On this day in History - Jun 6

• 0068 - Nero dies (suicide) (b. 0037). Emperor of Rome.
• 1002 - German king Henry II, the Saint, was crowned.
• 1134 - St Norbert of Xanten dies. Archbishop of Magdeburg.
• 1236 - Wen Tianxiang was born (d. 1283). Chinese prime minister.
• 1393 - Emperor Go-En'yu of Japan dies (b. 1359).
• 1436 - Regiomontanus was born (d. 6 Jul 1476). German mathematician who made important contributions to trigonometry and astronomy.
• 1457 - Polish forces took Marienburg; the Teutonic Knights then made Königsberg their headquarters.
• 1480 - Vecchietta dies. Italian artist and architect.
• 1502 - King John III of Portugal was born (d. 1557) . King of Portugal (1521-57).
• 1508 - Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor is defeated in Friulia by Venetian forces; he is forced to sign a three-year truce and cede several territories to Venice.
  
• 1513 - Italian Wars: Battle of Novara - Swiss troops defeat the French under Louis de la Tremoille, forcing the French to abandon Milan. Duke Massimiliano Sforza is restored.
• 1519 - Andrea Cesalpino was born (d. 1603). Italian philosopher, physician, and botanist
• 1523 - Gustav Vasa is elected King of Sweden, marking the end of the Kalmar Union.
• 1542 - Richard Grenville was born (d. 1591). English soldier and explorer.
• 1548 - Juan de Castro (in Portuguese D. João de Castro) dies in Goa, India (b. 27 Feb 1500 on Lisbon). Portuguese general, scientist and IV Vice-Roi of Portuguese India.
• 1553 - Bernardino Baldi was born (d. 1617). Italian mathematician.
• 1557 - John III of Portugal dies (b 1502).
• 1563 - Ikeda Nagamasa dies (b. 1519). Japanese samurai commander.
• 1576 - Giovanni Diodati was born (d. 1649). Swiss Protestant clergyman.
• 1580 - Godefroy Wendelin was born (d. 1667). Flemish astronomer.
• 1583 - Nakagawa Kiyohide dies (b. 1556). Japanese warlord.
• 1599 - Diego Velázquez was born (d. 1660). Spanish painter.
• 1606 - Pierre Corneille was born (d. 1684). French dramatist.
• 1622 - Claude-Jean Allouez was born (d. 1857). French Jesuit missionary and explorer
• 1644 - the Qing Dynasty Manchu forces led by the Shunzhi Emperor capture Beijing during the collapse of the Ming Dynasty. The Manchus would rule China until 1912 when the Republic of China was established.
• 1654 - Christina, reigning queen of the Protestant nation Sweden, abdicates the throne and secretly converts to Catholicism. Charles X succeedes his abdicated cousin Queen Christina to the Swedish throne.
• 1664 - War broke out between England and Holland in the colonies and at sea.
• 1683 - The Ashmolean Museum in Oxford, England, opens as the world's first university museum.
• 1714 - King Joseph I of Portugal was born in Lisbon (d. 1777). /Nasce em Lisboa quem viria a ser D. José I (o Reformador). 25º. Rei de Portugal.
• 1730 - Alain Emmanuel de Coëtlogon dies (b. 1646). Marshal of France
• 1740 - Alexander Spotswood dies. British governor of Virginia Colony
• 1750 - Abade (José Francisco) Correia da Serra was born in Serpa (d. 11 Sep 1823 in Caldas da Rainha). Portuguese scientist.
• 1752 - A devastating fire destroys one-third of Moscow, including 18,000 homes.
• 1755 - Nathan Hale was born (d. 1776). American writer, patriot.
• 1755 - Lei que restitui aos Índios do estado do Grão-Pará e Maranhão a liberdade das suas pessoas e bens.
• 1756 - John Trumbull was born (d. 1843). American painter.
• 1762 - George Anson dies. English sailor and explorer.
• 1775 - Portugal: Na Praça do Comércio, em Lisboa, inauguração da estátua equestre de D. José, uma obra do escultor português Machado de Castro.
• 1784 - Portugal : Bocage, oficial de marinha, é considerado desertor.
