Today is Tuesday, June 30, the 182nd day of 2020. There are 184 days left in the year.
Today’s Highlight in History:
On June 30, 1971, the Supreme Court ruled, 6-3, that the government could not prevent The New York Times or The Washington Post from publishing the Pentagon Papers.
On this date:
In 1865, eight people, including Mary Surratt and Dr. Samuel Mudd, were convicted by a military commission of conspiring with John Wilkes Booth, the assassin of President Abraham Lincoln. (Four defendants, including Surratt, were executed; Mudd was sentenced to life in prison, but was pardoned by President Andrew Johnson in 1869.)
In 1958, the U.S. Senate passed the Alaska statehood bill by a vote of 64-20.
In 1963, Pope Paul VI was crowned the 262nd head of the Roman Catholic Church.
In 1971, a Soviet space mission ended in tragedy when three cosmonauts aboard Soyuz 11 were found dead of asphyxiation inside their capsule after it had returned to Earth.
In 1982, the proposed Equal Rights Amendment to the U.S. Constitution expired, having failed to receive the required number of ratifications for its adoption, despite having its seven-year deadline extended by three years.
In 1986, the Supreme Court, in Bowers v. Hardwick, ruled 5-4 that states could outlaw homosexual acts between consenting adults (however, the nation’s highest court effectively reversed this decision in 2003 in Lawrence v. Texas).
In 1994, the U.S. Figure Skating Association stripped Tonya Harding of the national championship and banned her for life for her role in the attack on rival Nancy Kerrigan.
In 2009, American soldier Pfc. Bowe R. Bergdahl went missing from his base in eastern Afghanistan, and was later confirmed to have been captured by insurgents. (Bergdahl was released on May 31, 2014 in exchange for five Taliban detainees.)
In 2013, 19 elite firefighters known as members of the Granite Mountain Hotshots were killed battling a wildfire northwest of Phoenix after a change in wind direction pushed the flames back toward their position.
Today’s Birthdays: Actress Lea Massari is 87. Actress Nancy Dussault is 84. Songwriter Tony Hatch is 81. Singer Glenn Shorrock is 76. Actor Leonard Whiting is 70. Jazz musician Stanley Clarke is 69. Actor David Garrison is 68. Rock musician Hal Lindes (Dire Straits) is 67. Actor-comedian David Alan Grier is 64. Actor Vincent D’Onofrio is 61. Actress Deirdre Lovejoy is 58. Actor Rupert Graves is 57. Former boxer Mike Tyson is 54. Country singer Cole Swindell is 37. Rhythm and blues singer Fantasia is 36. Olympic gold medal swimmer Michael Phelps is 35.
