On This Day in History — June 4

Highlights of June 4

• 2025 — A crowd crush outside M. Chinnaswamy Stadium during celebrations of Royal Challengers Bengaluru's Indian Premier League title killed 11 people and injured 56 others. Read more
• 2005 — The Civic Forum of the Romanians of Covasna, Harghita and Mureș was founded to represent and promote the interests of ethnic Romanians in areas with large Hungarian populations. Read more
• 2004 — In Granby, Colorado, U.S., Marvin Heemeyer went on a rampage with a modified bulldozer over a zoning dispute, destroying several buildings before dying by suicide. Read more
• 1998 — Terry Nichols was sentenced to life in prison for his role in the Oklahoma City bombing. Read more
• 1989 — Following the death of Ruhollah Khomeini, the Assembly of Experts elected Ali Khamenei to be Supreme Leader of Iran. Read more
• 1989 — The People's Liberation Army suppressed the Tiananmen Square protests in Beijing, leaving hundreds of people dead and wounded. Read more
• 1987 — American intelligence analyst Jonathan Pollard pleaded guilty to charges of spying for Israel. Read more
• 1979 — Jerry Rawlings came to power in Ghana as chairman of the Armed Forces Revolutionary Council. Read more
• 1977 — The Humboldt Park riot began in Chicago, resulting in three deaths, three cars in the Humboldt Park lagoon, and increased tension between the Chicago Police Department and the Puerto Rican community. Read more
• 1975 — Governor Jerry Brown signed the California Agricultural Labor Relations Act, one of the first laws in the United States guaranteeing collective bargaining rights to farmworkers. Read more
• 1974 — Major League Baseball's Cleveland Indians hosted Ten-Cent Beer Night, but had to forfeit the game to the Texas Rangers due to rioting by drunken fans. Read more
• 1967 — A chartered British Midland Airways aircraft crashed near Stockport, England, killing 72 of the 84 people on board. Read more
• 1944 — World War II: A United States Navy task group captured German submarine U-505 (pictured). Read more
• 1942 — World War II: The Battle of Midway, a major battle of the Pacific War, began with a massive Japanese offensive on American forces on Midway Atoll. Read more
• 1940 — Second World War: The remaining Allied forces protecting the Dunkirk evacuation surrendered, ending the Battle of Dunkirk; in response, British prime minister Winston Churchill gave a speech in which he declared "We shall fight on the beaches". Read more
• 1913 — Emily Davison, an activist for women's suffrage in the United Kingdom, was fatally injured after being trampled by a horse owned by King George V at the Epsom Derby. Read more
• 1792 — Captain George Vancouver of the Royal Navy claimed the land around Puget Sound in the Pacific Northwest for Great Britain. Read more
• 1784 — Élisabeth Thible became the first woman to fly in an untethered hot air balloon, covering a distance of 4 km (2.5 mi) and reaching an estimated altitude of 1,500 m (4,900 ft). Read more
• 1561 — The spire of Old St Paul's Cathedral in London was destroyed by fire. Read more
• 1411 — King Charles VI of France granted a monopoly to the people of Roquefort-sur-Soulzon for the ripening of Roquefort cheese (example pictured). Read more

