# Today in History **URL:** \ **Category:** Thread Games\ **Created:** [July 10, 2016, 4:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/today-in-history/759530 "2016-07-10T04:53:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 87
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2019, 7:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/today-in-history/759530/1724 "2019-06-19T07:12:10Z")
**June 19, 1978:** Garfield, holder of the Guinness World Record for the world’s most widely syndicated comic strip, makes its debut. Created by Jim Davis, the strip chronicles the life of the title character, Garfield, the cat; Jon Arbuckle, the human; and Odie, the dog. As of 2013, it was syndicated in roughly 2,580 newspapers and journals, and held the Guinness World Record for being the world’s most widely syndicated comic strip. Though this is rarely mentioned in print, _Garfield_ is set in Muncie, Indiana, the home of Jim Davis. Common themes in the strip include Garfield’s laziness, obsessive eating, coffee, and disdain of Mondays and diets. Originally created with the intentions to “come up with a good, marketable character”, Garfield has spawned merchandise earning $750 million to $1 billion annually. In addition to the various merchandise and commercial tie-ins, the strip has spawned several animated television specials, two animated television series, two theatrical feature-length live-action/CGI animated films, and three fully CGI animated direct-to-video movies. Part of the strip’s broad pop cultural appeal is due to its lack of social or political commentary; though this was Davis’s original intention, he also admitted that his “grasp of politics isn’t strong,” joking that, for many years, he thought “OPEC was a denture adhesive”. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2019, 7:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/today-in-history/759530/1725 "2019-06-20T07:17:56Z")
**June 20, 1942:** Kazimierz Piechowski and three others, dressed as members of the SS-Totenkopfverbände, steal an SS staff car and escape from the Auschwitz concentration camp. After the collapse of Polish resistance to the German invasion, Piechowski and a friend, Boy Scouts, were captured by the German occupiers in his hometown of Tczew and impressed into a work gang. Polish Boy Scouts were among the groups targeted by the Gestapo and the Selbstschutz. They escaped and attempted to get to France to join the free Polish Army. While crossing the border into Hungary they were captured by a German patrol. After several imprisonments they wound up in Auschwitz. On the morning of June 20, 1942, exactly two years after his arrival, Piechowski and three others escaped from Auschwitz 1. They went to the warehouse in which the uniforms and weapons were stored, arming themselves with four machine-guns and eight grenades. They left the main Auschwitz camp through the Arbeit Macht Frei gate. With the car stopped, Piechowski opened the door and leaned out enough for the guard to see his rank insignia and yelled at him to open the gate. The gate opened and the four drove off. After the war he attended the Gdańsk University of Technology and became an engineer, and then found work in Pomerania. He was denounced to the communist authorities for being a member of the Home Army and sentenced to 10 years in prison; he served 7. Piechowski died on December 15, 2017, aged 98. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2019, 8:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/today-in-history/759530/1726 "2019-06-21T08:27:49Z")
**June 21, 1893:** The first Ferris wheel premieres. The original Ferris Wheel, sometimes also referred to as the Chicago Wheel, was designed and constructed by George Washington Gale Ferris Jr. With a height of 264ft. it was the tallest attraction at the World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago, where it opened to the public on June 21, 1893. It was intended to rival the 1,063-ft. Eiffel Tower, the centerpiece of the 1889 Paris Exposition. The wheel had 36 cars, each fitted with 40 revolving chairs and able to accommodate up to 60 people each, giving a total capacity of 2,160. The wheel carried some 38,000 passengers daily and took 20 minutes to complete two revolutions, the first involving six stops to allow passengers to exit and enter and the second a nine-minute non-stop rotation, for which the ticket holder paid 50 cents. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2019, 5:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/today-in-history/759530/1727 "2019-06-22T05:22:14Z")
**June 22, 1969:** The Cuyahoga River catches fire in Cleveland, Ohio, drawing national attention to water pollution, and spurring the passing of the Clean Water Act and the creation of the Environmental Protection Agency. The Cuyahoga River, at times during the 20th century, was one of the most polluted rivers in the United States. The reach from Akron to Cleveland was devoid of fish. At least 13 fires had been reported, the first occurring in 1868. The largest river fire in 1952 caused over $1 million in damage to boats, a bridge, and a riverfront office building. On June 22, 1969, a river fire captured the attention of _Time_ magazine, which described the Cuyahoga as the river that “oozes rather than flows” and in which a person “does not drown but decays”. The 1969 fire caused approximately $50,000 in damage, mostly to an adjacent railroad bridge. The fire helped spur an avalanche of water pollution control activities, resulting in the Clean Water Act, and the creation of the federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). In the years since the fire, water quality has improved and, partially in recognition of this improvement, the Cuyahoga was designated one of 14 American Heritage Rivers in 1998. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2019, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/today-in-history/759530/1728 "2019-06-28T21:46:29Z")
**June 28, 1969:** The Stonewall riots: a series of spontaneous, violent demonstrations by members of the gay (LGBTQ) community against a police raid that began in the early morning hours of June 28, at the Stonewall Inn in Greenwich Village. They are widely considered to constitute the most important event leading to the gay liberation movement and the modern fight for LGBTQ rights in the United States. Very few establishments welcomed openly gay people in the 1950s and 1960s. Those that did were often bars, although bar owners and managers were rarely gay. At the time, the Stonewall Inn was owned by the Mafia. It catered to an assortment of patrons and was known to be popular among the poorest and most marginalized people in the gay community: drag queens, transgender people, effeminate young men, butch lesbians, male prostitutes, and homeless youth. Police raids on gay bars were routine in the 1960s, and often resulted in arrests, beatings, sexual assaults and worse, and officers quickly lost control of the situation at the Stonewall Inn. Tensions between police and gay residents erupted into more protests the next evening, and again several nights later. Within weeks, Village residents quickly organized into activist groups to concentrate efforts on establishing places for gays and lesbians to be open about their sexual orientation without fear of being beaten and arrested. Within a few years, gay rights organizations were founded across the U.S. and the world. On June 28, 1970, the first gay pride marches took place in major U.S. cities, commemorating the anniversary of the riots. Today, LGBT Pride events are held annually throughout the world toward the end of June to mark the Stonewall riots. The Stonewall National Monument was established at the site in 2016. ---
**Author:** ![Biotop](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biotop/32/321_2.png) [@Biotop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biotop)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2019, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/today-in-history/759530/1729 "2019-07-03T20:08:24Z")
**July 3, 1883** : [The SS _Daphne_](https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://www.glasgowlive.co.uk/news/history/sinking-ss-daphne-disaster-claimed-11561230&ved=2ahUKEwiOl5SrxJnjAhWmUt8KHU1jDMUQFjATegQIARAB&usg=AOvVaw2-NrhVY0IsxeD9XD2GrHlG) sinks during launch on the Clyde in Scotland. Somewhere between 124 and 195 die. A number of the dead are young boys working their first job at the shipyard. ---
**Author:** ![Biotop](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biotop/32/321_2.png) [@Biotop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biotop)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2019, 4:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/today-in-history/759530/1730 "2019-07-09T04:10:14Z")
**July 9, 1958** : The 7.8 [Lituya Bay Earthquake](https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.surfertoday.com/surfing/the-biggest-wave-ever-recorded-measured-1720-feet&sa=U&ved=2ahUKEwimyYjz8qbjAhUCWN8KHcNSA7wQFjAGegQICBAB&usg=AOvVaw01RRwKcm_Vz1HH1p2tWnWG) in Alaska kills 5 and triggers an enormous rockslide into Lituya Bay. The resulting 1720 foot mega-tsunami wave is the tallest known wave in history. ---
**Author:** ![Biotop](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biotop/32/321_2.png) [@Biotop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biotop)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2019, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/today-in-history/759530/1731 "2019-07-10T15:28:55Z")
**July 10, 1913** : A temperature of 134°F is reached in Death Valley, California. This is the highest temperature ever recorded on Earth. ---
**Author:** ![Cardigan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cardigan/32/187_2.png) [@Cardigan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cardigan)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2019, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/today-in-history/759530/1732 "2019-07-19T18:03:09Z")
**July 19, 1969** Apollo 11 entered into lunar orbit ---
**Author:** ![Biotop](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biotop/32/321_2.png) [@Biotop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biotop)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2019, 6:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/today-in-history/759530/1733 "2019-07-22T06:10:34Z")
**July 22, 1928** : Orson Bean is born. ---
**Author:** ![tomplatz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/9e8a1a/32.png) [@tomplatz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomplatz)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2019, 11:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/today-in-history/759530/1734 "2019-07-29T11:35:04Z")
July 29, 1858 Japan signs a treaty of commerce and friendship with the United States July 29, 1921 Adolf Hitler becomes the president of the Nationalist Socialist German Workers’ Party (Nazis) July 29, 1949 Moscow ends the blockade of West Berlin ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2019, 12:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/today-in-history/759530/1735 "2019-08-06T12:14:25Z")
**August 6th, 1945** : Hiroshima ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2019, 1:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/today-in-history/759530/1736 "2019-08-06T13:03:22Z")
**August 6, 1930:** Judge Joseph Force Crater steps into a taxi in New York and disappears, never to be seen again. ---
**Author:** ![Biotop](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biotop/32/321_2.png) [@Biotop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biotop)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2019, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/today-in-history/759530/1737 "2019-08-19T17:00:48Z")
**August 19, 1969** : The remnants of hurricane Camille [drop 27 inches of rain in six hours](https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://www.13newsnow.com/article/weather/deadliest-natural-disaster-in-virginia-history-50-years-ago-hurricane-camille-hit-the-commonwealth/291-088bbe6c-f375-4bdd-b622-ecd73a52415c&ved=2ahUKEwiXuIL3so_kAhUESN8KHTXmCU0QqOcBMAB6BAgDEAQ&usg=AOvVaw2agrU-S778erwDpiMaJnxl) on Nelson County in Virginia. 150 are killed making this the state’s deadliest natural disaster. It rained so hard birds purportedly drowned in trees unable to breathe. I currently live at pretty much ground zero for this event, and the scars on the mountainsides are still visible fifty years later. ---
**Author:** ![atimnie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atimnie/32/11_2.png) [@atimnie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/atimnie)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2019, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/today-in-history/759530/1738 "2019-09-03T14:01:08Z")
Valerie Perrine born September 3rd, 1943. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2019, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/today-in-history/759530/1739 "2019-09-03T18:31:38Z")
> [@atimnie](#): > > Valerie Perrine born September 3rd, 1943. And on that very same day, the Allied invasion of Italy began. ---
**Author:** ![atimnie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atimnie/32/11_2.png) [@atimnie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/atimnie)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2019, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/today-in-history/759530/1740 "2019-09-03T18:46:04Z")
Yeah, well, that happened too… ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2019, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/today-in-history/759530/1741 "2019-09-03T19:59:21Z")
**September 3, 1777** – American Revolutionary War: During the Battle of Cooch’s Bridge, the Flag of the United States is flown in battle for the first time. **September 3, 1783** – American Revolutionary War: The war ends with the signing of the Treaty of Paris by the United States and the Kingdom of Great Britain. ---
**Author:** ![Biotop](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biotop/32/321_2.png) [@Biotop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biotop)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2019, 4:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/today-in-history/759530/1742 "2019-09-06T04:32:38Z")
**September 6, 1916** : America’s first ever self-service grocery store, [_Piggly Wiggky_](https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/bizarre-story-piggly-wiggly-first-self-service-grocery-store-180964708/&ved=2ahUKEwjwytiIrbvkAhVPdt8KHYIUA6oQFjAJegQIAhAB&usg=AOvVaw1QnYzy6kkc4ybOiyfFmQau) opens in Memphis, Tennessee. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2019, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/today-in-history/759530/1743 "2019-09-16T16:39:41Z")
**September 16th, 1979** : 40 years ago today, “Rapper’s Delight” was released, kicking off the rap music revolution. [https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=882141](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=882141) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/today-in-history/759530.md?page=86) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/today-in-history/759530.md?page=88)