Soviet – Time Rewind

On This Day April 24

Click each item below to learn more!

On This Day March 2

Click each item below to learn more!

Celebrity Birthdays

1793 – American statesman Sam Houston, best known for his role in bringing Texas into the United States as a constituent state (d. 1863)

1904 – Children’s book author and illustrator Theodor “Dr. Seuss” Geisel (“If I Ran the Zoo,” “Horton Hears a Who!” “If I Ran the Circus,” “The Cat in the Hat,” “How the Grinch Stole Christmas!” “Green Eggs and Ham”) (d. 1991)

1917 – Actor Desi Arnaz, best known for playing Ricky Ricardo in the sitcom “I Love Lucy,” which starred his wife, Lucille Ball (d. 1986)

1931 – Former Soviet President and Nobel laureate Mikhail Gorbachev

1942 – Rock-punk singer-songwriter-guitarist Lou Reed, originally of the 60s band Velvet Underground and solo artist (“Walk on the Wild Side”) (d. 2013)

1950 – Pop sensation Karen Carpenter of the 70s sibling duo Carpenters (d. 1983)

1962 – Bon Jovi frontman Jon Bon Jovi (“Dead or Alive”, “Livin’ On A Prayer”, “You Give Love A Bad Name”, “Blaze Of Glory”), born John Francis Bongiovi, Jr.

1968 – Actor Daniel Craig, best known for playing British spy James Bond

1980 – Actress-comedian Rebel Wilson (“Bridesmaids,” “Pitch Perfect,” “Pitch Perfect 2,” “How To Be Single”)

History Highlights

1836 – The Republic of Texas declares its independence from Mexico. A convention of American Texans meets at Washington-on-the-Brazos (today commonly referred to as “the birthplace of Texas”) and confirms Sam Houston as the commander in chief of all Texan forces.

1925 – State and federal highway officials create the United States’ first system of numbered interstate highways.

1933 – The horror film “King Kong,” about the giant ape that runs loose across Manhattan, opens at New York’s Radio City Music Hall. Screenings sell out for the first four days.

1949 – The first automatic street light is installed in New Milford, Connecticut.

1955 – Nine months before Rosa Parks’ famous act of civil disobedience, 15-year-old Claudette Colvin is arrested for refusing to give up her seat on a segregated Montgomery, Alabama bus. Colvin was traveling home from school when the driver ordered her and three fellow Black students to give up their row of seats to a White passenger.

1962 – Wilt Chamberlain sets the single-game scoring record in the NBA by scoring 100 points for the Philadelphia Warriors in a match against the New York Knicks.

1965 – “The Sound of Music,” starring Julie Andrews and Christopher Plummer, based on the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical about the Von Trapp family, opens in New York. The movie goes on to capture five Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Director (Robert Wise).

1972 – NASA launches Pioneer 10 — the first spacecraft to pass through the asteroid belt and the first to make direct observations and capture close-up images of Jupiter, the largest planet in the solar system.

1978 – Three months after his death, grave robbers steal the corpse of silent film legend Charlie Chaplin from a Swiss cemetery and demand $600,000 for its safe return.

Musical Milestones

1963 – “Walk Like a Man,” by Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons, starts a three-week run at No. 1 on the Billboard singles chart. It is the band’s third chart-topping hit.

1967 – The Beatles win three Grammys for records issued the previous year: Best Song for “Michelle,” Best Vocal Performance for “Eleanor Rigby” and Best Cover Artwork for the album design of “Revolver” by Klaus Voormann.

1974 – “Seasons in the Sun,” by one-hit wonder Terry Jacks, claims the No. 1 spot on the Billboard Hot 100 and stays there for three weeks.

1974 – At the 16th Annual Grammy Awards, Stevie Wonder captures five honors: Album of the Year and Best Engineered Recording for “Innervisions,” Best R&B Song and Best Vocal for “Superstition,” and Pop Vocal Performance for “You Are The Sunshine Of My Life.”

1974 – Roberta Flack wins Record of the Year and Best Female Pop Vocal Performance Grammys for “Killing Me Softly with His Song.” The track also garners a Song of the Year Grammy for its writers, Norman Gimbel and Charles Fox.

1985 – “Careless Whisper,” by Wham! featuring George Michael, begins its third and final week at No. 1 on the singles chart.

