Babe Ruth at Number-Retiring Ceremony

1935

Babe Ruth retires

Born on This Day

Martha Washington

Martha Washington

1731 - 1802

Wife of George Washington and America's first First Lady, who established precedents followed by future presidential spouses.

2024 Vanity Fair Oscar Party Hosted By Radhika Jones - Arrivals

Awkwafina

1988 -

Comedian, rapper and actress known for her roles in "Crazy Rich Asians" and "The Farewell."

Let's Make a Deal

Wayne Brady

1972 -

Actor, comedian and singer known for hosting "Let's Make a Deal" and his namesake talk show.

1987

JUN

2

The Seattle Mariners draft Ken Griffey Jr., a 17-year-old phenom who had batted .478 in his senior high school season. He goes on to smash 630 homers and become a baseball legend.

Timeline

Also on This Day in History

Discover more of the major events, famous births, notable deaths and everything else history-making that happened on June 2nd

1774

Parliament completes the Coercive Acts with the Quartering Act

On June 2, 1774, the British Parliament renews the Quartering Act. The Quartering Act, in conjunction with the Massachusetts Government Act, the Administration of Justice Act and the Boston Port Act, were known as the Coercive Acts. News of 342 chests of tea dumped into Boston Harbor on December 16, 1773, in what was dubbed […]

1886

Grover Cleveland gets married in the White House

President Grover Cleveland becomes the first sitting president to marry in the White House on June 2, 1886. Cleveland entered the White House as a bachelor and left a married man and father of two. His new wife was a young woman 27 years his junior named Frances Folsom. Frances was the daughter of a […]

1924

Congress enacts the Indian Citizenship Act

With Congress’ passage of the Indian Citizenship Act, the government of the United States confers citizenship on all Native Americans born within the territorial limits of the country. Before the Civil War, citizenship was often limited to Native Americans of one-half or less Indian blood. In the Reconstruction period, progressive Republicans in Congress sought to […]

John Mike Jr (HayShooKeekah), rear left, pictured with his family, Black River Falls, Wisconsin, 1901. Standing from left to right are daughters Ada Mike (HunkEWinKah), Lizzie Mike (WeHunKah), and Belle (Mattie) Mike (ENooKah). Wife Kate Mike (ENooKeeKah) is sitting with son Dewey Mike (WaHoPinNeKeKah) in her lap. Dewey Mike, who became an army private, was killed in action on August 30, 1918, in France. A member of Company A, 128th Infantry, he was among the twelve thousand Native Americans on active duty during World War I At the time, most Native Americans were not United States citizens and were not granted citizenship until the passage of the Indian Citizenship Act of 1924. Dewey was honored posthumously in May of 1933 when his mother visited his grave. Kate Mike was the only Native American Gold Star Mother to be invited by the government to visit France. She made the trip despite her limited ability to speak English, laying a wreath of pine boughs from the trees Dewey played beneath when he was a boy on his grave. (Photo by Charles Van Schaick/Wisconsin Historical Society/Getty Images)

1953

Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II

On June 2, 1953, Queen Elizabeth II is formally crowned monarch of the United Kingdom in a lavish ceremony steeped in traditions that date back a millennium. A thousand dignitaries and guests attended the coronation at London’s Westminster Abbey, and hundreds of millions listened on radio and for the first time watched the proceedings on […]

1954

Senator Joseph McCarthy charges communists are in the CIA

Senator Joseph McCarthy charges that communists have infiltrated the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and the atomic weapons industry. Although McCarthy’s accusations created a momentary controversy, they were quickly dismissed as mere sensationalism from a man whose career was slipping away. Senator McCarthy first made a name for himself in 1950 when he charged that over […]

1970

Race car driver and designer Bruce McLaren dies in crash

The 32-year-old race car driver Bruce McLaren dies in a crash while testing an experimental car of his own design at a track in Goodwood, England on June 2, 1970. Born in Auckland, New Zealand, McLaren contracted a childhood hip disease that would keep him in hospitals for several years. By the age of 14, […]

1985

English football clubs banned from Europe

On June 2, 1985, the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) bans English football (soccer) clubs from competing in Europe. The ban followed the death of 39 football fans, most of them Italian, at Brussels’ Heysel Stadium in a riot caused by English football hooligans at that year’s European Cup final. The 1985 European Cup […]

1985

Killing spree by dual killers is put to an end

Leonard Lake is arrested near San Francisco, California, ending one of the rare cases of serial killers working together. Lake and Charles Ng were responsible for a series of particularly brutal crimes against young women in California and the Pacific Northwest during the mid-1980s. Lake was a former Marine who had served time in Vietnam. […]

1989

“Dead Poets Society” released in selected theaters

On June 2, 1989, the boys’ prep school drama Dead Poets Society, starring Robin Williams, is released in selected U.S. theaters. Set in 1959 at a fictional all-male preparatory school called Welton Academy, the film starred Robin Williams as John Keating, a charismatic English teacher who encourages his students to “seize the day” (“carpe diem” […]

1997

Timothy McVeigh convicted for Oklahoma City bombing

Timothy McVeigh, a former U.S. Army soldier, is convicted on 15 counts of murder and conspiracy for his role in the 1995 terrorist bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City. On April 19, 1995, just after 9 a.m., a massive truck bomb exploded outside the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building. The […]

2015

FIFA president Sepp Blatter announces resignation amidst corruption scandal

On June 2, 2015, Sepp Blatter, president of international soccer’s governing body FIFA, steps down, just a few days after he had been re-elected to a fifth four-year term. His resignation came amid rumors that he would soon be under investigation by the United States and Sweden on charges of fraud and corruption. All over […]

2015

Harlem Hellfighter Henry Johnson awarded a posthumous Medal of Honor

Harlem Hellfighter Henry Johnson is awarded a posthumous Medal of Honor. The medal comes after a decades-long effort by Johnson’s family and New York Senator Chuck Schumer to recognize Johnson’s bravery and service during World War I. Henry Johnson, a railroad porter from Albany, New York, enlisted in the army in 1917, after America’s entry […]

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