On June 29, 1767, British Parliament lit the fuse that would ignite colonial fury. The Revenue Act imposed duties on imports like tea, paper, glass, and paint to finance British rule in the colonies, while the Commissioners of Customs Act stationed a new Boston-based board to crack down on smuggling. But for many Americans, the issue wasn’t the taxes, it was power. In 1768, when officials seized “Liberty,” John Hancock’s ship, on suspicion of smuggling, Boston erupted. Rioters drove the customs commissioners to seek refuge at Castle William, forcing British troops to occupy the city later that year. Tensions boiled over into bloodshed on King Street in 1770, in what became known as the Boston Massacre, setting the stage for revolution.
Image: View of the town of Boston, the capital of New-England – and the landing of troops in the year 1768, in consequence of letters from Gov. Bernard, the commissioners, & c. to the British ministry / P. Revere. Abstract/medium: 1 print : woodcut. via Wikimedia Commons, public domain
U.S. Army Band at War College, 6/29/1925
Image via LOC, no known restrictions
Pfc. Floyd L. Rogers, 24, of Rising Star, Texas, kneels near the Normandy hedgerows on June 29, 1944, serving as the automatic rifleman for Company C, 38th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Infantry Division. Armed with a Browning Automatic Rifle, he gained a reputation among his officers for his steady marksmanship and for aggressively engaging enemy snipers who were slowing the American advance through the dense, close‑quarters terrain.
Rogers had already distinguished himself earlier in the campaign; for gallantry in action on June 11, 1944, he received the Silver Star, and his willingness to expose himself to sniper fire made him one of the most relied‑upon men in his company as the division pressed toward Saint‑Lô. Just two weeks after this photograph was taken, Rogers was killed in action on July 12, 1944, during the brutal battle for Hill 192, and later accounts recall that he sent his newly awarded Silver Star home to his mother shortly before his death.
On June 29, 1936, Congress officially approved the first-ever Congressional Gold Medal to be awarded to an artist—Broadway’s George M. Cohan. The resolution recognized his patriotic songs, including the World War I anthem “Over There”, which rallied a generation through wartime. But Cohan wouldn’t receive the honor until nearly four years later, when President Franklin D. Roosevelt presented the medal in a White House ceremony in 1940.
Image of George M. Cohan via Wikimedia Commons, no known restrictions
A portrait of George Washington Goethals, in uniform from 1919
Goethals was born on June 29, 1858 in Brooklyn, New York. After graduating from West Point and following his service during the Spanish-American War he eventually became the first governor of the Panama Canal Zone.
During WWI he served as acting Quartermaster General of the United States Army.
The Goethals Bridge that spans between Staten Island, N.Y. and Elizabeth, N.J. is named in his honor.
Image via Wikimedia Commons, public domain
Olympic National Park in the state of Washington was established on June 29, 1938.
The park has three different ecosystems.
Image via Wikimedia Commons, public domain
Daybreak
“In the morning twilight, while the household yet
Slumbering securely day and night forget,
Lightly o’er the threshold I pass, and breathless stand
In the dream of beauty that rests on sea and land.
Fresh and calm and dewy, bathed in delicate air,
The happy earth awakens and grows of day aware.
Sweetly breaks the silence some bird’s delicious trill,
And from the southern distance a breeze begins to
thrill.
All the stars have faded, and the low large moon
O’er the western water will have vanished soon.
Crystal-clear and cloudless the awful arch is bright,
As up the conscious heaven streams the growing light.
On the far horizon softly sleeps the haze;
O’er the ocean spaces steal the rosy rays;
Winds and waves are quiet, only far away
Gainst the rock a breaker tosses sudden spray.
Out behind the headland glides the coaster slow,
All her canvas blushing in the ruddy glow;
Where the steadfast lighthouse watches day and night,
Beautiful and stately she passes out of sight.
Day that risest splendid, with promise so divine,
Mine is thy perfect gladness, thy loveliness is mine.
Thou touchest with thy blessing God’s creatures great and small;
None shalt thou find more grateful than I among them all.
I turn my face in worship to the glory of the East
I thank the lavish giver of my life’s perpetual feast,
And fain would I be worthy to partake of Nature’s bliss,
And share with her a moment so exquisite as this!”
By American poet Celia Thaxter who was born on June 29, 1835 in Portsmouth, New Hampshire.
From: The poems of Celia Thaxter, published in 1914
https://archive.org/details/poemscelia00thaxrich/page/n128/mode/1up
Source says not in copyright
Image: The Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Division of Art, Prints and Photographs: Print Collection, The New York Public Library. “Celia Thaxter. 1835-1894” New York Public Library Digital Collections. Accessed June 29, 2020. http://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/4affd060-9308-0130-6298-58d385a7b928
No known restrictions
On June 29, 1854 Andrew Reeder of Easton, Pennsylvania was appointed the first territorial Governor of Kansas by President Franklin Pierce.
Reeder was eventually dismissed for refusing to make Kansas a slave state.
According to accounts, during this violent and tumultuous time known as “Bleeding Kansas,” Reeder dressed as a woodcutter so he could flee the territory around 1856.
With a stroke of President Eisenhower’s pen the Federal-Aid Highway Act was signed on June 29, 1956. Ike’s experiences with a cross-country Army convoy in 1919 and observations about Germany’s modern autobahn made construction of an interstate highway system a goal of his presidency.
Image: Steel rods, made from shredded autos, are being used for reinforcement in this section of I-55, north of Durant, Mississippi in 1972. It takes 2,200 autos to make one 2-lane mile of steel reinforcement
via Wikimedia Commons, public domain
On June 29, 2007, Apple released their first generation iPhone.
Image from Carl Berkeley via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0
Three Women wearing uniforms holding golf clubs
6/29/1923
Probably taken at the Second Annual American Public Links championship golf tournament held at East Potomac Park, Washington, D.C.
(Source: Chicago Tribune, June 30, 1923) via LOC, no known restrictions
On June 29, 1889, with the annexation of Hyde Park and several other townships Chicago becomes
the largest city in area in the US and the second in population. Less than 20 years after the Great Fire the world’s first skyscrapers were built. Shown here is the busy intersection of Madison and State in 1933.
Image via Wikimedia Commons, public domain
in the US
Born June 29, 1901 Nelson Eddy was a classically-trained opera baritone who starred in 19 feature films, often paired with soprano Jeanette MacDonald. “Rose Marie” featured their duet “Indian Love Call.” Eddy’s Mountie character was later parodied as Dudley Do-Right. That said, his song “Stout Hearted Men” is pretty inspirational.
Image by MGM via Wikimedia Commons, no known copyright, public domain in the US.
On June 29, 1858, Julia C. Lathrop was born in Rockford, Illinois. In 1912 she became the first female to direct a U.S. federal bureau when she took office as Director of the U.S. Children’s Bureau.
