June 30
End of Second Quarter, End of first half of the year
NATIONAL Meteor Watch Day
NATIONAL Social Media Day
Today in legal and military [and occasional oddities] history
1834 Congress placed the Marine Corps under Navy jurisdiction
1859 Jean Francois Gravelet aka Emile Blondin, a French daredevil acrobat, becomes the first man to walk across Niagara Falls on a tightrope
1908 A mysterious explosion, possibly the result of a meteorite, levels thousands of trees in the Tunguska region of Siberia with a force approaching twenty megatons
1936 Margaret Mitchell’s novel, Gone With the Wind, is published
1958 Congress passed a law authorizing the admission of Alaska as the 49th state in the Union, the first new state since 1912
1960 Alfred Hitchcock’s film, Psycho, opens
1997 Hong Kong reverts to China, ending 150 years of British rule
June 29
INTERNATIONAL Mud Day
NATIONAL Camera Day
NATIONAL Hug Holiday
NATIONAL Waffle Iron Day
NATIONAL Handshake Day [last Thursday in June]
Today in legal and military [and occasional oddities] history
1613 London's Globe Theatre burned down during a performance of Shakespeare's Henry VIII
1652 Massachusetts declares itself an independent commonwealth
1767 The British parliament passes the Townshend Revenue Act, levying taxes on America
1917 The Ukraine proclaims independence from Russia
1925 An earthquake ravages Santa Barbara, California
1938 Mesa Verde National Park, Colorado, and Olympic National Park, Washington, are founded
1972 The Supreme Court ruled in Furman v. Georgia that the death penalty could constitute "cruel and unusual" punishment, prompting some states to revise their laws
1995 The shuttle Atlantis and the Russian space station Mir docked, forming the largest man-made satellite ever to orbit the Earth
June 28
INTERNATIONAL Body Piercing Day
NATIONAL Paul Bunyon Day
NATIONAL Insurance Awareness Day
NATIONAL Tapioca Day
Today in legal and military [and occasional oddities] history
1778 “Molly Pitcher,” Mary Ludwig Hays McCauley, wife of an American artilleryman, carried water to the soldiers during the Revolutionary War Battle of Monmouth, NJ and allegedly took her husband’s place at his gun after he is overcome with heat
1884 Congress declares Labor Day a legal holiday
1902 Congress passes the Spooner bill, authorizing a canal to be built across the Isthmus of Panama
1911 Samuel J. Battle becomes the first African-American policeman in New York City
1914 Archduke Francis Ferdinand of Austria-Hungary and his wife were assassinated, setting off World War I
1919 Germany signs the Treaty of Versailles with the Allies, officially ending World War I
1948 Berlin Airlift begins
1970 Muhammad Ali stands before the Supreme Court regarding his refusal of induction into the US Army during the Vietnam War
1971 The Supreme Court overturns the draft evasion conviction of Muhammad Ali
1978 The Supreme Court ruled in Regents of the University of California v. Bakke that the use of quotas in affirmative action programs was not permissible
1996 The Citadel voted to admit women, ending a 153-year-old men-only policy at the South Carolina military school
1997 Boxer Mike Tyson bit Evander Holyfield's ear during their heavyweight title fight, earning a 16-month suspension
2000 Elian Gonzalez was returned to his father in Cuba
2004 The US Supreme Court ruled 6-3 that detainees at Guantanamo must have access to the US legal system. The Court ruled that the war on terrorism did not give the government a “blank check” to hold a US citizen and foreign-born terror suspects in legal limbo.
June 27
NATIONAL Sunglasses Day
NATIONAL Pineapple Day
NATIONAL Helen Keller Day
Today in legal and military [and occasional oddities] history
1778 The Liberty Bell came home to Philadelphia after the British left
1829 In Genoa, Italy, English scientist James Smithson dies after a long illness, leaving behind a will with a peculiar footnote. In the event that his only nephew died without any heirs [which is what happened], Smithson decreed that the whole of his estate would go to “the United States of America, to found at Washington, under the name of the Smithsonian Institution, an Establishment for the increase and diffusion of knowledge.”
1922 The Newbery Medal for children’s literature was first awarded
1927 The US Marines adopt the English bulldog as their mascot
1929 Scientists at Bell Laboratories in New York revealed a system for transmitting television pictures
1945 The FCC allocates airwaves for 13 TV stations
1950 President Harry S. Truman ordered the Air Force and Navy into the Korean War
1980 President Carter signed legislation reviving draft registration
1985 The legendary Route 66, running from Chicago to Santa Monica, California, was decertified, the victim of the Interstate Highway System
2003 The national Do-Not-Call Registry, formed to combat unwanted telemarketing calls and administered by the Federal Trade Commission, enrolled almost three-quarters of a million phone numbers on its first day
June 26
NATIONAL Beautician's Day
NATIONAL Forgiveness Day
NATIONAL Canoe Day
NATIONAL Chocolate Pudding Day
Today in legal and military [and occasional oddities] history
1819 The bicycle was patented by W. K. Clarkson
1843 Hong Kong was proclaimed a British crown colony
1884 Congress authorizes commissioning of Naval Academy graduates as ensigns
1963 President John Kennedy announces “Ich bin ein Berliner” at the Berlin Wall
June 25
GLOBAL Beatles Day
NATIONAL Log Cabin Day
NATIONAL Catfish Day
NATIONAL Color TV Day
Today in legal and military [and occasional oddities] history
1788 Virginia became the 10th state in the Union
1868 Florida, Alabama, Louisiana, Georgia, North Carolina and South Carolina were re-admitted to the Union
1868 The US Congress enacts legislation granting an eight-hour day to workers employed by the federal government
1876 General George A. Custer and over 260 men of the Seventh Cavalry are wiped out by Sioux and Cheyenne Indians at Little Bighorn in Montana
1876 Alexander Graham Bell demonstrated his telephone at the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia
1903 Marie Curie announces her discovery of radium
1950 Communist North Korean troops invaded South Korea, beginning the Korean War
1951 The first commercial color TV program was transmitted by CBS from New York to Baltimore, Philadelphia, Boston, and Washington, DC
1962 The US Supreme Court bans official prayers in public schools
1981 The US Supreme Court holds male-only draft registration constitutional
June 24
NATIONAL Fairy Day
NATIONAL Swim a Lap Day
Today in legal and military [and occasional oddities] history
1497 Explorer John Cabot lands in North America in present-day Canada
1664 The colony of New Jersey, named after the Isle of Jersey, is founded
1861 Tennessee becomes 11th state to secede from the Union
1964 The Federal Trade Commission announces that, starting in 1965, cigarette makers must include warning labels about the harmful effects of smoking
