- 163rd Day of 2012 / 203 Remaining
- 9 Days Until Summer Begins
- Sunrise:5:47
- Sunset:8:33
- 14 Hours 46 Minutes of Daylight
- Moon Rise:1:02am
- Moon Set:1:34pm
- Moon’s Phase: Last Quarter
- The Next Full Moon
- June 3 @ 11:51am
- Full Buck Moon
- Full Thunder Moon
- Full Hay Moon
July is normally the month when the new antlers of buck deer push out of their foreheads in coatings of velvety fur. It was also often called the Full Thunder Moon, for the reason that thunderstorms are most frequent during this time. Another name for this month’s Moon was the Full Hay Moon.
- Tides
- High:5:00am/6:05pm
- Low:11:10am
- Rainfall (measured July 1 – June 30)
- This Year:15.80
- Last Year:28.51
- Normal To Date:23.73
- Annual Seasonal Average: 23.80
- Holidays
- National German Chocolate Cake Day
- King Kamehameha I Day-Hawaii
- Corn on the Cob Day
- National Feed the Ducks Day
- National Day-Libya
- National Auto Service Professionals Week
- On This Day In …
- 1509 --- King Henry VIII of England marries Catherine of Aragon, the first of six wives he will have in his lifetime. When Catherine failed to produce a male heir, Henry divorced her against the will of the Roman Catholic Church, thus precipitating the Protestant Reformation in England.Henry went on to have five more wives; two of whom--Anne Boleyn and Catherine Howard--he executed for alleged adultery after he grew tired of them. His only surviving child by Catherine of Aragon, Mary, ascended to the throne upon the death of her half-brother, Edward VI, in 1553. In 1558, Mary was succeeded by her half-sister, Elizabeth, the only surviving child of Henry VIII by Anne Boleyn. She was crowned Queen Elizabeth I.
- 1742 --- Benjamin Franklin invented the Franklin Stove. He purposely did not patent it, so that others could freely copy the design.
- 1776 --- The Continental Congress formed a committee to draft a Declaration of Independence from Britain.
- 1895 --- Charles E. Duryea received the first U.S. patent granted to an American inventor for a gasoline-driven automobile.
- 1919 --- Sir Barton won the Belmont Stakes in New York to become the first horse to capture the Triple Crown. It was on this day that the Belmont Stakes was first run as part of thoroughbred racing’s most prestigious trio of events. Sir Barton had already won the first two jewels of the Triple Crown -- the Kentucky Derby in Louisville, Kentucky and the Preakness Stakes in Baltimore, Maryland. The Triple Crown is for three-year-olds only and has only been achieved by ten horses other than Sir Barton: Gallant Fox in 1930; Omaha, five years later; War Admiral in 1937; Whirlaway in ’41; Count Fleet in ’43; Assault in 1946; Citation ridden by Eddie Arcaro in 1948; the famous Secretariat in 1973; Seattle Slew in ’77 and Affirmed in ’78.
- 1927 --- Charles A. Lindberg was presented the first Distinguished Flying Cross.
- 1939 --- The King George VI and Queen Elizabeth (Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon; later known as the Queen Mother) of Great Britain were in America to visit with President and Mrs. Franklin D. Roosevelt. As is befitting of such a grand event, the King and Queen were fed some of the gourmet foods of the United States. In fact, it was the first time that both the King and Queen had tasted hot dogs, the American gourmet treat.
- 1942 --- The United States and the Soviet Union signed a lend lease agreement to aid the Soviet war effort in World War II.
- 1950 --- Golfing legend Ben Hogan, returning to tournament play after a near-fatal auto mishap, won the U.S. Open golf tourney in a three-way playoff with Lloyd Mangrum and George Fazio.
- 1962 --- John and Clarence Anglin and Frank Lee Morris attempt to escape from Alcatraz federal prison. The three men were never seen again, and although some believe that theirs was the only successful getaway from what was known as "The Rock," it is far more likely that they drowned in the chilly water. Four days after their escape, a bag containing photos, which belonged to Clarence Anglin, was found in San Francisco Bay. Escape From Alcatraz, both a J. Campbell Bruce book and a Clint Eastwood movie, later dramatized the incident. The three prisoners began their daring escape by using stolen tools to chip away at the cement near ventilation holes in their cells. Creatively, they then made fake grills out of cardboard and painted them to match the originals, which were located in a small area where they could get outside without being seen. In a classic maneuver, the inmates made dummy heads and placed them in their beds so that the guards would not notice them missing. They even used scraps of hair from the barbershop to make them look more realistic. Once outside, the three climbed over a 15-foot fence and made their way out to the choppy waters surrounding the island prison with life preservers made out of raincoats.