• 1784 - Joan van der Capellen tot den Pol dies (b. 1741). Dutch politician.
• 1797 - Napoleon Bonaparte founded the Ligurian Republic in Genoa, Italy.
• 1799 - Alexander Pushkin was born (d. 1837). Russian poet.
• 1799 - Patrick Henry dies (b. 1736). American revolutionary.
• 1808 - Napoleon's brother, Joseph Bonaparte is crowned King of Spain.
• 1809 - Sweden promulgates a new Constitution, which restores political power to the Riksdag of the Estates after 20 years of Enlightened absolutism.
• 1810 - Friedrich Wilhelm Schneidewin was born (d. 1856). German classical scholar.
• 1813 - War of 1812: Battle of Stoney Creek - A British force of 700 under John Vincent defeats an American force three times its size under William Winder and John Chandler.
• 1813 - Alexandre-Théodore Brongniart dies. French architect.
• 1820 - Caroline, Princess of Wales, whom George IV wished to divorce, triumphantly entered London, demanding her recognition as queen.
• 1829 - Shusaku Honinbo was born (d. 1862). Japanese Go player.
• 1829 - Shanawdithit dies. Last known Beothuk Indian of Newfoundland.
• 1832 - The June Rebellion of Paris is put down by the National Guard.
• 1832 - Jeremy Bentham dies (b. 1748). English philosopher, social reformer. He had his body preserved at the Univ. College, London. Bentham is considered the father of utilitarianism.
• 1833 - U.S. President Andrew Jackson becomes the first President to ride a train.
• 1840 - Marcellin Champagnat dies (b. 1789). French priest.
• 1841 - Eliza Orzeszkowa was born (d. 1910). Polish novelist.
• 1843 - Friedrich Hölderlin dies (b. 1770). German poet, novelist, and dramatist.
• 1844 - The Young Men's Christian Association (YMCA) is founded in London.
• 1844 - Konstantin Savitsky was born (d. 1905). Russian painter.
• 1846 - Manuel Aguilar Chacón dies. President of Costa Rica (1837-1838).
• 1848 - António Gomes Leal was born in Lisbon (d. 29 Jan 1921). Portuguese poet (Claridades do Sul).
• 1850 - Karl Ferdinand Braun was born (d. 1918). German physicist, Nobel Prize laureate.
• 1856 - Portugal: Visconde Sá da Bandeira assume Ministério das Obras Públicas, Comércio e Indústria.
• 1857 - Aleksandr Mikhailovich Lyapunov was born in Yaroslavl (d. 3 Nov 1918). Russian mathematician.
• 1857 - Sophia of Nassau marries the future King Oscar II of Sweden-Norway.
• 1859 - Australia: Queensland is established as a separate colony from New South Wales (Queensland Day).
• 1859 - Jerónimo Carrión assume a Presidência do Equador.
• 1861 - Bettino Ricasloi assume o cargo de primeiro-ministro da Itália.
• 1861 - Count Camillo Benso di Cavour dies (b. 1810). Prime Minister of Italy.
• 1862 - American Civil War: Battle of Memphis - Union forces capture Memphis, Tennessee from the Confederates.
• 1862 - Henry John Newbolt was born (d. 1938). English author.
• 1864 - Sá Cardoso was born (d. 1950). Portuguese politician and soldier.
• 1865 - William Quantrill dies (b. 1837). American confederate raider.
• 1867 - David Abercrombie was born (d. 1931). Abercrombie & Fitch founder
• 1868 - Robert Falcon Scott was born (d. 1912). English Antarctic explorer.
• 1869 - Siegfried Wagner was born. German opera composer, conductor, son of Richard Wagner (who composed "Siegfried Idyll" to commemorate his birth).
• 1872 - Tsarina Alexandra of Russia [Alexandra Fjodorovna Romanova] was born (d. 1918). The last Russian Tsarina (1894-1918). She was later killed with her husband by revolutionaries.
• 1875 - Thomas Mann was born (d. 1955). German novelist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in literature. His work includes: Buddenbrooks (1901), Death in Venice (1912), Doctor Faustus (1947), and The Magic Mountain.
