This Day in History

In 1847, New York and Boston were linked by telegraph wires.

In 1880, author-lecturer Helen Keller, who lived most of her life without sight or hearing, was born in Tuscumbia, Ala.

In 1893, the New York stock market crashed.

In 1944, during World War II, American forces completed their capture of the French port of Cherbourg from the Germans.

In 1957, more than 500 people were killed when Hurricane "Audrey" slammed through coastal Louisiana and Texas.

In 1969, patrons at the Stonewall Inn, a gay bar in New York's Greenwich Village, clashed with police in an incident considered the birth of the gay rights movement.

In 1973, former White House counsel John W. Dean told the Senate Watergate Committee about an "enemies list" kept by the Nixon White House.

In 1980, President Carter signed legislation reviving draft registration.

In 1985, the legendary Route 66, which originally stretched from Chicago to Santa Monica, Calif., passed into history as officials decertified the road.

Ten years ago: The space shuttle Atlantis blasted off on a historic flight to link up with Russia's space station Mir and bring home American astronaut Norman Thagard. The San Francisco Chronicle received a message from the Unabomber threatening to blow up a plane by the July 4 weekend (the Unabomber later called the threat a prank).

Five years ago: House Republicans cut a deal to allow direct sales of U.S. food to Cuba for the first time in four decades. President Robert Mugabe's ruling party was assured a majority in Zimbabwe's new parliament despite historic gains by the opposition.

One year ago: NATO leaders meeting in Turkey closed ranks on a pledge to take a bigger military role in Iraq; President Bush declared that the alliance was poised to "meet the threats of the 21st century." Insurgents threatened to behead Cpl. Wassef Ali Hassoun, a U.S. Marine who'd vanished in Iraq, in a videotaped that aired on Arab television. (However, Hassoun contacted American officials in his native Lebanon the following month; after being reunited with his family in Utah, Hassoun disappeared last December.)

Today's Birthdays:

Business executive Ross Perot is 75. The former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, retired Army General John Shalikashvili, is 69. Former Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt is 67. Singer-musician Bruce Johnston (The Beach Boys) is 63. Actress Julia Duffy is 54. Actress Isabelle Adjani is 50. Country singer Lorrie Morgan is 46. Actor Brian Drillinger is 45. Actor Yancey Arias is 34. Actor Tobey Maguire is 30. Gospel singer Leigh Nash is 29. Actress Madylin Sweeten is 14.