http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history
July 26, 1775: U.S. postal system established
On this day in 1775, the U.S. postal system is established by the Second Continental Congress, with Benjamin Franklin as its first postmaster general. Franklin (1706-1790) put in place the foundation for many aspects of today's mail system. During early colonial times in the 1600s, few American colonists needed to send mail to each other; it was more likely that their correspondence was with letter writers in Britain. Mail deliveries from across the Atlantic were sporadic and could take many months to arrive. There were no post offices in the colonies, so mail was typically left at inns and taverns. In 1753, Benjamin Franklin, who had been postmaster of Philadelphia, became one of two joint postmasters general for the colonies. He made numerous improvements to the mail system, including setting up new, more efficient colonial routes and cutting delivery time in half between Philadelphia and New York by having the weekly mail wagon travel both day and night via relay teams. Franklin also debuted the first rate chart, which standardized delivery costs based on distance and weight. In 1774, the British fired Franklin from his postmaster job because of his revolutionary activities. However, the following year, he was appointed postmaster general of the United Colonies by the Continental Congress. Franklin held the job until late in 1776, when he was sent to France as a diplomat. He left a vastly improved mail system, with routes from Florida to Maine and regular service between the colonies and Britain. President George Washington appointed Samuel Osgood, a former Massachusetts congressman, as the first postmaster general of the American nation under the new U.S. constitution in 1789. At the time, there were approximately 75 post offices in the country.
Today, the United States has over 40,000 post offices and the postal service delivers 212 billion pieces of mail each year to over 144 million homes and businesses in the United States, Puerto Rico, Guam, the American Virgin Islands and American Samoa. The postal service is the nation's largest civilian employer, with over 700,000 career workers, who handle more than 44 percent of the world's cards and letters. The postal service is a not-for-profit, self-supporting agency that covers its expenses through postage (stamp use in the United States started in 1847) and related products. The postal service gets the mail delivered, rain or shine, using everything from planes to mules. However, it's not cheap: The U.S. Postal Service says that when fuel costs go up by just one penny, its own costs rise by $8 million.
Also on this day in history, Liberia achieved independence!
July 26, 1847: Liberian independence proclaimed
The Republic of Liberia, formerly a colony of the American Colonization Society, declares its independence. Under pressure from Britain, the United States hesitantly accepted Liberian sovereignty, making the West African nation the first democratic republic in African history. A constitution modeled after the U.S. Constitution was approved, and in 1848 Joseph Jenkins Roberts was elected Liberia's first president.
The American Colonization Society was founded in 1816 by American Robert Finley to return freed African American slaves to Africa. In 1820, the first former U.S. slaves arrived at the British colony of Sierra Leone from the United States, and in 1821 the American Colonization Society founded the colony of Liberia south of Sierra Leone as a homeland for former slaves outside British jurisdiction.
The American Colonization Society came under attack from U.S. abolitionists, who charged that the removal of freed slaves from the United States strengthened the institution of slavery. In addition, most Americans of African descent were not enthusiastic to abandon their native lands in the United States for the harsh West African coast. Nevertheless, between 1822 and the American Civil War, some 15,000 African Americans settled in Liberia. Independence was granted by the United States in 1847, and Liberia aided Britain in its efforts to end the illegal West African slave trade. Official U.S. diplomatic recognition came in 1862.
With the backing of the United States, Liberia kept its independence though the turmoil of the 20th century. A costly civil war began in 1989 and lasted until 1997, when Charles Taylor was elected Liberian president in free elections. His administration has been criticized for supporting the rebels in neighboring Sierra Leone. Some three million people live in Liberia today.
The US Postal Service was established on this day! Liberia gained it's independence!
Here's a more detailed look at events that transpired on this date throughout history:
657 - Battle
of Siffin.
811 - Battle at Pliska: Bulgarian under monarch Krum beat Byzantine
920 - Rout of an alliance of Christian troops from Navarre and Léon against the Muslims at Pamplona.
