Years ago

Today is Sunday, June 2, the 153rd day of 2013. There are 212 days left in the year.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

On this date in:

1863: During the Civil War, Union Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman writes a letter to his wife, Ellen, in which he commented, “Vox populi, vox humbug” (The voice of the people is the voice of humbug).

1886: President Grover Cleveland, 49, marries Frances Folsom, 21, in the Blue Room of the White House. (To date, Cleveland is the only president to marry in the executive mansion.)

1897: Mark Twain, 61, is quoted by the New York Journal as saying from London that “the report of my death was an exaggeration.”

1924: Congress passes a measure that was then signed by President Calvin Coolidge guaranteeing full American citizenship for all Native Americans born within U.S. territorial limits.

1941: Baseball’s “Iron Horse,” Lou Gehrig, dies in New York of a degenerative disease, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis; he was 37.

1962: Soviet forces open fire on striking workers in the Russian city of Novocherkassk; a retired general in 1989 put the death toll at 22 to 24.

1953: The coronation of Queen Elizabeth II takes place in London’s Westminster Abbey, 16 months after the death of her father, King George VI; it is the first such ceremony to be broadcast on television.

1966: The U.S. space probe Surveyor 1 lands on the moon and begins transmitting detailed photographs of the lunar surface.

1979: Pope John Paul II arrives in his native Poland on the first visit by a pope to a communist country.

1987: President Ronald Reagan announces he is nominating economist Alan Greenspan to succeed Paul Volcker as chairman of the Federal Reserve Board.

1997: Timothy McVeigh is convicted of murder and conspiracy in the Oklahoma City bombing. (He was executed in June 2001.)

VINDICATOR FILES

1988: Lexington Township officials near Alliance say a fire that sent clouds of toxic fumes into the air could have been worse had the township not blocked a zone change that was sought to expand the warehouse containing d-CON products.

Youngstown City Council authorizes the hiring of the Cleveland law firm of Squires, Sanders & Dempsey to review a $60 million expansion proposal by the Mahoning Valley Sanitary District.

Leavittsburg area residents opposed to construction of a state prison on Warren’s West Side petition Gov. Richard Celeste to pick a different site.

The official transfer of city-owned Lake Milton to the Ohio Department of Natural Resources should take place within a month, says Youngstown Law Director Edwin Romero.

1973: U.S. Sen. Robert Taft Jr. speaks at a $50 per plate fundraiser for Youngstown Mayor Jack C. Hunter that is attended by 700 people at the Maronite Center.

A 17-year-old Kinsman youth, Thomas Powell, drowns in a neighbor’s pond while camping out with friends.

Harvey S. Firestone Jr., philanthropist, industrialist and son of the founder of Firestone Tire and Rubber Co., dies at 75 at his Akron home.

1963: Mahoning County’s 53-year-old courthouse is nearing the end of a four-year face-lift that will cost $741,976.

Stanley Howe of Mary Haddow School wins first place in the marbles tournament held for 24 Youngstown school champions. He will compete in the state championship at Cuyahoga Falls.

Alex Antonio Sr., Squaw Creek Country Club pro, and his son, Alex, Jr., 18, will compete in the sectional qualifier for the National Open, which will be at Westmoreland Country Club near Pittsburgh.

1938: County Commissioner Fred A. Wagner says Mahoning County’s WPA rolls are at their highest in history with 9,000 working, but there is still a waiting list of 2,193.

The Youngstown Chamber of Commerce takes a firm stand for local responsibility for relief and against the distribution of state aid on a uniform basis, echoing resolutions adopted by the national chamber.

Struthers’ new post office building, erected at a cost of $80,000 at Terrace and Bridge streets is near completion and the Struthers Businessman’s Association is planning a dedication ceremony.

Youngstown’s six city high schools are preparing to graduate 1,248 boys and girls, the largest number in the history of the city.