Today in History

Today is Thursday, June 26, the 177th day of 2014. There are 188 days left in the year.

Today’s highlight:

On June 26, 1974, the supermarket price scanner made its debut in Troy, Ohio, as a 10-pack of Wrigley’s Juicy Fruit chewing gum costing 67 cents and bearing a Uniform Product Code was scanned by Marsh Supermarket cashier Sharon Buchanan for customer Clyde Dawson. (The barcoded package of never-chewed gum is on display at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of American History in Washington, D.C.)

On this date:

In 1483, Richard III began his reign as King of England (he was crowned the following month at Westminster Abbey).

In 1870, the first section of Atlantic City, New Jersey’s Boardwalk was opened to the public.

In 1915, following a whirlwind courtship, poet T.S. Eliot married Vivienne Haigh-Wood in London. (The marriage proved disastrous, but the couple never divorced.)

In 1925, Charlie Chaplin’s classic comedy “The Gold Rush” premiered at Grauman’s Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood.

In 1936, President Franklin D. Roosevelt was nominated for a second term of office by delegates to the Democratic national convention in Philadelphia.

In 1944, the Republican national convention opened in Chicago with a keynote speech by California Gov. Earl Warren. In an unusual Major League Baseball experiment, the New York Giants, Brooklyn Dodgers and New York Yankees played a three-way (or “tri-cornered”) exhibition game at the Polo Grounds to benefit war bonds. (Final score: Dodgers 5, Yankees 1, Giants 0.)

In 1945, the charter of the United Nations was signed by 50 countries in San Francisco.

In 1950, President Harry S. Truman authorized the Air Force and Navy to enter the Korean War.

In 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).

In 1973, former White House counsel John W. Dean told the Senate Watergate Committee about an “enemies list” kept by the Nixon White House.

In 1988, three people were killed when a new Airbus A320 jetliner carrying more than 130 people crashed into a forest during a demonstration at an air show in Mulhouse , France.

In 1989, the Supreme Court ruled the death penalty may be imposed for murderers who committed their crimes as young as age 16, and for mentally disabled killers as well.

Ten years ago: President George W. Bush won support from the 25-nation European Union for an initial agreement to help train Iraq’s armed forces. A memorial service was held in Egg Harbor Township, New Jersey, for Paul M. Johnson Jr., an engineer slain by kidnappers in Saudi Arabia.

Five years ago: Los Angeles County medical examiners performed an autopsy on the remains of pop star Michael Jackson a day following his death at age 50. The Democratic-controlled House passed a global warming measure 219-212 following intense lobbying by President Barack Obama. A federal judge in New York ordered disgraced financier Bernard Madoff stripped of all his possessions under a $171 billion forfeiture order.

One year ago: 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 same-sex marriages to resume in California. New England Patriots tight end Aaron Hernandez was arrested and charged with murder in the shooting death of Odin Lloyd; less than two hours after the arrest, the Patriots announced they had cut Hernandez. Seven-time champion Roger Federer was stunned by 116th-ranked Sergiy Stakhovsky in the second round of Wimbledon, 6-7 (5), 7-6 (5), 7-5, 7-6 (5); third-seeded Maria Sharapova was knocked out by the 131st-ranked qualifier, losing 6-3, 6-4 to Michelle Larcher de Brito of Portugal. The state of Texas executed Kimberly McCarthy, 52, for the 1997 robbery, beating and fatal stabbing of her neighbor, Dorothy Booth, a 71-year-old retired college psychology professor. Belgian-born financier Marc Rich, 78, pardoned by President Bill Clinton after being indicted for fraud, racketeering and tax evasion, died in Lucerne, Switzerland.

Associated Press