June 1954 in History

Events in History

Catholic Encyclical

Jun 5 Pope Pius XII publishes encyclical Ecclesiae fastos

Jun 7 1st microbiology laboratory dedicated (New Brunswick NJ)

Event of Interest

Jun 9 Joseph Welch asks US Senator Joseph McCarthy "Have you no sense of decency, sir?" during Senate-Army hearings

Jun 10 PBS reaches SF: KQED (Channel 9) starts broadcasting
Jun 13 Cornerstone of Albert Einstein College of Medicine laid in Bronx

Event of Interest

Jun 14 President Eisenhower signs order adding words "under God" to the Pledge

34th US President & WWII General Dwight D. Eisenhower

Jun 15 Great Britain's 2 biggest steel factories nationalized
Jun 15 UEFA (Union des Associations Européennes de Football) is formed in Basel, Switzerland
Jun 16 Dutch military conscription shortened from 20 to 18 months

Election of Interest

Jun 16 Ngô Đình Diệm elected Prime Minister of the State of Vietnam (South Vietnam)

Event of Interest

Jun 17 CIA exile army lands in Guatemala. Organised by John Foster Dulles and United Fruit Co.

Jun 18 Pierre Mendès forms French government
Jun 19 Tasmanian Devil debuts in "Devil May Hare" by Warner Bros
Jun 22 Congress passes revised organic act for Virgin Islands
Jun 23 122°F (50°C), Overton, Nevada (state record until June 29, 1994)
Jun 27 1st atomic power station opens - Obninsk, near Moscow in Russia
Jun 27 CIA-sponsored rebels overthrow elected government of Guatemala
Jun 28 111°F (44°C) at Camden, South Carolina (state record)

Event of Interest

Jun 29 US Atomic Energy Commission voted against reinstating Dr Robert Oppenheimer

Jun 30 Largest check: Internal US Treasury check at $4,176,969,623.57

Birthdays in History

Jun 6 Cynthia Rylant, American author
Jun 6 Harvey Fierstein, playwright (Torch Song Trilogy, ID4), born in Brooklyn, New York
Jun 7 Louise Erdrich, American author (Love Medicine, The Night Watchman, 2021 Pulitzer Prize), born in Little Falls, Minnesota
Jun 8 Sergei Storchak, Russian deputy finance minister
Jun 9 George Pérez, American comic book artist (The Avenger; Teen Titans), born in New York City (d. 2022)
Jun 9 Gregory Maguire, American fantasy writer (Wicked), born in Albany, New York
Jun 12 Neil Oatley, English engineer, born in Camberwell, London
Jun 13 Andrzej Lepper, Polish politician (Deputy Prime Minister of Poland), born in Stowięcino, Poland (d. 2011)
Jun 13 Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Nigerian economist (Minister of Finance 2011-15), born in Ogwashi-Uku, Delta State
Jun 15 Paul Rusesabagina, Rwandan hotel manager
Jun 16 Jeffrey S. Ashby, American astronaut (sk: STS 85), born in Dallas, Texas
Jun 19 Jim Cooper, American politician (Rep-D-TN, 1983- ), born in Nashville, Tennessee
Jun 19 Michael O'Brien, British MP
Jun 20 Ilan Ramon, Israeli combat pilot and astronaut (d. 2003)
Jun 21 Mark Kimmitt, American Army general, 16th Assistant Secretary of State for Political-Military Affairs (2008-9), born in Fort Sill, Oklahoma
Jun 21 Robert Menasse, Austrian writer (Die Vertreibung aus der Hölle), born in Vienna
Jun 22 Charles T. Canady, American attorney, judge and politician (Chief Justice Florida Supreme Court 2018-, Rep-R-Florida 1993-2001), born in Lakeland, Florida
Jun 25 Sonia Sotomayor, American judge (1st woman of color on the US Supreme Court 2009-), born in The Bronx, New York
Jun 28 A. A. [Adrian Anthony] Gill, British critic (The Sunday Times), born in Edinburgh (d. 2016)
Jun 30 Pierre Charles, 5th Prime Minister of Dominica, born in Grand Bay, Dominica (d. 2004)
Jun 30 Serzh Sargsyan, Armenian politician, President of Armenia (2008-18), born in Stepanakert, Azerbaijan SSR, Soviet Union

Weddings in History

Jun 1 Marriage of the parents of Diana, Princess of Wales; Frances Roche (18) to John Spencer, Viscount Althorp, later Earl of Spencer (30) at Westminster Abbey (divorced 1969)

Ruth Bader Ginsburg

Jun 23 Associate Justice of the Supreme Court Ruth Bader Ginsburg (21) weds taxation law expert Martin D. Ginsburg

Deaths in History

Jun 1 Martin Andersen Nexø, Danish writer (Pelle Erobreren), dies at 84
Jun 4 Harold Hoffman, American politician (Governor of New Jersey 1935-38), dies at 58

Alan Turing (1912-1954)

Jun 7 British mathematician and computer scientist pioneer (Turing Machine), commits suicide at 41 (b. 1912)

Jun 9 Alain LeRoy Locke, African-American writer and philosopher “Father of the Harlem Renaissance”, dies at 68
Jun 15 William Ewart Berry, British peer and newspaper publisher (The War Illustrated, The Sunday Times), dies at 74
Jun 18 Albert Patterson, American politician and attorney, asassinated in Phenix City, Alabama, shortly after his designation as the Democratic candidate for Alabama Attorney General, at 60
Jun 21 Gideon Sundback, Swedish-American inventor, perfected the zipper (b. 1880)
Jun 22 Karl Taylor Compton, American physicist and 9th President of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, dies at 66
Jun 25 Eduard M. Meijers, Dutch lawyer (Civil Code), dies at 74
Jun 28 Red Deer, in Milwaukee Zoo, oldest known deer, dies at 26 (Milwaukee, Wisconsin)