1985 – Sheena Easton becomes the first musical artist ever to land Top 10 hits on the pop, R&B, country, dance and adult contemporary charts when “Sugar Walls,” written by Prince, reaches No. 9 on the Billboard Hot 100. That is the song that sparked the Parental Advisory music labeling system (listen carefully to the lyrics and you’ll know why).

1999 – Acclaimed British pop vocalist Dusty Springield (“I Only Want To Be With You,” “You Don’t Have To Say You Love Me”) dies at the age of 59 following a five-year battle with breast cancer.

2002 – “Always on Time,” by Ja Rule featuring Ashanti, enters its second and final week as a No. 1 single.

On This Day February 10

Click each item below to learn more!

Celebrity Birthdays

1883 – Actor Lon Chaney, Jr., who portrayed the legendary monsters of film, including the Mummy, Wolf Man, Frankenstein and Dracula (d. 1930)

1893 – Singer-comedian-actor Jimmy Durante (d. 1980)

1930 – Actor Robert Wagner (“It Takes a Thief,” “Hart to Hart,” “Austin Powers”)

1937 – Grammy-winning singer-songwriter Roberta Flack (“The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face,” “Killing Me Softly With His Song,” “Feel Like Makin’ Love,” “Where is the Love”)

1950 – American Olympic gold medal swimmer Mark Spitz

1961 – ABC News’ “Good Morning America” co-host and former Clinton administration advisor George Stephanopoulos

1964 – Conservative talk show host Glenn Beck

1967 – Actress Laura Dern (“Mask,” “Blue Velvet,” “Wild at Heart,” “Jurassic Park,” “Rambling Rose,” “Enlightened,” “The Founder”)

1974 – Actress Elizabeth Banks (“Catch Me if You Can,” “Seabiscuit,” “The 40-Year-Old Virgin,” “The Hunger Games” movie series, “Pitch Perfect”)

History Highlights

1933 – The Postal Telegraph Company, based in New York City, introduces the first singing telegram.

1962 – American spy pilot Francis Gary Powers is released by the Soviets in exchange for Soviet Colonel Rudolf Abel, a senior KGB spy who was caught in the United States five years earlier.

1967 – The 25th Amendment to the Constitution is ratified. It clarifies procedures for presidential succession along with provisions for the continuity of power in the event of a disability or illness of the president.

1981 – A fire at the Las Vegas Hilton hotel-casino kills eight people and injures nearly 200 others. Investigators determine that the blaze was set by 23-year-old hotel employee Phillip Cline. He is convicted of eight counts of murder and sentenced to eight consecutive life terms without parole for the deaths, plus 15 years for first-degree arson.

1989 – Ron Brown is elected chairman of the Democratic National Committee (DNC), becoming the first African American to lead a major American political party.

1996 – World chess champion Garry Kasparov loses the first game of a six-game match against Deep Blue, an IBM computer capable of evaluating 200 million moves per second. Man was ultimately victorious over machine, however, as Kasparov bested Deep Blue in the match with three wins and two ties and took home the $400,000 prize.

Musical Milestones

1958 – “Don’t,” by Elvis Presley & The Jordanaires, tops the singles chart and stays there for five weeks. The ballad, written by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller — the duo behind “Hound Dog” and “Jailhouse Rock” — becomes Elvis’ eleventh No. 1 single.

1968 – The instrumental “Love Is Blue,” by one-hit wonder Paul Mauriat begins a five-week reign over the Billboard Hot 100.

1972 – A little-known rock musician named David Bowie appears at the Tolworth Toby Jug, a London pub, and assumes the persona of the now-legendary Ziggy Stardust before some 60 guests.

1979 – Rod Stewart has the hottest single in the U.S. with “Da Ya Think I’m Sexy?” The song holds the No. 1 spot for four weeks.

1990 – “Opposites Attract,” by Paula Abdul with The Wild Pair, starts a three-week run as the No. 1 single.

1993 – On a special edition of the Oprah Winfrey show, Michael Jackson gives the first television interview in 14 years, live from his Neverland Ranch. Taking place before allegations about sexual abuse surfaced, the MJ interview draws a worldwide audience of 90 million people.

2001 – “It Wasn’t Me,” by Shaggy, begins its second and final week on top of the Billboard Hot 100.

2004 – Def Jam Recordings and Roc-A-Fella Records release “The College Dropout,” Kanye West’s debut album.

