June 27
1787 - English historian Edward Gibbon completed work on his six-volume work, “The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire.”
1844 - Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints founder Joseph Smith was murdered by a mob in Carthage, Illinois.
1880 - Helen Keller, the blind and deaf American woman who became an accomplished writer and humanitarian, was born in Tuscumbia, Alabama.
1893 - The New York stock market crashed.
1898 - Joshua Slocum became the first person to successfully circumnavigate the earth alone when he landed his sloop Spray in Newport, Rhode Island, after a 46,000-mile trip.
1922 - The Newberry Medal for children's literature was first awarded.
1942 - The FBI announced the arrests of eight Nazi saboteurs put ashore in Florida and Long Island, New York. (All were tried and sentenced to death; six were executed while two were spared for turning themselves in and cooperating with U.S. authorities.)
1950 - The U.N. Security Council passed a resolution calling on member nations to help South Korea repel an invasion from the North.
1955 - Illinois enacted the nation’s first automobile seat belt law. (The law did not require cars to have seat belts, but that they be made seat belt-ready.)
1957 - More than 500 people were killed when Hurricane Audrey slammed through coastal Louisiana and Texas.
1969 - Police and gays clashed at the Stonewall Inn in New York City, fostering the gay rights movement.
1972 - The video game company Atari was founded by Nolan Bushnell and Ted Dabney in Santa Clara, California.
1974 - President Richard Nixon opened an official visit to the Soviet Union.
1977 - Joseph Ratzinger, the future Pope Benedict XVI, was named a cardinal by Pope Paul VI.
1980 - President Jimmy Carter signed legislation reviving draft registration.
1985 - The legendary Route 66, running from Chicago to Santa Monica, California, was decertified, the victim of the Interstate Highway System.
1991 - Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall, the first Black jurist to sit on the nation’s highest court, announced his retirement. (His departure led to the contentious nomination of Clarence Thomas to succeed him.)
2003 - The national Do-Not-Call Registry, formed to combat unwanted telemarketing calls and administered by the Federal Trade Commission, enrolled almost three-quarters of a million phone numbers on its first day.
2005 - The Supreme Court ruled, in a pair of 5-4 decisions, that displaying the Ten Commandments on government property was constitutionally permissible in some cases but not in others.
2005 - BTK serial killer Dennis Rader pleaded guilty to 10 murders that spread fear across Wichita, Kan., beginning in the 1970s. (He later received multiple life sentences.)
2006 - A constitutional amendment to ban desecration of the American flag died in a Senate cliffhanger, falling one vote short of the 67 needed to send it to states for ratification.
2007 - Gordon Brown became British prime minister, succeeding Tony Blair.
2011 - Former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich was convicted by a federal jury in Chicago of corruption, on charges he tried to sell or trade President Barack Obama's senate seat. (He was later sentenced to 14 years in prison; that sentence was commuted by President Donald Trump in 2020.)
2016 - The U.S. Supreme Court issued its strongest defense of abortion rights in a quarter-century, striking down Texas’ widely replicated rules that sharply reduced abortion clinics.
2016 - The Supreme Court overturned the bribery conviction of former Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell, sending the case back to a lower court. (Prosecutors ended up deciding not to retry McDonnell.)
2020 - Princeton University said it would remove the name of former President Woodrow Wilson from its public policy school because of his segregationist views.
2020 - French cosmetics giant L’Oreal said it would remove words like “whitening” from its skin care products following criticism of the company amid global protests against racism.
Birthdays
22 - Chandler Riggs (actor)
23 - Sistine Stallone (model)
24 - Evvie McKinney (singer)
24 - H.E.R. (singer)
24 - Shannon Purser (actress)
25 - Hayley Hughes (reality star)
30 - Madylin Sweeten (actress)
32 - Matthew Lewis (actor)
33 - Alanna Masterson (actress)
34 - Ed Westwick (actor)
34 - India de Beaufort (actress)
35 - Sam Claflin (actor)
35 - Drake Bell (actor)
37 - Khloe Kardashian (reality star)
46 - Tobey Maguire (actor)
49 - Christian Kane (actor)
55 - J.J. Abrams (director)
61 - Brian Drillinger (actor)
62 - Lorrie Morgan (country singer)
70 - Julia Duffy (actress)
72 - Vera Wang (fashion designer)
79 - Bruce Johnston (singer)
========================================
Today in Sports History - June 27
1984 - The Supreme Court ends the NCAA's monopoly on college football telecasts.
1988 - Mike Tyson KO's Michael Spink in 91 seconds in Atlantic City, New Jersey.
1990 - The New Jersey Nets draft Syracuse forward Derrick Coleman with the first pick in the NBA Draft.
2001 - The Washington Wizards select high school center Kwame Brown with the first pick in the NBA Draft.
2013 - The Cleveland Cavaliers select UNLV forward Anthony Bennett with the first pick in the NBA Draft.
2014 - The NHL's Phoenix Coyotes change their name to Arizona Coyotes after a change in ownership.