1267 - Inquistion forms in Rome under pope Clement IV
1309 - Henry VII is recognized King of the Romans by Pope Clement V.
1469 - Wars of the Roses: Battle of Edgecote Moor - Pitting the forces of Richard Neville, 16th Earl of Warwick against those of King Edward IV.
1497 - "Edward IV's son" Perkin Warbecks army lands in Cork
1499 - Alonso dhe Ojeda discovers Curacao Island
1519 - Francisco Pizarro receives royal charter for the west coast of South America
1524 - James V declared by Scottish Parliament fit to govern
1529 - Francisco Pizarro appointed governor of Peru
1576 - Muitende Spanish troops conquer Aalst
1579 - Francis Drake leaves SF to cross Pacific Ocean
1588 - John Hawkins becomes a knight
1656 - Rembrandt declares he is insolvent
1663 - France annexes Venaissin
1678 - England & Netherlands signs treaty: sending ultimatum to France
1757 - Battle at Hastenbeck: French army beats duke of Cumberland
1758 - British battle fleet under gen James Wolfe conquerors Louisbourg
British Army Officer
that Defeated the French in Canada James Wolfe1759 - French
troops vacate Ticonderoga NY
1760 - Austrian troops occupy Fort Glatz Silezie
1775 - United States Post Office (U.S.P.O.) created in Philadelphia under Benjamin Franklin
1788 - NY becomes 11th state to ratify constitution
1790 - US passes Assumption bill making US responsible for state debts
1803 - The Surrey Iron Railway, arguably the world's first public railway, opens in south London.
1805 - Naples/Calabria struck by Earthquake; about 26,000 die
1822 - Secret meeting of Simon Bolivar & Jose de San Martin
1826 - Vilnus Lithuanian riots cause death of many Jews
1832 - HMS Beagle anchors in Montevideo
1835 - 1st sugar cane plantation started in Hawaii
1847 - Liberia declares independence from American Colonization Society
1847 - Moses Garrish Farmer builds 1st miniature train for children to ride
1848 - 1st Woman's Rights Convention (Senecca Falls NY)
1858 - Baron Lionel de Rothschild is 1st Jew elected to British Parliament
Military
and Political LeaderSimon
Bolivar1863 - Battle
of Salineville OH, John Hunt Morgan & 364 troops surrender
1864 - -31] Riot at McCook's to Lovejoy Station GA, US600 CS---
1864 - -31] Riot at Stoneman's to Macon GA, US1000 CS---
1864 - Battle at Ezra Chapel (Church), Georgia [Hood's Third Sortie]
1865 - Patrick Francis Healy is 1st black awarded PhD (Louvain Belgium)
1866 - Canoe Club opens in England
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.
1881 - French marines occupy Tunisian harbor city Sfax
1882 - Richard Wagner's opera "Parsifal," premieres in Beirut
1887 - 1st Esperanto book published
1891 - Henry James' "American," premieres in London
1891 - France annexes Tahiti.
1897 - 37.5 cm rainfall at Jewell, Maryland (state record)
1902 - Australia beat England by 3 runs at Old Trafford
1908 - Predecessor of the FBI is created by the Department of Justice
Composer Richard Wagner1908
- 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).
1914 - Austrian-Hungary condemns Serbian ultimatum
1914 - British Min of Navy Winston Churchill orders British fleet to remain
1914 - German chief of staff/gen von Moltke states ultimatum on Belgium
1915 - International School for Wijsbegeerte forms
1917 - J. Edgar Hoover gets job on ministry of Justice
1918 - Race riot in Philadelphia (3 whites & 1 black killed)
1926 - National Bar Association incorporates
1926 - Philippines government asks US to plebiscite for independence
1928 - Gene Tunney TKOs Tom Heeney in 11 for heavyweight boxing title
1928 - Yanks score 11 runs in 12th beating Tigers 12-1
1933 - Joe Dimaggio ends 61 game hitting streak in Pacific Coast League
1936 - The Axis Powers decide to intervene in the Spanish Civil War.
