A bit of June 30th history…

1520 - Spanish conquistadors are expelled from Tenochtitlan following an Aztec revolt against their rule under Cortes during “La Noche Triste” (the night of sadness); many soldiers drowned in the escape and Aztec emperor Montezuma II died in the struggle.(pictured)

1860 - Famous debate on Charles Darwin’s Theory of Evolution at Oxford University

1906 - US Congress passes the Meat Inspection Act and the Pure Food and Drug Act; these laws owe much to the journalism of the period - Upton Sinclair’s “The Jungle” in particular

1908 - Tunguska Event: a giant fireball, most likely caused by the air burst of a large meteoroid or comet, flattens 80 million trees near Stoney Tunguska River in Russia; largest event in recorded history

1937 - World’s 1st emergency call telephone service is launched in London

1938 - Superman 1st appears in DC Comics’ Action Comic Series

1982 - Federal Equal Rights Amendment falls 3 states short of ratification 

June 30, 2021 at 07:37AM

President Abraham Lincoln signed the Yosemite Valley Grant Act, Senate Bill 203, on June 30, 1864. The legislation gave California the Yosemite Valley and the nearby Mariposa Big Tree Grove "upon the express conditions that the premises shall be held for public use, resort, and recreation." Continue reading.

Click here to search Today in History for other historic moments.

A bit of June 29th history…

1613 - Shakespeare’s Globe Theater in London burns down during a performance of Henry VIII (pictured)

1767 - British pass Townshend Revenue Act, levying taxes on America, helping to intensify opposition to British rule

1888 - 1st known recording of classical music made, Handel’s Israel in Egypt on a wax cylinder

1940 - US passes Alien Registration Act requiring aliens to register

2006 - US Supreme Court rules that President GW Bush’s plan to try Guantanamo Bay detainees in military tribunal violates US and international law

2008 - Thomas Beatie, world’s first pregnant man, gives birth to daughter

2009 - Financier Bernard Madoff sentenced to 150 years in prison, US maximum, for his massive Ponzi scheme

2015 - Beijing Times reports 30% of the Great Wall has disappeared due to natural forces and the stealing of bricks 

On June 29, 1852, statesman Henry Clay, known as "the Great Compromiser" for his feats of legislative reconciliation between the North and the South, died at the age of seventy-five at the Old National Hotel in Washington, D.C. Continue reading.

Click here to search Today in History for other historic moments.

June 29, 2021 at 02:37AM