Friday, June 29
1863 The very first First National Bank opens, in Davenport, Iowa.
1940, in the spring issue of Batman comics, mobsters killed a circus high-wire team known as the Flying Graysons, leaving an orphaned son. Dick Grayson was adopted by millionaire Bruce Wayne, and became Robin, the crime-fighting sidekick of Wayne’s alter-ego Batman.
1949, the government of South Africa enacted a ban against racially-mixed marriages.
1953, the TV quiz show Name That Tune debuted on NBC.
1956, sexy actress Marilyn Monroe married brainy playwright Arthur Miller.
1965 Playwright Arthur Miller and actress Marilyn Monroe are married. They later divorce.
1967 Actress Jayne Mansfield (The Girl Can’t Help It, Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter?) dies in a car accident at age 34.
1971, The city of Memphis, Tennessee voted to name a road in honor of Elvis Presley. The road is a 12-mile portion of highway that passes Graceland.
1972, the Supreme Court ruled that the death penalty, as it was being handed out, could constitute “cruel and unusual punishment.” States revised their capital punishment laws and the Supreme Court overruled itself in 1976, clearing the way for capital punishment again.
1990, for the first time since 1917, two no-hitters were thrown on the same day as the Oakland A’s Dave Stewart shut out the Toronto Blue Jays 5-0 and the Los Angeles Dodgers’ Fernando Valenzuela blanked the St. Louis Cardinals, 6-0.
1994, Prince Charles said in a British TV interview that he’d been unfaithful to Princess Diana after his marriage “became irretrievably broken down.”
1995, a department store in Seoul, South Korea, collapsed, killing 501 people.
1995, the U.S. space shuttle Atlantis and the Russian space station Mir linked for the first time, forming the largest man-made satellite ever to orbit the Earth. The five-day unified voyage was a practice run for the construction of an international space station.
2003 Actress Katherine Hepburn (actress, Bringing Up Baby, The Philadelphia Story, The African Queen, Guess Who’s Coming To Dinner, On Golden Pond) dies at age 96.
2005 Ben Affleck and Jennifer Garner are married.
Saturday, June 30
1934, Illusionist/magician Harry Blackstone Jr. is born. He dies in 1997.
1936, The federal law outlining a 40-hour work week is passed.
1936, The Margaret Mitchell novel Gone With The Wind is published.
1940, The comic strip Brenda Starr debuts.
1950, American troops are moved from Japan to help defend South Korea against the invading North Koreans.
1953, The first Corvette rolls off the Chevrolet assembly line in Flint, Michigan. The list price is $3,250.
1955, Bill Haley & his Comets hit Number One on the pop chart with “Rock Around The Clock,” a song many consider the first rock ‘n’ roll single.
1956, President Dwight Eisenhower signs a bill providing $33.5 billion for the construction of a national highway system.
1976, The city of Memphis, Tennessee, christens Elvis Presley Boulevard.
1979, The James Bond film Moonraker opens in theaters
1982 The time limit for the proposed Equal Rights Amendment expires. The ERA falls three states short of the total needed for ratification.
1983, Harlem’s Apollo Theatre is designated a New York landmark.
1986, Sparky Anderson becomes the first baseball manager to win 600 games as manager in the National and American leagues.
1993 Actor George McFarland (The Little Rascals‘ Spanky) dies at age 64.
1994, Barbra Streisand sets a record for the largest-grossing concert stand, taking in $16 million for a series of shows at Madison Square Garden in New York.
1996, A copy of Action Comics #1, the 1938 issue that features the first appearance of Superman, sells at a Sotheby’s auction for $61,900.
1997, Mike Tyson apologized publicly for biting Evander Holyfield‘s ears during a heavyweight championship boxing match in Las Vegas two days earlier, saying he’d become angered after Holyfield head-butted him.
1998, Linda Tripp, whose tape-and-tell friendship with Monica Lewinsky spurred a White House crisis, spent six hours testifying before a grand jury in Washington.
1998, Officials confirmed that the previously unidentified remains of a Vietnam War serviceman buried in the Tomb of the Unknowns at Arlington National Cemetery were those of Air Force pilot Michael J. Blassie.
2004 The movie Spider-Man 2, starring Tobey Maguire, Kirsten Dunst, James Franco, Alfred Molina,Willem Dafoe, and Cliff Robertson, opens.
Sunday, July 1
1867, Canada became a self-governing dominion of Great Britain as the British North America Act took effect.
1898, Theodore Roosevelt and his band of “Rough Riders” waged a victorious assault on San Juan Hill in Cuba during the Spanish-American War.
1915 Blues legend Willie Dixon is born. He dies in 1992.
1929, cartoonist Elzie Segar created the spinach-eating sailor character Popeye.
1935, cartoon character Porky Pig debuted in I Haven’t Got A Hat.
1943, “pay-as-you-go” income tax withholding began.
1947 Actress-comedienne Shirley Hemphill (What’s Happening!!) is born. She dies in 1999.
1961 Princess Diana is born. She dies in 1997.
1963, The postal service introduced the first 5-digit zip code.
1969, Queen Elizabeth‘s son Charles was invested as the 21st Prince of Wales.
1979 Sony introduces the Walkman.
1979, suffragette Susan B. Anthony was commemorated on a dollar coin.
1991, President George H.W. Bush nominated Judge Clarence Thomas to the U.S. Supreme Court. His confirmation process was marked by allegations of sexual harassment by Anita Hill. Thomas won confirmation anyway.
1991 Actor Michael Landon (Bonanza, Little House On The Prairie, Highway To Heaven) dies at age 54.
1995 Actor-disc jockey Wolfman Jack (American Graffiti) dies at age 56.
1997, Hong Kong reverted to Chinese rule after 156 years as a British colony.
1997 Actor Robert Mitchum (The Night Of The Hunter, Cape Fear, The Longest Day, The Friends Of Eddie Coyle, Midway, The Big Sleep, That Championship Season, Scrooged) dies at age 79.
1998, Barbra Streisand and James Brolin married at Streisand’s Malibu estate.
2000, The confederate flag is removed from atop South Carolina’s Statehouse. A smaller version is raised in front of Confederate soldier’s monument on Statehouse grounds.
2000 Actor Walter Matthau (The Odd Couple, Hello, Dolly, The Taking Of Pelham One-Two-Three, The Bad News Bears) dies at age 79.
2001, Vice President Dick Cheney rested at home, a day after having a new pacemaker implanted in his chest.
2004 Actor Marlon Brando (A Streetcar Named Desire, Guys And Dolls, The Godfather, Apocalypse Now, The Freshman) dies at age 80.
