What Happened On
Young Elvis Beats Old
June 4, 1992
The public voted 3-1 in favor of the postage stamp featuring young Elvis Presley as opposed to old Elvis. It is estimated that 124 million of the stamps were held on to by collectors.
Suicide Doctor
June 4, 1990
Dr. Jack Kevorkian uses his suicide machine for the first time. Alzheimer's Disease sufferer Janet Adkins gives herself a fatal injection by pressing a button on Kevorkian's machine.
Known as the "Suicide Doctor" or "Doctor Death", Kevorkian would go on to assist over 130 patients in their death. He was convicted of murder in 1999 and served eight years of a 10 to 25-year prison sentence.
Tiananmen Square Massacre
June 4, 1989
The People's Army clashes with Chinese pro-democracy demonstrators in Beijing, China's Tiananmen Square, killing hundreds and injuring many others. The students were protesting for democracy, freedom of the press, and freedom of speech. Up to about a million people had assembled in Tiananmen square.
USS Yorktown is hit on the port side by a Japanese aerial torpedo
USS Yorktown is hit on the port side by a Japanese aerial torpedo
World War II - Battle of Midway
June 4, 1942
The Battle of Midway begins. It would be Japan's first major defeat of the war. The United States scored a major defeat against the attacking Japanese fleet near Midway Atoll, inflicting severe damage to the Japanese. All four of Japan's large aircraft carriers and a heavy cruiser were sunk, while the U.S. only lost the carrier USS Yorktown and a destroyer. This is considered a major turning point in the war.
We Shall Never Surrender
June 4, 1940
Winston Churchill delivers his famous speech to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom about the impending Nazi threat during World War II.
"…We shall fight in France, we shall fight on the seas and oceans, we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air, we shall defend our island, whatever the cost may be. We shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender…"
First Shopping Cart
June 4, 1937
Sylvan Goldman, the owner of a Humpty Dumpty Grocery store in Oklahoma City, begins using his new invention - the shopping cart. It was essentially a folding chair with wheels and two baskets attached.
The carts were initially a flop, as shoppers were reluctant to use them. Men found them effeminate and women thought them too much like a baby carriage. So, Goldman hired both male and female models to shop with them.
Eventually, folding carts became extremely popular and Goldman became a multimillionaire by collecting a royalty on every folding design shopping cart in the United States.
Goldman also invented "nested" shopping carts, where the carts are pushed inside of each other for storage.
Ford shown years later on his first Quadricycle
Ford shown years later on his first Quadricycle
First Ford Automobile
June 4, 1896
Henry Ford completes building his first automobile, calling it the Ford Quadricycle. It had a two-cylinder 4 horsepower ethanol engine and two forward gears, one for 10 mph (16 km/h) and the other for 20 mph (32 km/h). It was steered with a rudder and had no reverse. He went on to build two more, selling this first one for $200, and years later buying it back for $60.
Its road test had to be delayed slightly, as it was too wide to go out the door of his workshop.
Ford used the success of the Quadricycle to found his motor car company.
First Recorded Baseball Game In North America
June 4, 1838
The first officially-recoded baseball game played in North America is played in Beachville, Ontario. The game included five bases, a bat, and a yarn ball covered with calf skin.
First Man-Made Object to Achieve Sustained Flight
June 4, 1783
Brothers Joseph Montgolfier and Jacques Montgolfier launch an unmanned 33-foot-diameter hot-air balloon in France for a 10-minute flight covering 1.2 miles (2 km), with heights up to 6,600 ft (2,000 m).
They had tested their first balloon the previous year. During that previous first flight, they lost control of the balloon and when it landed, alarmed villagers attacked it with pitchforks and stones.
Photo Credit: Amarpreet.singh.in
Photo Credit: Amarpreet.singh.in
Golden Temple Attacked
June 4, 1984
Under orders of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, the Indian army begins attacks on the Golden Temple complex in Amritsar, Punjab - the Sikhs' holiest shrine. They were trying to remove militant religious leader Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale and his followers from the buildings. The operation continued until June 10, with the army taking control of the complex. A total of 493 Sikh militants and civilians were killed and 83 military were killed.
Four months later Gandhi was assassinated by two of her Sikh bodyguards in revenge.
Birthdays
First Black Admiral in the U.S. Navy
Samuel L. Gravely, Jr.
