Historical Events
- Jun 1 Boston Braves first baseman Hank Gowdy is first active MLB player to enlist for service in World War I; only player to fight in both World War I & II
Event of Interest
Jun 2 Canadian ace Billy Bishop undertakes a solo mission behind enemy lines, shooting down three aircraft as they were about to take off and several more on the ground, for which he is awarded the Victoria Cross
- Jun 4 American men begin registering for the draft
- Jun 4 Laura E. Richards and Maud Howe Elliott awarded 1st Pulitzer Prize for Biography (Julia Ward Howe), the story of the authors. mother
- Jun 5 10 million US men begin registering for draft in WW I
- Jun 7 Melvin Jones and a number of other Chicago businessmen found Lions Clubs International, now the largest service organization in the world
- Jun 7 The British detonate mines beneath the German-held Messines Ridge, in the Ypres area
- Jun 8 Walt Disney graduates from Benton High School
- Jun 10 60,000 people of Petrograd Russia welcome Prince Kropotkin (banned 41 years) returning after February Russian Revolution
- Jun 10 Limburg mine workers strike in the Netherlands
Alexander of Greece
Jun 11 King Alexander assumes the throne of Greece after his father Constantine I abdicates under pressure by allied armies occupying Athens
- Jun 12 US Secret Service extends protection of the President to include his family
- Jun 13 World War I: the deadliest German air raid on London during World War I is carried out by Gotha G bombers and results in 162 deaths, including 46 children with 432 injuries
- Jun 14 1st German air attack on England, 100+ killed in East London
- Jun 14 General Pershing and his HQ staff arrived in Paris during WW I
- Jun 15 In order to calm troubled relations with Ireland, the British grant amnesty to the Prisoners taken during the Easter Rising of 1916
- Jun 16 1st All Russian Congress of the Soviets convenes in Petrograd, Russia [OS Jun 3]
- Jun 16 49th Belmont: James Butwell aboard Hourless wins in 2:17.8
- Jun 19 The British Royal Family, which has had strong German ties since George I, renounces its German names and titles and adopts the name of Windsor
- Jun 21 Hawaiian Red Cross forms
- Jun 23 Ammunition factory in Boleweg Bohemia explodes, killing 1,000
- Jun 28 Potato entrepreneurs begins in Amsterdam
Famous Birthdays
- Jun 1 William S. Knowles, American chemist, Nobel Prize laureate, (d. 2012)
- Jun 2 Heinz Sielmann, German photographer and filmmaker (d. 2006)
- Jun 2 Max Showalter, American actor and composer (Kansas, Niagara, Stockard Channing Show in Caldwell), born in Caldwell, Kansas (d. 2000)
- Jun 3 Leo Gorcey, American stage and screen comic actor, and malapropist (The Dead End Kids; The East Side Boys; The Bowery Boys), born in New York City (d. 1969)
- Jun 4 Allen Greenwood, British aeronautical engineer and aerospace executive, born in 38 Court Yard, Eltham, London (d. 2009)
- Jun 4 Charles Collingwood, American news commentator (CBS, Chronicles), born in Three Rivers, Michigan (d. 1985)
- Jun 4 Howard Metzenbaum, American businessman and politician (U.S. Senator from Ohio), born in Cleveland, Ohio (d. 2008)
- Jun 4 Robert Merrill [Moishe Miller], American operatic baritone (NY Metropolitan Opera, 1945-76), and actor, born in Brooklyn, New York (d. 2004)
- Jun 6 Kirk Kerkorian, American CEO and "father of the mega-resort" (MGM, UA), born in Fresno, California (d. 2015)
- Jun 6 Prior Jones, West Indian cricket fast bowler (9 Tests, 25 wickets; Trinidad), born in Princes Town, Trinidad (d. 1991)
Dean Martin (1917-1995)
Jun 7 American singer ("That's Amore"; "Everybody Loves Somebody"; "Sway"), comedian and actor (Martin and Lewis, The Dean Martin Show), born in Steubenville, Ohio
- Jun 7 Gwendolyn Brooks, American poet (Bean Eaters, Annie Allen, Pulitzer 1950), born in Topeka, Kansas (d. 2000)
- Jun 8 Byron White, Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States (1962-93), born in Fort Collins, Colorado (d. 2002)
- Jun 9 Eric J. Hobsbawm, Marxist historian (The Age of Revolution; Capital; and Empire), born in Alexandria, Sultanate of Egypt, (d. 2012)
- Jun 11 James Bostock, English wood engraver and artist, born in Hanley, Staffordshire, England (d. 2006)
- Jun 11 Joseph B Wirthlin, American businessmen, religious leader, member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles (LDS Church), born in Salt Lake City, Utah (d. 2008)