Events

• 2025 — Eleven people are killed and 56 people are injured during a crowd crush incident outside M. Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru, India for the celebration of Royal Challengers Bengaluru's Indian Premier League victory. Read more
• 2023 — Protests begin in Poland against the PiS government. Read more
• 2023 — Four people are killed when a Cessna Citation V crashes into Mine Bank Mountain in Augusta County, Virginia. Read more
• 2020 — Death of Giovanni López: Protests over the death of Giovanni López Ramírez, who had died on 4 May while in custody, begin in Jalisco following the release of a video of his arrest going viral on social media, and inspired by the George Floyd protests. Later, these spread across Mexico. Read more
• 2010 — Falcon 9 Flight 1 is the maiden flight of the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, which launches from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station Space Launch Complex 40. Read more
• 2005 — The Civic Forum of the Romanians of Covasna, Harghita and Mureș is founded. Read more
• 1996 — The first flight of Ariane 5 explodes after roughly 37 seconds. It was a Cluster mission. Read more
• 1989 — In the 1989 Iranian supreme leader election, Ali Khamenei is elected as the new Supreme Leader of Iran after the death and funeral of Ruhollah Khomeini. Read more
• 1989 — The 1989 Tiananmen Square protests are suppressed in Beijing by the People's Liberation Army, with between 241 and 10,000 dead (an unofficial estimate). Read more
• 1989 — Solidarity's victory in the 1989 Polish legislative election occurs, the first election since the Communist Polish United Workers' Party abandoned its monopoly of power. It sparks off the Revolutions of 1989 in Eastern Europe. Read more
• 1989 — Ufa train disaster: A natural gas explosion near Ufa, Russia, kills 575 as two trains passing each other throw sparks near a leaky pipeline. Read more
• 1988 — Three cars on a train carrying hexogen to Kazakhstan explode in Arzamas, Gorky Oblast, USSR, killing 91 and injuring about 1,500. Read more
• 1986 — Jonathan Pollard pleads guilty to espionage for selling top secret United States military intelligence to Israel. Read more
• 1983 — Gordon Kahl, who killed two US Marshals in Medina, North Dakota on February 13, is killed in a shootout in Smithville, Arkansas, along with a local sheriff, after a four-month manhunt. Read more
• 1979 — Flight Lieutenant Jerry Rawlings takes power in Ghana after a military coup in which General Fred Akuffo is overthrown. Read more
• 1977 — JVC introduces its VHS videotape at the Consumer Electronics Show in Chicago. It will eventually prevail against Sony's rival Betamax system in a format war to become the predominant home video medium. Read more
• 1975 — Governor of California Jerry Brown signs the California Agricultural Labor Relations Act into law, the first law in the United States giving farmworkers collective bargaining rights. Read more
• 1970 — Tonga gains independence from the British Empire. Read more
• 1967 — Seventy-two people are killed when a Canadair C-4 Argonaut crashes at Stockport in England. Read more
• 1961 — Cold War: In the Vienna summit, the Soviet premier Nikita Khrushchev sparks the Berlin Crisis by threatening to sign a separate peace treaty with East Germany and ending American, British and French access to East Berlin. Read more
• 1946 — in Argentina assumes its first presidency Juan Domingo Perón. Read more
• 1944 — World War II: A hunter-killer group of the United States Navy captures the German Kriegsmarine submarine U-505, the first time a U.S. Navy vessel had captured an enemy vessel at sea since the 19th century. Read more
• 1944 — World War II: The United States Fifth Army captures Rome, although much of the German Fourteenth Army is able to withdraw to the north. Read more
• 1943 — A military coup in Argentina ousts Ramón Castillo. Read more
• 1942 — World War II: The Battle of Midway begins. Japanese Admiral Chūichi Nagumo orders a strike on Midway Island by much of the Imperial Japanese Navy. Read more
• 1942 — World War II: Gustaf Mannerheim, the Commander-in-Chief of the Finnish Army, is granted the title of Marshal of Finland by the government on his 75th birthday. On the same day, Adolf Hitler arrives in Finland for a surprise visit to meet Mannerheim. Read more
• 1940 — World War II: The Dunkirk evacuation ends: The British Armed Forces completes 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. Read more
• 1939 — The Holocaust: The MS St. Louis, a ship carrying 973 German 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. Read more
• 1932 — Marmaduke Grove and other Chilean military officers lead a coup d'état establishing the short-lived Socialist Republic of Chile. Read more
• 1928 — The President of the Republic of China, Zhang Zuolin, is assassinated by Japanese agents. Read more
• 1920 — Hungary loses 71% of its territory and 63% of its population when the Treaty of Trianon is signed in Paris. Read more
• 1919 — Women's rights: The U.S. Congress approves the Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, which guarantees suffrage to women, and sends it to the U.S. states for ratification. Read more
• 1919 — Leon Trotsky bans the planned Fourth Regional Congress of Peasants, Workers and Insurgents. Read more
• 1917 — The first Pulitzer Prizes are awarded: Laura E. Richards, Maude H. Elliott, and Florence Hall receive the first Pulitzer for biography (for Julia Ward Howe). Jean Jules Jusserand receives the first Pulitzer for history for his work With Americans of Past and Present Days. Herbert B. Swope receives the first Pulitzer for journalism for his work for the New York World. Read more
• 1916 — World War I: Russia opens the Brusilov Offensive with an artillery barrage of Austro-Hungarian lines in Galicia. Read more
• 1913 — Emily Davison, a suffragette, runs out in front of King George V's horse at The Derby. She is trampled, never regains consciousness, and dies four days later. Read more
• 1912 — Massachusetts becomes the first state of the United States to set a minimum wage. Read more
• 1896 — Henry Ford completes the Ford Quadricycle, his first gasoline-powered automobile, and also gives it a successful test run. Read more
• 1878 — Cyprus Convention: The Ottoman Empire cedes Cyprus to the United Kingdom but retains nominal title. Read more
• 1876 — An express train called the Transcontinental Express arrives in San Francisco via the first transcontinental railroad, 83 hours and 39 minutes after leaving New York City. Read more
• 1862 — American Civil War: Confederate troops evacuate Fort Pillow on the Mississippi River, leaving the way clear for Union troops to take Memphis, Tennessee. Read more
• 1859 — Italian Independence wars: In the Battle of Magenta, the French army, under Louis-Napoleon, defeat the Austrian army. Read more
• 1855 — Major Henry C. Wayne departs New York aboard the USS Supply to procure camels to establish the U.S. Camel Corps. Read more
• 1825 — General Lafayette, a French officer in the American Revolutionary War, speaks at what would become Lafayette Square in Buffalo, New York, during his visit to the United States. Read more
• 1812 — Following Louisiana's admittance as a U.S. state, the Louisiana Territory is renamed the Missouri Territory. Read more
• 1802 — King Charles Emmanuel IV of Sardinia abdicates his throne in favor of his brother, Victor Emmanuel. Read more
• 1796 — The siege of Mantua begins when Napoleon Bonaparte lays siege to the fortress of Mantua, the last Austrian stronghold in Northern Italy. It will become the main focus of Napoleon's army for eight months during the Italian campaign of 1796-1797. Read more
• 1792 — Captain George Vancouver claims Puget Sound for the Kingdom of Great Britain. Read more
• 1784 — Élisabeth Thible becomes the first woman to fly in an untethered hot air balloon. Her flight covers four kilometres (2.5 mi) in 45 minutes, and reaches an estimated 1,500 metres (4,900 ft) in altitude. Read more
• 1783 — The Montgolfier brothers publicly demonstrate their montgolfière (hot air balloon). Read more
• 1760 — Great Upheaval: New England planters arrive to claim land in Nova Scotia, Canada, taken from the Acadians. Read more
• 1745 — Battle of Hohenfriedberg: Frederick the Great's Prussian army decisively defeat an Austrian army under Prince Charles Alexander of Lorraine during the War of the Austrian Succession. Read more
• 1615 — Siege of Osaka: Forces under Tokugawa Ieyasu take Osaka Castle in Japan. Read more
• 1561 — The steeple of St Paul's, the medieval cathedral of London, is destroyed in a fire caused by lightning, and is never rebuilt. Read more
• 1525 — Bayham Abbey riot: Villagers from Kent and Sussex, England riot and occupy Bayham Old Abbey for a week in protest against Cardinal Thomas Wolsey's order to suppress the monastery in order to fund two colleges founded by him. Read more
• 1411 — King Charles VI of France grants a monopoly for the ripening of Roquefort cheese to the people of Roquefort-sur-Soulzon, as they had been doing for centuries. Read more
• 713 — The imperial official Artemius is chosen as Byzantine emperor the day after the blinding of previous emperor Philippicus. Artemisius chooses the name of Anastasius II and announces his adherence to Chalcedonian Christianity. Read more