On this Day August 23

Click each item below to learn more!

Celebrity Birthdays

1912 – Actor-dancer-singer Gene Kelly (d. 1996)

1929 – Actress Vera Miles, best known for her role as Lila Crane in Alfred Hitchcock’s “Psycho”

1931 – Actress Barbara Eden, who starred in TV’s “I Dream of Jeannie” from 1965-1970

1946 – The Who drummer Keith Moon (d. 1978)

1949 – Actress Shelley Long (“Cheers,” “The Money Pit,” “The Brady Bunch Movie”)

1949 – Singer-songwriter and actor Rick Springfield, who starred in the ABC soap opera “General Hospital” in the early 1980s and won a Grammy for his 1981 smash “Jessie’s Girl”

1970 – Actor-comedian Jay Mohr (“Saturday Night Live,” “Jerry Maguire,” “200 Cigarettes,” “Pay It Forward,” “Scrubs,” “The Jeff Foxworthy Show”)

1970 – Actor River Phoenix (“Explorers,” “Stand By Me,” “Running On Empty”) (d. 1993)

1978 – NBA legend Kobe Bryant, who devoted his entire 20-year playing career to the Los Angeles Lakers (d. 2020)

1988 – NBA star point guard Jeremy Lin, who unexpectedly led a winning turnaround with the New York Knicks in 2012 that generated a global following known as “Linsanity”

History Highlights

1926 – Silent film idol Rudolph Valentino dies in New York at the age of 31.

1927 – Despite worldwide demonstrations in support of their innocence, Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti are executed in Massachusetts for the murders of two men during a 1920 robbery.

1966 – NASA’S Lunar Orbiter 1 captures the very first image of Earth from the moon’s orbit. The unmanned spacecraft was launched to survey the lunar surface in preparation for the Apollo 11 moon landing.

1989 – Former Cincinnati Reds star player and manager Pete Rose is banned from baseball for life as punishment for betting on the sport. The ban robs Rose of any future employment in Major League Baseball and, despite a stellar playing career, renders him ineligible for the National Baseball Hall of Fame.

1999 – Health officials report an encephalitis outbreak in New York City that turns out to be the earliest cases of West Nile virus in the U.S. Seven people die.

Musical Milestones

1966 – A little over a year after their first appearance at New York’s Shea Stadium, The Beatles return for a second time, however this performance fails to draw a sell-out crowd.

1969 – The Rolling Stones kick off four weeks on top of the singles chart with “Honky Tonk Women.”

1969 – Johnny Cash begins a four-week run at No. 1 on the Billboard album chart with “Johnny Cash At San Quentin” — the recording of a live concert for inmates of San Quentin State Prison. It is the follow-up to Cash’s critically acclaimed and commercially successful “At Folsom Prison.”

1975 – “Fallin’ in Love” by Hamilton, Joe Frank & Reynolds is the hottest single in America.

1986 – Madonna rules the Billboard Hot 100 with “Papa Don’t Preach,” off her “True Blue” album.

1997 – The Grammy-winning “I’ll Be Missing You” by Puff Daddy with Faith Evans and 112 tops the singles chart.

On This Day September 1

Click each item below to learn more!

Celebrity Birthdays

1922- Actress Yvonne DeCarlo (“The Ten Commandments,” “The Munsters”) (d. 2007)

1923- Former world heavyweight boxing champion Rocky Marciano, born Rocco Francis Marchegiano (d. 1969)

1933 – Country Music Hall of Famer and Rockabilly Hall of Famer Conway Twitty, born Harold Lloyd Jenkins (d. 1993)

1938 – Attorney and Harvard law professor Alan Dershowitz

1939 – Tony, Emmy and Grammy-winning actress-comedian Lily Tomlin (“Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In,” “9 to 5,” “All of Me,” “The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe,” “Flirting with Disaster,” “Tea with Mussolini,” “I Heart Huckabees,” “A Prairie Home Companion”)

1946 – Singer-songwriter and Bee Gees founder Barry Gibb

1950 – TV psychologist Dr. Phil McGraw

1957 – Grammy-winning musician Gloria Estefan, born Gloria Fajardo, lead singer of the 80s band Miami Sound Machine

History Highlights

1807 – Former U.S. Vice President Aaron Burr is acquitted of plotting to annex parts of Louisiana and Spanish territory in Mexico to be used toward the establishment of an independent republic.