• 1875 - Walter P. Chrysler was born. Founder of the Chrysler Corporation.
• 1878 - Robert Stirling dies. (b. 1790). Scottish inventor.
• 1881 - Henri Vieuxtemps dies (b. 1820). Belgian composer.
• 1882 - More than 100,000 inhabitants of Bombay are killed as a cyclone in the Arabian Sea pushes huge waves into the harbour.
• 1882 - The first electric flatiron, or what we call the electric iron, was patented by Henry W. Seely of New York City
• 1882 - Clement Vavasor Durell was born in Fulbourn, near Cambridge (d. 10 Dec 1968 in South Africa). English mathematician.
• 1882 - The Shewan forces of Menelik defeat the Gojjame army in the Battle of Embabo. The Shewans capture Negus Tekle Haymanot of Gojjam, and their victory leads to a Shewan hegemony over the territories south of the Abay River.
• 1888 - Erastus Lyman De Forest dies in Watertown (b. 27 June 1834). American mathematician.
• 1890 - Ted Lewis was born (d. 1971). American bandleader.
• 1891 - Sir John A. Macdonald dies (b. 1815). First Prime Minister of Canada.
• 1894 - Governor Davis H. Waite orders the Colorado state militia to protect and support the miners engaged in the Cripple Creek miners' strike.
• 1896 - Henry Allingham was born. English pilot and founding member of the Royal Air Force
• 1898 - Ninette de Valois was born (d. 2001). Irish dancer.
• 1898 - Walter Abel was born (d. 1987). American actor.
• 1900 - Manfred Sakel was born (d. 1957). Polish psychiatrist.
• 1901 - Sukarno was born (d. 1978). First President of Indonesia.
• 1902 - Jimmie Lunceford was born (d. 1947). American bandleader.
• 1903 - Aram Khachaturian was born (d. 1978). Armenian composer.
• 1906 - Cunard Line's RMS Lusitania is launched at the John Brown & Company shipyard in Glasgow, Scotland.
• 1906 - Max August Zorn was born (d. 9 Mar 1993). German mathematician.
• 1907 - Bill Dickey was born (d. 1993). Baseball star, coach, manager, and scout.
• 1910 - Jaume Vicens Vives was born. Historian.
• 1912 - Eruption of Novarupta in Alaska begins. Second largest volcanic eruption in historic time.
• 1913 - Carlo L. Golino was born (d. 1991). American scholar.
• 1915 - Vincent Persichetti was born (d. 1987). American composer, teacher, and pianist.
• 1916 - Henriette Roosenburg was born (d. 1972). Dutch journalist.
• 1916 - Yuan Shikai dies (b. 1859). Chinese military official and politicia.
• 1917 - Kirk Kerkorian was born. American businessman.
• 1918 - Battle of Belleau Wood begins.
• 1918 - Edwin G. Krebs, American biochemist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.
  
• 1922 - Lillian Russell dies (b. 1860). American actress.
• 1923 - V.C. Andrews was born (d. 1986). American author.
• 1924 - Jinyong was born. Chinese novelist.
• 1925 - The Chrysler Corporation is founded by Walter Percy Chrysler.
• 1926 - Klaus Tennstedt was born (d. 1998). German conductor.
• 1926 - Gomes da Costa entra triunfalmente em Lisboa, afirmando a vitória militar da «Revolução Nacional».
• 1928 - Luigi Bianchi dies in Parma (b. 6 Jun 1928). Italian mathematician.
• 1929 - Sunil Dutt was born (d. 2005). Indian actor and politician.
• 1932 - The Revenue Act of 1932 is enacted, creating the first gas tax in the United States, at a rate of 1 cent per gallon sold.
• 1932 - David Scott was born. American astronaut.
• 1933 - The first drive-in theater opens, in Camden, New Jersey.
• 1933 - Heinrich Rohrer was born. Swiss physicist, Nobel Prize laureate.
• 1934 - New Deal: U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs the Securities Act of 1933 into law, establishing the Securities and Exchange Commission.
• 1934 - King Albert II of Belgium was born.
• 1934 - Gilbert Cates was born. Producer, director .
• 1934 - Roy Innis was born. American civil rights activist.
