June 4 6, 1942. A Japanese task force attempted to capture Midway Island in the Central Pacific, but American bombers from Midway and from two nearby aircraft carriers sent the Japanese into retreat. The Japanese lost four carriers, two large cruisers and three destroyers. Midway wasone of the most decisive naval battles of WWII. Japan never regained its margin in carrier strength, and the Central Pacific was made safe for American troops.
June 411. The public is encouraged to save energy by hanging clothes to dry instead of using their electric dryers. Annually, the week beginning the first Saturday in June, Saturday to Saturday.
June 4, 1989. After almost a month and a half of student demonstrations for democracy, the Chinese government ordered its troops to openfire on the unarmed protestors at Tiananmen Square in Beijing. Under the cover of darkness, early June 4, troops opened fire on the assembled crowds and armored personnel carriers rolled into the square crushing many of the students as they lay sleeping in their tents. Although the government claimed that few died in the attack, estimates range from several hundred to several thousand casualties. In the following months thousands of demonstrators were rounded up and jailed.
June 5, 1981. The Centers for Disease Control first described a new illness striking gay men in a newsletter on June 5, 1981. On July 27, 1982, the CDC adopted Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome as the official name for the new disease. The virus that causes AIDS was identified in 1983 and in May 1985 was named Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) by the International Committee on the Taxonomy of Viruses. The first person killed bythis disease in the developed world died in 1959. More than 617,000 Americans have died of AIDS. Worldwide, more than 30 million people have died of AIDS. About 34 million people worldwide are living with HIV/AIDS.
June 5, 1977. The Apple II computer, with 4K of memory, wenton sale for $ 1,298. Its predecessor, the Apple I, was sold largely to electronic hobbyists the previous year. Apple released the Macintosh computer Jan 24, 1984.
June 5, 1919. Author and illustrator of childrens books born at Boston, MA. Two widely known books of the more than 250 authored by Scarry are Richard Scarrys Best Word Book Ever (1965) and Richard Scarrys Please & Thank You (1973). The pages are crowded with small animal charactersthat live like humans. More than 100 million copies of his books have soldworldwide. Died Apr 30, 1994, at Gstaad, Switzerland.
Senator Robert F. Kennedy, campaigning for the Democratic presidential nomination, was killed on June 5, 1968 in Los Angeles, California
In the early morning hours Allied forces landed in Normandy on the north coast of France. In an operation that took months of planning, afleet of 2,727 ships of every description converged from British ports from Wales to the North Sea. Operation Overlord involved 2,000,000 tons of war materials, including more than 50,000 tanks, armored cars, jeeps, trucks and half-tracks. The US alone sent 1,700,000 fighting men. The Germans believed the invasion would not take place under the adverse weather conditions of this early June day. But as the sun came up, the village of Saint Mre Eglise was liberated by American parachutists, and by nightfall the landing of 155,000 Allies attested to the success of D-Day. The long-awaited second front had at last materialized.
June 6, 1933. Richard M. Hollingshead, Jr, opened Americas first drive-in movie theater in Camden, NJ, on this date. At the height of their popularity in 1958, there were more than 4,000 drive-ins across America. Today there are fewer than 600 open.
June 6 July 5. Begins on Islamic lunar calendar date Ramadan 1, 1437. Ramadan, the ninth month of the Islamic calendar, is holy because it was during this month that the Holy Quran (Koran) was revealed. All adults of sound body and mind fast from dawn (before sunrise) until sunset to achieve spiritual and physical purification and self-discipline, abstaining from food, drink and intimate relations. It is a time for feeling a common bond with people who are poor and needy, a time of piety and prayer. Different methods for anticipating the visibility of the new moon crescent at Mecca are used by different Muslim groups.
Each year on June 7, the Kentucky Historical Society celebrates the anniversary of the day in 1767 when Daniel Boone, Americas most famous frontiersman, reportedly first sighted the land that would become Kentucky. The June 7 date is taken from the book The Discovery, Settlement andPresent State of Kentucky, by John Filson, published in 1784, with an appendix titled The Adventures of Colonel Daniel Boone. The information inthe appendix supposedly originated with Boone, although Filson is the actual author. The work is not considered completely reliable by historians.
