DAY IN HISTORY

Monday, June 29, 2020

Today is the 181st day of 2020 and the 10th day of summer. TODAY’S HISTORY: In 1956, President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed into law the Federal-aid Highway Act, creating the interstate system.

In 1972, in Furman v. Georgia, the Supreme Court ruled that the death penalty as it was then applied in the United States was unconstitutional “cruel and unusual punishment.”

In 1974, Isabel Peron was sworn in as Argentina’s president, becoming the Western Hemisphere’s first female head of government.

In 1995, the space shuttle Atlantis docked with the Russian Mir station in orbit for the first time.

In 2007, Apple Inc. released the first iphone.

TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS: Harry Frazee (1881-1929), producer/ Red Sox owner; Alan Blumlein (1903-1942), engineer; Leroy Anderson (1908-1975), composer; Slim Pickens (1919-1983), actor; Harmon Killebrew (19362011), baseball player; Gary Busey (1944- ), actor; Richard Lewis (1947- ), actor/comedian; Dan Dierdorf (1949), football player/sportscaster; Michael Nutter (1957- ), politician; Matthew Weiner (1965), TV writer/producer; Bret Mckenzie (1976- ), comedian/musician; Kawhi Leonard (1991- ), basketball player.

TODAY’S FACT:

TODAY’S FACT: The United States executed 22 convicts in 2019; nine were executed by the state of Texas.

TODAY’S SPORTS: In 2004, Arizona Diamondbacks

pitcher Randy Johnson became the fourth pitcher in Major League Baseball with 4,000 career strikeouts.

TODAY’S QUOTE: “If you have a deep-seated need to be loved and admired every day, you shouldn’t be in politics. You should go work at a pet shop.” -- Michael A. Nutter, “Mayor: The Best Job in Politics”

TODAY’S NUMBER: 46,876 -- miles of roads in the U.S. interstate highway system.

TODAY’S MOON: Between first quarter moon (June 28) and full moon (July 4).