- Jun 12 Priscilla Lane, American actress (Arsenic & Old Lace), born in Indianola, Iowa (d. 1995)
- Jun 13 Philip Bodner, American jazz clarinetist and studio musician (also played flute, oboe, saxophone, piccolo, and English horn), born in Waterbury, Connecticut (d. 2008)
- Jun 13 Simon "Si" Zentner, American jazz, session, and pop trombonist and big-band bandleader, born in New York City (d. 2000)
- Jun 14 Atle Selberg, Norwegian mathematician (number theory), born in Langesund, Norway (d. 2007)
- Jun 14 Katherine Rawls, American diver (Olympic silver 3m springboard 1932, 36) and swimmer (Olympic bronze 4×100m freestyle 1936), born in Nashville, Tennessee (d. 1982)
- Jun 15 Alfred "Lash" LaRue, American actor (Lash of the West, Wyatt Earp), born in Gretna, Louisiana, United States (d. 1996)
- Jun 15 Lillian Bassman, American photographer and painter (Harper's Bazaar), born in Brooklyn, New York (d. 2012)
- Jun 15 Michalis Genitsaris, Greek rebetiko singer and composer, born in Agia Sofia, Piraeus, Greece (d. 2005)
- Jun 16 Aurelio Lampredi, Italian automobile and aircraft engine designer (Ferrari), born in Livorno, Italy (d. 1989)
- Jun 16 Irving Penn, American fashion and fine art photographer, born in Plainfield, New Jersey (d. 2009)
Katharine Graham (1917-2001)
Jun 16 American newspaper publisher (The Washington Post) who led the paper as it reported on the Watergate scandal, born in New York City
- Jun 18 Akhmet Jevdet Ismail Hajiyev, Azerbaijani composer, born in Nukha, Azerbaijan (d. 2002)
- Jun 18 Arthur Tremblay, Canadian politician (d. 1996)
- Jun 18 Richard Boone, American actor (The Richard Boone Show, Have Gun Will Travel), born in Los Angeles, California (d. 1981)
- Jun 19 Joshua Nkomo, Zimbabwean revolutionary (ZAPU), and Matabeleland politician (Vice-President of Zimbabwe, 1990-99), born in Matopos, Southern Rhodesia (d. 1999)
- Jun 20 Ash Brownridge, American conservationist (National Wildlife Federation), creator of Ranger Rick, born in Toronto, Ontario (d. 2015)
- Jun 20 Igor Śmiałowski, Polish actor (Lalka, Znachor, Niedaleko Warszawy), born in Moscow, Russia (d. 2006)
- Jun 22 Davey O'Brien, American College Football Hall of Fame quarterback (Heisman Trophy 1938, Texas Christian University; NFL: Philadelphia Eagles), born in Dallas, Texas (d. 1977)
- Jun 23 Peter Knight, English musical arranger, conductor, and composer, born in Exmouth, Devon, England (d. 1985)
- Jun 26 Wille Hamilton, British MP, born in Houghton-le-Spring, England (d. 2000)
- Jun 27 K. M. Rangnekar, Indian cricketer (batted in 3 Tests India v Australia 1947-48), born in Bombay, India (d. 1984)
- Jun 27 Ron Hayward, English politician, General Secretary of the Labour Party, born in Chipping Sodbury, Oxfordshire (d. 1996)
- Jun 28 A. E. Hotchner, American editor, novelist and playwright, born in St. Louis, Missouri (d. 2020) [1]
- Jun 28 Willem "Wim" Sonneveld, Dutch singer considered one of the 'Great Three' of Dutch cabaret (My Fair Lady), born in Utrecht, Netherlands (d. 1974)
- Jun 30 Lena Horne, American actress and Grammy Award-winning singer (Cabin in the Sky; Stormy Weather; The Wiz), born in Brooklyn, New York (d. 2010)
- Jun 30 Robert Vandekerckhove, Belgian politician, born in Ingelmunster, Belgium (d. 1980)
Susan Hayward (1917-1975)
Jun 30 American actress (I Want to Live, Tulsa), born in Brooklyn, New York
Born in 1917
Famous Deaths
- Jun 6 Iacob Mureșianu, Romanian composer, dies at 59
- Jun 12 Teresa Carreño, Venezuelan classical pianist, soprano, composer, and conductor, dies at 63
- Jun 15 Kristian Birkeland, Norwegian explorer and physicist (nominated 7 times for Nobel Prize), dies at 49
- Jun 18 Eufemio Zapata, Mexican revolutionary and brother of Emiliano Zapata, killed at 44 by Sidronio Comancho after Zapata became drunk and beat and insulted his father
- Jun 20 António Feijó, Portuguese poet and diplomat, dies at 58
- Jun 20 James Mason Crafts, American chemist (Friedel-Crafts alkylation synthesis), dies at 78
- Jun 27 Gustav von Schmoller, German economist (Lectern Socialism), dies at 79
- Jun 27 Karl Allmenröder, German World War I flying Ace, dies at 21
- Jun 29 Frans Schollaert, Belgian Catholic Party politician and 19th Prime Minister of Belgium (1908-11), dies at 65