June Pitt (1935 - 1941)

Refresh this page to see various historical events that occurred during June's lifetime.

In 1935, in the year that June Pitt was born, on September 8th, Louisiana Senator Huey Long was shot by Dr. Carl Weiss. Weiss was shot and killed immediately by Long's bodyguards - Long died two days later from his injuries. Long had received many death threats previously, as well as threats against his family. He was a powerful and controversial figure in Louisiana politics (and probably gained power through multiple criminal acts). His opponents became frustrated with their attempts to oust him and Dr. Weiss was the son-in-law of one of those opponents. His funeral was attended by 200,000 mourners.

In 1940, she was only 5 years old when in July, Billboard published its first Music Popularity Chart. Top recordings of the year were Tommy Dorsey's "I'll Never Smile Again" (vocal Frank Sinatra) - 12 weeks at the top, Bing Crosby's "Only Forever" - 9 weeks at the top, and Artie Shaw's "Frenesi" - 12 weeks at the top.

In 1941, in the year of June Pitt's passing, in his State of the Union address on January 6th, President Roosevelt detailed the "four freedoms" that everyone in the world should have: Freedom of speech, Freedom of worship, Freedom from want, and Freedom from fear. In the same speech, he outlined the benefits of democracy which he said were economic opportunity, employment, social security, and the promise of "adequate health care".

In 1945, at the age of only 10 years old, June was alive when on February 19th, US Marines landed on the island of Iwo Jima and the Battle of Iwo Jima began. Lasting 5 weeks, it was some of the bloodiest and fiercest fighting in the Pacific theater during World War II. The occupying Japanese forces were heavily armed and there were 21,000 Japanese soldiers on the island at the beginning of the battle. Only 216 Japanese soldiers were captured afterwards - the rest had been killed in action or committed suicide. 6,800 American soldiers died but the Americans took control of the island.