June 4 in History

Historical Events on June 4

1812 Following Louisiana's admittance as a U.S. state, the Louisiana Territory is renamed the Missouri Territory.

1862 American Civil War: Confederate troops evacuate Fort Pillow on the Mississippi River, leaving the way clear for Union troops to take Memphis, Tennessee.

1912 Massachusetts becomes the first state of the United States to set a minimum wage.

1916 World War I: Russia opens the Brusilov Offensive with an artillery barrage of Austro-Hungarian lines in Galicia.

1939 The Holocaust: The MS St. Louis, a ship carrying 963 Jewish refugees, is denied permission to land in Florida, in the United States, after already being turned away from Cuba. Forced to return to Europe, more than 200 of its passengers later die in Nazi concentration camps.

1940 World War II: The Dunkirk evacuation ends: British forces complete evacuation of 338,000 troops from Dunkirk in France. To rally the morale of the country, Winston Churchill delivers, only to the House of Commons, his famous "We shall fight on the beaches" speech.

1967 England: 72 people are killed when a Canadair C-4 Argonaut crashes at Stockport.

1989 Ali Khamenei is elected as the new Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran by the Assembly of Experts after the death and funeral of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.

1989 The Tiananmen Square protests are violently ended in Beijing by the People's Liberation Army, with at least 241 dead.

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Famous Birthdays on June 4

1975 Russell Brand

1975 Angelina Jolie

1976 Alexei Navalny

1999 Kim So-hyun

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Famous Deaths on June 4

1922 W. H. R. Rivers

1941 Wilhelm II, German Emperor

1942 Reinhard Heydrich

2010 John Wooden

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