• 1934 - Julije Kempf dies (b. 1864). Croatian historian and writer.
• 1935 - Dalai Lama 14, spiritual leader of Tibet's Lamaistic Buddhists, was born in Tibet.
• 1935 - Julian Byng dies (b. 1862). British army officer.
• 1936 - Levi Stubbs was born. American musician (The Four Tops)
• 1936 - A. Venkatesh Naik was born. Indian politician
• 1939 - German dictator Adolf Hitler gives a public address to returning German volunteers who fought as Legion Kondor during the Spanish Civil War.
• 1939 - Louis Andriessen was born. Dutch composer
• 1939 - Gary U.S. Bonds was born. American musician.
• 1939 - Marian Wright Edelman was born. American social reformer, lawyer, and author. "She founded the "Children's Defense Fund;" wrote "The Measure of Our Success: A Letter to My Children and Yours".
• 1939 - Louis Andriessen was born. Dutch composer.
• 1939 - Gary U.S. Bonds was born. American musician.
• 1939 - Ed Giacomin was born. Canadian hockey player.
• 1940 - Larry Lujack was born. American disc jockey.
• 1941 - Alexander Cockburn was born. Scottish-born American journalist.
• 1941 - Louis Chevrolet dies (b. 1878). American automotive pioneer, race car driver.
• 1943 - Ken Hatfield, former N.C.A.A. Football Head Coach.
• 1943 - Richard Smalley was born. American chemist, Nobel Prize laureate.
• 1943 - Guido Fubini dies in New York, USA (b. 19 Jan 1879 in Venice, Italy). Italian mathematician.
• 1944 - World War II: Battle of Normandy begins - Operation Overlord, code named D-Day, commences with the landing of 155,000 Allied troops on the beaches of Normandy in France. The allied soldiers quickly break through the Atlantic Wall and push inland in the largest amphibious military operation in history.
• 1944 - Alaska Airlines commenced operations.
• 1944 - David Penhaligon was born. British politician.
• 1944 - Phillip Allen Sharp was born. American scientist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.
  
• 1945 - David E. Bonior was born. American politician.
• 1945 - Larry Lujack was born. American disc jockey.
• 1945 - David Dukes was born. (d. 2000). American actor.
• 1946 - The Basketball Association of America is formed in New York City.
• 1946 - Gerhart Hauptmann dies (b. 1862). German dramatist, Nobel Prize laureate.
• 1947 - David Blunkett was born. English politician.
• 1947 - Ada Kok was born. Dutch swimmer.
• 1947 - James Agate dies. English critic and essayist.
• 1947 - Wladyslaw Raczkiewicz dies. President of Poland (1939-1940).
• 1948 - Richard Sinclair was born. English musician (Caravan).
• 1948 - Tony Levin was born. American bassist.
• 1948 - Louis Lumière dies (b. 1864). French movie pioneer.
• 1949 - Holly Near was born. American folksinger.
• 1949 - Robert Englund was born. American actor.
• 1950 - Turkey: The Adhan in Arabic is legalized.
• 1951 - Olive Tell dies (b. 1894). American actress.
• 1952 - Yukihiro Takahashi was born. Japanese musician and singer (Yellow Magic Orchestra).
• 1952 - Harvey Fierstein was born. American actor.
• 1952 - Jean Hamel was born. French Canadian ice hockey player.
• 1952 - Yukihiro Takahashi was born., Japanese musician and singer (Yellow Magic Orchestra).
• 1953 - Dimitris Avramopoulos was born.Greek politician.
• 1954 - Cynthia Rylant was born. American author.
• 1954 - Harvey Fierstein was born. American actor.
• 1955 - Sandra_Bernhard was born. American actress.
• 1955 - Max Meldrum dies (b. 1875). Scottish-born Australian painter.
• 1956 - David Marshall, Singapore's first Chief Minister, resigns.
• 1956 - Björn Borg was born. Swedish tennis player.
• 1956 - Bubbi Morthens was born. Icelandic singer and songwriter.
• 1956 - Hiram Bingham dies. Historian ans explorer he discovered the Inca City of Machu Picchu (Patrimonio Natural y Cultural de la Humanidad por la UNESCO in 1983).