1787 - English historian Edward Gibbon completed work on his six-volume work, “The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire.”
1844 - Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints founder Joseph Smith was murdered by a mob in Carthage, Illinois.
1880 - Helen Keller, the blind and deaf American woman who became an accomplished writer and humanitarian, was born in Tuscumbia, Alabama.
1893 - The New York stock market crashed.
1898 - Joshua Slocum became the first person to successfully circumnavigate the earth alone when he landed his sloop Spray in Newport, Rhode Island, after a 46,000-mile trip.
1922 - The Newberry Medal for children's literature was first awarded.
1942 - The FBI announced the arrests of eight Nazi saboteurs put ashore in Florida and Long Island, New York. (All were tried and sentenced to death; six were executed while two were spared for turning themselves in and cooperating with U.S. authorities.)
1950 - The U.N. Security Council passed a resolution calling on member nations to help South Korea repel an invasion from the North.
1955 - Illinois enacted the nation’s first automobile seat belt law. (The law did not require cars to have seat belts, but that they be made seat belt-ready.)
1957 - More than 500 people were killed when Hurricane Audrey slammed through coastal Louisiana and Texas.
1969 - Police and gays clashed at the Stonewall Inn in New York City, fostering the gay rights movement.
1972 - The video game company Atari was founded by Nolan Bushnell and Ted Dabney in Santa Clara, California.
1974 - President Richard Nixon opened an official visit to the Soviet Union.
1977 - Joseph Ratzinger, the future Pope Benedict XVI, was named a cardinal by Pope Paul VI.
1980 - President Jimmy Carter signed legislation reviving draft registration.
1985 - The legendary Route 66, running from Chicago to Santa Monica, California, was decertified, the victim of the Interstate Highway System.
1991 - Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall, the first Black jurist to sit on the nation’s highest court, announced his retirement. (His departure led to the contentious nomination of Clarence Thomas to succeed him.)
2003 - The national Do-Not-Call Registry, formed to combat unwanted telemarketing calls and administered by the Federal Trade Commission, enrolled almost three-quarters of a million phone numbers on its first day.
2005 - The Supreme Court ruled, in a pair of 5-4 decisions, that displaying the Ten Commandments on government property was constitutionally permissible in some cases but not in others.
2005 - BTK serial killer Dennis Rader pleaded guilty to 10 murders that spread fear across Wichita, Kan., beginning in the 1970s. (He later received multiple life sentences.)
2006 - A constitutional amendment to ban desecration of the American flag died in a Senate cliffhanger, falling one vote short of the 67 needed to send it to states for ratification.
2007 - Gordon Brown became British prime minister, succeeding Tony Blair.
2011 - Former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich was convicted by a federal jury in Chicago of corruption, on charges he tried to sell or trade President Barack Obama's senate seat. (He was later sentenced to 14 years in prison; that sentence was commuted by President Donald Trump in 2020.)
2016 - The U.S. Supreme Court issued its strongest defense of abortion rights in a quarter-century, striking down Texas’ widely replicated rules that sharply reduced abortion clinics.
2016 - The Supreme Court overturned the bribery conviction of former Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell, sending the case back to a lower court. (Prosecutors ended up deciding not to retry McDonnell.)
2020 - Princeton University said it would remove the name of former President Woodrow Wilson from its public policy school because of his segregationist views.
2020 - French cosmetics giant L’Oreal said it would remove words like “whitening” from its skin care products following criticism of the company amid global protests against racism.
Birthdays
22 - Chandler Riggs (actor)
23 - Sistine Stallone (model)
24 - Evvie McKinney (singer)
24 - H.E.R. (singer)
24 - Shannon Purser (actress)
25 - Hayley Hughes (reality star)
30 - Madylin Sweeten (actress)
32 - Matthew Lewis (actor)
33 - Alanna Masterson (actress)
34 - Ed Westwick (actor)
34 - India de Beaufort (actress)
35 - Sam Claflin (actor)
35 - Drake Bell (actor)
37 - Khloe Kardashian (reality star)
46 - Tobey Maguire (actor)
49 - Christian Kane (actor)
55 - J.J. Abrams (director)
61 - Brian Drillinger (actor)
62 - Lorrie Morgan (country singer)
70 - Julia Duffy (actress)
72 - Vera Wang (fashion designer)
79 - Bruce Johnston (singer)
========================================
Today in Sports History - June 27
1984 - The Supreme Court ends the NCAA's monopoly on college football telecasts.
1988 - Mike Tyson KO's Michael Spink in 91 seconds in Atlantic City, New Jersey.
1990 - The New Jersey Nets draft Syracuse forward Derrick Coleman with the first pick in the NBA Draft.
2001 - The Washington Wizards select high school center Kwame Brown with the first pick in the NBA Draft.
2013 - The Cleveland Cavaliers select UNLV forward Anthony Bennett with the first pick in the NBA Draft.
2014 - The NHL's Phoenix Coyotes change their name to Arizona Coyotes after a change in ownership.
