On this day: June 2

Events on June 2

• 455 Sack of Rome: Vandals enter Rome, and plunder the city for two weeks. Wikipedia
• 1763 Pontiac's Rebellion: At what is now Mackinaw City, Michigan, Chippewas capture Fort Michilimackinac by diverting the garrison's attention with a game of lacrosse, then chasing a ball into the fort. Wikipedia
• 1780 The anti-Catholic Gordon Riots in London leave an estimated 300 to 700 people dead. Wikipedia
• 1802 Henry Hacking killed the Aboriginal Australian resistance fighter Pemulwuy after Philip Gidley King ordered that he be brought in dead or alive. Wikipedia
• 1805 Napoleonic Wars: A Franco-Spanish fleet recaptured the British-held Diamond Rock, an uninhabited island at the entrance to the bay leading to Fort-de-France, Martinique. Wikipedia
• 1848 The Slavic Congress opens in Prague. Wikipedia
• 1878 Anarchist Karl Nobiling attempted to assassinate German Emperor Wilhelm I. Wikipedia
• 1886 The wedding of Grover Cleveland and Frances Folsom took place in the White House, in the only time that a U.S. president has married in the building. Wikipedia
• 1909 Alfred Deakin becomes Prime Minister of Australia for the third time. Wikipedia
• 1910 Charles Rolls, a co-founder of Rolls-Royce Limited, becomes the first man to make a non-stop double crossing of the English Channel by plane. Wikipedia
• 1919 First Red Scare: The anarchist followers of Luigi Galleani set off eight bombs in eight cities across the United States. Wikipedia
• 1946 Birth of the Italian Republic: In a referendum, Italians vote to turn Italy from a monarchy into a Republic. After the referendum, King Umberto II of Italy is exiled. Wikipedia
• 1953 Queen Elizabeth II was crowned at Westminster Abbey in London. Wikipedia
• 1955 The USSR and Yugoslavia sign the Belgrade declaration, legitimising different interpretations of Marxism in non-Soviet countries. Wikipedia
• 1962 One of the most violent football matches took place at the World Cup as Chile defeated Italy in a group match. Wikipedia
• 1964 The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) is formed. Wikipedia
• 1967 Benno Ohnesorg, a German university student, was killed in West Berlin while protesting against the visit of Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi of Iran; the anarchist militant 2 June Movement was later named after the incident. Wikipedia
• 1973 Della Aleksander co-presented an episode of Open Door on transgender women's lives. Wikipedia
• 1979 Pope John Paul II starts his first official visit to his native Poland, becoming the first Pope to visit a Communist country. Wikipedia
• 1983 After an emergency landing due to an in-flight fire, 23 passengers aboard Air Canada Flight 797 were killed when a flashover occurred as the aircraft's doors opened. Wikipedia
• 1995 Bosnian War: U.S. Air Force captain Scott O'Grady was shot down while patrolling the NATO no-fly zone over Bosnia, but ejected safely and was rescued six days later. Wikipedia
• 2003 Europe launches its first voyage to another planet, Mars. The European Space Agency's Mars Express probe launches from the Baikonur space center in Kazakhstan. Wikipedia
• 2008 Artist Tim Buckley published "Loss" as part of his webcomic Ctrl+Alt+Del. Wikipedia
• 2010 A gunman carried out a shooting spree in Cumbria, England, killing 12 people and injuring 11 others before committing suicide. Wikipedia
• 2022 Following a request from Ankara, the United Nations officially changes the name of the Republic of Turkey in the organization from what was previously known as "Turkey" to "Türkiye". Wikipedia
• 2023 A collision between two passenger trains and a parked freight train near the city of Balasore, Odisha, in eastern India resulted in 296 deaths and more than 1,200 people injured. Wikipedia

