June 2

Events

Pre-1600

* 455 – Sack of Rome: Vandals enter Rome, and plunder the city for two weeks.
* 1098 – First Crusade: The first Siege of Antioch ends as Crusader forces take the city; the second siege began five days later.

1601–1900

* 1608 – London: Virginia gets new charter, extending borders from "sea to sea".
* 1615 – The first Récollet missionaries arrive at Quebec City, from Rouen, France.
* 1676 – Franco-Dutch War: France ensured the supremacy of its naval fleet for the remainder of the war with its victory in the Battle of Palermo.
* 1692 – Bridget Bishop is the first person to be tried for witchcraft in Salem, Massachusetts; she was found guilty and later hanged.
* 1763 – Pontiac's Rebellion: At what is now Mackinaw City, Michigan, Chippewas capture Fort Michilimackinac by diverting the garrison's attention with a game of lacrosse, then chasing a ball into the fort.
*1774 – Intolerable Acts: The Quartering Act is enacted, allowing a governor in colonial America to house British soldiers in uninhabited houses, outhouses, barns, or other buildings if suitable quarters are not provided.
* 1780 – The anti-Catholic Gordon Riots in London leave an estimated 300 to 700 people dead.
* 1793 – French Revolution: François Hanriot, leader of the Parisian National Guard, arrests 22 Girondists selected by Jean-Paul Marat, setting the stage for the Reign of Terror.
*1805 – Napoleonic Wars: A Franco- Spanish fleet recaptures Diamond Rock, an uninhabited island at the entrance to the bay leading to Fort-de-France, from the British.
* 1835 – P. T. Barnum and his circus start their first tour of the United States.
*1848 – The Slavic congress in Prague begins.
*1866 – The Fenians defeat Canadian forces at Ridgeway and Fort Erie, but the raids end soon after.
* 1896 – Guglielmo Marconi applies for a patent for his wireless telegraph.

1901–present

*1909 – Alfred Deakin becomes Prime Minister of Australia for the third time.
*1910 – Charles Rolls, a co-founder of Rolls-Royce Limited, becomes the first man to make a non-stop double crossing of the English Channel by plane.
* 1919 – Anarchists simultaneously set off bombs in eight separate U.S. cities.
*1924 – U.S. President Calvin Coolidge signs the Indian Citizenship Act into law, granting citizenship to all Native Americans born within the territorial limits of the United States.
*1941 – World War II: German paratroopers murder Greek civilians in the villages of Kondomari and Alikianos.
*1946 – Birth of the Italian Republic: In a referendum, Italians vote to turn Italy from a monarchy into a Republic. After the referendum, King Umberto II of Italy is exiled.
*1953 – The coronation of Queen Elizabeth II at Westminster Abbey becomes the first British coronation and one of the first major international events to be televised.
*1955 – The USSR and Yugoslavia sign the Belgrade declaration and thus normalize relations between the two countries, discontinued since 1948.
*1962 – During the FIFA World Cup, police had to intervene multiple times in fights between Chilean and Italian players in one of the most violent games in football history.
* 1964 – The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) is formed.
*1966 – Surveyor program: '' Surveyor 1'' lands in Oceanus Procellarum on the Moon, becoming the first U.S. spacecraft to soft-land on another world.
*1967 – Luis Monge is executed in Colorado's gas chamber, in the last pre-''Furman'' execution in the United States.
* 1967 – Protests in West Berlin against the arrival of the Shah of Iran are brutally suppressed, during which Benno Ohnesorg is killed by a police officer. His death results in the founding of the terrorist group Movement 2 June.
* 1979 – Pope John Paul II starts his first official visit to his native Poland, becoming the first Pope to visit a Communist country.
* 1983 – After an emergency landing because of an in-flight fire, twenty-three passengers aboard Air Canada Flight 797 are killed when a flashover occurs as the plane's doors open. Because of this incident, numerous new safety regulations are put in place.
*1990 – The Lower Ohio Valley tornado outbreak spawns 66 confirmed tornadoes in Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, and Ohio, killing 12.
*1997 – In Denver, Timothy McVeigh is convicted on 15 counts of murder and conspiracy for his role in the 1995 bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, in which 168 people died. He was executed four years later.
*2003 – Europe launches its first voyage to another planet, Mars. The European Space Agency's '' Mars Express'' probe launches from the Baikonur space center in Kazakhstan.
*2012 – Former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak is sentenced to life imprisonment for his role in the killing of demonstrators during the 2011 Egyptian revolution.
*2014 – Telangana officially becomes the 29th state of India, formed from ten districts of northwestern Andhra Pradesh.
* 2022 – Following a request from Ankara, the United Nations officially changed the name of the Republic of Turkey in the organization from what was previously known as "Turkey" to " Türkiye."

