Today’s Highlight in History:
On June 29, 1927, the first trans-Pacific airplane flight was completed as U.S. Army Air Corps Lt. Lester J. Maitland and Lt. Albert F. Hegenberger arrived at Wheeler Field in Hawaii aboard the Bird of Paradise, an Atlantic-Fokker C-2, after flying 2,400 miles from Oakland, California, in 25 hours, 50 minutes.
On this date:
In 1613, London’s original Globe Theatre, where many of Shakespeare’s plays were performed, was destroyed by a fire sparked by a cannon shot during a performance of “Henry VIII.”
In 1520, Montezuma II, the ninth and last emperor of the Aztecs, died in Tenochtitlan (tay-nohch-TEET’-lahn) under unclear circumstances (some say he was killed by his own subjects; others, by the Spanish).
In 1767, Britain approved the Townshend Revenue Act, which imposed import duties on glass, paint, oil, lead, paper and tea shipped to the American colonies. (Colonists bitterly protested, prompting Parliament to repeal the duties — except for tea.)
In 1776, the Virginia state constitution was adopted, and Patrick Henry was made governor.
In 1946, authorities in British-ruled Palestine arrested more than 2,700 Jews in an attempt to stamp out extremists.
In 1967, Jerusalem was reunified as Israel removed barricades separating the Old City from the Israeli sector.
In 1970, the United States ended a two-month military offensive into Cambodia.
In 1972, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down a trio of death sentences, saying the way they had been imposed constituted cruel and unusual punishment. (The ruling prompted states to effectively impose a moratorium on executions until their capital punishment laws could be revised.)
In 1978, actor Bob Crane of “Hogan’s Heroes” fame was found bludgeoned to death in an apartment in Scottsdale, Arizona, where he was appearing in a play; he was 49.
In 2006, the Supreme Court ruled, 5-3, that President George W. Bush’s plan to try Guantanamo Bay detainees in military tribunals violated U.S. and international law.
In 2009, disgraced financier Bernard Madoff received a 150-year sentence for his multibillion-dollar fraud. (Madoff died in prison in April 2021.)
In 2012: A day after the House voted to find Attorney General Eric Holder in contempt of Congress, the Justice Department said Holder’s decision to withhold information about a bungled gun-tracking operation from Congress did not constitute a crime. The younger brother and business partner of disgraced financier Bernard Madoff pleaded guilty to charges of doctoring documents, but Peter Madoff insisted he knew nothing about his brother’s massive Ponzi scheme. (Peter Madoff was later sentenced to 10 years in prison; he was released from home confinement in August 2020.) The U.S. Anti-Doping Agency filed formal charges against Lance Armstrong, accusing the seven-time Tour de France winner of using performance-enhancing drugs throughout the best years of his career. (The USADA ended up stripping Armstrong of all his Tour de France titles and issued a lifetime ban from cycling.)
In 2017: A scaled-back version of President Donald Trump’s travel ban took effect, stripped of provisions that brought protests and chaos at airports worldwide; the new rules tightened already-tough visa policies affecting citizens from six Muslim-majority countries.
In 2018, the Annapolis Capital Gazette newspaper in Maryland kept its promise to put out the day’s paper, despite the shooting deaths of five people in its newsroom a day earlier.
In 2021: Former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld died at the age of 88 in New Mexico; he had been Pentagon chief during the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan that toppled the Taliban regime following the 9/11 attacks, and also at the start of the long and costly Iraq war in 2003. Former South African President Jacob Zuma was sentenced to 15 months in prison for defying a court order to appear for questions about allegations of corruption; his jailing would spark violent rioting in which more than 330 people died.
Celebrity Birthdays
June 29: Actor Gary Busey is 79. Comedian Richard Lewis is 76. Actor-turned-Congressman-turned-radio host Fred Grandy is 75. Drummer Ian Paice of Deep Purple is 75. Singer Don Dokken of Dokken is 70. Singer Colin Hay of Men at Work is 70. Actor Maria Conchita Alonso is 68. Actor Sharon Lawrence (“Fired Up,” ″NYPD Blue”) is 62. Actor Amanda Donohoe is 61. Actor Judith Hoag (“Nashville”) is 60. Singer Stedman Pearson of Five Star is 59. Actor Kathleen Wilhoite (“Gilmore Girls,” “ER”) is 59. Actor Melora Hardin (“The Office”) is 56. Broadway actor Brian D’Arcy James (“Hamilton”) is 55. Actor Christina Chang (“The Good Doctor”) is 52. DJ and rapper DJ Shadow is 51. Actor Lance Barber (“Young Sheldon”) is 50. Musician Sam Farrar of Maroon 5 is 45. Actor Luke Kirby (“The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel”) is 45. Guitarist Todd Sansom of Marshall Dyllon is 45. Singer and TV personality Nicole Scherzinger (Pussycat Dolls, “The Masked Singer”) is 45. Comedian Colin Jost (“Saturday Night Live”) is 41. Actor Lily Rabe (“American Horror Story”) is 41. Singer Aundrea Fimbres of Danity Kane is 40. Actor Camila Mendes (“Riverdale”) is 29.