Thursday, June 30

This Day In History

• 1841   The Erie Railroad rolled out its first passenger train on this day.
• 1859   French acrobat Blondin crossed Niagara Falls on a tightrope as 5,000 spectators watched.
• 1921   Documents were signed forming the Radio Corporation of America, better known as RCA. RCA soon rivaled its main competitor, General Electric (GE).
• 1921   President Warren G. Harding appointed former President William Howard Taft chief justice of the United States.
• 1934   Adolf Hitler began his ''blood purge'' of political and military leaders in Germany. Among those killed was one-time Hitler ally Ernst Roehm, leader of the Nazi stormtroopers.
• 1936   The novel ''Gone with the Wind'' by Margaret Mitchell was published.
• 1952   ''The Guiding Light,'' a popular radio program, made its debut as a television soap opera on CBS.
• 1963   Pope Paul VI was crowned the 262nd head of the Roman Catholic Church.
• 1971   The 26th Amendment to the Constitution, lowering the minimum voting age to 18, was ratified as Ohio became the 38th state to approve it.
• 1971   Three Soviet cosmonauts aboard Soyuz 11 were found dead inside their spacecraft after it returned to Earth.
• 1985   Thirty-nine American hostages from a hijacked TWA jetliner were freed in Beirut after being held for 17 days.
• 1986   The Supreme Court ruled 5-4 that states could outlaw homosexual acts between consenting adults.
• 1994   The U.S. Figure Skating Association stripped Tonya Harding of the 1994 national championship and banned her from the organization for life for an attack on rival Nancy Kerrigan.
• 1997   As the clock struck midnight, Red China reclaimed Hong Kong from Great Britain and the British Crown’s 156-year colonial rule came to an end. Many had predicted the worst, but Hong Kong seamlessly made the transition to a Special Administrative Region of China. As British Prime Minister Tony Blair remarked, “The vision of one country, two systems has become a reality ... I have been impressed by the Chinese leadership’s hands-off approach.”
• 1998   Officials confirmed that the remains of a Vietnam War serviceman buried in the Tomb of the Unknowns at Arlington National Cemetery had been identified as those of Air Force pilot Michael J. Blassie.
• 2001   Doctors implanted a dual-purpose pacemaker in Vice President Dick Cheney's chest.
• 2001   Guitarist Chet Atkins died in Nashville, Tenn., at age 77.
• 2002   Leonard Gregg, a part-time firefighter, was charged with starting one of the two wildfires that merged into a monstrous blaze in eastern Arizona.

Happy Birthday To

• 1768   Elizabeth Monroe (Kortright) (First Lady: wife of 5th U.S. President James Monroe; died Sep 23, 1830)
• 1917   Susan Hayward (Edythe Marrender) (Academy Award-winning actress: I Want to Live [1958], I’ll Cry Tomorrow, Valley of the Dolls; died Mar 14, 1975)
• 1966   Mike Tyson (boxer: youngest heavyweight champion [20 years + 144 days])