Births

Pre-1600

*1305 – Abu Sa'id Bahadur Khan, ruler of Ilkhanate (d. 1335)
*1423 – Ferdinand I of Naples (d. 1494)
*1489 – Charles, Duke of Vendôme (d. 1537)
*1535 – Pope Leo XI (d. 1605)

1601–1900

* 1602 – Rudolf Christian, Count of East Frisia, Ruler of East Frisia (d. 1628)
* 1621 – Rutger von Ascheberg, Courland-born soldier in Swedish service (d. 1693)
* 1621 – (baptized) Isaac van Ostade, Dutch painter (d. 1649)
*1638 – Henry Hyde, 2nd Earl of Clarendon (d. 1709)
* 1644 – William Salmon, English medical writer (d. 1713)
*1731 – Martha Washington, First Lady of the United States (d. 1802)
* 1739 – Jabez Bowen, American colonel and politician, 45th Deputy Governor of Rhode Island (d. 1815)
*1740 – Marquis de Sade, French philosopher and politician (d. 1814)
* 1743 – Alessandro Cagliostro, Italian occultist and explorer (d. 1795)
* 1773 – John Randolph of Roanoke, American planter and politician, 8th United States Ambassador to Russia (d. 1833)
*1774 – William Lawson, English-Australian explorer and politician (d. 1850)
* 1813 – Daniel Pollen, Irish-New Zealand politician, 9th Prime Minister of New Zealand (d. 1896)
* 1823 – Gédéon Ouimet, Canadian lawyer and politician, 2nd Premier of Quebec (d. 1905)
* 1835 – Pope Pius X (d. 1914)
*1838 – Duchess Alexandra Petrovna of Oldenburg (d. 1900)
*1840 – Thomas Hardy, English novelist and poet (d. 1928)
* 1840 – Émile Munier, French artist (d. 1895)
*1857 – Edward Elgar, English composer and educator (d. 1934)
* 1857 – Karl Adolph Gjellerup, Danish author and poet, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1919)
* 1861 – Concordia Selander, Swedish actress and manager (d. 1935)
*1863 – Felix Weingartner, Croatian-Austrian pianist, composer, and conductor (d. 1942)
*1865 – George Lohmann, English cricketer (d. 1901)
* 1865 – Adelaide Casely-Hayford, Sierra Leone Creole advocate and activist for cultural nationalism (d. 1960)
*1866 – Jack O'Connor, American baseball player and manager (d. 1937)
*1875 – Charles Stewart Mott, American businessman and politician, 50th Mayor of Flint, Michigan (d. 1973)
* 1878 – Wallace Hartley, English violinist and bandleader (d. 1912)
* 1881 – Walter Egan, American golfer (d. 1971)
*1891 – Thurman Arnold, American lawyer and judge (d. 1969)
* 1891 – Takijirō Ōnishi, Japanese admiral and pilot (d. 1945)
* 1899 – Lotte Reiniger, German animator and director (d. 1981)
* 1899 – Edwin Way Teale, American environmentalist and photographer (d. 1980)

