1962In Israel, former Nazi official Adolf Eichmann is hanged for his role in the holocaust that killed six million Jews during World War Two.

1819Walt Whitman, the poet and essayist whose works include “Leaves of Grass”, is born on New York's Long Island.

2003Eric Rudolph, wanted for years for a series of deadly bombings in the South, is arrested outside a grocery store in rural North Carolina. Rudolph, an anti-government extremist, gets life behind bars after pleading guilty to the bombings, including the Atlanta Olympic Park blast.

And 1930“Go ahead, make my day.” Clint Eastwood, actor, and an Oscar-winning director and producer, is born in San Francisco. His work on both sides of the camera includes “the Dirty Harry Movies”, “Unforgiven”, “Mystic River”, “Million Dollar Baby”, and two films about the battle of Iwo Jima.

Today in History, May 31st, Ross Simpson, the Associated Press.