June 29 in history — What Happened Today in History

Vice President Isabel Perón assumes powers and duties as Acting President of Argentina, while her husband President Juan Perón is terminally ill.

Mikhail Baryshnikov defects from the Soviet Union to Canada while on tour with the Kirov Ballet.

The United States Supreme Court rules in the case Furman v. Georgia that arbitrary and inconsistent imposition of the death penalty violates the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments and constitutes cruel and unusual punishment.

A Convair CV-580 and De Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter collide above Lake Winnebago near Appleton, Wisconsin, killing 13.

Prior to re-entry (following a record-setting stay aboard the Soviet Union's Salyut 1 space station), the crew capsule of the Soyuz 11 spacecraft depressurizes, killing the three cosmonauts on board. Georgy Dobrovolsky, Vladislav Volkov and Viktor Patsayev are the first humans to die in space.

The Federal Aid Highway Act of 1956 is signed by U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower, officially creating the United States Interstate Highway System.

The first Miss Universe pageant is held. Armi Kuusela from Finland wins the title of Miss Universe 1952.

Korean War: U.S. President Harry S. Truman authorizes a sea blockade of Korea.

The Soviet Union annexes the Czechoslovak province of Carpathian Ruthenia.

The Bird of Paradise, a U.S. Army Air Corps Fokker tri-motor, completes the first transpacific flight, from the mainland United States to Hawaii.

France grants "one square kilometer" at Vimy Ridge "freely, and for all time, to the Government of Canada, the free use of the land exempt from all taxes".

British diplomat turned Irish nationalist Roger Casement is sentenced to death for his part in the Easter Rising.

The North Saskatchewan River flood of 1915 is the worst flood in Edmonton history.

The Bulgarian army launches attacks against Serbian positions, triggering the Second Balkan War.

Hyde Park and several other Illinois townships vote to be annexed by Chicago, forming the largest United States city in area and second largest in population at the time.

George Edward Gouraud records Handel's Israel in Egypt onto a phonograph cylinder, thought for many years to be the oldest known recording of music.

In Sudan, Muhammad Ahmad declares himself to be the Mahdi, the messianic redeemer of Islam.

France annexes Tahiti, renaming the independent Kingdom of Tahiti as "Etablissements de français de l'Océanie".

Greek politician Charilaos Trikoupis publishes a manifesto in the Athens daily Kairoi entitled "Who's to Blame?" leveling complaints against King George. Trikoupis is elected Prime Minister of Greece the next year.

At least 99 people, mostly German and Polish immigrants, are killed in Canada's worst railway disaster after a train fails to stop for an open drawbridge and plunges into the Rivière Richelieu near St-Hilaire, Quebec.

Autocephaly officially granted by the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople to the Church of Greece.

Russo-Turkish War: Admiral Dmitry Senyavin destroys the Ottoman fleet in the Battle of Athos.

Alexander Macdonell and over five hundred Roman Catholic highlanders leave Scotland to settle in Glengarry County, Ontario.

One of the strongest tornadoes in history strikes Woldegk, Germany, killing one person while leveling numerous mansions with winds estimated greater than 300 miles per hour (480 km/h).

At the Battle of Konotop the Ukrainian armies of Ivan Vyhovsky defeat the Russians led by Prince Trubetskoy.

Charles I of England defeats a Parliamentarian detachment at the Battle of Cropredy Bridge.

English crown bans tobacco growing in England, giving the Virginia Company a monopoly in exchange for tax of one shilling per pound.

The Globe Theatre in London, built by William Shakespeare's playing company, the Lord Chamberlain's Men, burns to the ground.

Harrison Gilbertson, Australian actor

Oliver Tree, American singer-songwriter (died 2026)

Suk Hyun-jun, South Korean footballer

Tajja Isen, Canadian actress and writer

Kawhi Leonard, American basketball player

Addison Timlin, American actress

Kim Little, Scottish footballer

Yann M'Vila, French footballer

Éver Banega, Argentine footballer

José Manuel Jurado, Spanish footballer

Edward Maya, Romanian singer-songwriter and producer

Quintin Demps, American football player

Aleksandr Shustov, Russian high jumper

Jan Hettema, Springbok cyclist and five times South African National Rally Champion (born 1933)

Hisham Barakat, Egyptian lawyer and judge (born 1950)

Josef Masopust, Czech footballer and coach (born 1931)

Charles Pasqua, French businessman and politician, French Minister of the Interior (born 1927)

Damian D'Oliveira, South African cricketer (born 1960)

Dermot Healy, Irish author, poet, and playwright (born 1947)

Peter Fitzgerald, Irish footballer and manager (born 1937)

Jack Gotta, American-Canadian football player, coach, and manager (born 1929)

Margherita Hack, Italian astrophysicist and author (born 1922)

Gilma Jiménez, Colombian politician (born 1956)

Yong Nyuk Lin, Singaporean politician, Singaporean Minister of Health (born 1918)

Vincent Ostrom, American political scientist and academic (born 1919)

Juan Reccius, Chilean triple jumper (born 1911)