Today In History
Today is Friday, June 26, the 178th day of 2020. There are 188 days left in the year.
TODAY’S HIGHLIGHT
› 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
› 1911: John J. McDermott became the first American-born golf player to win the U.S. Open, played in Chicago.
› 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).
› 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.
› 1977: Elvis Presley performed his last concert at Market Square Arena in Indianapolis.
› 1996: The Supreme Court ordered the Virginia Military Institute to admit women or forgo state support.
› 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”).
› 2013: The U.S. Supreme Court gave the nation’s legally married gay couples equal federal footing with all other married Americans.
TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS
Jazz musician-film composer Dave Grusin is
86. Actor Josef Sommer is
86. Singer Billy Davis Jr. is
82. Actor Robert Davi is
69. Singer-musician Mick Jones is 65. Actor Gedde Watanabe is 65. Rock singer Chris Isaak is 64. Rock singer Patty Smyth is 63. 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. Actor Matt Letscher is 50. Actor Chris O’Donnell is 50. Actress Rebecca Budig is 47. Rock musician Nathan Followill (Kings of Leon) is 41. Pop-rock singer-musician Ryan Tedder (OneRepublic) is 41. Actor-musician Jason Schwartzman is
40. Actress Aubrey Plaza is 36. Actress-singer Jennette McCurdy is 28. Actress-singer Ariana Grande is 27.