Today is Friday, June 26, the 178th day of 2020. There are 188 days left in the year.
Today’s Highlight in History:
On June 26, 1948, the Berlin Airlift began in earnest after the Soviet Union cut off land and water routes to the isolated western sector of Berlin.
On this date:
In 1870, the first section of Atlantic City, New Jersey’s Boardwalk was opened to the public.
In 1911, John J. McDermott became the first American-born golf player to win the U.S. Open, played in Chicago.
In 1917, the first troops of the American Expeditionary Force deployed to France during World War I landed in St. Nazaire.
In 1936, President Franklin D. Roosevelt was nominated for a second term of office by delegates to the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia.
In 1963, President John F. Kennedy visited West Berlin, where he delivered his famous speech expressing solidarity with the city’s residents, declaring: “Ich bin ein Berliner” (I am a Berliner).
In 1974, the supermarket price scanner made its debut in Troy, Ohio, as a 10-pack of Wrigley’s Juicy Fruit chewing gum costing 67 cents and bearing a Uniform Product Code (UPC) was scanned by a Marsh Supermarket cashier.
In 1977, Elvis Presley performed his last concert at Market Square Arena in Indianapolis.
In 1997, the first Harry Potter novel, “Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone” by J.K. Rowling, was published in the United Kingdom (it was later released in the United States under the title “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone”).
In 2013, in deciding its first cases on the issue, the U.S. Supreme Court gave the nation’s legally married gay couples equal federal footing with all other married Americans and also cleared the way for same-sex marriages to resume in California.
Today’s Birthdays: Jazz musician-film composer Dave Grusin is 86. Actor Josef Sommer is 86. Singer Billy Davis Jr. is 82. Rock singer Georgie Fame is 77. Actor Clive Francis is 74. Rhythm and blues singer Brenda Holloway is 74. Actor Michael Paul Chan is 70. Actor Robert Davi is 69. Singer-musician Mick Jones is 65. Rock singer Chris Isaak is 64. Rock singer Patty Smyth is 63. Singer Terri Nunn (Berlin) is 61. U.S. Bicycling Hall of Famer Greg LeMond is 59. Rock singer Harriet Wheeler (The Sundays) is 57. Country musician Eddie Perez (The Mavericks) is 52. Rock musician Colin Greenwood (Radiohead) is 51. Writer-director Paul Thomas Anderson is 50. Actor Sean Hayes is 50. Actor Matt Letscher is 50. Actor Chris O’Donnell is 50. Actress-singer Ariana Grande is 27.
