Today is Saturday, June 1, the 152nd day of 2019. There are 213 days left in the year.
Today’s Highlights in History:
On June 1, 1813, the mortally wounded commander of the USS Chesapeake, Capt. James Lawrence, gave the order, “Don’t give up the ship” during a losing battle with the British frigate HMS Shannon in the War of 1812.
On this date:
In 1533, Anne Boleyn, the second wife of King Henry VIII, was crowned as Queen Consort of England.
In 1792, Kentucky became the 15th state.
In 1796, Tennessee became the 16th state.
In 1926, actress Marilyn Monroe was born Norma Jeane Mortenson in Los Angeles.
In 1939, the British submarine HMS Thetis sank during a trial dive off North Wales with the loss of 99 lives. Lou Nova defeated Max Baer at Yankee Stadium in the first U.S. televised heavyweight prizefight. Mexico officially abolished the siesta.
In 1943, a civilian flight from Portugal to England was shot down by Germany during World War II, killing all 17 people aboard, including actor Leslie Howard.
In 1967, the Beatles album “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band” was released, as was David Bowie’s debut album, eponymously titled “David Bowie.”
In 1968, author-lecturer Helen Keller, who earned a college degree despite being blind and deaf almost her entire life, died in Westport, Connecticut, at age 87.
In 1977, the Soviet Union formally charged Jewish human rights activist Anatoly Shcharansky with treason. (Shcharansky was imprisoned, then released in 1986; he’s now known as Natan Sharansky.)
In 1980, Cable News Network made its debut.
In 2008, fashion designer Yves Saint Laurent died in Paris at age 71.
In 2017, President Donald Trump declared he would pull the U.S. from the landmark Paris climate agreement. (The U.S. remains a part of the agreement until at least 2020.)
Ten years ago: Air France Flight 447, an Airbus A330 carrying 228 people from Rio de Janeiro to Paris, crashed into the Atlantic Ocean with the loss of everyone on board. General Motors filed for Chapter 11, becoming the largest U.S. industrial company to enter bankruptcy protection. A gunman shot and killed Pvt. William Andrew Long outside of an Army recruiting center in Little Rock, Arkansas; another soldier, Pvt. Quinton I. Ezeagwula, was wounded. (Abdulhakim Muhammad, a Muslim convert, pleaded guilty to capital murder, attempted capital murder and gun charges; he was sentenced to life in prison without parole.) Conan O’Brien debuted as host of NBC’s “Tonight Show” (however, he stepped down in January 2010 after a dispute with the network).
Five years ago: Freed American soldier Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl entered the Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany, a day after he was released by the Taliban in exchange for five Guatanamo terrorism detainees. Ann B. Davis, 88, who became America’s favorite and most famous housekeeper as the devoted Alice Nelson on television’s “The Brady Bunch,” died in San Antonio, Texas.
One year ago: After a week of hard-nosed negotiation and diplomatic gamesmanship, President Donald Trump announced that the nuclear-weapons summit with North Korea’s Kim Jong Un that he had earlier canceled would take place on June 12th in Singapore. Trump directed Energy Secretary Rick Perry to take “immediate steps” to bolster struggling coal-fired and nuclear power plants to keep them open, calling it a matter of national and economic security. An Ecuadorean immigrant, Pablo Villavicencio, was held for deportation after delivering pizza to an Army installation in Brooklyn, New York; a judge later ordered him freed while he continued his efforts to gain legal status. Health officials said four more deaths had been linked to a national food poisoning outbreak blamed on tainted lettuce, bringing the total to five.
Today’s Birthdays: Singer Pat Boone is 85. Actor Morgan Freeman is 82. Actor Rene Auberjonois (oh-behr-juh-NWAH’) is 79. Opera singer Frederica von Stade is 74. Actor Brian Cox is 73. Rock musician Ronnie Wood is 72. Actor Jonathan Pryce is 72. Actress Gemma Craven is 69. Actor John M. Jackson (TV: “NCIS: Los Angeles”) is 69. Blues-rock musician Tom Principato is 67. Country singer Ronnie Dunn is 66. Actress Lisa Hartman Black is 63. Actor Tom Irwin is 63. Singer-musician Alan Wilder is 60. Rock musician Simon Gallup (The Cure) is 59. Country musician Richard Comeaux (River Road) is 58. Actor-comedian Mark Curry is 58. Actor-singer Jason Donovan is 51. Actress Teri Polo is 50. Basketball player-turned-coach Tony Bennett is 50. Actor Rick Gomez is 47. Model-actress Heidi Klum is 46. Singer Alanis Morissette is 45. Actress Sarah Wayne Callies is 42. Comedian Link Neal (Rhett & Link) is 41. TV personality Damien Fahey is 39. Americana singer-songwriter Brandi Carlile is 38. Actor Johnny Pemberton is 38. Actress-writer Amy Schumer is 38. Former tennis player Justine Henin is 37. Actor Taylor Handley is 35. Actress Zazie Beetz is 28. Actress Willow Shields is 19.
Thought for Today: “Our age knows nothing but reaction, and leaps from one extreme to another.” — Reinhold Niebuhr, American theologian (1892-1971).