• 1957 - Mike Gatting was born. English cricketer.
• 1958 - Eugénia Melo e Castro was born. Portuguese singer and composer.
• 1959 - Jimmy Jam was born. American record producer.
• 1959 - Colin Quinn was born. American comedian.
• 1959 - David Schultz was born (d. 1996). American wrestler.
• 1959 - Georgios Voulgarakis was born. Greek politician.
• 1960 - Gary Graham was born. American actor.
• 1960 - Jozef Pribilinec was born. Slovak athlete.
• 1960 - Steve Vai was born. American musician.
• 1961 - Cuba: Ley de Nacionalización de la Enseñanza, que la hace gratuita y obligatoria hasta el 6to. grado.
• 1961 - Aldo Costa was born. Italian engineer.
• 1961 - Bill Bates was born. American football player.
• 1961 - Tom Araya was born. Chilean musician (Slayer).
• 1961 - Nir Brand was born. Israeli composer.
• 1961 - Carl Jung dies (b. 1875). Swiss psychologist.
• 1962 - The Beatles audition for EMI Records.
• 1962 - Yves Klein dies (b. 1928). French artist.
• 1963 - Jason Isaacs was born. English actor.
• 1963 - Wolfgang Drechsler was born. German social scientist.
• 1964 - Under a temporary order, the rocket launches at Cuxhaven, Germany are terminated, though they never resume.
• 1965 - Cam Neely was born. Canadian hockey player.
• 1966 - James Meredith, civil rights activist, is shot while trying to march across Mississippi.
• 1966 - Ena was born. Canadian television and radio host.
• 1966 - Murdoc Niccals was born. English musician (Gorillaz).
• 1966 - Tony Yeboah was born. Ghanaian footballer.
• 1966 - Sean Yseult, American musician (White Zombie).
• 1967 - President Nasser closed the Suez Canal, alleging that USA and British forces were aiding Israel.
• 1967 - Max Casella was born in Washington, District of Columbia. American actor.
• 1967 - Paul Giamatti was born. American actor.
• 1968 - Alan Licht, American guitarist, composer and journalist.
• 1968 - François Avard was born. Canadian writer and scenarist.
• 1968 - Robert F. Kennedy dies after to have been injured the day before (b. 1925). Former United States Attorney General and Senator from New York.
  
• 1968 - Randolph Churchill dies (b. 1911). Son of Winston Churchill.
• 1969 - The first Internet connection was created when network control protocol packets were sent from the data port of one IMP to another.
• 1970 - Eugeni Berzin was born. Russian cyclist.
• 1970 - Anthony Norris was born. American professional wrestler.
• 1970 - James Shaffer was born. American rock musician (Korn).
• 1970 - Sarah Dessen was born. American author.
• 1971 - Soyuz program: Soyuz 11 launches.
• 1971 - A midair collision between a Hughes Airwest Douglas DC-9 jetliner and a U.S. Marine Corps McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II jet fighter near Duarte, California claims 50 lives.
• 1971 - The Ed Sullivan Show goes off the air.
• 1972 - David Bowie releases the classic album The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiers from Mars.
• 1972 - Cristina Scabbia was born. Italian singer (Lacuna Coil)
• 1972 - Abraham Adriam Albert dies in Chicago, Illinois (b. 9 Nov 1905). Amwerican mathematician.
• 1973 - Barry White was awarded a gold record for I’m Gonna Love You Just a Little More Baby.
• 1973 - Kat Swift was born. US Presidential Candidate (Green Party)
• 1974 - A new Instrument of Government is promulgated making Sweden a parliamentary monarchy.
• 1974 - Danny Strong was born. American actor.
• 1975 - Stace Keanan was born. American actress.
• 1975 - Niklas Sundström was born. Swedish hockey player.
• 1975 - Cheer Chen was born. Taiwanese singer, guitarist, and pianist.
• 1975 - Larry Blyden dies (b. 1925). American actor.
• 1976 - Geoff Rowley was born. British skateboarder.
