Today is Tuesday, June 1, the 152nd day of 2021.
There are 213 days left in the year.
Today’s Highlight in History:
On June 1, 2009, General Motors filed for Chapter 11, becoming the largest U.S. industrial company to enter bankruptcy protection.
On this date:
In 1792, Kentucky became the 15th state.
In 1796, Tennessee became the 16th state.
In 1812, President James Madison, in a message to Congress, recounted what he called Britain’s “series of acts hostile to the United States as an independent and neutral nation”; Congress ended up declaring war.
In 1813, the mortally wounded commander of the USS Chesapeake, Capt. James Lawrence, gave the order, “Don’t give up the ship” during a losing battle with the British frigate HMS Shannon in the War of 1812.
In 1916, Louis Brandeis took his seat as an associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, the first Jewish American to serve on the nation’s highest bench.
In 1943, a civilian flight from Portugal to England was shot down by Germany during World War II, killing all 17 people aboard, including actor Leslie Howard.
In 1958, Charles de Gaulle became premier of France, marking the beginning of the end of the Fourth Republic.
In 1980, Cable News Network made its debut.
In 2003, leaders of the world’s seven wealthiest nations and Russia pledged billions of dollars to fight AIDS and hunger on the opening day of their summit in Evian, France.
In 2009, Air France Flight 447, an Airbus A330 carrying 228 people from Rio de Janeiro to Paris, crashed into the Atlantic Ocean with the loss of everyone on board.
In 2015, Vanity Fair released its cover photo featuring the former Bruce Jenner with the headline, “Call Me Caitlyn” as the Olympic gold medalist publicly completed a gender transition.
In 2017, President Donald Trump declared he would pull the U.S. from the landmark Paris climate agreement. (President Joe Biden signed an order returning the U.S. to that accord on his first day in office.)