June 1

Birthdays:

1974 ~ Alanis Morissette, Canadian musician.

1973 ~ Heidi Klum, German model.

1972 ~ Michael Francis “Mike” Dunham, American hockey player and coach.  Prior to joining the National Hockey League, he played hockey at the University of Maine.

1968 ~ Mathias Rust, German pilot who, on May 28, 1987, illegally landed his small plane in Red Square in Moscow.  He was 18 years old at the time of this flight.  He was detained in Russia until August 1988.

1966 ~ Mark Filip, Acting US Attorney General for a few weeks after Barack Obama was sworn in as President in January 2009.  His tenure ended when Eric Holder was sworn in as Attorney General on February 3, 2009.

1955 ~ Tony Snow (né Robert Anthony Snow, d. July 12, 2008), 26^th White House Press Secretary.  He was the sharp-tongued broadcaster who spoke for President George W. Bush.  He died at age 53 from colon cancer.

1953 ~ David Berkowitz, American serial killer who went by the name of Son of Sam.

1947 ~ Jonathan Pryce, Welsh actor.

1947 ~ Ronnie Wood (né Ronald David Wood), English guitarist and member of The Rolling Stones.

1937 ~ Colleen McCullough (d. Jan. 29, 2015), Australian neuroscientist and novelist.  She was a prolific author best known for her novel The Thorn Birds.  She was 77 years old.

1937 ~ Morgan Freeman, American actor.

1935 ~ The Reverend Ike (b. né Frederick J. Eikerenkoetter, II, d. July 28, 2009), American minister who preached the gospel of wealth.  He died at age 74.

1933 ~ Charlie Wilson (d. Feb. 10, 2010), American Representative from Texas and “party animal” behind the movie Charlie Wilson’s War.  He died at age 76.

1930 ~ Edward Woodward (d. Nov. 19, 2009), the suave English actor who was televisions The Equalizer.  He died at age 79.

1926 ~ Marilyn Monroe (née Norma Jean Mortenson, d. Aug. 5, 1962), American model and actress.  She committed suicide at age 36.

1926 ~ Andy Samuel Griffith (d. July 3, 2012), American actor best known as the TV sheriff who solved problems with common sense.  He died about a month before his 87^th birthday.

1926 ~ Richard Schweiker (d. July 31, 2015), 14^th United States Secretary of Health and Human Services.  He served in this office under the Ronald Reagan administration from January 1981 until February 1983.  He was 89 at the time of his death.

1917 ~ William Standish Knowles (d. June 13, 2012), American chemist and recipient of the 2001 Nobel Prize in Chemistry.  He died 12 days after his 95^th birthday.

1907 ~ Sir Frank Whittle (d. Aug. 9, 1996), British inventor and pioneer in the development of the turbojet engine.  He died at age 89.

1899 ~ Edward Charles Titchmarsh (d. Jan. 18, 1963), English mathematician.  He died at age 63.

1843 ~ Henry Faulds (d. Mar. 24, 1930), Scottish physician best known for the development of fingerprinting.  He died at age 86.

1833 ~ John Marshall Harlan (d. Oct. 14, 1911), Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States of America.  He was appointed to the High Court by President Rutherford Hayes.  He served on the Court from November 1877 until his death in October 1911.  He died at age 78.

1831 ~ John Bell Hood (d. Aug. 30, 1879), Confederate General.  He died of yellow fever in New Orleans, Louisiana at age 48.

1801 ~ Brigham Young (d. Aug. 29, 1877), Mormon leader.  He died at age 76.

1791 ~ John Nelson (d. Jan. 18, 1860), 17^th US Attorney General.  He served in the John Tyler administration.  He served in that office from July 1843 until March 1845.  He died at age 68.

1637 ~ Father Jacques Marquette (d. May 18, 1675), French explorer and Roman Catholic missionary who, along with Louis Jolliet, explored the Mississippi River.  He died 14 days before his 38^th birthday.

Events that Changed the World:

2011 ~ A tornado outbreak struck in Springfield, Massachusetts killing at least 4 people.

2009 ~ Air France Flight 447, while en route to Paris from Rio de Janeiro, crashed into the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of shortly after take-off.  All 228 passengers and crew were killed.  Almost exactly 2 years later, researchers discovered that the crash was due to pilot failure.

2001 ~ A Hamas suicide bomber killed 21 people at the Dolphinarium, a disco, in Tel Aviv.

2001 ~ Nepalese Crown Prince Dipendra (1971 ~ 2001) shot and killed several members of the royal family, including his parents, King Birendra (1945 ~ 2001) and Queen Aiswarya (1949 ~ 2001).  He was said to have killed his family over a marriage dispute because his parents disapproved of the woman he wanted to marry.  The Prince was injured in the massacre, but was named King after he had killed his father, despite being in a coma.  He died from his wounds on June 3, 2001.  His uncle, King Birendra’s brother, Gyanedra then became king.

1990 ~ US President George H.W. Bush (b. 1924) and Russian leader Mikhail Gorbachev (b. 1931) signed a treaty to end chemical weapon production.

1980 ~ The Cable News Network (CNN) began broadcasting.

1974 ~ The procedure for the Heimlich maneuver was published in the journal Emergency Medicine.