Born June 4, 1922 d. 2004
American military leader. First black admiral in the U.S. Navy (1971). Gravely was also the first black in the U.S. Navy to serve aboard a fighting ship as an officer, the first to command a Navy ship, and the first fleet commander, the first to become a flag officer.
Gravely began his seagoing career as the only black officer aboard the submarine chaser USS PC-1264, which was one of two U.S. Navy ships (the other being USS Mason) with a predominantly black enlisted crew. Before June 1, 1942, African Americans could only enlist in the Navy as messmen; PC-1264 and Mason were intended to test the ability of African Americans to perform general Navy service.
Photo Credit: Wikipedia
Photo Credit: Wikipedia
Did Hitler Have an Affair with and Kill His Niece?
Geli Raubal (Angela Maria "Geli" Raubal)
Born June 4, 1908 d. 1931
Hitler's half-niece. She lived in close contact with Adolf Hitler from 1925 until her presumed suicide in 1931. Years later, a family member said the family knew she and Hitler had been intimate and that she was pregnant, a fact that enraged Hitler. After her death, he kept her room at his home as she had left it, and hung portraits of her in his own room there and at the Chancellery in Berlin. Years later, he declared that Raubal was the only woman he had ever loved.
Raubal was the daughter of Hitler's half sister. Raubal's mother became Hitler's housekeeper in 1925 when Raubal was 17 years old. Two years later, when Hitler found out she was having an affair with his chauffeur, he forced her to end the affair and fired the chauffeur. After that, he provided escorts for her when she went out. In 1929, she enrolled in medical school and moved into Hitler's Munich apartment. When Hitler found out she planned to marry a man from Linz, he refused to let her leave. On September 18, 1931, they argued after Hitler refused to let her go to Vienna. Hitler then departed for Nuremberg, only to return the next day after finding out she had apparently killed herself in his apartment with his pistol. The death was ruled a suicide, but some speculate that Hitler either killed her or had her killed.
After her death, Hitler went into a deep depression, but reemerged and refocused on politics, becoming Chancellor of Germany two years later.
Michelle Phillips (Holly Michelle Gilliam)
Born June 4, 1944
American folk singer, with The Mamas & the Papas. Music: California Dreamin' (1963), and Monday, Monday (1966). TV: Knots Landing (1987-93, Anne Matheson).
Freddy Fender (Baldemar Garza Huerta)
Born June 4, 1937 d. 2006
American singer. He spent almost three years in Louisiana's infamous Angola prison for marijuana possession. Music: Before the Next Teardrop Falls (1974, #1) and Wasted Days and Wasted Nights (1975, #1).
Bruce Dern
Born June 4, 1936
American actor, known for his portrayal of psychotics and maniacs. Film: Silent Running (1972, tree saver).
John Drew Barrymore (John Blythe Barrymore, Jr.)
Born June 4, 1932 d. 2004
American actor, son of John Barrymore and father of Drew Barrymore. In 1980, he swiped his father's body from its grave in order to fulfill his father's wish for cremation. Even though his father's will specified cremation when he died in 1942, his body was entombed by the deceased's brother due to religious beliefs.
Dr. Ruth Westheimer (Karola Ruth Siegel)
Born June 4, 1928 d. 2024
German-American sex therapist, talk show host, author, professor, and Holocaust survivor. As the Nazis came to power, her parents sent ten-year-old Ruth to Switzerland for safety. They remained behind to care for her elderly grandmother and were both subsequently sent to concentration camps where they were killed. At 17 years of age, Ruth joined the Haganah (Zionist paramilitary organization) and was trained as a sniper, but never saw combat.
From 1980 to 1990, Westheimer hosted a radio call-in show called Sexually Speaking. By 1983 it was the top-rated radio show in the area. She then started her television show, The Dr. Ruth Show (1984-91), which attracted up to 2 million viewers a week. She became known for her tag phrase, "Get some".
Dennis Weaver
Born June 4, 1924 d. 2006
American Emmy-winning actor. TV: Gunsmoke (deputy Chester Goode, Emmy), Gentle Ben (Tom Wedloe), and McCloud (title role).
Dennis Weaver and Valerie Harper founded L.I.F.E. in 1983, a charity that fed thousands of needy in Los Angeles.
