May 29
Heavy fog causes a collision of boats on the St. Lawrence River in Canada that kills 1,073 individuals. Caused by a horrible series of blunders, it was one of the worst maritime disasters in history. -1914.
On the advice of Nazi propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels, Adolf Hitler orders all Jews in occupied Paris to wear an identifying yellow star on the left side of their coats. It was just one step of the Nazi regime’s plan to deal with the “Jewish problem.”- 1942.
Edmund Hillary of New Zealand and Tenzing Norgay, a Sherpa of Nepal, become the first to reach the summit of Mount Everest, at 29,035 feet above sea level, is the highest point on earth which straddle the border between Nepal and China. – 1953.
May 30
At Rouen in English-controlled Normandy, France, Joan of Arc, the peasant girl who became the savior of France, is burned at the stake for heresy. – 1431.
Former U.S. president William Howard Taft dedicates the Lincoln Memorial on the Washington Mall. At the time, Taft was serving as chief justice of the U.S. Supreme Court. – 1922.
May 31
The famous tower clock known as Big Ben, at the top of the 320-foot-high St. Stephen’s Tower, rings out over the Houses of Parliament in Westminster, London, England. – 1859.
The South Fork Dam collapses and causes a flood in Johnstown, Pa., that kills more than 2,200 residents. The flood appeared as a rolling hill of debris more than 30 feet high and nearly half-a-mile wide. – 1889.
W. Mark Felt’s family ends 30 years of speculation and identifies Felt, the former FBI assistant director, as “Deep Throat,” the secret source who helped unravel the Watergate political scandal. – 2005.
June 1
Approximately 12,500 longshoremen strike the Pacific Coast, from San Diego, Calif. to Bellingham, Wash.. – 1916.
A Warsaw Poland underground newspaper, the Liberty Brigade, makes public the news of the gassing of tens of thousands of Jews at Chelmno, a death camp in Poland. – 1942.
CNN (Cable News Network), the world’s first 24-hour television news network, makes its debut. – 1980.
June 2
Twenty-six journeymen printers in Philadelphia stage the trade’s first strike in America over wages: A cut in their $6. weekly pay. – 1786.
In an event that is generally regarded as marking the end of the U.S. Civil War, Confederate General Edmund Kirby Smith, commander of Confederate forces west of the Mississippi River, signs the surrender terms offered by Union negotiators. With Smith’s surrender, the last Confederate army ceases to exist, to bring a formal end to the bloodiest four years in U.S. history, with 620,000 Union and Confederate soldiers dead. – 1865
Babe Ruth, one of the greatest players in the history of baseball, ends his Major League Baseball 22-year playing career with 10 World Series, 1915, 1916, 1918, 1921, 1922, 1923, 1926, 1927, 1928, 1932, and 714 home runs. – 1935.
Queen Elizabeth II is formally crowned monarch of the United Kingdom. – 1953.
June 3
One-hundred-twenty miles above the earth, Major Edward H. White II opens the hatch of the Gemini 4 and steps out of the capsule, to become the first American astronaut to walk in space. – 1965.
June 4
The 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution to guarantee women the right to vote, is passed by Congress and sent to the states for ratification. – 1919.
Japanese Admiral Chuichi Nagumo, commander of the fleet that attacked Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, launches a raid on Midway Island with almost the entirety of the Japanese navy. The attack on Midway was an unmitigated disaster for the Japanese, which resulted in the loss of 322 aircraft and the death of 3,500 men. They were forced to withdraw from the area before attempting a landing on the island they sought to conquer. – 1942.
One of Adolf Hitler’s deadly submarines, the U-505, was seized as it made its way home after patrolling the Gold Coast of Africa. The U-boat had invaluable code books and papers that were used by Allied forces to help in code-breaking. It is on display in Chicago at the Museum of Science and Industry. – 1944
Chinese troops storm through Tiananmen Square in the center of Beijing and kill and arrest thousands of pro-democracy protesters. The brutal Chinese government assault on the protesters shocked the West and brought denunciations and sanctions from the United States. – 1989.