June 29th in History

Michael Dobson | June 29

First transpacific flight from the US mainland to Hawaii, June 29, 1927. The Fokker C-2 Bird of Paradise is shown arriving at Wheeler Field (US Air Force photo, public domain)

Today in History

  • London’s Globe Theatre burns to the ground (1613)
  • France annexes Tahiti (1880)
  • First transpacific flight takes place from mainland US to Hawaii (1927)
  • The United States Interstate Highway System is signed into law (1956)
  • Mikhail Baryshnikov defects from the Soviet Union (1974)
  • Steve Wozniak tests the prototype Apple 1 computer (1975)
  • Apple releases the iPhone (2007)
  • The Islamic State of Iraq and Levant (ISIS, ISIL, or Da’ish) declares the establishment of a caliphate (2014)

Birthdays

  • George Washington Goethals, co-designer of the Panama Canal (1858)
  • William James Mayo, clinic co-founder (1861)
  • George Hale, astronomer and telescope namesake (1868)
  • Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, aviator and author (1900)
  • Nelson Eddy, singer and actor (1901)
  • Frank Loesser, composer (1910)
  • Bernard Hermann, composer (1911)
  • Ruth Warrick, actress (1916)
  • Slim Pickens, actor (1919)
  • Ray Harryhausen, special effects artist (1920)
  • Oriana Fallaci, journalist (1929)
  • Harmon Killebrew, baseball player (1936)
  • Stokely Carmichael, civil rights activist (1941)
  • Little Eva, singer (1943)
  • Gary Busey, actor (1944)
  • Egon von Fürstenberg, fashion designer (1946)
  • Richard Lewis, comedian (1947)
  • Fred Grandy, actor and politician (1948)
  • Michael Whelan, artist (1950)
  • María Concita Alonso, singer and actress (1957)
  • Samantha Smith, peace activist (1972)

Deaths

  • Moctezuma II, Aztec ruler (1520)
  • Henry Clay, politician (1852)
  • Thomas Addison, physician, discoverer of Addison’s disease (1860)
  • Elizabeth Barrett Browning, poet (1861)
  • Thomas Henry Huxley, biologist (1895)
  • Roscoe “Fatty” Arbuckle, actor and filmmaker (1933)
  • Paul Klee, painter (1940)
  • Ignacy Jan Paderewski, pianist, composer, and politician (1941)
  • Eric Dolphy, musician (1964)
  • Jayne Mansfield, actress (1967)
  • Bob Crane, actor (1978)
  • Irving Wallace, author (1990)
  • Lana Turner, actress (1995)
  • Rosemary Clooney, actress and singer (2002)
  • Katharine Hepburn, actress (2003)
  • Fred Saberhagen, science fiction writer (2007)

Holidays and Celebrations

  • Engineer’s Day (Ecuador)
  • Independence Day (Seychelles)
  • Veterans’ Day (Netherlands)
Informal and made-up holidays include Camera Day, Hug Holiday, International Mud Day, Waffle Iron Day, and Meteor Day.
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June 29 is the 180th day of the year (181st in leap years). There are 185 days remaining until the end of the year.