Today in History: June 4, Battle of Midway begins
Jun 3, 2022, 9:00 PM | Updated: 9:03 pm
Today in History
Today is Saturday, June 4, the 155th day of 2022. There are 210 days left in the year.
Today’s Highlight in History:
On June 4, 1942, the World War II Battle of Midway began, resulting in a decisive American victory against Japan and marking the turning point of the war in the Pacific.
On this date:
In 1812, the U.S. House of Representatives approved, 79-49, a declaration of war against Britain.
In 1919, Congress approved the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which said that the right to vote could not be denied or abridged based on gender. The amendment was sent to the states for ratification.
In 1939, the German ocean liner MS St. Louis, carrying more than 900 Jewish refugees from Germany, was turned away from the Florida coast by U.S. officials.
In 1940, during World War II, the Allied military evacuation of some 338,000 troops from Dunkirk, France, ended. British Prime Minister Winston Churchill declared: “We shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender.”
In 1944, U-505, a German submarine, was captured by a U.S. Navy task group in the south Atlantic; it was the first such capture of an enemy vessel at sea by the U.S. Navy since the War of 1812. The U.S. Fifth Army began liberating Rome.
In 1967, “Mission: Impossible” won outstanding dramatic series, “The Monkees” outstanding comedy series at the 19th Primetime Emmy Awards.
In 1985, the Supreme Court upheld a lower court ruling striking down an Alabama law providing for a daily minute of silence in public schools.
In 1986, Jonathan Jay Pollard, a former U.S. Navy intelligence analyst, pleaded guilty in Washington to conspiring to deliver information related to the national defense to Israel. (Pollard, sentenced to life in prison, was released on parole on Nov. 20, 2015; he moved to Israel after completing parole in December 2020.)
In 1989, a gas explosion in the Soviet Union engulfed two passing trains, killing 575.
In 1990, Dr. Jack Kevorkian carried out his first publicly assisted suicide, helping Janet Adkins, a 54-year-old Alzheimer’s patient from Portland, Oregon, end her life in Oakland County, Michigan.
In 1998, a federal judge sentenced Terry Nichols to life in prison for his role in the 1995 bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City.
In 2020, in the first of a series of memorials set for three cities over six days, celebrities, musicians and political leaders gathered in front of George Floyd’s golden casket in Minneapolis.
Ten years ago: With President Barack Obama standing off to the side, former President Bill Clinton warned during a fundraiser in New York that a Mitt Romney presidency would be “calamitous” for the nation and the world. Al-Qaida’s second-in-command, Abu Yahya al-Libi (ah-BOO’ yah-HEE’-ah ahl LIH’-bee), was killed in a U.S. drone strike in North Waziristan, Pakistan.
Five years ago: Alfredo del Mazo of the governing PRI (pree) party was elected governor of the state of Mexico in a hotly disputed contest marred by charges of irregularities. Elite rock climber Alex Honnold became the first to climb alone to the top of the massive granite wall known as El Capitan in Yosemite National Park without ropes or safety gear.
One year ago: A federal judge overturned California’s three-decade-old ban on assault weapons, calling it a “failed experiment” that violated people’s constitutional right to bear arms. Facebook said former President Donald Trump’s accounts would be suspended for two years, following a finding that Trump stoked violence ahead of the Jan. 6 insurrection at the Capitol. Prince Harry and Meghan welcomed their second child, a girl born in California and named Lilibet Diana in a tribute both to Queen Elizabeth II and to the prince’s late mother, Princess Diana. Actor Clarence Williams III, who played undercover cop Linc Hayes on the TV series ‘The Mod Squad,’ died in Los Angeles at 81.
Today’s Birthdays: Sex therapist and media personality Dr. Ruth Westheimer is 94. Actor Bruce Dern is 86. Musician Roger Ball is 78. Actor-singer Michelle Phillips is 78. Jazz musician Anthony Braxton is 77. Rock musician Danny Brown (The Fixx) is 71. Actor Parker Stevenson is 70. Actor Keith David is 66. Blues singer-musician Tinsley Ellis is 65. Actor Eddie Velez is 64. Singer-musician El DeBarge is 61. Actor Julie White is 61. Actor Lindsay Frost is 60. Actor Sean Pertwee is 58. Former tennis player Andrea Jaeger is 57. Opera singer Cecilia Bartoli is 56. R&B singer Al B. Sure! is 54. Actor Scott Wolf is 54. Actor-comedian Rob Huebel is 53. Comedian Horatio Sanz is 53. Actor James Callis is 51. Actor Noah Wyle is 51. Rock musician Stefan Lessard (The Dave Matthews Band) is 48. Actor-comedian Russell Brand is 47. Actor Angelina Jolie is 47. Actor Theo Rossi is 47. Alt-country singer Kasey Chambers is 46. Actor Robin Lord Taylor is 44. Rock musician JoJo Garza (Los Lonely Boys) is 42. Model Bar Refaeli (ruh-FEHL’-lee) is 37. Olympic gold medal figure skater Evan Lysacek is 37. Americana singer Shakey Graves is 35. Rock musician Zac Farro is 32.
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