On June 2, 1851, Maine became the first state to prohibit the manufacture or sale of alcoholic beverages.
In 1886 President Grover Cleveland married Frances Folsom in a White House ceremony. (He remains the only president to marry in the Executive Mansion while in office.)
In 1924 Congress granted citizenship to all American Indians.
In 1946 Italy abolished the monarchy.
In 1952 African-American philosopher and author Cornel West was born in Tulsa.
In 1966 the U.S. space probe Surveyor 1 landed on the moon and began transmitting detailed photographs of the lunar surface.
In 1979 Pope John Paul II arrived in his native Poland, becoming the first pontiff to visit a communist country.
In 1986, for the first time, the public could watch the proceedings of the U.S. Senate on television as a six-week experiment of televised sessions began.
In 1995 a U.S. Air Force F-16C was shot down by Bosnian Serbs while on a NATO air patrol in northern Bosnia. (The pilot, Capt. Scott O’Grady, was rescued six days later.)
In 1997 Timothy McVeigh was convicted of murder and conspiracy in the Oklahoma City bombing. (He was executed in June 2001.)
In 1998 California voters approved Proposition 227, which effectively abolished the state’s 30-year-old bilingual education program by requiring that all children be taught in English.
In 1999 South Africans went to the polls in their second postapartheid election, giving the African National Congress a decidive victory.
In 2002 a fire broke out at Buckingham Palace, forcing the evacuation of hundreds of people and marring the four-day celebration of Queen Elizabeth II’s 50 years on the throne.
In 2005 Georgia “runaway bride” Jennifer Wilbanks pleaded no contest to faking her own abduction; she was sentenced to probation, community service and a fine.
