Events, Births and Deaths Happening on this Date
Tuesday, June 30, 2026
Today is the 181st day of 2026. There are 184 days left in this year.
Notable Events
1758
Habsburg Austrian forces in the Seven Years' War destroy a Prussian reinforcement and supply convoy in the Battle of Domstadtl, helping to expel Prussian King Frederick the Great from Moravia.
1794
Native American forces in the Northwest Indian War under Blue Jacket attack Fort Recovery.
1859
French acrobat Blondin crossed Niagara Falls on a tightrope as 5,000 spectators watched.
1860
The 1860 Oxford evolution debate at the Oxford University Museum of Natural History takes place.
1864
U.S. President Abraham Lincoln grants Yosemite Valley to California for "public use, resort and recreation".
1882
Charles J. Guiteau is hanged in Washington, D.C. for the assassination of U.S. President James Garfield.
1886
The first transcontinental train trip across Canada departs from Montreal, Quebec. It arrives in Port Moody, British Columbia on July 4.
1900
A savage fire wrecked three steamships docked at a pier in Hoboken, New Jersey. Over 200 crew members and passengers are killed, and hundreds injured.
1905
Albert Einstein sends the article On the Electrodynamics of Moving Bodies, in which he introduces special relativity, for publication in Annalen der Physik.
1906
Congress passed the Meat Inspection Act and Pure Food and Drug Act, which required better sanitary conditions in slaughterhouses and meat-packing plants.
1908
The Tunguska Event, the largest impact event on Earth in human recorded history, resulting in a massive explosion over Eastern Siberia.
1912
The Regina Cyclone, Canada's deadliest tornado event, kills 28 people in Regina, Saskatchewan.
1921
U.S. President Warren G. Harding appoints former President William Howard Taft as Chief Justice of the United States.
1922
In Washington D.C., U.S. Secretary of State Charles Evans Hughes and Dominican Ambassador Francisco J. Peynado sign the Hughes-Peynado agreement, which ends the United States occupation of the Dominican Republic.
1934
Adolf Hitler began his "The Night of the Long Knives" 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 in New York. It would go on to become one of the best-selling books of all time.
1936
Emperor Haile Selassie of Abyssinia appeals for aid to the League of Nations against Italy's invasion of his country.
1937
The world's first emergency telephone number, 999, is introduced in London.
1944
The WW2 Battle of Cherbourg ends with the fall of the strategically valuable port to American forces.
1952
''The Guiding Light,'' a popular radio program, made its debut as a television soap opera on CBS.
1953
The first ever Chevrolet Corvettes were built at the General Motors plant in Flint, Michigan.
1956
A TWA Super Constellation and a United Airlines DC-7 collide above the Grand Canyon in Arizona and crash, killing all 128 on board both airliners.
1959
A United States Air Force F-100 Super Sabre from Kadena Air Base, Okinawa, crashes into a nearby elementary school, killing 11 students plus six residents from the local neighborhood.
1960
Belgian Congo gains independence as Republic of the Congo.
1963
Pope Paul VI was crowned the 262nd head of the Roman Catholic Church.
1963
A car bomb, intended for Mafia boss Salvatore Greco, kills seven police officers and military personnel near Palermo Sicily.
1966
The National Organization for Women, the United States' largest feminist organization, is founded.
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
A Soviet space mission ended in tragedy when three cosmonauts aboard Soyuz 11 were found dead inside their spacecraft after it returned to Earth.
1972
The first leap second is added to the UTC time system.
1973
Supersonic Jet Concorde 001 intercepts the path of a total solar eclipse and follows the moon's shadow, experiencing the longest total eclipse observation.
1977
The Southeast Asia Treaty Organization disbands.
1985
Thirty-nine American hostages from a hijacked TWA jetliner were freed in Beirut after being held for 17 days.
1985
Thirty-nine American hostages from the hijacked TWA Flight 847 are freed in Beirut after being held for 17 days.
1986
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled 5-4 in Bowers v. Hardwick that states can outlaw homosexual acts between consenting adults.
1989
A coup in Sudan deposes the democratically elected government of Prime Minister Sadiq al-Mahdi and President Ahmed al-Mirghani.
1990
East and West Germany merge their economies.
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.
1994
During a test flight of an Airbus A330-300 at Toulouse-Blagnac Airport, the aircraft crashes killing all seven people on board.
1997
In Hong Kong, the Union Jack was lowered for the last time over Government House as Britain prepared to hand the colony back to China after ruling it for 156 years.
1998
Officials confirmed that the remains of a Vietnam War serviceman buried in the Tomb of the Unknowns at Arlington National Cemetery were identified as those of Air Force pilot Michael J. Blassie.
2007
A Jeep Cherokee filled with propane canisters drives into the entrance of Glasgow Airport, Scotland in a failed terrorist attack. This was linked to the 2007 London car bombs that had taken place the day before.
2009
Yemenia Flight 626, an Airbus A310-300, crashes into the Indian Ocean near Comoros, killing 152 of the 153 people on board. A 14-year-old girl named Bahia Bakari survives the crash.
2013
Nineteen firefighters die controlling a wildfire near Yarnell, Arizona.
2013
Protests begin around Egypt against President Mohamed Morsi and the ruling Freedom and Justice Party, leading to their overthrow during the 2013 Egyptian coup.