1937 - End of the Battle of Brunete in the Spanish Civil War.
1938 - 1st radio broadcast of "Young Widder Brown" on NBC
Yankee
Clipper Joe
DiMaggio1939 - Yankee
catcher Bill Dickey hits 3 consecutive HRs
1941 - 1st Dutch Austrians depart Hague
1941 - US embargo on oil-export to Japan
1942 - RAF bombs Hamburg
1942 - RC churches protest, Dutch bishops stand against spread of Judaism
1943 - 120°F (49°C), Tishmoningo, Oklahoma (state record)
1943 - Otto Skorzeny's commando group arrives in Rome
1944 - Japanese suicide attack on US lines in Guam
1944 - Russian troops arrive in Weichsel
1944 - US offensive at St-Lo/2nd Armour div occupies St Gilles
1944 - The first German V-2 rocket hits Great Britain.
1945 - After Labour landslide in general election, Clement Attlee becomes PM
1945 - Declaration of Potsdam: US/Brit/China demands Japanese surrender
1945 - Japanese government disregards US ultimatum
1945 - US cruiser Indianapolis reaches Tinian with atom bomb
1945 - Winston Churchill resigns as Britain's Prime Minister
1946 - President Harry Truman orders desegregation of all US forces
1946 - Aloha Airlines began service from Honolulu International Airport
1947 - Department of Defense forms
1947 - National Security Act establishes CIA
Baseball
Great Babe Ruth1948 - "Babe
Ruth Story," premieres, Babe Ruth's last public appearance
1948 - 1st black host of a network show-CBS' Bob Howard Show
1948 - Leo Durocher returns to Ebbets Field as a NY Giant
1948 - Pres Harry Truman issues Executive Order No. 9981 directing "equality of treatment & opportunity" in armed forces
1949 - WCPO TV channel 9 in Cincinnati, OH (CBS) begins broadcasting
1950 - Dodgers' Jim Russell is 1st to switch-hits HRs twice in a game
1950 - KNIL (Royal Dutch East Indies Army) unites
1951 - Netherlands ends state of war with Germany
1952 - King Farouk I of Egypt abdicates [Black Saturday]
1952 - Mickey Mantle hits his 1st grand-slammer
1953 - Cuban pirate radio station's 1st transmission at Santiago de Cuba
1953 - Fidel Castro begins rebellion, the "26th of July Movement," against Fulgenico Batista's regime
1953 - Arizona Governor John Howard Pyle orders an anti-polygamy law enforcement crackdown on residents of Short Creek, Arizona, which becomes known as the Short Creek Raid.
1954 - WCET TV channel 48 in Cincinnati, OH (PBS) begins broadcasting
1955 - 37th PGA Championship: Doug Ford at Meadowbrook CC Detroit
Dictator Fidel Castro1955
- Last day as Test Cricket umpire for Frank Chester
1955 - Ted Allen throws a record 72 consecutive horseshoe ringers
1956 - Egypt seizes Suez Canal
1957 - Mickey Mantle hits career HR # 200
1957 - USSR launches 1st intercontinental multistage ballistic missile
1957 - Carlos Castillo Armas, dictator of Guatemala, is assassinated
1958 - Army launches 4th US successful satellite, Explorer IV
1959 - Betsy Rawls wins LPGA Western Golf Open
1960 - Italian government of Fanfani forms
1962 - Maria Oeljanov, 1st airship with nuclear missiles, arrives in Cuba
1962 - Milwaukee Brave Warren Spahn sets HR record of 31 by a pitcher
1963 - Skopje, Yugoslavia, destroyed by earthquake, kills 1,000+
1963 - US Syncom 2, 1st geosynchronous communications satellite, launched
1963 - The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development votes to admit Japan.
