series. June 3, 1946 (Monday) By a 6–1 vote, the United States Supreme Court ruled in Morgan v. Virginia that a Virginia law, requiring segregation of white and African-American bus passengers, was illegal for interstate travel. The suit had been brought by Irene Morgan, who had refused to sit in the negro section of a bus traveling from Gloucester County, Virginia, to Baltimore, Maryland. Died: Mikhail I. Kalinin, 70, former president of the U.S.S.R. Ch'en Kung-po, 54, founding member of Chinese Communist Party and collaborator, was executed June 4, 1946 (Tuesday) The United States Army recovered a treasure trove of jewelry and manuscripts that had been stolen by a group of American officers from the Friedrichshof Castle in Kronberg, Germany. Women's Army Corps Captain Kathleen Nash Durant had hidden part of the loot at her sister's home in Hudson, Wisconsin, and her husband, Colonel Jack W. Durant, had hidden hundreds of diamonds and other gems in a locker at the Illinois Central railway station in Chicago. The National School Lunch Act was signed into law by U.S. President Harry S. Truman, permanently establishing federal financial support for free or low-cost meals for schoolchildren. The largest solar prominence observed up to that time occurred. The prominence, extending above the surface of the Sun, was seen from the observatory at Climax, Colorado, by astronomer Walter Orr Roberts. The prominence had been measured at only an hour earlier. At its height, the prominence was nearly as long as the Sun's diameter; in a few more hours, it disappeared completely." June 5, 1946 (Wednesday) A fire at the La Salle Hotel in Chicago killed 57 people. When the blaze broke out at 12:20 am, there were 1,059 guests and 108 employees in the 20-story building. Firefighters were not called until 15 minutes after the flames were spotted, and by 12:35, the blaze had spread from the hotel's Silver Grill Cocktail Lounge throughout the lower floors. Most of the dead were guests on 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th floors of the twenty-story building. At least ten people jumped to their deaths. Died: George A. Hormel, 85, American multi-millionaire and founder of Hormel Foods June 6, 1946 (Thursday) The Basketball Association of America was formed in New York City. The forerunner of the NBA, the BAA awarded 13 big-city franchises, of which three — the Boston Celtics, the New York Knicks and the Golden State Warriors