1964 – Pitcher Masanori Murakami becomes the first Japanese man to play in U.S. Major League Baseball. He pitches a scoreless 8th inning for the San Francisco Giants in a 4-1 loss to the New York Mets at Shea Stadium.

1972 – In what is billed as the “Match of the Century,” American chess grandmaster Bobby Fischer defeats Russian Boris Spassky during the World Chess Championship in Reykjavik, Iceland. Fischer, from Brooklyn, NY, became the first American to win the competition since its inception in 1866. The victory also marked the first win for a non-Russian in 24 years.

1983 – A Soviet fighter jet shoots down Korean Air Lines Flight 007 after the New York to Seoul flight enters Soviet airspace. All 269 aboard the 747 jumbo jet are killed, including U.S. Congressman Lawrence McDonald. President Ronald Reagan condemns the incident as a “massacre.”

1985 – An expedition led by oceanographer Dr. Robert Ballard locates the wreck of the RMS Titanic 73 years after the luxury liner sank to the bottom of the North Atlantic.

1989 – The first Lexus is sold, marking the beginning of Toyota’s new luxury line of automobiles.

1998 – A federal law takes effect requiring that all cars and light trucks sold in the United States have air bags installed in the front seats as standard equipment. Seat belts had been required since the 1960s, and some auto manufacturers had begun voluntarily providing air bags before 1998.

Musical Milestones

1962 – Tommy Roe is on top of the singles chart with “Sheila.” It’s the re-recorded version of a track first released in 1960 when Roe was part of a band called The Satins.

1973 – “Brother Louie,” by one-hit-wonder Stories, enters its second and final week as a No. 1 single. The track, about an interracial love affair, was originally recorded by British soul band Hot Chocolate, which just a few months earlier took it to No. 7 on the U.K. singles chart.

1977 – Blondie, featuring former Playboy Bunny Debbie Harry, signs its first major record company contract with Chrysalis Records.

1980 – Fleetwood Mac ends a nine-month world tour with a performance at the Hollywood Bowl. Lindsay Buckingham tells the audience, “This is our last show. For a long time.”

1984 – “What’s Love Got to Do with It,” by Queen of Rock and Roll Tina Turner, begins three weeks on top of the U.S. singles chart. The track, off Turner’s “Private Dancer” album, goes on to capture three Grammy Awards: Record of the Year, Song of the Year and Best Female Pop Vocal Performance. In 2012, it is inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.

1990 – “If Wishes Came True,” by Sweet Sensation, bumps Mariah Carey’s “Vision of Love” to become the No. 1 single on the Billboard Hot 100.

2001 – Alicia Keys enters a third week atop the singles chart with her Grammy-winning debut single “Fallin’.

On this Day July 25

Click each item below to learn more!

Celebrity Birthdays

1894 – Oscar-winning actor Walter Brennan (“The King of Jazz,” “Come and Get It,” “Kentucky,” “The Westerner”)

1907 – Actor Jack Gilford (“A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum,” “Cabaret,” “Save The Tiger,” “Cocoon”) (d. 1990)

1923- Actress Estelle Getty, best known for playing Sophia in the TV sitcom “The Golden Girls” (d. 2008)

1955 – Supermodel-actress (and Mrs. David Bowie) Iman

1965 – Actress-writer-producer Illeana Douglas (“Grace of My Heart,” “To Die For,” “Ghost World”)

1967 – Golden Globe-winning actor Matt LeBlanc, best known for playing Joey in the hit NBC sitcom “Friends”

1978 – World’s first test-tube baby, Louise Joy Brown

History Highlights

1898 – More than 16,000 U.S. troops invade Puerto Rico asserting that they are liberating the inhabitants from Spanish colonial rule, which had recently granted the island’s government limited autonomy. The island, as well as Cuba and the Philippines, were spoils of the Spanish-American War, which ended the following month.

1943 – Benito Mussolini, fascist dictator of Italy, is voted out of power by his own Grand Council and arrested upon leaving a meeting with King Vittorio Emanuele, who tells Il Duce that the war is lost.

1953 – Big changes take place for New York City commuters as the subway token is introduced, and the cost of riding the underground rises from a dime to 15 cents.

