The second day of June has many connections to governmental and diplomatic history, but unlike many historical dates, which are marked by connection to tragic events, the second day of the sixth month has for many centuries has more often been the date of celebratory occasions.
Not only was it the birth date of many world leaders and governmental figures, including two popes, Leo XI (1535-1605) and Pius X (1835-1914), Emperor Murakami of Japan (926-967), the first American first lady, Martha Washington (1731-1802), and the final king of the Hellenes, Constantine II.
It has also been the date of four particularly noteworthy jubilant world events.
In 1886, the then, 22nd President of the United States, Grover Cleveland (1837–1908) became the only American president, to date, to wed in the White House.
Other weddings had already taken place at the official presidential residence. The first wedding in the White House had been the 1820 marriage ceremony of President James Monroe’s younger daughter, Maria. There would also be more White House weddings, including the 1971 wedding of President Richard Nixon’s older daughter, Tricia. There had even been a president, prior to Cleveland, who had married while in presidential office, but Grover Cleveland remains the only United States president to have married in the presidential residence itself.
Cleveland’s bride was the young Frances Folsom (1864-1947), the daughter of his friend, Oscar Folsom. The Clevelands remained married for twenty-two years, and had five children. After her husband’s death in 1908, France married again in 1913, making her the first presidential widow to remarry.
In 1946, the second day of the sixth month served as the date upon which the Italian Republic was officially born. In a referendum, Italians voted that Italy should be ruled as a republic rather than as a monarchy.
The desire for this change in governance had been brewing since World War I (1914-1918). While the country remained ravaged by the war, Dictator Benito Mussolini (1883-1945) took power in 1922, but the monarchy also remained in existence.
Following World War II (1939-1945) and the fall of Mussolini, Umberto II (1904-1983) served as the final King of Italy for only a month. Once Italy was to become a republic, Umberto abdicated and lived the remainder of his life exiled in Portugal.
As opposed to the second day of June marking the birth of a republic and signaling the end of the Italian monarchy, seven years later, the date served as the coronation day of one of the monarch of one of Europe’s few surviving monarchies.
On June 2, 1953, Queen Elizabeth II of Great Britain was crown in Westminster Abbey, and it was the first coronation of a British monarch to be televised.
To date, Elizabeth II has ruled for 58 years, and the only British monarch to ruler for a longer length of time was George III (1738-1820), who reigned for 59 years.
Finally, in 1979, June 2 was marked by respected Pope John Paul II (1920-2005) visiting his homeland of Poland, becoming the first pope to enter a communist country.
Thus, in a little less then one hundred years, the second day of June has served as the date of four notable, and mainly celebratory, events.
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