1901–present

*1904 – Frank Runacres, English painter and educator (d. 1974)
* 1904 – Johnny Weissmuller, Hungarian-American swimmer and actor (d. 1984)
*1907 – Dorothy West, American journalist and author (d. 1998)
* 1907 – John Lehmann, English poet and publisher (d. 1987)
*1910 – Hector Dyer, American sprinter (d. 1990)
*1911 – Joe McCluskey, American runner (d. 2002)
*1913 – Barbara Pym, English author (d. 1980)
* 1913 – Elsie Tu, English-Hong Kong educator and politician (d. 2015)
*1915 – Alexandru Nicolschi, Romanian spy (d. 1992)
* 1917 – Heinz Sielmann, German photographer and director (d. 2006)
*1918 – Ruth Atkinson, Canadian-American illustrator (d. 1997)
* 1918 – Kathryn Tucker Windham, American journalist and author (d. 2011)
*1920 – Frank G. Clement, American lawyer and politician, 41st Governor of Tennessee (d. 1969)
* 1920 – Yolande Donlan, American-English actress (d. 2014)
* 1920 – Marcel Reich-Ranicki, Polish-German author and critic (d. 2013)
* 1920 – Tex Schramm, American businessman (d. 2003)
* 1920 – Johnny Speight, English screenwriter and producer (d. 1998)
*1921 – Betty Freeman, American photographer and philanthropist (d. 2009)
* 1921 – Ernie Royal, American trumpet player (d. 1983)
* 1921 – Sigmund Sternberg, Hungarian-English businessman and philanthropist (d. 2016)
* 1921 – András Szennay, Hungarian priest (d. 2012)
*1922 – Juan Antonio Bardem, Spanish director and screenwriter (d. 2002)
* 1922 – Carmen Silvera, Canadian-English actress (d. 2002)
* 1923 – Lloyd Shapley, American mathematician and economist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2016)
*1924 – June Callwood, Canadian journalist, author, and activist (d. 2007)
* 1926 – Chiyonoyama Masanobu, Japanese sumo wrestler, the 41st Yokozuna (d. 1977)
* 1926 – Milo O'Shea, Irish-American actor (d. 2013)
*1927 – W. Watts Biggers, American author, screenwriter, and animator (d. 2013)
* 1927 – Colin Brittan, English footballer (d. 2013)
*1928 – Erzsi Kovács, Hungarian singer (d. 2014)
* 1928 – Rafael A. Lecuona, Cuban-American gymnast and academic (d. 2014)
* 1928 – Ron Reynolds, English footballer (d. 1999)
* 1929 – Norton Juster, American architect, author, and academic (d. 2021)
* 1929 – Ken McGregor, Australian tennis player (d. 2007)
*1930 – Pete Conrad, American captain, pilot, and astronaut (d. 1999)
*1933 – Jerry Lumpe, American baseball player and coach (d. 2014)
* 1933 – Lew "Sneaky Pete" Robinson, drag racer (d. 1971)
*1934 – Johnny Carter, American singer (d. 2009)
*1935 – Carol Shields, American-Canadian novelist and short story writer (d. 2003)
* 1935 – Dimitri Kitsikis, Greek poet and educator (d. 2021)
*1936 – Volodymyr Holubnychy, Ukrainian race walker (d. 2021)
*1937 – Rosalyn Higgins, English lawyer and judge
* 1937 – Sally Kellerman, American actress (d. 2022)
* 1937 – Jimmy Jones, American singer-songwriter (d. 2012)
* 1937 – Robert Paul, Canadian figure skater and choreographer
* 1937 – Deric Washburn, American screenwriter and playwright
*1938 – Kevin Brownlow, English historian and author
* 1938 – George William Penrose, Lord Penrose, Scottish lawyer and judge
*1939 – Charles Miller, American musician (d. 1980)
* 1939 – John Schlee, American golfer (d. 2000)
* 1940 – Constantine II of Greece
*1941 – Ünal Aysal, Turkish businessman
* 1941 – Stacy Keach, American actor
* 1941 – Lou Nanne, Canadian-American ice hockey player and manager
* 1941 – Charlie Watts, English drummer, songwriter, and producer (d. 2021)
* 1942 – Mike Ahern, Australian politician, 32nd Premier of Queensland
*1943 – Charles Haid, American actor and director
* 1943 – Crescenzio Sepe, Italian cardinal
*1944 – Robert Elliott, American actor (d. 2004)
* 1944 – Marvin Hamlisch, American composer and conductor (d. 2012)
* 1945 – Richard Long, English painter, sculptor, and photographer
* 1945 – Bonnie Newman, American businesswoman and politician
*1946 – Lasse Hallström, Swedish director, producer, and screenwriter
* 1946 – Peter Sutcliffe, English serial killer (d. 2020)
*1948 – Jerry Mathers, American actor
*1949 – Heather Couper, English astronomer and physicist (d. 2020)
* 1949 – Frank Rich, American journalist and critic
* 1950 – Joanna Gleason, Canadian actress and singer
* 1950 – Momčilo Vukotić, Serbian footballer and manager (d. 2021)
*1951 – Gilbert Baker, American artist, gay rights activist, and designer of the rainbow flag (d. 2017)
* 1951 – Arnold Mühren, Dutch footballer and manager
* 1951 – Larry Robinson, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
* 1951 – Alexander Wylie, Lord Kinclaven, Scottish lawyer, judge, and educator
*1952 – Gary Bettman, American commissioner of the National Hockey League
*1953 – Vidar Johansen, Norwegian saxophonist
* 1953 – Craig Stadler, American golfer
* 1953 – Cornel West, American philosopher, author, and academic
*1954 – Dennis Haysbert, American actor and producer
*1955 – Dana Carvey, American comedian and actor
* 1955 – Nandan Nilekani, Indian businessman, co-founded Infosys
* 1955 – Mani Ratnam, Indian director, producer, and screenwriter
* 1955 – Michael Steele, American singer-songwriter and bass player
*1956 – Jan Lammers, Dutch race car driver
*1957 – Mark Lawrenson, English footballer and manager
*1958 – Lex Luger, American wrestler and football player
*1959 – Rineke Dijkstra, Dutch photographer
* 1959 – Lydia Lunch, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and actress
* 1959 – Erwin Olaf, Dutch photographer
*1960 – Olga Bondarenko

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