1956 – The Italian ocean liner SS Andrea Doria collides with the MS Stockholm in heavy fog off the coast of Nantucket Island, Massachusetts, and sinks the next day, killing 51.

1978 – Louise Joy Brown, the world’s first baby to be conceived throughin vitro fertilization (IVF) is born at Oldham and District General Hospital in Manchester, England.

1984 – Soviet cosmonaut Svetlana Savitskaya becomes the first woman to walk in space. She spends more than 3.5 hours outside the Salyut 7 space station along with a crewmate, welding, brazing and testing a new multipurpose tool. Savitskaya was twice awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union, the highest honor bestowed by her country, and later entered Soviet politics.

1985 – The world learns that screen legend Rock Hudson has AIDS through a written announcement released by his publicist. He becomes the first celebrity to go public with such a diagnosis, which was still stigmatized at that time.

Musical Milestones

1965 – Bob Dylan goes electric and fans go ballistic at the Newport Folk Festival in Rhode Island. Folk music purists are outraged when Dylan swaps his acoustic guitar for an electric one.

1970 – Carpenters kick off four weeks on top of the Billboard singles chart with “(They Long to Be) Close to You.”

1975 – “A Chorus Line” premieres, becoming the longest running Broadway show.

1981 – Stevie Nicks has her first solo chart success when “Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around” reaches No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100. The song was written by Tom Petty, who assists on vocals.

1987 – Heart enters its third and final week on top of the Billboard Hot 100 with “Alone.”

1992 – Sir Mix-a-Lot is in the middle of five weeks at No. 1 with “Baby Got Back.”

1998 – “The Boy Is Mine,” by Brandy & Monica, is in its eighth week on top of the Billboard Hot 100. The track remains there for a total of 13 weeks.

2009 – The Black Eyed Peas dominate the pop chart with “I Gotta Feeling,” which holds the top spot for 14 consecutive weeks.

2010 – John Fogerty performs “Centerfield” at National Baseball Hall of Fame induction ceremonies in Cooperstown, New York, where he donates his original “Slugger” guitar shaped like a baseball bat.

2015 – Omi kicks off four weeks on top of the singles chart with “Cheerleader.”

On this Day June 30

Click each item below to learn more!

Celebrity Birthdays

1917 – Grammy-winning jazz and pop music singer, dancer and actress Lena Horne (d. 2010)

1956 – Actor-comedian David Alan Grier (“In Living Color”)

1959 – Actor Vincent D’Onofrio (“Full Metal Jacket,” “Men In Black,” “Law & Order: Criminal Intent,” “The Judge,” “Run All Night,” “Jurassic World”)

1966 – Former heavyweight boxing champion Mike Tyson

1982 – Actress Lizzy Caplan (“Mean Girls,” “True Blood,” “Cloverfield”)

1985 – U.S. Olympic gold medal swimmer Michael Phelps

History Highlights

1859 – Frenchman Jean Francois Gravelet, a.k.a. The Great Blondin, or Charles Blondin, becomes the first daredevil to walk across Niagara Falls on a tightrope. Thousands of spectators line the American and Canadian sides of the falls to observe the feat, which he performs along an 1,100-foot-long tightrope suspended 160 feet above the raging waters of Niagara Gorge.

1934 – In what comes to be known as the Night of the Long Knives, Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler orders a bloody purge of his own political party, assassinating hundreds of Nazis whom he believed had the potential to become political enemies in the future.

1936 – Margaret Mitchell’s Pulitzer Prize-winning “Gone with the Wind,” one of the best-selling novels of all time and the basis for the blockbuster 1939 movie, is published.

1971 – “Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory,” a movie musical-fantasy starring Gene Wilder, opens in theaters. It’s an adaptation of Roald Dahl’s 1964 novel, “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.”

1971 – Three Soviet cosmonauts who made up the crew of the world’s first space station are killed when their spacecraft, Soyuz 11, depressurizes during reentry to Earth’s atmosphere.

1974 – The July 4th scene from the movie “Jaws” is filmed on Martha’s Vineyard, with 400 screaming, panic-stricken extras in bathing suits running from the water multiple times until director Steven Spielberg gets the right take.

1989 – Writer-director Spike Lee’s celebrated third feature film, “Do the Right Thing” — about racial tensions boiling over in Brooklyn’s Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood on the hottest day of the year — opens in U.S. theaters. The movie receives Oscar nominations for Best Original Screenplay and Best Supporting Actor for Danny Aiello.

