TODAY IN HISTORY

TODAY’S HIGHLIGHT IN HISTORY:

1948

the Berlin Airlift began in earnest after the Soviet Union cut off land and water routes to the isolated western sector of Berlin.

ALSO ON THIS DATE: 1870

the first section of Atlantic City, New Jersey’s Boardwalk was opened to the public.

1917

the first troops of the American Expeditionary Force deployed to France during World War I landed in St. Nazaire.

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 67cents 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.

1993

President Bill Clinton announced the U.S. had launched missiles against Iraqi targets because of “compelling evidence” Iraq had plotted to assassinate former President George H.W. Bush.

1997

the first Harry Potter novel, “Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone” by J.K. Rowling, was published in the UK (it was released in the US under the title “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone”).

2013

in deciding its first cases on the issue, the U.S. Supreme Court gave the nation’s legally married gay couples equal federal footing with all other married Americans and also cleared the way for samesex marriages to resume in California.