Today In History
Today is Wednesday, June 26, the 177th day of 2019. There are 188 days left in the year.
TODAY’S HIGHLIGHT
› 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).
ON THIS DATE
› 1948: The Berlin Airlift began in earnest after the Soviet Union cut off land and water routes to the isolated western sector of Berlin.
› 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 United Kingdom (it was later released in the United States under the title “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone”).
› 2008: The U.S. Supreme Court struck down a handgun ban in the District of Columbia as it affirmed, 5-4, that an individual right to gun ownership existed.
› 2013: 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 same-sex marriages to resume in California.
TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS
Jazz musician-film composer Dave Grusin is
85. Actor Josef Sommer is
85. Singer Billy Davis Jr. is 81. Rock singer Georgie Fame is 76. Singer-musician Mick Jones is 64. Actor Gedde Watanabe is 64. Rock singer Chris Isaak is 63. Rock singer Patty Smyth is 62. Singer Terri Nunn (Berlin) is
60. U.S. Bicycling Hall of Famer Greg LeMond is
58. Rock singer Harriet Wheeler (The Sundays) is 56. Actor Sean Hayes is
49. Actor Matt Letscher is
49. Actor Chris O’Donnell is 49. Actor Nick Offerman is 49. Actress Rebecca Budig is 46. Retired MLB All-Star Derek Jeter is 45. Contemporary Christian musician Jeff Frankenstein (Newsboys) is 45. Actor-musician Jason Schwartzman is
39. Actress Aubrey Plaza is 35. Actress-singer Jennette McCurdy is 27. Actress-singer Ariana Grande is 26.