- 1963 --- Buddhist monk Quang Duc immolated himself on a Saigon street to protest the government of South Vietnamese President Ngo Dinh Diem.
- 1963 --- President John F. Kennedy issues presidential proclamation 3542, forcing Alabama Governor George Wallace to comply with federal court orders allowing two African-American students to register for the summer session at the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa. The proclamation ordered Wallace and all persons acting in concert with him to cease and desist from obstructing justice. The battle between Kennedy and Wallace brought to a head the long, post-Civil War struggle between the federal government and recalcitrant southern states over the enforcement of federal desegregation laws. Kennedy, a Catholic, considered racial segregation morally wrong. As of 1963, Alabama was the only state that had not integrated its education system. From the time of his gubernatorial campaign in 1962 until this day in 1963, Wallace had boldly proclaimed that he would personally stand in front of the door of any Alabama schoolhouse that was ordered by the federal courts to admit black students. In response to Wallace's rhetoric, Kennedy sent his brother, Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy, on April 25 to negotiate with Wallace; the talks failed. The Kennedy brothers, having decided that they were dealing with a raving maniac, looked for an indirect solution. JFK appealed to Alabama business leaders and influential politicians to talk sense into Wallace. On May 21 and again on June 5, the U.S. district court ordered Wallace to allow the students to register on June 11. Wallace dug in and refused, hoping to force JFK to call up the National Guard, an act Wallace was sure would infuriate staunch states' rights supporters and paint JFK as a tyrant. Robert Kennedy wanted his brother to go ahead and federalize the Alabama National Guard and arrest Wallace, but the president feared that such an action would play into Wallace's hands. So, the president waited for Wallace to make the first move. On the morning of June 11, the day the students were expected to register, Wallace stood in front of the University of Alabama campus auditorium flanked by Alabama state troopers while cameras flashed and recorders from the press corps whirred. Kennedy, at the White House, and Deputy Attorney General Nicholas Katzenbach, in Tuscaloosa, kept in touch by phone. When Wallace refused to let the students enter for registration, Katzenbach phoned Kennedy. Kennedy upped the pressure on Wallace, immediately issuing Presidential Proclamation 3542, which ordered the governor to comply, and authorizing the secretary of defense to call up the Alabama National Guard with Executive Order 11111. That afternoon, Katzenbach returned with the students and asked Wallace to step aside. Wallace, knowing he was beaten, relented, having saved face with his hard-line, anti-segregation constituency. Three days later, a third black student registered at the University of Alabama campus in Huntsville without interference.
- 1966 --- Janis Joplin debuted on stage at the Avalon ballroom in San Francisco.
- 1972 --- Hank Aaron of the Atlanta Braves tied (with Gil Hodges of the Dodgers) the National League record for the most grand-slam home runs in a career, with 14. The Braves beat the Philadelphia Phillies 15-3 to make the celebration even better.
- 1981 --- The first baseball player’s strike in major-league history began during mid-season after Seattle defeated Baltimore 8-2 at the Kingdome in Seattle. For two months, the nation’s favorite pastime was watching negotiations between the players’ union and team owners. It ended June 30 after 706 games were cancelled.
- 1986 --- A divided Supreme Court struck down a Pennsylvania abortion law while reaffirming its 1973 decision establishing a constitutional right to abortion.
- 1990 --- Nolan Ryan of the Texas Rangers pitched his 6th career no-hitter.
- 1993 --- The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that people who commit "hate crimes" could be sentenced to extra punishment. The court also ruled in favor of religious groups saying that they indeed had a constitutional right to sacrifice animals during worship services.
- Birthdays
- Joe Montana
- Bonnie Pointer
- Jacques Cousteau
- Richard Strauss
- Gene Wilder
- Adrienne Barbeau
- Hugh Laurie
- Jackie Stewart
- Frank Beard
- Richard Strauss
- Vince Lombardi
- Henry Cisneros
- Jeannette Pickering Rankin