Wikipedia: July 26

July 26
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

July 26 is the 207th day (208th in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian Calendar, with 158 days remaining.

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, Americann 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)

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