June 30
1097 - The Crusaders defeated the Turks at Dorylaeum.
1841 - The Erie Railroad rolled out its first passenger train.
1859 - Charles Blondin became the first person to cross Niagara Falls on a tightrope.
1894 - Korea declared independence from China and asked for Japanese aid.
1908 - A meteor explosion in Siberia knocked down trees in a 40-mile radius and struck people unconscious some 40 miles away.
1912 - Belgian workers went on strike to demand universal suffrage.
1913 - Fighting broke out between Bulgaria and Greece and Serbia. It was the beginning of the Second Balkan War.
1915 - During World War I, the Second Battle Artois ended when the French failed to take Vimy Ridge.
1921 - U.S. President Warren G. Harding appointed former President William Howard Taft chief justice of the United States.
1922 - Irish rebels in London assassinate Sir Henry Wilson, the British deputy for Northern Ireland.
1930 - France pulled its troops out of Germany’s Rhineland.
1934 - Adolf Hitler purged the Nazi Party by destroying the SA and bringing to power the SS in the "Night of the Long Knives."
1935 - Fascists caused an uproar at the League of Nations when Haile Selassie of Ethiopia speaks.
1936 - Margaret Mitchell’s book, "Gone with the Wind," was published.
1950 - U.S. President Harry Truman ordered U.S. troops into Korea and authorizes the draft.
1951 - On orders from Washington, General Matthew Ridgeway broadcasts that the United Nations was willing to discuss an armistice with North Korea.
1952 - CBS-TV debuted "The Guiding Light."
1953 - The first Corvette rolled off the Chevrolet assembly line in Flint, MI. It sold for $3,250.
1955 - The U.S. began funding West Germany’s rearmament.
1957 - The American occupation headquarters in Japan was dissolved.
1958 - The U.S. Congress passed a law authorizing the admission of Alaska as the 49th state in the Union.
1960 - The Katanga province seceded from Congo (upon Congo's independence from Belgium).
1962 - Los Angeles Dodger Sandy Koufax pitched his first no-hitter in a game with the New York Mets.
1964 - The last of U.N. troops left Congo after a four-year effort to bring stability to the country.
1970 - The Cincinnati Reds moved to their new home at Riverfront Stadium.
1971 - The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the government could not prevent the Washington Post or the New York Times from publishing the Pentagon Papers.
1971 - The Soviet spacecraft Soyuz 11 returned to Earth. The three cosmonauts were found dead inside.
1971 - The 26th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was ratified when Ohio became the 38th state to approve it. The amendment lowered the minimum voting age to 18.
1974 - Russian ballet dancer Mikhail Baryshnikov defected in Toronto, Canada.
1974 - The July 4th scene from the Steven Spielberg movie "Jaws" was filmed.
1977 - U.S. President Jimmy Carter announced his opposition to the B-1 bomber.
1984 - The longest professional football game took place in the United States Football League (USFL). The Los Angeles Express beat the Michigan Panthers 27-21 after 93 minutes and 33 seconds.
1985 - Yul Brynner left his role as the King of Siam after 4,600 performances in "The King and I."
1986 - The U.S. Supreme Court ruled 5-4 that states could outlaw homosexual acts between consenting adults.
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.
1998 - Officials confirmed that the remains of a Vietnam War serviceman buried in the Tomb of the Unknowns at Arlington National Cemetery were identified as those of Air Force pilot Michael J. Blassie.
2000 - U.S. President Clinton signed the E-Signature bill to give the same legal validity to an electronic signature as a signature in pen and ink.
2004 - The international Cassini spacecraft entered Saturn's orbit. The craft had been on a nearly seven-year journey.
