On June 30, 1777, British forces in the Revolutionary War evacuated New Jersey and retreated to Staten Island, N.Y.
In 1859 French acrobat Emile Blondin (born Jean Francois Gravelet) crossed Niagara Falls on a tightrope as 5,000 people watched.
In 1906 the Pure Food and Drug Act and the Meat Inspection Act became law.
In 1917 singer Lena Horne was born in Brooklyn, N.Y.
In 1934 Adolf Hitler began a purge of hundreds of political and military leaders in Germany.
In 1936 the novel “Gone with the Wind” by Margaret Mitchell was published in New York.
In 1952 “The Guiding Light,” a popular radio program, made its debut as a TV soap opera.
In 1963 Pope Paul VI was crowned in St. Peter’s Square in Rome, becoming the 262nd head of the Roman Catholic Church.
In 1971 three Soviet cosmonauts, in space for more than three weeks, were found dead when their Soyuz 11 spacecraft landed.
In 1985 all 39 remaining American hostages in the hijacking of a TWA jet were freed after 17 days’ captivity in Beirut.
In 1986 the Supreme Court ruled 5-4 that states could ban homosexual acts between consenting adults.
In 1993 actor George “Spanky” McFarland of “Our Gang” and “Little Rascals” fame died in Grapevine, Texas; he was 64.
In 1994 the U.S. Figure Skating Association stripped Tonya Harding of the 1994 national championship and banned her from the organization for life for an attack on Nancy Kerrigan.
In 1997, in Hong Kong, the Union Jack was lowered for the last time over Government House as Britain prepared to hand the colony back to China after ruling it for 156 years.
In 2001 country music guitarist Chet Atkins died in Nashville; he was 77.
In 2003 comedian Buddy Hackett died in Malibu, Calif.; he was 79.
In 2005 Spain became the third country to legalize gay marriage.