Photo Credit: Hovercraft Museum
Photo Credit: Hovercraft Museum
Inventor of the Hovercraft
Sir Christopher Cockerell
Born June 4, 1910 d. 1999
English inventor. Holder of 98 patents, inventor of the hovercraft (1959). He also invented devices to harness wave power for energy production.
Fontaine Fox, Jr.
Born June 4, 1884 d. 1964
American cartoonist. Creator of Toonerville Folks (1913-55). It was one of the most popular comics of its time.
Aunt Em
Clara Blandick (Clara Blanchard Dickey)
Born June 4, 1876 d. 1962
American actress. Film: The Wizard of Oz (1939, Aunt Em - "Oh, Auntie Em, there's no place like home"), Tom Sawyer (1930, Aunt Polly), and Huckleberry Finn (1931, Aunt Polly).
With her health and eyesight declining and suffering from severe arthritis, she committed suicide by taking an overdose of sleeping pills and tied a plastic bag over her head. Her suicide note read, "I am now about to make the great adventure. I cannot endure this agonizing pain any longer. It is all over my body. Neither can I face the impending blindness. I pray the Lord my soul to take. Amen".
George III
Born June 4, 1738 d. 1820
King of Great Britain and Ireland (1760-1820) during the American Revolution. He became insane in 1811 leaving the Prince of Wales (George IV) to run the government.
Deaths
William Almon Wheeler
Died June 4, 1887 b. 1819
American politician. 19th U.S. Vice-President (1877-81), U.S. House of Representatives (New York, 1861-63, 1869-77). When Roscoe Conkling, a Senator and a political boss, offered, "Wheeler, if you will act with us, there is nothing in the gift of the State of New York to which you may not reasonably aspire." Wheeler declined with, "Mr. Conkling, there is nothing in the gift of the State of New York which will compensate me for the forfeiture of my self-respect."
Casanova (Giacomo Girolamo Casanova)
Died June 4, 1798 b. 1725
Italian lover, adventurer. Considered history's greatest romantic, his name is synonymous with "womanizer". His autobiography, Story of My Life, is regarded as one of the most authentic sources of the customs of European social life during the 18th century.
Clarence Williams III
Died June 4, 2021 b. 1939
American actor. TV: The Mod Squad (1968-73, Linc Hayes) and Twin Peaks (1990). Film: Purple Rain (1984, Prince's father).
Failing to Prepare is Preparing to Fail
John Wooden
Died June 4, 2010 b. 1910
American basketball Hall of Fame player and Hall of Fame coach (He was the first person to achieve both honors), winner of 10 NCAA National Championships while at UCLA. Generally considered the greatest coach in history and known as "The Wizard of Westwood".
Quote: "Failing to prepare is preparing to fail."
Derek "Lek" Leckenby
Died June 4, 1994 b. 1943
English guitarist, with Herman's Hermits. Music: I'm Into Something Good (1964, #1 in UK), Mrs Brown You've Got a Lovely Daughter (1965, #1), I'm Henry VIII, I Am (1965, #1), and There's a Kind of Hush (1967).
Jack Gilford (Jacob Gellman)
Died June 4, 1990 b. 1908
American actor. TV: The Cracker Jack commercials of the late 1960s and Taxi (1979-81, Alex's father).
Dik Browne (Richard Arthur Allan Browne)
Died June 4, 1989 b. 1917
American cartoonist. Creator of Hägar the Horrible (1973) and co-creator of Hi and Lois (1954).
Dorothy Gish
Died June 4, 1968 b. 1898
American silent-film actress. Film: Remodeling Her Husband (1920) and Nell Gwyn (1926).
Charles Warren Fairbanks
Died June 4, 1918 b. 1852
American politician. 26th U.S. Vice-President (1905-09, under President Theodore Roosevelt), U.S. Senator (1897-1905, Indiana).
James Lawrence
Died June 4, 1813 b. 1781
American naval officer. He made his famous proclamation, "Don't give up the ship" after being mortally wounded in battle during the War of 1812. He died of his injuries three days later. He had engaged his frigate, the USS Chesapeake, against the Royal Navy frigate HMS Shannon. The British ship was able to disable the Chesapeake during the first few minutes of the battle. Lawrence, mortally wounded during this exchange, made his famous proclamation, "Don't give up the ship. Fight her till she sinks." However, the British boarded and took his ship.