Today in History: June 29, Apple releases first iPhone to consumers

Today in History

Today is Saturday, June 29, the 181st day of 2024. There are 185 days left in the year.

Today’s Highlight in History: On June 29, 2007, the first version of the iPhone went on sale to the public; over 2.3 billion iPhones have been sold to date.

Also on this date:

In 1520, Montezuma II, the ninth and last emperor of the Aztecs, died in Tenochtitlan (tay-nohch-TEET’-lahn) under unclear circumstances (some say he was killed by his own subjects; others, by the Spanish).

In 1613, London’s original Globe Theatre, where many of Shakespeare’s plays were performed, was destroyed by a fire sparked by a cannon shot during a performance of “Henry VIII.”

In 1767, Britain approved the Townshend Revenue Act, which imposed import duties on glass, paint, oil, lead, paper and tea shipped to the American colonies. (Colonists bitterly protested, prompting Parliament to repeal the duties — except for tea.)

In 1776, the Virginia state constitution was adopted, and Patrick Henry was made governor.

In 1946, authorities in British-ruled Palestine arrested more than 2,700 Jews in an attempt to stamp out extremists.

In 1967, Jerusalem was reunified as Israel removed barricades separating the Old City from the Israeli sector.

In 1970, the United States ended a two-month military offensive into Cambodia.

In 1972, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down a trio of death sentences, saying the way they had been imposed constituted cruel and unusual punishment. (The ruling prompted states to effectively impose a moratorium on executions until their capital punishment laws could be revised.)

In 1978, actor Bob Crane of “Hogan’s Heroes” fame was found bludgeoned to death in an apartment in Scottsdale, Arizona, where he was appearing in a play; he was 49.

In 2006, the Supreme Court ruled, 5-3, that President George W. Bush’s plan to try Guantanamo Bay detainees in military tribunals violated U.S. and international law.

In 2009, disgraced financier Bernard Madoff received a 150-year sentence for his multibillion-dollar fraud. (Madoff died in prison in April 2021.)

In 2018, the Annapolis Capital Gazette newspaper in Maryland kept its promise to put out the day’s paper, despite the shooting deaths of five people in its newsroom a day earlier.

In 2021, former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld died at the age of 88 in New Mexico; he had been Pentagon chief during the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan that toppled the Taliban regime following the 9/11 attacks, and also at the start of the long and costly Iraq war in 2003.

In 2022, R. Kelly was sentenced to 30 years in prison for using his R&B superstardom to subject young fans to sexual abuse. The singer and songwriter was convicted of racketeering and sex trafficking the previous year.

Today’s Birthdays: Songwriter L. Russell Brown is 84. Singer-songwriter Garland Jeffreys is 81. Actor Gary Busey is 80. Former actor and politician Fred Grandy is 76. Rock musician Ian Paice (Deep Purple) is 76. Singer Don Dokken is 71. Rock singer Colin Hay (Men At Work) is 71. Actor Maria Conchita Alonso is 69. Actor Sharon Lawrence (“NYPD Blue”) is 63. Actor Amanda Donohoe is 62. Actor Judith Hoag is 61. Violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter is 61. Producer-writer Matthew Weiner is 59. Actor Melora Hardin is 57. Actor Brian D’Arcy James is 56. Rap DJ and record producer DJ Shadow is 52. Actor Zuleikha Robinson is 47. Rock musician Sam Farrar (Maroon 5) is 46. Actor Luke Kirby is 46. Singer and TV personality Nicole Scherzinger is 46. Comedian-writer Colin Jost (johst) is 42. Actor Lily Rabe is 42. NBA forward Kawhi Leonard is 33. Actor Camila Mendes (TV: “Riverdale”) is 30. Soccer player Jude Bellingham is 21.