On June 2, 1840, novelist and poet Thomas Hardy was born in Upper Bochampton, Dorset, England.
In 1851 Maine became the first state to enact a law prohibiting the manufacture or sale of alcoholic beverages.
In 1864 the Chicago & North Western Railway Co. was formed by the merger of the Galena & Chicago Union and the Chicago & North Western companies.
In 1924 Congress granted citizenship to all American Indians.
In 1941 Lou Gehrig, baseball`s ”Iron Horse,” died of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, a degenerative disease.
In 1944 the U.S. opened a bomber base in the Soviet Union to carry out shuttle raids against Romania.
In 1966 the unmanned Surveyor 1 spacecraft relayed pictures from the Moon after making America`s first soft landing on the lunar surface.
In 1969 the Australian aircraft carrier Melbourne sliced through an American destroyer, the Frank E. Evans, during maneuvers. One American was killed; 73 were listed as missing.
