26 July

Events

• 1139 - Afonso, then a count, is procclaimed first king of Portugal and declares independence from Castile
• 1788 - New York ratifies the United States Constitution and is admitted as the 11th state of the United States.
• 1803 - the Surrey Iron Railway, arguably the world's first public railway, opens in south London.
• 1847 - Liberia gains independence.
• 1861 - American Civil War: George McClellan assumes command of the Army of the Potomac following a disastrous Union defeat at the First Battle of Bull Run.
• 1863 - American Civil War: Morgan's Raid ends - At Salineville, Ohio, Confederate cavalry leader John Hunt Morgan and 360 of his volunteers are captured by Union forces.
• 1878 - In California, the poet and American West outlaw calling himself "Black Bart" makes his last clean getaway when he steals a safe box from a Wells Fargo stagecoach. The empty box will be found later with a taunting poem inside.
• 1887 - L. L. Zamenhof publishes "Dr. Esperanto's International Language".
• 1908 - United States Attorney General Charles Joseph Bonaparte issues an order to immediately staff the Office of the Chief Examiner (later renamed the Federal Bureau of Investigation).
• 1941 - World War II: In response to the Japanese occupation of French Indo-China, US President Franklin D. Roosevelt orders the seizure of all Japanese assets in the United States.
• 1945 - General election results in the United Kingdom are announced; The Labour Party wins 48% of the vote and a Parliamentary majority of 146 seats (the largest in post-war British history). This is in spite of Conservative Party leader Winston Churchill's popularity.
• 1947 - Cold War: U.S. President Harry S. Truman signs the National Security Act into United States law creating the Central Intelligence Agency, Department of Defense, Joint Chiefs of Staff, and the National Security Council.
• 1948 - U.S. President Harry S. Truman signs Executive Order 9981 desegregating the military of the United States.
• 1948 - André Marie becomes Prime Minister of France
• 1953 - Fidel Castro leads an unsuccessful attack on the Moncada Barracks beginning the Cuban Revolution.
• 1956 - Egyptian leader Gamal Nasser nationalizes the Suez Canal sparking international condemnation.
• 1958 - Explorer program: Explorer 4 is launched.
• 1963 - Syncom 2, the world's first geosynchronous satellite, is launched from Cape Canaveral on a Delta B booster.
• 1966 - Lord Gardiner issues the Practice Statement in the House of Lords stating that the House is not bound to follow its own previous precedent.
• 1968 - Vietnam War: South Vietnamese opposition leader Truong Dinh Dzu is sentenced to five years hard labor for advocating the formation of a coalition government as a way to move toward an end to the war.
• 1971 - Apollo program: Launch of Apollo 15.
• 1989 - A federal grand jury indicts Cornell University student Robert T. Morris, Jr. for releasing a computer worm, thus becoming the first person to be prosecuted under the 1986 Computer Fraud and Abuse Act.
• 1991 - Paul Reubens, better known as Pee Wee Herman, is arrested for masturbating at a Sarasota, Florida adult theatre.
• 1991 - Sonic the Hedgehog is released for the Sega Megadrive in Japan

Births

• 1782 - John Field, composer († 1837)
• 1802 - Mariano Arista, president of Mexico († 1855)
• 1856 - George Bernard Shaw, author, playwright, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Literature 1925 († 1950)
• 1865 - Philipp Scheidemann, politician († 1939)
• 1875 - Carl Gustav Jung, founder of analytic psychology († 1961)
• 1894 - Aldous Huxley, author († 1963)
• 1895 - Robert Graves, writer († 1985)
• 1897 - Paul Gallico, author († 1976)
• 1902 - Gracie Allen, actress, comedienne († 1964)
• 1903 - Estes Kefauver, former United States Senator from Tennessee († 1963)
• 1908 - Salvador Allende, President of Chile 1970-1973 († 1973)
• 1909 - Vivian Vance, actress († 1979)
• 1920 - Bob Waterfield, National Football League player († 1983)
• 1921 - Jean Shepherd, writer († 1999)
• 1922 - Blake Edwards, movie director
• 1922 - Jason Robards, actor († 2000)
• 1923 - Hoyt Wilhelm, Major League Baseball player († 2002)
• 1928 - Stanley Kubrick, movie director († 1999)
• 1939 - John Howard, Australian Prime Minister
• 1939 - Bob Lilly, NFL player
• 1940 - Mary Jo Kopechne, congressional staffer for Edward Kennedy († 1969)
• 1943 - Mick Jagger, musician
• 1944 - Micki King, Olympic gold medal diver
• 1945 - Helen Mirren, actress
• 1956 - Dorothy Hamill, Olympic gold medal figure skater
• 1959 - Kevin Spacey, Academy Award winning actor
• 1964 - Sandra Bullock, actress
• 1973 - Kate Beckinsale, actress

Deaths

• 796 - Offa, king of Mercia
• 1863 - Sam Houston, American politician, former President of Texas
• 1925 - Gottlob Frege, German mathematician and logician
• 1925 - William Jennings Bryan, American politician
• 1932 - Frederick Duesenberg, automotive inventor
• 1935 - Winsor McCay, early cartoonist
• 1952 - Eva Perón, former President of Argentina
• 1969 - Frank Loesser, composer
• 1984 - Ed Gein, serial killer
• 1986 - Averell Harriman, American diplomat

Holidays and Observances

• Cuba - Anniversary of the Moncada Barracks Attack Day (1953), Revolution Day
• Liberia - Independence Day
• Maldives - Independence Day
• India - Vijay Divas (end of Kargil War)

July 25 - July 27 - June 26 - August 26 -- listing of all days

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Referenced By