TODAY’S HISTORY

1956: President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed into law the Federal-aid Highway Act, creating the interstate system.

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.”

1974: Isabel

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

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

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 (1936-2011), 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: The United States executed 11 convicts in 2021.

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 store.” — Michael Nutter

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

TODAY’S MOON: Between new moon (June 28) and first quarter moon (July 6).