. Actress Morena Baccarin is 39. Rhythm and blues singer Irish Grinstead (702), rock musician Fabrizio Moretti (The Strokes) and Olympic gold medal soccer player Abby Wambach are 38. Country singer Dan Cahoon (Marshall Dyllon) is 35. Singer-songwriter ZZ Ward is 32. Actress Brittany Curran is 28. Actor Sterling Beaumon is 23.