455 – King Gaiseric & the Vandals sack Rome – Rome looted for 14 days
1098 – First Crusade: The first Siege of Antioch ends as Crusader forces take the city. The second siege would later start on June 7.
1731 – Martha Washington, American wife of George Washington, 1st First Lady of the United States (d. 1802) was born.
1740 – Marquis de Sade, Paris, French philosopher and writer (Justine). Born – The words sadism and sadist are derived from his name.
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 – 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.
1806 – William Tate, English painter (b. 1747) died.
1840 – Thomas Hardy, England, poet/novelist (Far from the Madding Crowd) Born
1851 – 1st US alcohol prohibition law enacted (Maine)
1855 – The Portland Rum Riot occurs in Portland, Maine.
1863 – Harriet Tubman leads Union guerrillas into Maryland, freeing slaves
1866 – Fenian raids: The Fenians are victorious over Canadian forces in both the Battle of Ridgeway and the Battle of Fort Erie.
1875 – Alexander Graham Bell makes first sound transmission
1886 – The U.S. President Grover Cleveland marries Frances Folsom in the White House, becoming the only president to wed in the executive mansion.
1896 – Guglielmo Marconi applies for a patent for his newest invention, the radio.
1899 – Black Americans observed day of fasting in protest against lynchings
1901 – Benjamin Adams arrested for playing golf on Sunday (NY)
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.
1910 – Pygmies discovered in Dutch New Guinea
1919 – Anarchists simultaneously set off bombs in eight separate U.S. cities.
1924 – The 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.
1927 – Lizzie Borden, American woman acquitted of the murder of her parents, dies at 66
1933 – FDR authorizes 1st swimming pool built inside the White House
1935 – Babe Ruth, 40, announces his retirement as a player
1937 – Jimmy Jones, American singer-songwriter (d. 2012) was born.
1939 – Charles Miller, rock flutist/saxophonist (War) Born
1941 – Stacy Keach, Savannah Ga, actor (Mickey Spillane’s Mike Hammer, Cheech N Chong) Born
1941 – Lou Gehrig, 1st baseman (NY Yankee), dies of ALS in Riverdale NY at 37
1941 – World War II: German paratoopers murder Greek civilians in the village of Kondomari.
1942 – Red Sox star Ted Williams enlists as a US Navy aviator
1941 – Charlie Watts, English drummer, songwriter, and producer (The Rolling Stones and Blues Incorporated) was born.
1944 – Marvin Hamlisch, composer/pianist (Sting, Chorus Line), born in NYC, New York (d. 2012)
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.
1948 – Jerry Mathers, Sioux City Iowa, actor (Beaver-Leave It To Beaver) Born
1949 – Ernest Ford, composer, dies at 91
1952 – 650,000 metal workers go on strike in US
1953 – The coronation of Queen Elizardbeth II, who is crowned Queen of the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Her Other Realms and Territories & Head of the Commonwealth, the first major international event to be televised.
1955 – Dana Carvey, Missoula MT, comedian (SNL, Garth-Wayne’s World) Born
1955 – Michael Steele, American singer-songwriter and bass player (The Bangles and The Runaways) was born.
1957 – King Lizzard, American entertainer and songwriter (Legacy) Born
1958 – Lex Luger, American wrestler and football player was born.
1959 – Lydia Lunch, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and actress (Teenage Jesus and the Jerks, 8-Eyed Spy, Harry Crews, and My Life with the Thrill Kill Kult) was born.
1959 – Allen Ginsberg writes his poem “Lysergic Acid”, SF
1960 – Kyle Petty, American racing car driver born
1961 – Dez Cadena, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (Misfits, Black Flag, Osaka Popstar, DC3, The Gentlemen, and Loaded) was born.
1962 – During the 1962 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 – Rolling Stones 1st US concert tour debuts in Lynn, Mass
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 turn into riots, during which Benno Ohnesorg is killed by a police officer. His death results in the founding of the terrorist group Movement 2 June.
1967 – Race riots in Roxbury section of Boston
1970 – B-Real, American rapper (Cypress Hill) Born
1972 – Wayne Brady, American actor and singer was birthed.
1975 – VP Nelson Rockefeller finds no pattern of illegal activities at CIA (LOL)
1976 – Juan José Torres, former President of Bolivia, assassinated in the frame of Operation Condor
1978 – Justin Long, American actor was born.
1979 – Pope John Paul II starts his first official visit to his native Poland, becoming the first Pope to visit a Communist country.
1979 – Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley signs first homosexual rights bill
1980 – Fabrizio Moretti, Brazilian-born rock drummer (The Strokes) Born
1984 – “Welcome To Fun Zone” hosted by Dr Demento airs on NBC-TV
1985 – RJ Reynolds Company proposed a merger with Nabisco
1987 – Andres Segovia, Spanish composer/guitarist, dies at 94
1989 – “Dead Poets Society” starring Robin Williams premieres
1989 – 10,000 Chinese soldiers are blocked by 100,000 citizens protecting students demonstrating for democracy in Tiananmen Square, Beijing
1990 – Frederick Mellinger, founder of Fredericks of Hollywood, dies at 76
1990 – Rex Harrison, actor (My Fair Lady), dies of cancer at 82
1994 – Chinook helicopter crashes in North Scotland (29 killed)
1994 – Indonesian censors ban Steven Spielberg’s “Schindler’s List”
1995 – United States Air Force Captain Scott O’Grady’s F-16 is shot down over Bosnia while patrolling the NATO no-fly zone.
1997 – In Denver, Colorado, 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, Oklahoma. He was executed four years later.
1997 – Doc Cheatham, jazz musician, dies of stroke at 91
1999 – Junior Braithwaite, Jamaican singer (Bob Marley and the Wailers) (b. 1949) died.
2001 – Imogene Coca, American actress (b. 1908) Dies
2003 – Europe launches its first voyage to another planet, Mars. The European Space Agency’s Mars Express probe launches from the Baikonur space centre in Kazakhstan.
2004 – Ken Jennings begins his 74-game winning streak on the syndicated game show Jeopardy!.
2006 – Vince Welnick, American keyboard player (The Grateful Dead, The Tubes, and Missing Man Formation) (b. 1951) died.
2008 – Bo Diddley, American Blues musician (b. 1928) Dies
2012 – Richard Dawson, English-American actor, dies from esophageal cancer at 79
2014 – The unity government is sworn into power in Palestine; it agrees to the following: recognition of Israel, compliance to diplomatic agreements, renunciation of violence
2014 – Former Liberation Front guerilla fighter Salvador Sánchez Cerén, 69, is sworn in as president in El Salvador