History of the Day for:
June 1
- 1792: Kentucky became the 15th state.
- 1796: Tennessee became the 16th state.
- 1801: Mormon leader Brigham Young was born in Whitingham, Vt
- 1813: The U.S. Navy motto, "Don't give up the ship," was first uttered by Capt. James Lawrence, the dying commander of the Chesapeake.
- 1868: James Buchanan, the 15th president of the United States, died near Lancaster, Pa.
- 1869: Thomas Edison patented his electric voting machine.
- 1925: Lou Gehrig played the first of his 2,130 consecutive baseball games.
- 1926: Norma Jean Mortenson in Los Angeles. She was later baptized Norma Jean Baker and became well known as Marilyn Monroe.
- 1938: Superman first appeared in D.C. Comics' Action Comics Series issue #1.
- 1943: Germany shot down a civilian flight from Lisbon to London, killing all aboard, including actor Leslie Howard.
- 1957: Dow Bowden became the first American to run the mile in less than four minutes.
- 1958: Charles de Gaulle was elected premier of France.
- 1968: Deaf and blind author/educator Helen Keller died in Westport, Conn.
- 1980: Cable News Network (CNN) debuted.
- 1989: Oba Chandler murders an Ohio family on their Florida vacation by drowning them in Tampa Bay.
- 1990: George H. W. Bush and Mikhail Gorbachev sign a treaty to end chemical weapon production.
- 1999: American Airlines Flight 1420 slid and crashed while landing at Little Rock National Airport, killing 11 people on a flight from Dallas to Little Rock.
- 2000: The Patent Law Treaty is signed.
- 2001: Nepalese royal massacre : the Crown Prince Dipendra of Nepal shot and killed several members of his family including his father and mother, King Birendra of Nepal and Queen Aiswarya.
- 2001: Dolphinarium massacre: an Hamas suicide bomber kills 21 at a disco in Tel Aviv.
- 2003: The People's Republic of China begins filling the reservoir behind the Three Gorges Dam.
- 2005: The Dutch referendum on the European Constitution results in its rejection.
- 2007: Jack Kevorkian is released from prison after serving eight years of his 10-25 year prison term for second-degree murder in the 1998 death of Thomas Youk, 52, of Oakland County, Michigan.
- 2008: A fire at the backlot of Universal Studios Hollywood destroys several icons from movies, such as Courthouse Square, the clock tower from Back to the Future, and the King Kong exhibit on the studio tour.
- 2009: Air France Flight 447 crashes into the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Brazil on a flight from Rio de Janeiro to Paris. All 228 passengers and crew were killed.
- 2009: General Motors files for chapter 11 bankruptcy. It is the fourth largest United States bankruptcy in history.