[goofywife]

1969: Last Star Trek episode airs

The last original Star Trek segment aired today. "In it a scorned woman (and you know all about them), trades bodies with Captain Kirk and convinces the crew that he (or should it be she?) is insane. If it sounds complicated, it is. But count on William Shatner to give a good performance," reported The Valley Independent on June 3, 1969.

While Star Trek fans were able to save Gene Roddenberry's 1968-1969 season of the show after thousands of letters protested the cancellation, network authorities said letters would not bring the show back for the 1969-1970 season. The show became one of the most successful rerun syndications in television history.

"Since that dark day in 1969 when NBC brought the programming hammer down on 'Star Trek,' there probably hasn't been a 24-hour period when the original program, one of the original episodes, wasn't being broadcast somewhere," explained the Chronicle Telegram on December 20, 1987.

1968: Andy Warhol is shot

Artist and filmmaker Andy Warhol was shot in his New York studio today by actress Valerie Solanas, who starred in Warhol's film I, A Man. "Doctors said today Warhol had a '50-50' chance of surviving," informed the Bucks County Courier Times on June 4, 1968. "Miss Solanas, who last year placed an ad in a Greenwich Village weekly, The Village Voice, announcing formation of 'The Society for Cutting up Men' (SCUM), said she shot Warhol because he 'had too much control of my life.'" NOTE: Although Warhol recovered, his injuries and the trauma of the event continue to affect him for the rest of his life. Solanas pleaded guilty to attempted murder, was sentenced to three years in prison, on her release was again prosecuted for harassing Warhol, and spent the rest of her life in and out of mental hospitals.

1965: White walks in space

Connected to Gemini 4 by a tether, astronaut Edward H. White II became the first American to walk in space today. "Part of today's plan called for White and his command pilot, James A. McDivitt to pretend they are returning from a moon trip and try to orient themselves visually by spotting landmarks such as the Florida Peninsula," reported The Post Crescent on June 4, 1965. "White stayed alone in space for 20 minutes, double the time spent by a Soviet cosmonaut last March, and had to be coaxed back into the capsule by McDivitt, who followed peremptory commands barked into space from mission control in Houston."

1963: Pope John XXIII dies of stomach cancer

Less than five years into his papacy, Pope John XXIII, born Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli, died of stomach cancer today at age 81. "The tributes to Pope John XXIII came today from the high and the humble, the religious and the not so religious - and they all sounded the same basic theme. He was a good man," explained The Daily Messenger on June 4, 1963. NOTE: In the fall of 1962, Pope John XXIII convened the first general council of the Church - known as Vatican II - in almost a century. He was succeeded by Pope Paul VI.