TODAY IN HISTORY
TODAY IS SUNDAY, JUNE 30, the 181st day of 2019. There are 184 days left in the year.
TODAY’S HIGHLIGHT IN HISTORY: On this date in 1936, the Civil War novel “Gone with the Wind” by Margaret Mitchell was first published by The Macmillan Co. in New York.
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 1934, Adolf Hitler launched his “blood purge” of political and military rivals in Germany in what came to be known as “The Night of the Long Knives.”
In 1953, the first Chevrolet Corvette, with its innovative fiberglass body, was built at a General Motors assembly facility in Flint, Michigan.
In 1966, the National Organization for Women (NOW) was founded in Washington, D.C.
In 1977, President Jimmy Carter announced he had decided against production of the Rockwell B-1 bomber, saying it was too costly. The B-1 was later revived by President Ronald Reagan.
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 1997, the Union Jack was lowered for the last time over Government House in Hong Kong as Britain prepared to hand the colony back to China at midnight after ruling it for 156 years.
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 86. Actress Nancy Dussault is 83. Actor Leonard Whiting is 69. Rock musician Hal Lindes (Dire Straits) is 66. Actor-comedian David Alan Grier is 63. Actor Vincent D’Onofrio is 60. Actor Rupert Graves is 56. Former boxer Mike Tyson and actor Peter Outerbridge are 53. Actors Brian Bloom and Brian Vincent are 49. Actress Monica Potter is 48. Actress Molly Parker is 47. Rock musician James Adam Shelley (American Authors) and country singer Cole Swindell are 36. Rhythm and blues singer Fantasia is 35. Olympic gold medal swimmer Michael Phelps is 34. Actor Sean Marquette (TV: “The Goldbergs”) is 31.