Born on June 2

• 1535 Pope Leo XI (died 1605) Wikipedia
• 1731 Martha Washington, First Lady of the United States (died 1802) Wikipedia
• 1740 Marquis de Sade, French philosopher and politician (died 1814) Wikipedia
• 1835 Pope Pius X (died 1914) Wikipedia
• 1840 Thomas Hardy, English novelist and poet (died 1928) Wikipedia
• 1857 Karl Adolph Gjellerup, Danish author and poet, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1919) Wikipedia
• 1857 Edward Elgar, English composer and educator (died 1934) Wikipedia
• 1904 Johnny Weissmuller, Hungarian-American swimmer and actor (died 1984) Wikipedia
• 1920 Marcel Reich-Ranicki, Polish-German author and critic (died 2013) Wikipedia
• 1923 Lloyd Shapley, American mathematician and economist, Nobel Prize laureate (died 2016) Wikipedia
• 1930 Pete Conrad, American captain, pilot, and astronaut (died 1999) Wikipedia
• 1940 Constantine II of Greece (died 2023) Wikipedia
• 1941 Charlie Watts, English drummer, songwriter, and producer (died 2021) Wikipedia
• 1972 Wentworth Miller, American actor and screenwriter Wikipedia
• 1977 Zachary Quinto, American actor and producer Wikipedia
• 1978 Justin Long, American actor Wikipedia
• 1978 Dominic Cooper, English actor Wikipedia
• 1979 Morena Baccarin, Brazilian-American actress Wikipedia
• 1981 Nikolay Davydenko, Russian tennis player Wikipedia
• 1987 Sonakshi Sinha, Indian actress Wikipedia
• 1988 Sergio Agüero, Argentine footballer Wikipedia
• 1988 Awkwafina, American actress, rapper, and comedian Wikipedia

Died on June 2

• 657 Pope Eugene I Wikipedia
• 1701 Madeleine de Scudéry, French author (born 1607) Wikipedia
• 1882 Giuseppe Garibaldi, Italian general and politician (born 1807) Wikipedia
• 1948 Karl Brandt, German SS officer (born 1904) Wikipedia
• 1962 Vita Sackville-West, English author and poet (born 1892) Wikipedia
• 1970 Giuseppe Ungaretti, Italian soldier, journalist, and academic (born 1888) Wikipedia
• 1970 Bruce McLaren, New Zealand race car driver and engineer, founded the McLaren racing team (born 1937) Wikipedia
• 1978 Santiago Bernabéu Yeste, Spanish footballer and coach (born 1895) Wikipedia
• 1987 Andrés Segovia, Spanish guitarist (born 1893) Wikipedia
• 1988 Raj Kapoor, Indian actor, director, and producer (born 1924) Wikipedia
• 1990 Rex Harrison, English actor (born 1908) Wikipedia
• 2008 Mel Ferrer, American actor (born 1917) Wikipedia
• 2008 Bo Diddley, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (born 1928) Wikipedia
• 2015 Irwin Rose, American biologist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1926) Wikipedia

Holidays and observances

• Children's Day (North Korea) Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Ahudemmeh (Syriac Orthodox Church) Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Alexander (martyr) Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Elmo Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Felix of Nicosia Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Marcellinus and Peter Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Martyrs of Lyon, including Blandina Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Pope Eugene I Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Pothinus Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Blessed Sadok and 48 Dominican martyrs from Sandomierz Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: June 2 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics) Wikipedia
• Civil Aviation Day (Azerbaijan) Wikipedia
• Coronation of King Jigme Singye Wangchuck, also Social Forestry Day (Bhutan) Wikipedia
• Day of Hristo Botev (Bulgaria) Wikipedia
• Decoration Day (Canada) Wikipedia
• Festa della Repubblica (Italy) Wikipedia
• Gawai Dayak, harvest festival in the state of Sarawak (Malaysia) Wikipedia
• International Sex Workers Day Wikipedia
• Telangana Day (Telangana, India) Wikipedia
• Alberti Day (New York City, USA) Wikipedia

Sources

• Wikipedia — “June 2” — events, births, deaths and observances (text under CC BY-SA 4.0) (checked 2026-10-15)
• Wikipedia — “Selected anniversaries/June 2” — the anniversaries editors chose for the date and the article each one is about (checked 2026-10-15)
• Wikidata — in how many language editions each entry's own article exists, used to fill the lists (CC0) (checked 2026-10-15)
• vacanza/holidays (open-source holiday rules, MIT licence) — holiday rules used to build the lists (checked 2026-10-15)

The events, births, deaths and observances above are from the English Wikipedia article “June 2” and the articles it links to (authors and history), retrieved 2026-10-15 through the Wikimedia “On this day” feed. They are licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0; this selection is shared under the same licence. Every anniversary that Wikipedia's editors selected for June 2 stays on the list; the remaining places, up to 26 events, 22 births and 14 deaths, go to the entries whose own article — about the event itself, or else the person or thing it is about — appears in the most language editions (counted from Wikidata); an article about a person or thing, which covers far more than one day, counts half. An entry with no article of its own counts, also at half, by the least covered article it links, and one that links only places counts for nothing. Each list runs by year, and the wording is unchanged apart from removing references to pictures, audio and video.