Important Events From This day in History June 3rd

 http://www.thepeoplehistory.com/june4th.html

1968 USA Andy Warhol

1968 : Andy Warhol the American artist and a major driving force in the movement known as Pop art is shot and wounded in his New York film studio, The Factory, by actress Valerie Solanas who founded the "group" called S.C.U.M. (Society for Cutting up Men).

1928 France Flight To Constantinople

1928 : Captain Arrachart and Major Rignot are forced to stop during their flight in Constantinople. They were on their way to India while trying to set a long distance record. Bad weather was stated as the reason for their early landing.

1932 USA "The Band Wagon"

1932 : The Broadway musical "The Band Wagon" opened in New York City. The comedic musical film about an aging star that tries to revive his career in a Broadway production. The film ranked #17 in the American Film Institutes list of best musicals in 2006.

1937 Former King Marries Wallis Simpson

1937 : The former King of England King Edward VIII of Great Britain and Northern Ireland marries Wallis Warfield Simpson, the American divorcee for whom he abdicated the British throne in December 1936.

1940 France Germany Bombs Paris

1940 : Germans bombed Paris killing mostly civilians, including school children as part of it's reign of terror to keep the French under control.

1943 Russia World War II

1943 : The Russian army takes down 162 of 500 Nazi planes in one of the biggest air battles of World War II. The German attack lasted nearly 10 hours over Kursk.

1959 Ecuador Street Riots

1959 : A riot takes place in one of the country's largest cities, Guayaquil, with a population of 275,000. The government blamed the riot on Communist influences. President Ponce instated martial law throughout the country earlier, while the Communist Party challenged the President's decree.

1961 USA Clarence Gideon

1961 : Clarence Gideon is arrested and charged with breaking into a poolroom in Florida. His case managed to change one the chief principles of American criminal justice. In Gideon v. Wainwright, in the Supreme Court it was ruled that a fair trial "cannot be realized if the poor man charged with [the] crime has to face his accusers without a lawyer to assist him." Due to Clarence Gideon's perseverance, every criminal suspect is entitled to representation by a lawyer.

1962 France Plane Crash

1962 : An Air France Boeing 707 crashes on take-off at Orly Airport in Paris, killing 130 people on board.

1963 Vatican Pope John XXIII

1963 : Pope John XXIII the 261st Pope of the Roman Catholic Church died at age 81 less than 5 years after becoming Pope.

1965 USA Major Edward H. White II

1965 : Following in the wake of Soviet cosmonaut Aleksei A. Leonov, who was the first man ever to walk in space, Major Edward H. White II becomes the first American astronaut to walk in space during the flight of Gemini 4.

1966 USA Gemini 9

1966 : The Gemini 9 spacecraft is set to take off at 7:30 am. The crew of astronauts were scheduled for a 3 day journey in space.

1969 HMAS Melbourne USS Frank E. Evans Collision

1969 : While on NATO exercises in the South China Sea just off the coast of Vietnam the Australian aircraft carrier HMAS Melbourne slices the smaller US destroyer USS Frank E. Evans in half killing 74 of the destroyers crew.

1972 Northern Ireland Protestant March

1972 : A Protestant march against the creation of "no-go" areas in Londonderry ends in a bloody battle between marchers and soldiers on the Craigavon Bridge.

1989 Iran Ayatollah Khomeini Dies

1989 : Ayatollah Khomeini who had led the 1979 revolution and overthrow of Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, the last Shah of Persia and became the country's Supreme Leader of the new Islamic Republic of Iran dies.

1989 China Tiananmen Square

1989 : Following student unrest spreading to the rest of the population China starts the use of troops to quell protesters which is not successful the first time in Tiananmen square.

1989 Russia Gas Explosion

1989 : A natural gas pipeline leaks gas close to a railroad track in the Ural Mountains and as two trains pass the build up of gas an explosion occurs creating a massive fireball which engulfs the trains killing over 500 of the passengers.

1998 Germany High Speed Rail Crash

1998 : A high speed train travelling in excess of 125 MPH comes off the rails in Eschede, 35 miles (50km) north of Hanover leaving at least 100 people dead and many more injured.

1999 India / Pakistan Kashmir

1999 : India and Pakistan are once again in conflict over the area of Kashmir with reports of hand-to-hand fighting and ground and air strikes by Indian forces on Pakistan backed guerrillas in areas close to the LOC (Line of Control) in Kashmir province which is separated into a Pakistan side and an India Side, the LOC was agreed in 1949 following a ceasefire between the two countries.

2004 Saudi Arabia Oil Price Increase

2004 : Following the terrorist attacks on an oil refinery in Saudi Arabia the price of oil has peaked to $42.45 a barrel, members of OPEC, the oil producing cartel, are meeting in Beirut today to agree to increase oil production in an attempt to stabilize the price.

2007 Latvian Gay Rights Groups Protest

2007 : Gay rights groups protested in the Latvian capital of Riga by holding the capital's second gay pride parade, despite discouragement and anger from conservatives in the country. Groups had attempted a gathering in 2006, but many angry protesters had harassed them and Latvian police were accused of ignoring the attacks at the time. This time the police provided a heavy presence at the event, outnumbering both the gay rights activists and the anti-gay protesters.

2008 USA Children Returned to Religious Sect

2008 : Over four hundred children in Texas who had been taken from a polygamist sect began returning to their families after a court ruled the officials who had conducted the raid on the ranch did not provide sufficient evidence that the children were in immediate danger. The court also placed restrictions on the return of the children, mandating that the parents take parenting classes and comply with all possible chide abuse investigations.

2008 General Motors Closes Plants

2008 : Following a lower market share of the US car market and sales down by an additional 25%, General Motors has announced it is closing four truck and sports utility vehicle (SUV) plants in the US, Canada and Mexico.

2009 New Hampshire Passes Gay Marriage

2009 : New Hampshire became the sixth state in the United States to make gay marriage legal. The governor, John Lynch, signed the legislation allowing same-sex marriage surrounded by supporters.

2011 United States Doctor Kevorkian Dies

2011 : Controversial doctor, Jack Kevorkian, died at the age of eighty-three. Kevorkian was known as "Doctor Death" and had spent eight years in prison for aiding in assisted suicides of one hundred and thirty people. He was released from prison in 2007 and a movie about him and his life was made in 2010. Kevorkian advocated assisted suicide for terminally ill patients and his trial and conviction of murder for assisting a suicide sparked much debate on the subject.

2012 Colombian Drug Lord Arrested in Venezuela

2012 : Colombian drug lord Diego Rastrojo was arrested by police in Venezuela. Authorities have stated that he became the leader of the cartel in May and that they would hand him over to Colombian authorities.

2013 Oldest US Senator Dies

2013 : The United States' oldest Senator, Frank Lautenberg, died at the age of eighty-nine after suffering from complications of pneumonia. Lautenberg had served over three decades during five different terms.