Today is Wednesday, June 3, the 154th day of 2009. There are 211 days left in the year.

TODAY’S HIGHLIGHT

On June 3, 1808, Jefferson Davis — the first and only president of the Confederate States of America — was born in Christian County, Ky.

ON THIS DATE

In 1621, the Dutch West India Company received its charter for a trade monopoly in parts of the Americas and Africa.

In 1888, the poem “Casey at the Bat,” by Ernest Lawrence Thayer, was first published, in the San Francisco Daily Examiner.

In 1935, the French liner Normandie set a record on its maiden voyage, arriving in New York after crossing the Atlantic in just four days.

In 1937, the Duke of Windsor, who had abdicated the British throne, married Wallis Warfield Simpson in Monts, France.

In 1963, Pope John XXIII died at age 81; he was succeeded by Pope Paul VI.

In 1965, astronaut Edward White became the first American to “walk” in space, during the flight of Gemini 4.

In 1968, pop artist Andy Warhol was shot and critically wounded in his New York film studio, known as “The Factory,” by Valerie Solanas, an actress and self-styled militant feminist.

In 1983, Gordon Kahl, a militant tax protester wanted in the slayings of two U.S. marshals in North Dakota, was killed in a gun battle with law-enforcement officials near Smithville, Ark.

In 1989, Iran’s spiritual leader, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, died.

In 2004, President George W. Bush announced the resignation of CIA Director George Tenet amid a controversy over intelligence lapses about suspected weapons of mass destruction in Iraq and the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. Julio Franco became, at age 45, the oldest player in major league history to hit a grand slam, connecting in Atlanta’s 8-4 victory over Philadelphia.

In 2008, Barack Obama clinched the Democratic presidential nomination, making him the first black candidate to lead his party.

Associated Press