• 1976 - aKido, a.k.a Kim Gaboury, was born. Canadian musician
• 1976 - Ross Noble was born. British comedian
• 1976 - J. Paul Getty dies (b. 1892). American industrialist.
• 1976 - Victor Varconi dies (b. 1891). Hungarian actor.
• 1977 - David Connolly was born. Irish footballer.
• 1977 - Stefan Bergman dies in Palo Alto, California, USA (b. 5 May 1895 in Czestochowa, Poland). Polish mathematician
• 1978 - Carl Barât was born. English singer and guitarist (The Libertines and Dirty Pretty Things)
• 1978 - Judith Barsi was born (d. 1988). American actress.
• 1978 - Mariana Popova was born. Bulgarian singer
• 1979 - Jack Haley dies (b. 1898). American actor.
• 1980 - Martin Devaney was born. English footballer.
• 1980 - Matt Belisle was born. American baseball player.
• 1981 - A passenger train travelling between Mansi and Saharsa, India, jumps the tracks at a bridge crossing the Bagmati river. The government places the official death toll at 268 plus another 300 missing; however, it is generally believed that the actual figure is closer to 1,000 killed.
• 1981 - Carleton S. Coon dies (b. 1904). American anthropologist.
• 1982 - 1982 Lebanon War begins: Forces under Israeli Defense Minister Ariel Sharon invade southern Lebanon in their "Operation Peace for the Galilee," eventually reaching as far north as the capital Beirut.
• 1982 - Juan Rafael Chacón dies. Sculptor
• 1982 - 1982 Lebanon War begins: Forces under Israeli Defense Minister Ariel Sharon invade southern Lebanon in their "Operation Peace for the Galilee," eventually reaching as far north as the capital Beirut.
• 1982 - Kenneth Rexroth dies (b. 1905). American poet.
• 1983 - Bradley Jay is born. Broadcaster.
• 1983 - Li Xiannian became President and Deng Xiaoping supreme commander of China.
• 1983 - Gemma Bissix was born. British actress.
• 1983 - Gianna Michaels was born. American porn actress.
• 1983 - Margarida Vila-Nova was born. Portuguese actress.
• 1984 - The Indian Army attacks the Golden Temple in Amritsar in an effort to flush out terrorists, following an order from Indira Gandhi. Official casualities are 576 combatants killed and 335 wounded; independent observers estimate that thousands of unarmed Sikh civilians are also killed in the crossfire.
• 1984 - Noor Sabri was born. Iraqi football player.
• 1984 - Shannon Stewart was born. American model.
• 1984 - A. Bertram Chandler dies (b. 1912). Australian author.
• 1985 - The grave of "Wolfgang Gerhard" is exhumed in Embu, Brazil; the remains found are later proven to be those of Josef Mengele, Auschwitz' "Angel of Death". Mengele is thought to have drowned while swimming in February 1979.
• 1985 - Drew Galloway was born. Scottish professional wrestler.
• 1986 - Franco D'Andrea was born. Italian Broadcaster.
• 1987 - Steffi Graf beats Martina Navratilova and wins her first Grand Slam title at the French Open in Paris-
• 1987 - Kyle Falconer was born. Scottish musician.
• 1987 - Daniel Logan was born. New Zealand actor.
• 1988 - Yasmin Brunet was born. Brazilian model.
• 1990 - U.S. District court judge Jose Gonzales rules that the rap album As Nasty As They Wanna Be by the 2 Live Crew violates Florida's obscenity law; he declares that the predominant subject matter of the record is "directed to the 'dirty' thoughts and the loins, not to the intellect and the mind."
• 1991 - George and Barbara Loeb, members of the Church of the Creator, are arrested and charged with murder.
• 1991 - Former Diff'rent Strokes child star Dana Plato is given a six-year suspended sentence for robbing a Las Vegas video store five weeks earlier.
• 1991 - Stan Getz dies (b. 1927). American musician, composer.
• 1991 - Mike Diamond dies (b. 1950). Wrestler.
• 1992 - Larry Riley dies (b. 1952). American actor.
• 1993 - Mongolia holds its first direct presidential elections.
• 1993 - At the Tony Awards, "Kiss of the Spider Woman" won best musical; "Angels in America: Millennium Approaches," won best play.
