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 1921 President Warren Harding appointed former President William Howard Taft as the nation’s chief justice.
In 1934 Adolf Hitler began a purge of hundreds of political and military leaders in Germany.
In 1952 ”The Guiding Light,” a popular radio program, made its debut as a television soap opera.
In 1971 the 26th Amendment to the Constitution, lowering the minimum voting age to 18, was ratified.
In 1985 all 39 remaining American hostages seized 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 1989 Gen. Wojciech Jaruzelski announced he would not run for Poland’s new presidency, saying the people viewed him as the man who imposed martial law.
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 rival 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 1998 officials confirmed that the remains of a Vietnam War serviceman buried in the Tomb of the Unknowns at Arlington National Cemetery had been identified as those of Air Force pilot Michael Blassie.
In 2002 Brazil earned its fifth World Cup title by defeating Germany 2-0.
In 2004 Israel’s Supreme Court ordered a 25-mile stretch of the government’s West Bank separation barrier near Jerusalem to be rerouted.
In 2005 Spain became the third country to legalize gay marriage.
