Today in history
On June 29, 1776 Virginia adopted a state constitution, and Patrick Henry was made governor.
In 1946 British authorities in Palestine arrested more than 2,700 Jews in a drive against terrorism.
In 1949 South Africa’s government banned racially mixed marriages.
In 1954 the Atomic Energy Commission voted against reinstating J. Robert Oppenheimer’s access to classified information.
In 1966 the U. S. bombed North Vietnam’s capital, Hanoi, and the port of Haiphong for the first time during the Vietnam War.
In 1970 the United States ended its 2-month military offensive into Cambodia.
In 1972 the Supreme Court ruled that the way the death penalty was usually enforced constituted “cruel and unusual punishment.”
In 1988 the Supreme Court upheld the independent counsel law.
In 1989 the U. S. House of Representatives voted unanimously in favor of new sanctions against China because of its crackdown on the pro-democracy movement.
In 1990 Fernando Valenzuela of the Los Angeles Dodgers and Dave Stewart of the Oakland A’s became the first pitchers to hurl no-hitters in both the National and American Leagues on the same day.
In 1992 a divided Supreme Court ruled that women have a constitutional right to abortion, but the justices also weakened the right as defined by the Roe v. Wade decision.
In 1994 Prince Charles, above, said in a television documentary that he had been faithful in his marriage to Princess Diana “until it became irretrievably broken down.”
In 1995 a five-story department store mall collapsed in Seoul, killing 501 people.
In 2000 an overloaded ship carrying almost 500 people, many fleeing sectarian violence in Indonesia’s Maluku islands, sank, killing all but 10 known survivors.
In 2002 President Bush transferred presidential powers to Vice President Dick Cheney for more than two hours during a routine colon screening that ended in a clean bill of health.
In 2003 actress Katharine Hepburn died in Old Saybrook, Conn.; she was 96.
In 2005 President George W. Bush, embracing nearly all the recommendations of a White House commission, said he was creating a national security service at the FBI to specialize in intelligence as part of a shake-up of the disparate U.S. spy agencies.
In 2007 the first Apple iPhones went on sale.
In 2009 disgraced financier Bernard Madoff sentenced to maximum 150 years in prison for multibillion-dollar Ponzi scheme fraud. Also in 2009, a retractable roof at Centre Court was used for the first time during a Wimbledon tennis match.