TODAY’S HIGHLIGHT
On June 30, 1860, the famous Oxford University Museum debate on Darwin’s theory of evolution took place as Anglican Bishop Samuel Wilberforce led his side in denouncing the concept, while biologist T.H. Huxley rose to defend it. (It is generally believed that Huxley’s side prevailed.)
ON THIS DATE
In 1859, French acrobat Charles Blondin walked back and forth on a tightrope above the gorge of Niagara Falls as thousands of spectators watched.
In 1908, the Tunguska Event took place in Russia as an asteroid exploded above Siberia, leaving 800 square miles of scorched or blown-down trees.
Associated Press
In 1921, President Warren G. Harding nominated former President William Howard Taft to be chief justice of the United States, succeeding the late Edward Douglass White.
In 1934, Adolf Hitler carried out his “blood purge” of political and military rivals in Germany in what came to be known as “The Night of the Long Knives.”
In 1958, the U.S. Senate passed the Alaska statehood bill by a vote of 64-20.
In 1960, Belgian Congo achieved independence.
In 1963, Pope Paul VI was installed as 262nd head of the Roman Catholic Church.
In 1971, a Soviet space mission ended in tragedy when three cosmonauts aboard Soyuz 11 were found dead inside their spacecraft after it had returned to Earth.
In 1984, John Turner was sworn in as Canada’s 17th prime minister, succeeding Pierre Elliott Trudeau. (However, Turner held the post for less than three months.)
In 1985, 39 American hostages from a hijacked TWA jetliner were freed in Beirut after being held 17 days.
In 2000, nine people died in a crush of fans during a rock festival in Roskilde, Denmark. An Arkansas Supreme Court committee sued President Bill Clinton to strip him of his law license. (Clinton later agreed to pay a fine and give up his law license for five years.)
In 2005, Federal Reserve policymakers boosted the federal funds rate by one-quarter percentage point to 3.25 percent, the ninth such increase since the Fed began to tighten credit in June 2004 in an effort to keep inflation under control. Spain became the third country (after the Netherlands and Belgium) to legalize gay marriage nationwide.
In 2009, former “Saturday Night Live” comedian Al Franken was declared the winner of Minnesota’s eight-month U.S. Senate vote recount, defeating Republican incumbent Norm Coleman. A Yemeni jet with 153 people on board crashed into the Indian Ocean as it tried to land on the island nation of Comoros; a 12-year-old girl was the sole survivor. American soldier Pfc. Bowe R. Bergdahl went missing from his base in eastern Afghanistan, and was later confirmed to have been captured by insurgents. Musical actor Harve Presnell, 75, died in Santa Monica, Calif.
Associated Press
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