1993 – The legal thriller “The Firm,” directed by Sydney Pollack and starring Tom Cruise, Jeanne Tripplehorn and Gene Hackman, opens in theaters. It’s based on the 1991 novel of the same name by John Grisham.

1995 – Director Ron Howard’s high-intensity drama “Apollo 13,” about NASA’s desperate efforts to bring the crew of Apollo 13 safely home after an explosion that denies them a moon landing, opens in U.S. theaters. Starring Tom Hanks, Kevin Bacon, Bill Paxton, Ed Harris and Gary Sinise, the movie receives nine Oscar nominations and wins for Best Film Editing and Best Sound.

Musical Milestones

1962 – Ray Charles enjoys his fifth and final week dominating the pop chart with “I Can’t Stop Loving You.”

1973 – George Harrison has the hottest single on the radio for a week with “Give Me Love (Give Me Peace on Earth),” from his “Living in the Material World” album.” The track is the ex-Beatles’ second solo No. 1.

1975 – Less than a week after her divorce from Sonny Bono is finalized, Cher ties the knot with rock musician Gregg Allman only to divorce him 10 days later.

1984 – “The Reflex,” by Duran Duran, begins its second and final week as a No. 1 single.

1990 – New Kids On the Block step to the top of the singles chart for three weeks with “Step By Step.” The song is an international smash, selling over 10 million copies worldwide, and becomes one of the biggest selling singles of 1990.

2001 – “Lady Marmalade,” by Christina Aguilera, Lil’ Kim, Mýa and Pink, enters its fifth and final week as a chart-topper. The cover is from the “Moulin Rouge!” soundtrack.

2007 – Rihanna and Jay-Z rule the Billboard Hot 100 with “Umbrella.”

On this Day June 26

Click each item below to learn more!

Celebrity Birthdays

1904 – Actor Peter Lorre, born László Loewenstein in Hungary (d. 1964)

1911 – Babe Didrikson Zaharias, considered the world’s greatest woman athlete (d. 1956)

1956 – Rock musician-actor Chris Isaak (“Wicked Game,” “Baby Did A Bad, Bad Thing,” “Somebody’s Crying”)

1970 – Actor Chris O’Donnell (“Scent of a Woman,” “Batman Forever,” “Batman & Robin,” “NCIS” Los Angeles”)

1970 – Emmy-winning actor-comedian and producer Sean Hayes, best known for his starring role in the sitcom “Will & Grace”

1974 – Retired New York Yankees star shortstop Derek Jeter

1980 – NFL quarterback Michael Vick, who served nearly two years in prison for his role in illegal dog fighting

1992 – Actress Jennette McCurdy, best known for her role as Sam Puckett in the Nickelodeon sitcom “iCarly” and its spin-off, “Sam & Cat, which co-starred Ariana Grande

1993 – Actress-turned-Grammy-winning pop sensation Ariana Grande (“The Way,” “Break Free,” “Problem,” “Thank U, Next”)

History Highlights

1927 – Coney Island’s iconic Cyclone roller coaster begins operating. The ride quickly becomes a fan favorite, with long lines of repeat customers paying 25 cents per ride. In 1988, it is designated a New York City Landmark, and in 1991, it is added to the National Register of Historic Places.

1948 – Known as the “Berlin Airlift,” U.S. and British planes begin delivering food and supplies through airdrops to (West) Berlin, Germany after Soviet forces seal off rail, road, and water access with a blockade. The crisis finally ends almost a year later when Soviet forces lift the blockade on land access to the city.

1959 – President Dwight D. Eisenhower and Queen Elizabeth II preside at a ceremony marking the opening of the St. Lawrence Seaway, which creates a navigational channel from the Atlantic Ocean to the Great Lakes.

1963 – President John F. Kennedy speaks the famous words, “Ich bin ein Berliner,” in a speech before cheering throngs in democratic West Berlin.

1974 – Grocery shopping is revolutionized with the introduction of the bar code. The first item scanned is a pack of Wrigley’s Juicy Fruit chewing gum at a supermarket in Troy, Ohio.

1993 – President Bill Clinton punishes Iraq for a plot to assassinate former U.S. President George H. W. Bush.

