June 2

Today in American History

Events in History

1835 P. T. Barnum & his circus begin 1st tour of US

1851 1st US alcohol prohibition law enacted (Maine)
1855 The Portland Rum Riot occurs in Portland, Maine
1857 James Gibbs of Virginia, patents the chain-stitch single-thread sewing machine

1862 Robert E. Lee takes command of Confederate armies of North Virginia during the American Civil War

1863 Harriet Tubman leads Union guerrillas into Maryland, freeing slaves

1875 Alexander Graham Bell makes first sound transmission

1924 President Calvin Coolidge signs the Indian Citizenship Act, declaring all Native Americans to be American citizens

1944 Generals Dwight D. Eisenhower and Bernard Montgomery dine in Portsmouth, England

1959 Allen Ginsberg writes his poem "Lysergic Acid", San Francisco

1979 Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley signs first homosexual rights bill

2004 Ken Jennings begins his 74-game winning streak on the syndicated game show Jeopardy!

1731 Martha Washington, 1st US First Lady (1789-97), born in Kent County, Virginia (d. 1802)

1773 John Randolph [of Roanoke], American planter, Congressman (Virginia) and Minister to Russia, born in Cawsons, Virginia (d. 1833)
1891 Thurman Arnold, American attorney and jurist (d. 1969)
1915 Florence Holway, Massachusetts, 75 year old rape victim and activist, (d. 2012)
1918 Ruth Atkinson, American cartoonist (d. 1997)
1919 Nat Mayer Shapiro, American painter (d. 2005)
1920 Frank G. Clement, Governor of Tennessee (d. 1969)
1923 Lloyd Shapley, Mathematician (2012 Nobel Prize Game Theory), born in Cambridge, Massachusetts (d. 2016)
1929 Norton Juster, American author, architect and children's author (The Dot and the Line), born in New York City
1930 Charles Pete Conrad Jr, USN/astro (Gem 5 11, Ap 12, Skylab 2), born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
1935 Carol Shields, American-born novelist (d. 2
1951 Gilbert Baker, American gay activist, designed the rainbow flag, born in Canute, Kansas (d. 2017)
1952 Gary Bettman, American National Hockey League commissioner
1956 Mark L Polansky, pilot/astronaut, born in Paterson, New Jersey
1965 Jim Knipfel, American autobiographer and journa
1973 Kevin Feige, American producer, President of Marvel Studios (2007-), born in Boston, Massachusetts
1974 Matt Serra, American mixed martial ar

1886 U.S. President Grover Cleveland (49) weds Frances Folsom (21), 1st presidential marriage to be held at the White House

2012 Vice President Joe Biden's daughter Ashley Biden (30) weds Dr. Howard David Krein at St. Joseph on the Brandywine in Wilmington, Delaware

1928 Timothy Thomas Fortune, American orator, civil rights leader, writer and publisher (New York Age), dies at 71

1988 Horace Hildreth, American politician (Gov-Maine, 1945-49) and U.S. Ambassador to Pakistan (1953-57), dies at 85
2004 Loyd Sigmon, American amateur ("ham") radio broadcaster, dies at 95
2009 David Eddings, American fantasy writer. (b. 1931)
2015 Irwin Rose, American biologist (Nobel Prize Chemistry 2004), dies at 88