2015
A Hercules C-130 military aircraft with 113 people on board crashes in a residential area in Medan, Indonesia, resulting in at least 116 deaths.
2019
President Donald Trump became the first sitting U.S. President to set foot in North Korea when he crossed the Korean Demilitarized Zone.
2021
The Tiger Fire ignites near Black Canyon City, Arizona, and goes on to burn 16,278 acres of land before being fully contained on July 30.
2023
A Tajik citizen with ISIS connections, wanted in Tajikistan for murder and kidnapping, kills two people at an airport in Moldova, after being denied entry to the country.
Notable Births
1891
Frank Simmons Leavitt was an American professional wrestler of the early 1900s, known by the ring name Man Mountain Dean. (d. 1953)
1891
Robert Herman Julius Friedrich, known by the ring name Ed "Strangler" Lewis, was an American professional wrestler and trainer. During his wrestling career, which spanned four decades, Lewis was a four-time World Heavyweight Wrestling Champion. (d. 1966)
1899
Madge Bellamy was an American stage and film actress. She was a popular leading lady in the 1920s and early 1930s. Bellamy's career declined in the sound era and ended following a romantic scandal in the 1940s. (d. 1990)
1917
Susan Hayward was an American actress best known for her film portrayals of women that were based on true stories. (d. 1975)
1917
Lena Horne was an American singer, actress, dancer, and civil rights activist. Horne's career spanned more than seventy years, appearing in film, television, and theatre. (d. 2010)
1919
Ed Yost, American inventor of the modern hot air balloon (d. 2007)
1926
Paul Berg, American biochemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2023)
1931
Andrew Hill, American jazz pianist and composer (d. 2007)
1934
Harry Bouton Blackstone Jr. was an American stage magician, author, and television performer. He is estimated to have pulled 80,000 rabbits from his sleeves and hats. (d. 1997)
1935
John Harlin, American pilot and mountaineer (d. 1966)
1937
Larry Henley was an American singer and songwriter, best known for co-writing the 1989 hit record "Wind Beneath My Wings". (d. 2014)
1943
Florence Ballard was an American singer and a founding member of the Motown vocal female group the Supremes. She sang on 16 top 40 singles with the group, including ten number-one hits. (d. 1976)
1944
Terrance Dee "Terry" Funk was an American professional wrestler. Widely considered one of the most influential and greatest professional wrestlers of all time, Funk was known for the longevity of his career which spanned more than 50 years. (d. 2023)
1952
David Garrison is an American actor. He is best known for playing Steve Rhoades on the television series Married... with Children.
1953
Hal Lindes is an American guitarist and film score composer best known for his time as a member of Dire Straits.
1955
Brian Vollmer is the lead singer and only remaining original member of Canadian hard rock group Helix. Since the band's inception in 1974, Vollmer had gone from lead singer to de facto leader of the band, weathering numerous lineup changes.
1959
Vincent D'Onofrio is an American actor and filmmaker. He is known for his supporting and leading roles in both film and television. He has been nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award.
1961
Lynne Jolitz is a figure in free software and founder of many startups in Silicon Valley. Together with her husband William, she created 386BSD, the first open-source Unix-based operating system for personal computers to be distributed over the Internet.
1962
Julianne Regan is an English/Irish singer, songwriter, and musician. She achieved success in the late 1980s and early 1990s having formed the band All About Eve. Her major role in the band was as lead singer and songwriter.
1966
Mike Tyson is an American professional boxer. Nicknamed "Iron Mike" and "Kid Dynamite" in his early career, and later known as "The Baddest Man on the Planet", Tyson is regarded as one of the greatest boxers of all time.
1968
Phil Anselmo is an American heavy metal musician best known as the lead singer for Pantera, Down, and Superjoint, amongst other musical projects.
1983
Katherine Ryan, UK-based Canadian comedian and presenter.
1985
Michael Phelps is an American former competitive swimmer. He is the most successful and most decorated Olympian of all time with a total of 28 medals.
Notable Deaths
1882
Charles J Guiteau assassinated James A. Garfield, president of the United States in 1881. Guiteau falsely believed he had played a major role in Garfield's election victory, for which he should have been rewarded with a consulship. (b. 1841)
1961
Lee de Forest, American inventor and electrical engineer. He invented the audion tube. It was patented as the first triode in 1908 (b. 1873)
1974
Alberta King was the mother of Martin Luther King Jr. She was the choir director of the Ebenezer Baptist Church. She was shot and killed in the church by 23-year-old Marcus Wayne Chenault 6 years after the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. (b. 1904)
1995
Gale Gordon was an American character actor who was Lucille Ball's longtime television foil, particularly as cantankerously combustible, tightfisted bank executive Theodore J. Mooney, on Ball's second television sitcom The Lucy Show. (b. 1906)
2001
Chet Atkins, known as "Mr. Guitar" and "The Country Gentleman", was an American musician who, along with Owen Bradley and Bob Ferguson, helped create the Nashville sound, the country music style which expanded its appeal to adult pop music fans. (b. 1924)
2003
Buddy Hackett was an American actor and comedian. (b. 1924)
2012
Yitzhak Shamir was an Israeli politician and the seventh prime minister of Israel, serving two terms. Before the establishment of the State of Israel, Shamir was a leader of the Zionist militant group Lehi, also known as the Stern Gang. (b. 1915)