June 7, 1975. The Sony Corporation released its videocassette recorder, the Betamax, which sold for $ 995. Eventually, another VCR format, VHS, proved more successful and Sony stopped making the Betamax.
June 7, 1909. Dr. Apgar developed the simple assessment methodthat permits doctors and nurses to evaluate newborns while they are still in the delivery room to identify those in need of immediate medical care. The Apgar score was first published in 1953, and the Perinatal Section of the American Academy of Pediatrics is named for Dr. Apgar. Born at Westfield, NJ, Apgar died Aug 7, 1974, at New York, NY.
June 8, 1789. The Bill of Rights, which led to the first 10 amendments to the US Constitution, was first proposed by James Madison.
June 8, 1867. American architect born at Richland Center, WI.In his autobiography Wright wrote: No house should ever be on any hill oron anything. It should be of the hill, belonging to it, so hill and house could live together each the happier for the other. Wright died at Phoenix, AZ, Apr 9, 1959.
June 8, 1697. On Mar 16, 1697, in an attack on Haverhill, MA, Indians captured Hannah Duston and killed her baby, also killing or capturing 39 others. After being taken to an Indian camp, she escaped on Apr29 after killing 10 Indians with a tomahawk and scalping them as proof of her deed. On June 8 her husband was awarded, on her behalf, the sum of 25pounds for her heroic efforts, the first public award to a woman in America.
June 9, 1891. Cole Porter published his first song, The Bobolink Waltz, at the age of 10. His career as a composer and lyricist for Broadway was launched in 1928 when five of his songs were used in the musical play Lets Do It. His prolific contributions to the Broadway stage include Fifty Million Frenchmen, Wake Up and Dream, The Gay Divorce, AnythingGoes, Leave It to Me, Du Barry Was a Lady, Something for the Boys, Kiss Me Kate, Can Can and Silk Stockings. Porter was born at Peru, IN, and died at Santa Monica, CA, Oct 15, 1964.
June 9, 1934. Donald Duck made his screen debut on this date with the release of The Wise Little Hen, a short film in the Disney series of Silly Symphonies.
June 9. A day to raise awareness of the importance of records and archives, in order to make it understood that records and archives provide the foundation for their rights and identity. Also a time to raise the public, private and public sectors awareness of the necessity of preserving archives for the long-term, and of providing access to them.
On June 10, 1935, the group Alcoholic’s Anonymous was foundedat Akron, Ohio when Dr. Robert Smith completed his first day of sobriety.
June 10, 1943. Hungarian Laszlo Biro patented the ballpoint pen, which he had been developing since the 1930s. He was living in Argentina, where he had gone to escape the Nazis. In many languages, the word forballpoint pen is biro.
June 10, 1895. Hattie McDaniel was the first African American to win an Academy Award, winning it in 1940 for her role in the 1939 film Gone with the Wind. Her career spanned radio and vaudeville in addition to her screen roles in Judge Priest, The Little Colonel, Showboat and Saratoga, among others. She was born at Wichita, KS (some sources say 1889 or 1892), and died Oct 26, 1952, at Los Angeles, CA.
June 10, 1922. American actress and singer born Frances Gumm at Grand Rapids, MN. While Garland played in many films and toured widely as a singer, she is probably most remembered for her portrayal of Dorothy Gale in the now-classic The Wizard of Oz. Died June 22, 1969, at London, England.
June 10, 1928. Author and illustrator born at Brooklyn, NY. In a career spanning more than half a century, Sendak wrote and illustratedmany notable childrens books, including In the Night Kitchen, Kennys Window, and his most famous work, Where the Wild Things Are. Widely regarded as the first picture book artist to deal openly with the childrens emotions, Sendak received numerous awards for his work, notably the CaldecottMedal (1964), the Hans Christian Andersen Award (1970) and the Laura Ingalls Wilder Medal (1983). He died May 8, 2012, at Danbury, CT.
Iced tea was supposedly populairzed” at the St. Louis World’s Fair starting on June 10