Born on June 4

• 2021 — Princess Lilibet of Sussex Read more
• 2004 — Mackenzie Ziegler, American child actress, dancer, and recording artist Read more
• 2001 — Choerry, South Korean singer and member of Loona Read more
• 2001 — Takefusa Kubo, Japanese footballer Read more
• 1999 — Kim So-hyun, South Korean actress Read more
• 1999 — Drew Pavlou, Australian activist Read more
• 1998 — Central Cee, British rapper and songwriter Read more
• 1996 — Oli McBurnie, Scottish footballer Read more
• 1993 — Jonathan Huberdeau, Canadian ice hockey player Read more
• 1993 — Juan Iturbe, Paraguayan footballer Read more
• 1993 — Aaron Nola, American baseball player Read more
• 1993 — Annika Taylor, British-American cross-country skier Read more
• 1992 — Jordan Hugill, English footballer Read more
• 1991 — Lorenzo Insigne, Italian footballer Read more
• 1991 — Matt McIlwrick, New Zealand rugby league player Read more
• 1991 — Ben Stokes, New Zealand-English cricketer Read more
• 1991 — Rajiv van La Parra, Dutch footballer Read more
• 1990 — Evan Spiegel, American Internet entrepreneur Read more
• 1989 — Paweł Fajdek, Polish hammer thrower Read more
• 1988 — Matt Bartkowski, American ice hockey defenseman Read more
• 1988 — Kimberley Busteed, Australian model Read more
• 1988 — Tjaronn Chery, Dutch-born Surinamese footballer Read more
• 1987 — Mollie King, English singer, former member of The Saturdays Read more
• 1985 — Leon Botha, South African painter and DJ (died 2011) Read more
• 1985 — Anna-Lena Grönefeld, German tennis player Read more
• 1985 — Evan Lysacek, American figure skater Read more
• 1985 — Lukas Podolski, German footballer Read more
• 1985 — Bar Refaeli, Israeli model and actress Read more
• 1985 — Oddvar Reiakvam, Norwegian politician Read more
• 1984 — Henri Bedimo, Cameroonian footballer Read more
• 1984 — Kento Handa, Japanese actor and singer Read more
• 1984 — Stuart Kettlewell, Scottish football manager and former player Read more
• 1984 — Enrico Rossi Chauvenet, Italian footballer Read more
• 1984 — Ian White, Canadian ice hockey player Read more
• 1984 — Rainie Yang, Taiwanese actress Read more
• 1983 — Romaric, Ivorian footballer Read more
• 1983 — Emmanuel Eboué, Ivorian footballer Read more
• 1983 — Olha Saladuha, Ukrainian triple jumper Read more
• 1982 — Matt Gilks, Scottish footballer Read more
• 1982 — Abel Kirui, Kenyan runner Read more

