Events, Births and Deaths Happening on this Date

1767

The British Parliament approved the Townshend Revenue Acts, which imposed import duties on glass, lead, paint, paper and tea shipped to America. Colonists bitterly protested the Acts, which were repealed in 1770.

1776

the Virginia state constitution was adopted and Patrick Henry was made governor.

1927

The first ever Trans-Pacific flight was accomplished, as Lester Maitland and Albert Hegenberger flew from Oakland, California to Hawaii in just 25 hours and 50 minutes.

1946

British authorities arrested more than 2,700 Jews in Palestine in an attempt to stamp out alleged terrorism.

1956

President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed the Federal Highway Act into law, which established funding to construct over 41,000 miles for the U.S. Interstate Highway System.

1966

The United States bombed fuel storage facilities near the North Vietnamese cities of Hanoi and Haiphong.

1967

Jerusalem was reunified as Israel removed barricades separating the Old City from the Israeli sector.

1972

The Supreme Court ruled the death penalty could constitute ''cruel and unusual punishment.'' The ruling prompted states to revise their capital punishment laws.

1977

The Supreme Court ruled in Coker v. Georgia that the death penalty for rape was unconstitutional and that only people convicted of murder or treason could be executed.

1987

An anonymous European collector purchased Vincent van Gogh's 'Le Pont de Trinquetaille' for $20.4 million at an auction in London, England

1992

A divided Supreme Court ruled that women have a constitutional right to abortion, but the justices also weakened the right as defined by the Roe vs. Wade decision.

1995

A department store in Seoul, South Korea, collapsed, killing 501 people and injuring more than 900.

1995

The shuttle Atlantis and the Russian space station Mir docked, forming the largest man-made satellite ever to orbit the Earth.

1998

With negotiations on a new labor agreement at a standstill, the NBA announced that a lockout would be imposed at midnight.

2007

Apple Inc. released its first mobile phone, the iPhone.

2022

Earth experienced its shortest day in recorded history, with June 29 being 1.59 milliseconds shorter than a standard day.

1861

William James Mayo. One of the seven original founders of the May Clinic, the prominent nonprofit academic medical center located in Rochester, Minnesota.

1941

Polish statesman, pianist and composer Ignace Jan Paderewski died in New York at age 80.

1967

Actress Jayne Mansfield, 34, and two male companions died when their car struck a trailer truck in the pre-dawn darkness east of New Orleans.

1995

Actress Lana Turner died in Century City, Calif., at age 74.