This Week in History

JUNE 29

Laura Cryan was born.

Sal Lopizzo was born.

1972 – The Supreme Court ruled in Furman v. Georgia that the death penalty could constitute as cruel and unusual, prompting some states to revise their laws.

June 30 

Sean McVeigh was born.

Meg Greene Riley was born.

Theodore Stathis was born.

Michele Dickesheid was born.

Alison McGovern was born.

1859 – French acrobat Charles Blondin, AKA Jean Francois Gravelet, walked across Niagara Falls on a tightrope.

1971 – The 26th Amendment, which lowered the voting age to 18, was ratified by the states.

July 1

Ray Agoglia was born.

Bridget O’Connor was born.

John T. Meier was born.

1863 – The Battle of Gettysburg, which marked the turning point in the Civil War, began.

1997 – After 156 years of British colonial rule, Hong Kong was returned to China.

July 2

Michael Delia was born.

Lakia Echols was born.

1964 – President Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act of 1964 into law.

2002 – Steve Fossett became the first to circumnavigate the globe solo in a balloon.

July 3

Patricia Rorke was born.

John McGunigle was born.

James Galleshaw was born.

1890 – Idaho became the 43rd state in the United States.

1962 – Jackie Robinson became the first African American to be inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame.

July 4 

The United States of America was born.

Janice Daly was born.

Neil Rowe was born.

Christine Mahoney-Schneider was born.

1826 – Former presidents John Adams and Thomas Jefferson both died.

1831 – Former president James Monroe died.

July 5

Justin Daly was born.

Michael Kohler was born.

Tina Schlissel was born.

1811 – Venezuela became the first South American country to declare independence from Spain.

1996 – Dolly, the first sheep cloned from adult cells, was born.