Updated June 3, 2014, 9:34 am
On June 3, 1965, astronaut Edward White became the first American to "walk" in space, during the flight of Gemini 4.
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On June 3, 1926, Allen Ginsberg, the "poet laureate" of the Beat Generation, was born. Following his death on April 5, 1997, his obituary appeared in The Times.
Go to obituary » | Other birthdays »
On This Date
| 1621 | The Dutch West India Company received a charter for New Netherlands, present-day New York City. |
|---|---|
| 1888 | The poem "Casey at the Bat" by Ernest Lawrence Thayer was first published, in the San Francisco Daily Examiner. |
| 1963 | Pope John XXIII died at age 81. |
| 1965 | Astronaut Edward White became the first American to walk in space, during the flight of Gemini 4. |
| 1989 | Chinese army troops began a sweep of Beijing to crush student-led pro-democracy demonstrations. |
| 1989 | Iran's spiritual leader, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, died. |
| 1999 | Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic accepted a peace plan for Kosovo designed to end mass expulsions of ethnic Albanians and 11 weeks of NATO airstrikes. |
| 2001 | Mel Brooks' musical comedy "The Producers" won a record 12 Tony Awards. |
| 2008 | Barack Obama clinched the Democratic presidential nomination. |
| 2009 | New Hampshire became the sixth state to legalize same-sex marriage. |
| 2011 | Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh was wounded when rebel rockets barraged his palace; he later went to Saudi Arabia for treatment. |
| 2011 | Physician-assisted suicide advocate Dr. Jack Kevorkian died at a Michigan hospital at age 83. |
Historic Birthdays
Allen Ginsberg
6/3/1926 - 4/5/1997
American poet.Go to obituary »
| 71 |
James Hutton 6/3/1726 - 3/26/1797 Scottish geologist, chemist and naturalist |
|---|---|
| 62 |
William Hone 6/3/1780 - 11/6/1842 English radical journalist and publisher |
| 81 |
Jefferson Davis 6/3/1808 - 12/6/1889 American; president of the Confederate States of America (1861-5) |
| 71 |
Henry James 6/3/1811 - 12/18/1882 American philosophical theologian |
| 86 |
Charles Lecocq 6/3/1832 - 10/24/1918 French composer of operettas |
| 86 |
Ransom Eli Olds 6/3/1864 - 8/26/1950 American inventor and automobile manufacturer |
| 76 |
Raoul Dufy 6/3/1877 - 3/23/1953 French painter and designer |
| 88 |
Maurice Evans 6/3/1901 - 3/12/1989 English-born American stage actor |
| 69 |
Josephine Baker 6/3/1906 - 4/12/1975 American-born French dancer and singer |
| 80 |
William Douglas-Home 6/3/1912 - 9/28/1992 English playwright |
| 67 |
Colleen Dewhurst 6/3/1924 - 8/22/1991 American stage and film actress |