Today in History

Today in History

Today is Wednesday, June 29, the 181st day of 2016. There are 185 days left in the year.

Today's Highlight in History:

On June 29, 1956, actress Marilyn Monroe married playwright Arthur Miller in a civil ceremony in White Plains, New York. (The couple also wed in a Jewish ceremony on July 1; the marriage lasted 4 1/2 years).

On this date:

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 1880, France annexed Tahiti, which became a French colony on December 30, 1880.

In 1913, the Second Balkan War broke out as Bulgaria attacked Serbia and Greece, its former allies from the First Balkan War.

In 1927, the first trans-Pacific airplane flight was completed as 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.

In 1941, Polish statesman, pianist and composer Ignacy Jan Paderewski died in New York at age 80.

In 1954, the Atomic Energy Commission voted against reinstating Dr. J. Robert Oppenheimer's access to classified information.

In 1966, the United States launched airstrikes on fuel storage facilities near the North Vietnamese cities of Hanoi and Haiphong (HY'-fahng).

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 1988, the U.S. Supreme Court, in Morrison v. Olson, upheld the independent counsel law in a 7-1 decision (the sole dissenter was Justice Antonin Scalia).

In 1992, the remains of Polish statesman Ignacy Jan Paderewski, interred for five decades in the United States, were returned to his homeland in keeping with his wish to be buried only in a free Poland.

In 1995, the space shuttle Atlantis and the Russian Mir space station linked in orbit, beginning a historic five-day voyage as a single ship. A department store in Seoul, South Korea, collapsed, killing at least 500 people. Actress Lana Turner died in Century City, California, at age 74.

In 2003, actress Katharine Hepburn died in Old Saybrook, Connecticut, at age 96.

Ten years ago: 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. The government announced it had recovered a stolen laptop computer and hard drive with sensitive data on up to 26.5 million veterans and military personnel, and that the data was not accessed or copied.

Five years ago: In the first ruling by a federal appeals court on President Barack Obama's health care overhaul, a panel in Cincinnati handed the administration a victory by agreeing that the government could require a minimum amount of insurance for Americans. Greece fended off bankruptcy as lawmakers backed austerity measures in the face of riots that left more than 100 injured.

One year ago: A deeply divided Supreme Court upheld the use of a controversial drug, midazolam, in lethal-injection executions. (Executions that employed midazolam took longer than usual and raised concerns that the drug did not perform its intended task of putting inmates into a coma-like sleep.) A car bomb killed Egypt's chief prosecutor, Hisham Barakat, in the country's first assassination of a senior official in 25 years. Stanley Cup winners Nicklas Lidstrom, Chris Pronger and Sergei Fedorov and former NHL star Phil Housley were among the seven newcomers in the Hockey Hall of Fame.

Today's Birthdays: Movie producer Robert Evans is 86. Songwriter L. Russell Brown is 76. Singer-songwriter Garland Jeffreys is 73. Actor Gary Busey is 72. Comedian Richard Lewis is 69. Actor-turned-politician-turned-radio personality Fred Grandy is 68. Rock musician Ian Paice (Deep Purple) is 68. Singer Don Dokken (Dokken) is 63. Rock singer Colin Hay (Men At Work) is 63. Actress Maria Conchita Alonso is 59. Actress Sharon Lawrence is 55. Actress Amanda Donohoe is 54. Actress Judith Hoag is 53. Violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter is 53. Rhythm-and-blues singer Stedman Pearson (Five Star) is 52. Actress Kathleen Wilhoite is 52. Producer-writer Matthew Weiner is 51. Musician Dale Baker is 50. Actress Melora Hardin is 49. Rap DJ Shadow is 44. Actress Zuleikha Robinson is 39. Country musician Todd Sansom (Marshall Dyllon) is 38. Singer Nicole Scherzinger is 38. Comedian-writer Colin Jost (johst) is 34. Actress Lily Rabe is 34. Rhythm-and-blues singer Aundrea Fimbres is 33.

Thought for Today: "Words can sting like anything, but silence breaks the heart." -- Phyllis McGinley, American poet and author (1905-1978).