1964 - Clifford Ann Creed wins LPGA Cosmopolitan Women's Golf Open
1964 - Teamsters President Jimmy Hoffa convicted of fraud & conspiracy
1964 - Train from Povoa de Varzin, Portugal derails near Oporto, 94 die
1964 - US union leader James Hoffa sentenced for fraud
1965 - Republic of Maldives gains independence from Britain (Natl Day)
1966 - WRLH TV channel 31 in Lebanon, NH (NBC) begins broadcasting
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.
1967 - Twins beat Yanks 3-2 in 18
1969 - Sharon Sites Adams, 39, becomes 1st lady to solo sail the Pacific
1970 - Reds Johnny Bench hits 3 consecutive HRs of Phillies Steve Carlton
1971 - Apollo 15 launched (Scott & Irwin) to 4th manned landing on Moon
1973 - Peter Shaffers "Equus," premieres in London
1974 - France performs nuclear Test at Muruora Island
1974 - USSR's Soyuz fails to dock with Salyut 3
1975 - Soyuz 18B returns to Earth
1977 - USSR performs underground nuclear Test
1978 - France performs nuclear Test at Muruora Island
1978 - Johnny Bench hits his 300th career home run
1979 - Estimated 109 cm (43") of rain falls in Alvin, TX (national record)
1981 - 2 climbers fall 550 m down cliff near Angel Falls, Venezuela
1981 - 36th US Women's Open Golf Championship won by Pat Bradley
1981 - NY Mayor Ed Koch is given Heimlich maneuver in a Chinese restaurant
1982 - Canada's Anik D1 Comsat launched by US Delta rocket
1982 - Karen Dianne Baldwin, 18, of Canada, crowned 31st Miss Universe
1983 - Challenger moves to Vandenberg AFB for mating for STS-8
1983 - Jarmila Kratochvilova of Czech sets 800m woman's record (1:53.28)
1983 - Light flashes seen on Jupiter moon Io
1984 - Expos Pete Rose ties Ty Cobb with his 3,052nd single
1984 - Kuhn announces Vida Blue is suspended due to cocaine conviction
1984 - Pitcher Vida Blue suspended for rest of 1984 due to drug use
1986 - Lebanese kidnappers released Rev Lawrence Martin Jenco
1987 - Catfish Hunter Billy Williams & Ray Dandridge inducted in Baseball Hall of Fame
1987 - Stephen Roche wins Tour de France
1988 - Mike Schmidt sets NL record appearing in 2,155 games at 3rd base, as Phillies & NY Mets end that game at 2:13 AM
1990 - General Hospital tapes its 7,000th episode
1990 - President Bush signs Americans With Disabilities Act
1990 - US beats Soviet Union 17-0 in baseball at Goodwill Games
1991 - CFL assumes ownership of Ottawa Rough Riders
1991 - Expo's Mark Gardner no hits Dodgers for 9 innings, but loses in 10th
1991 - Paul Reubens (Pee Wee Herman) is arrested in Florida, for exposing himself at an adult movie theater
1992 - "Man of La Mancha" closes at Marquis Theater NYC after 108 perfs
1992 - 47th US Women's Open Golf Championship won by Patty Sheehan
1992 - England honors her dead soldiers in the Falkland Is war
1992 - Nolan Ryan strikes out his 100th batter for 23rd consecutive seasons
1993 - Boeing 737-500 crashes in South Korea, 66 killed
1993 - Mars Observer takes 1st photo of Mars, from 5 billion km
1994 - Cambodia's Red Khmer surprise attack on train, kills 13
1994 - Turkish air force bombs Kurds, struggle in Iraq, 70 killed
1998 - 19th US Senior Golf Open ends at Riviera CC, Pacific Palisades, Calif
2005 - Space Shuttle program: STS-114 Mission - Launch of Discovery, NASA's first scheduled flight mission after the Columbia Disaster in 2003.
2005 - Mumbai, India receives 99.5cm of rain (39.17 inches) within 24 hours, bringing the city to a halt for over 2 days.
