Today is Saturday, June 2, the 154th day of 2012. There 212 days left in the year.
455 ― Gaiseric and the Vandals sack Rome
1851 ― First U.S. alcohol prohibition law enacted (Maine)
1857 ― James Gibbs, Va., patents chain-stitch single-thread sewing machine
1883 ― First night baseball under lights, Ft. Wayne, Ind.
1899 ― Black Americans observed day of fasting to protest lynching
1930 ― First baby born on a vessel passing through Panama Canal
1946 ― Italian plebiscite chooses republic over monarchy (National Day)
1964 ― Rolling Stones first U.S. concert tour debuts in Lynn, Mass.
1979 ― John Paul II becomes first pope to visit a communist country (Poland)
1989 ― 10,000 Chinese soldiers are blocked by 100,000 citizens protecting students demonstrating for democracy in Tiananmen Square, Beijing