1967 ~ The Beatles released their Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band album.

1943 ~ British Overseas Airways Corporation Flight 777 was shot down over the Bay of Biscay by the Germans, killing all 17 crew and passengers aboard, including actor Leslie Howard (1893 ~ 1943), who was aboard.  It has been speculated that the Germans believed British Prime Minister Winston Churchill was on the flight, and the plane was targeted as an assassination attempt.

1941 ~ The Farhud, a pogrom of Iraqi Jews, began in Baghdad.  During the two days of rioting, which occurred on the Jewish holiday of Shavout, 175 Jews were killed and over 1000 were injured.  In addition, Jewish homes and shops were looted and destroyed.

1916 ~ Louis Brandeis (1856 ~ 1941) was confirmed as the first Jewish member of the United States Supreme Court.

1831 ~ James Clark Ross (1800 ~ 1862) discovered the Magnetic North Pole.

1812 ~ President James Madison (1751 ~ 1836) asked Congress to declare war on the United Kingdom during the War of 1812.

1796 ~ Tennessee became the 16th State of the Union.

1792 ~ Kentucky became the 15th State of the Union.

1779 ~ Benedict Arnold (1741 ~ 1801), a general in the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War, was court-martialed for being a traitor.

1533 ~ Anne Boleyn (1501 ~ 1536) was crowned Queen of England.

1495 ~ Friar John Cor recorded the first known batch of Scotch whisky.

987 ~ Hugh Capet (941 ~ 996) was elected King of France.  His coronation was on July 3, 987.

Good-Byes:

2013 ~ Hanfried Lenz (b. Apr. 22, 1916), German mathematician.  He died at age 97.

2008 ~ Yves Saint Laurent (b. Aug. 1, 1936), French fashion designer.  He was 71 years old.

2005 ~ George Mikan (b. June 18, 1924), the Lakers legend who was basketball’s first superstar.  He was known as Mr. Basketball.  He died less than 2 weeks before his 81^st birthday.

2005 ~ Hilda Crosby Standish (b. Sept. 14, 1902), American physician who was a leader in the birth control movement.  She was 102 at the time of her death.

2004 ~ William Manchester (b. Apr. 1, 1922), American historian.  He died at age 82.

2001 ~ Hank Ketcham (b. Mar. 14, 1920), American cartoonist and creator of Dennis the Menace.  He died at age 81.

1980 ~ Arthur Neilsen (b. Sept. 5, 1897), American market analyst and founder of the AC Nielsen company.  He was 82 years old.

1979 ~ Werner Forssmann (b. Aug. 29, 1904), German physician and recipient of the 1956 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his work with heart catheterization.  He was 74 years old.

1968 ~ Helen Keller (b. June 27, 1880), American author and activist.  In her early childhood, she was stricken with scarlet fever, which left her deaf and blind.  She died 26 days before her 88^th birthday.

1962 ~ Adolf Eichmann (b. Mar. 19, 1906), German SS officer.  He was one of the primary organizers of the Holocaust.  After World War II, he and his family escaped and lived in Argentina, where his was ultimately captured by Mossad transferred to Israel where he went on trial for war crimes.  He was convicted and hanged at age 56.

1946 ~ Ion Antonescu (b. June 15, 1882), Romanian marshal and 43^rd Prime Minister of Romania.  He served in that Office from September 1940 until August 1944.  He died 14 days before his 64^th birthday.

1943 ~ Wilfrid Israel (b. July 11, 1988), Anglo-German businessman and philanthropist.  He was born into a wealthy Jewish family and was also active in rescuing many Jews from Nazi Germany.  He was killed at age 42 when the civilian plane he was traveling in from Lisbon to Bristol was shot down by a German fighter plane

1943 ~ Leslie Howard (né Leslie Howard Steiner, b. Apr. 3, 1893), English actor, best known for his role as Ashley Wilkes in Gone with the Wind.  He died at age 50 when the plane he was in was shot down by a German fighter plane during World War II.

1927 ~ Lizzie Borden (b. July 19, 1860), American accused of killing her parents.  She was from Fall River, Massachusetts.  She died at age 66.

1925 ~ Thomas R. Marshall (b. Mar. 14, 1854), 28^th Vice President of the United States.  He served under President Woodrow Wilson from March 1913 until March 1921.  He died at age 71.

1879 ~ Napoléon, Prince Imperial of France (b. Mar. 16, 1856), the last dynastic Bonaparte.  He was the son of Napoléon III.  He was killed in the Anglo-Zulu War at age 23.

1868 ~ James Buchanan (b. Apr. 23, 1791), 15^th President of the United States.  He was President from March 1857 until March 1861.  He had previously served as the 17^th United States Secretary of State under Presidents James Polk and Zachary Taylor.  He died at age 77.

1846 ~ Pope Gregory XVI (né Bartolomeo Alberto Cappellari, b. Sept. 18, 1765).  He was Pope from February 1831 until his death on this date in 1846.  He was 80 years old.

1833 ~ Oliver Wolcott, Jr. (b. Jan. 11, 1760), American lawyer and 2^nd United States Secretary of the Treasury.  He served as Secretary from February 1795 until December 1800, under both Presidents Washington and John Adams.  He died at age 73.