On this Day

Thursday, June 2nd
The 153rd day of 2005
There are 212 days left in the year

Today's Highlights in History

On June 2, 1953, Queen Elizabeth II of Britain was crowned in Westminster Abbey, 16 months after the death of her father, King George VI. (Go to article)

On June 2, 1904, Johnny Weissmuller, the Olympic gold medallist and actor famous for his portrayal of "Tarzan"was born Following his death on Jan. 20, 1984, his obituary appeared in The Times. (Go to obituary Other Birthdays)

On June 2, 1877, Harper's Weekly featured a cartoon about actress Kate Claxton. (See the cartoon and read an explanation)

On this date in:

1851 - Maine became the first state to enact a law prohibiting alcohol.
1886 - President Grover Cleveland married Frances Folsom in a White House ceremony.
1897 - Mark Twain was quoted by the New York Journal as saying from London that ''the report of my death was an exaggeration.''
1924 - Congress granted U.S. citizenship to all American Indians.
1941 - Baseball's ''Iron Horse,'' Lou Gehrig, died in New York of a degenerative disease, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.
1946 - The Italian monarchy was abolished in favor of a republic.
1979 - Pope John Paul II arrived in his native Poland on the first visit by a pope to a Communist country.
1987 - President Ronald Reagan announced he was nominating economist Alan Greenspan to succeed Paul Volcker as chairman of the Federal Reserve Board.
1995 - A U.S. Air Force F-16C was shot down by Bosnian Serbs while on a NATO air patrol in northern Bosnia; the pilot, Capt. Scott F. O'Grady, was rescued six days later.
1997 - Timothy McVeigh was convicted of murder and conspiracy in the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing that killed 168 people.
1998 - Voters in California passed Proposition 227, requiring that all schoolchildren be taught in English.

Current Birthdays: Charlie Watts (Rolling Stones) turns 64 years old today.
64 - William GuestSinger (Gladys Knight & the Pips)
64 - Stacy Keach, Actor
62 - Charles Haid, Actor (''Hill Street Blues'')
61 - Marvin Hamlisch, Composer
59 - Lasse Hallstrom, Director (''Chocolat'')
57 - Jerry Mathers, Actor (''Leave it to Beaver'')
55 - Joanna Gleason, Actress
51 - Dennis Haysbert, Actor (''24'')
50 - Dana Carvey, Comedian (''Saturday Night Live'')
50 - Gary Grimes, Actor
45 - Kyle Petty, Auto racer
37 - Merril Bainbridge, Singer
35 - B-Real, Rapper (Cypress Hill)
35 - Paula Cale, Actress
33 - Wayne Brady, Actor-comedian
27 - Nikki Cox, Actress
27 - Justin Long, Actor
27 - Deon Richmond, Actor
25 - Irish Grinstead, R&B singer (702)
25 - Fabrizio Moretti, Rock musician (The Strokes)
22 - Dan Cahoon, Country singer (Marshall Dyllon)

Historic Birthdays: Johnny Weissmuller - 6/2/1904 - 1/20/1984, American champion swimmer and actor
70 - Martha Washington - 6/2/1731 - 5/22/1802, American first lady (1789-1797)
74 - Marquis de Sade - 6/2/1740 - 12/2/1814, French nobleman and writer
87 - Thomas Hardy - 6/2/1840 - 1/11/1928, English novelist and poet
76 - Sir Edward Elgar - 6/2/1857 - 2/23/1934, English composer
78 - Felix Weingartner - 6/2/1863 - 5/7/1942, Austrian conductor and composer
97 - Charles Stewart Mott - 6/2/1875 - 2/18/1973, American automotive industrialist
79 - John Lehmann - 6/2/1907 - 4/7/1987, English poet, editor and publisher
66 - Barbara Pym - 6/2/1913 - 1/11/1980, English novelist
69 - Charles Conrad, Jr. - 6/2/1930 - 7/8/1999, American astronaut

Reference: The New York Times