Died on June 4

• 2025 — Marc Garneau, Canadian astronaut and Member of Parliament (born 1949) Read more
• 2024 — John Blackman, Australian radio and television presenter (born 1947) Read more
• 2024 — Parnelli Jones, American racing driver (born 1933) Read more
• 2023 — Sulochana Latkar, Indian actress (born 1928) Read more
• 2022 — George Lamming, Barbadian novelist (born 1927) Read more
• 2021 — Clarence Williams III, American actor (born 1939) Read more
• 2017 — Juan Goytisolo, Spanish essayist, poet and novelist (born 1931) Read more
• 2016 — Carmen Pereira, Bissau-Guinean politician (born 1937) Read more
• 2015 — Marguerite Patten, English economist and author (born 1915) Read more
• 2015 — Leonid Plyushch, Ukrainian mathematician and academic (born 1938) Read more
• 2015 — Jabe Thomas, American race car driver (born 1930) Read more
• 2015 — Anne Warburton, British academic and diplomat, British Ambassador to Denmark (born 1927) Read more
• 2014 — George Ho, American-Hong Kong businessman (born 1919) Read more
• 2014 — Nathan Shamuyarira, Zimbabwean journalist and politician, Zimbabwean Minister of Foreign Affairs (born 1928) Read more
• 2014 — Sydney Templeman, Baron Templeman, English lawyer and judge (born 1920) Read more
• 2014 — Don Zimmer, American baseball player, coach, and manager (born 1931) Read more
• 2013 — Walt Arfons, American race car driver (born 1916) Read more
• 2013 — Joey Covington, American drummer (born 1945) Read more
• 2013 — Hermann Gunnarsson, Icelandic footballer, handball player, and sportscaster (born 1946) Read more
• 2013 — Will Wynn, American football player (born 1949) Read more
• 2012 — Peter Beaven, New Zealand architect, designed the Lyttelton Road Tunnel Administration Building (born 1925) Read more
• 2012 — Pedro Borbón, Dominican-American baseball player (born 1946) Read more
• 2012 — Rodolfo Quezada Toruño, Guatemalan cardinal (born 1932) Read more
• 2012 — Herb Reed, American violinist (born 1929) Read more
• 2011 — Juan Francisco Luis, Virgin Islander sergeant and politician, 23rd Governor of the United States Virgin Islands (born 1940) Read more
• 2011 — Andreas P. Nielsen, Danish author and composer (born 1953) Read more
• 2010 — John Wooden, American basketball player and coach (born 1910) Read more
• 2007 — Clete Boyer, American baseball player and coach (born 1937) Read more
• 2007 — Bill France Jr., American businessman (born 1933) Read more
• 2007 — Craig L. Thomas, American captain and politician (born 1933) Read more
• 2004 — Steve Lacy, American saxophonist and composer (born 1934) Read more
• 2004 — Nino Manfredi, Italian actor (born 1921) Read more
• 2002 — Fernando Belaúnde Terry, Peruvian architect and politician, 42nd President of Peru (born 1912) Read more
• 1998 — Josephine Hutchinson, American actress (born 1903) Read more
• 1997 — Ronnie Lane, English singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer (born 1946) Read more
• 1994 — Derek Leckenby, English musician (born 1943) Read more
• 1993 — Bernard Evslin, American writer (born 1922) Read more
• 1992 — Carl Stotz, American businessman, founded Little League Baseball (born 1910) Read more
• 1990 — Stiv Bators, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (born 1949) Read more
• 1990 — Zdenka Ziková, Czech opera singer (born 1902) Read more

Holidays & observances

Christian feast day: Blessed Antoni Zawistowski; Christian feast day: Filippo Smaldone; Christian feast day: Francis Caracciolo; Christian feast day: Optatus; Christian feast day: Petroc of Cornwall; Christian feast day: Quirinus of Sescia; Christian feast day: Saturnina; Christian feast day: June 4 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics); The Flag Day of the Finnish Defence Forces, also known as the birthday of C. G. E. Mannerheim, Marshal of Finland (Finland); Emancipation Day or Independence Day, commemorates the abolition of serfdom in Tonga by King George Tupou in 1862, and the independence of Tonga from the British protectorate in 1970. (Tonga); International Day of Innocent Children Victims of Aggression (International); Trianon Treaty Day (Romania); Memorials for the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests and massacre (International)

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