2015 – Marking a major milestone for civil rights, the Supreme Court rules that same-sex marriage cannot be banned in the United States and that all same-sex marriages must be recognized nationwide, finally granting same-sex couples equal rights to heterosexual couples under the law.

Musical Milestones

1961 – Gary U.S. Bonds kicks off two weeks on top of the pop chart with “Quarter to Three,” ranked among The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame’s 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll list.

1965 – The most popular single is The Byrds’ interpretation of Bob Dylan’s “Mr. Tambourine Man.”

1971 – “It’s Too Late,” by Carole King, is in the middle of a five-week run on top of the Billboard Hot 100. The track goes on to capture a Record of the Year Grammy — one of four Grammys associated with King’s “Tapestry” album.

1976 – Paul McCartney and Wings hold the top spot on the Billboard Hot 100 with “Silly Love Songs.”

1977 – Elvis Presley makes his last ever live stage appearance when he plays to a crowd of 18,000 at the Market Square Arena in Indianapolis. Less than two months later, the 42-year-old music legend is dead.

1982 – Paul McCartney and Stevie Wonder enter their seventh and final week as chart-toppers with “Ebony and Ivory.” The duet becomes one of the top-selling singles of 1982 and, in 2013, is ranked by Billboard as the 69th biggest all-time Hot 100 hit.

1993 – Janet Jackson rules the Billboard Hot 100 with “That’s the Way Love Goes.”

1999 – Jennifer Lopez is midway through a five-week run atop the singles chart with “If You Had My Love.”

2004 – Usher holds at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 for a sixth week with “Burn.”

On this Day June 16

Click each item below to learn more!

Celebrity Birthdays

1907 – Oscar and Tony-winning actor Jack Albertson (“The Subject Was Roses,” “Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory,” “The Poseidon Adventure”) (d. 1981)

1937 – Award-winning author Joyce Carol Oates

1943 – Actress Joan Van Ark (“Dallas,” “Knots Landing”)

1955 – Emmy-winning actress Laurie Metcalf, best known for her role as Jackie on TV’s “Roseanne”

1970 – World Golf Hall of Famer Phil Mickelson

1971 – Iconic hip-hop artist, actor and poet Tupac Shakur (d. 1996)

1972 – Actor John Cho (the “Harold & Kumar” movies, “American Pie,” the 2009 “Star Trek” movie)

History Highlights

1884 – The first roller coaster in America opens along the boardwalk at Coney Island in Brooklyn, New York, and is called a “switchback railway.” It was the brainchild of inventor-businessman LaMarcus Adna Thompson, traveled approximately six miles per hour and cost a nickel to ride.

1903 – Entrepreneur Henry Ford incorporates the Ford Motor Company. With a dozen investors and a thousand shares, the company spends almost all of its $28,000 cash investment by the time it sells the first Ford Model A on July 23, 1903. By that October, Ford Motor Company had made a profit of $37,000.

1963 – Cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova becomes the first woman to venture into space, traveling aboard the Soviet spacecraft Vostok 6. She orbits Earth 48 times over three days and is hailed as a national hero upon her return, receiving the Order of Lenin and the Gold Star Medal. While Tereshkova has since traveled the world to promote science, she never flew in space again.

1977 – Leonid Brezhnev, first secretary of the Soviet Communist Party since 1964, is elected president of the Supreme Soviet, becoming both head of party and head of state.

Musical Milestones

1967 – The Monterey Pop Festival opens in California, featuring the first major appearances by The Who, Jimi Hendrix and Janis Joplin.

1973 – “My Love,” by Paul McCartney & Wings, is mid-way through a four-week domination of the Billboard Hot 100.

1979 – “Queen of Disco,” Donna Summer, claims the No. 1 spot on the pop chart with “Hot Stuff.”

1980 – “The Blues Brothers,” starring John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd, premieres in Chicago, where most of the movie takes place and was filmed. Directed by John Landis, the cult classic is based on characters from NBC’s “Saturday Night Live (SNL).”

1984 – Cyndi Lauper begins her second and final week on top of the singles chart with “Time After Time.”

1990 – Swedish pop duo Roxette is No. 1 on the singles chart with “It Must Have Been Love.”

2001 – Christina Aguilera, Lil’ Kim, Mýa and Pink hold the top spot on the Billboard Hot 100 with their cover of “Lady Marmalade.”