• 1993 - Sergi Bruguera wins Roland Garros Tournment in tennis.
• 1994 - A China Northwest Airlines Tu-154 on a flight from Xian to Guangzhou crashed 10 minutes after takeoff, and killed all 160 onboard.
• 1994 - Mark McManus dies (b. 1935). Scottish actor (Taggart).
• 1994 - Barry Sullivan dies (b. 1912). American actor.
• 1996 - The sons of Darlie Routier, Damon and Devon, are stabbed to death in their Rowlett, Texas home. Their mother was later convicted of the murder.
• 1996 - Damon and Devon Routier, sons of Darlie Routier.
  
• 1996 - George Davis Snell dies (b. 1903). American geneticist, Nobel laureate.
• 1997 - New Jersey teenager Melissa Drexler gives birth to a healthy baby in a bathroom stall during her senior prom, then strangles the child with a plastic bag and stashes the corpse in the trash.
• 1997 - Henry Francis Hays became the first white person to be executed in the state of Alabama for the murder of a black person since 1913.
• 1997 - Prudence Napier dies. English primatologist.
• 1998 - Arantxa Sánchez Vicario wins for the third time the Roland Garros Tournment.
• 1999 - At the Putim maximum security prison in Brazil, 345 prisoners run from the main gate in the largest jailbreak in Brazilian history, marking the 10th escape for the 3-year old facility. In the ensuing manhunt, two fugitives are killed and five innocent bystanders are accidentally jailed.
• 1999 - In Australian Rules Football, Tony Lockett breaks the record for career goals, previously 1299 by Gordon Coventry and which had stood since 1937.
• 1999 - At the Tony Awards, Arthur Miller’s “Death of a Salesman” was named best revival; “Side Man” won best play; “Fosse” was awarded best musical.
• 1999 - In tennis, Andre Agassi won the French Open, defeating Andrei Medvedev 1-6, 2-6, 6-4, 6-3, 6-4.
• 1999 - Anne Haddy dies (b. 1930). Australian actress.
• 2000 - Frédéric Dard dies (b. 1921). French writer.
• 2000 - Moreira da Silva dies (b. 1902). Brazilian composer and singer.
• 2001 - Vermont Republican Senator James Jeffords left the party to become an independent, handing control of the Senate back to the Democrats.
• 2002 - President Bush proposed a new Cabinet department: The Department of Homeland Security.
• 2002 - The United States House of Representatives Energy and Commerce Committee announces it is probing Martha Stewart's ImClone stock sales.
• 2002 - A near-Earth asteroid estimated at 10 metres diameter explodes over the Medterranean Sea. The resulting explosion is estimated to have a force of 26 kilotons, slightly more powerful than the Nagasaki atomic bomb.
• 2002 - Hans Janmaat dies. Controversial far-right politician in the Netherlands.
• 2002 - Robbin Crosby dies (b. 1959). American guitarist (Ratt).
• 2003 - Chile became the first South American country to sign a free trade agreement with the United States.
• 2003 - Ken Grimwood dies (b. 1944). American writer.
• 2003 - Dave Rowberry dies (b. 1940). British musician (The Animals).
• 2004 - In the 58th annual Tony Awards “Avenue Q” won for best Broadway musical.
• 2004 - Tamil was established as a Classical language by the President of India, Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam in a joint sitting of the two houses of the Indian Parliament.
• 2005 - United States Supreme Court says no to medical marijuana in Gonzales v. Raich.
• 2005 - Anne Bancroft dies (b. 1931). American actress.
• 2005 - Dana Elcar dies (b. 1927). American actor.
• 2006 - Billy Preston dies (b. 1946). American musician.
• 2006 - Hilton Ruiz dies (b. 1952). Puerto Rican-American jazz pianist.
• 2006 - Arnold Newman dies (b. 1918). American photographer.
• D-Day landings - Europe.
• Memorial Day - South Korea.
• National holiday of Sweden.
• Queensland Day.
• Scientology: Maiden Voyage Anniversary.
• Saint Claudius (died 699), Saint Marcellin Champagnat (died 840), Saint Norbert of Gennep.