2005 - Samir Geagea, the Lebanese Forces (LF) leader, is released after spending 11 years in a solitary confinement. His release came after the end of the Syrian occupation to Lebanon.
2012 - At least 200 people are killed in a day of violence in Syria
2012 - Insurgent attack kills 19 people and destroys a helicopter at Baqubah, Iraq
2012 - North Korea is hit by Tropical Storm Khanun, killing 88 people and leaving 60,000 people homeless
811 - Battle at Pliska: Bulgarian under monarch Krum beat Byzantine
920 - Rout of an alliance of Christian troops from Navarre and Léon against the Muslims at Pamplona.
1267 - Inquistion forms in Rome under pope Clement IV
1309 - Henry VII is recognized King of the Romans by Pope Clement V.
1469 - Wars of the Roses: Battle of Edgecote Moor - Pitting the forces of Richard Neville, 16th Earl of Warwick against those of King Edward IV.
1497 - "Edward IV's son" Perkin Warbecks army lands in Cork
1499 - Alonso dhe Ojeda discovers Curacao Island
1519 - Francisco Pizarro receives royal charter for the west coast of South America
1524 - James V declared by Scottish Parliament fit to govern
1529 - Francisco Pizarro appointed governor of Peru
1576 - Muitende Spanish troops conquer Aalst
1579 - Francis Drake leaves SF to cross Pacific Ocean
1588 - John Hawkins becomes a knight
1656 - Rembrandt declares he is insolvent
1663 - France annexes Venaissin
1678 - England & Netherlands signs treaty: sending ultimatum to France
1757 - Battle at Hastenbeck: French army beats duke of Cumberland
1758 - British battle fleet under gen James Wolfe conquerors Louisbourg
British Army Officer
that Defeated the French in Canada James Wolfe1759 - French
troops vacate Ticonderoga NY1760 - Austrian troops occupy Fort Glatz Silezie
1775 - United States Post Office (U.S.P.O.) created in Philadelphia under Benjamin Franklin
1788 - NY becomes 11th state to ratify constitution
1790 - US passes Assumption bill making US responsible for state debts
1803 - The Surrey Iron Railway, arguably the world's first public railway, opens in south London.
1805 - Naples/Calabria struck by Earthquake; about 26,000 die
1822 - Secret meeting of Simon Bolivar & Jose de San Martin
1826 - Vilnus Lithuanian riots cause death of many Jews
1832 - HMS Beagle anchors in Montevideo
1835 - 1st sugar cane plantation started in Hawaii
1847 - Liberia declares independence from American Colonization Society
1847 - Moses Garrish Farmer builds 1st miniature train for children to ride
1848 - 1st Woman's Rights Convention (Senecca Falls NY)
1858 - Baron Lionel de Rothschild is 1st Jew elected to British Parliament
Military
and Political LeaderSimon
Bolivar1863 - Battle
of Salineville OH, John Hunt Morgan & 364 troops surrender1864 - -31] Riot at McCook's to Lovejoy Station GA, US600 CS---
1864 - -31] Riot at Stoneman's to Macon GA, US1000 CS---
1864 - Battle at Ezra Chapel (Church), Georgia [Hood's Third Sortie]
1865 - Patrick Francis Healy is 1st black awarded PhD (Louvain Belgium)
1866 - Canoe Club opens in England
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.
1881 - French marines occupy Tunisian harbor city Sfax
1882 - Richard Wagner's opera "Parsifal," premieres in Beirut
1887 - 1st Esperanto book published
1891 - Henry James' "American," premieres in London
1891 - France annexes Tahiti.
1897 - 37.5 cm rainfall at Jewell, Maryland (state record)
1902 - Australia beat England by 3 runs at Old Trafford
1908 - Predecessor of the FBI is created by the Department of Justice
Composer Richard Wagner1908
- 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).1914 - Austrian-Hungary condemns Serbian ultimatum
1914 - British Min of Navy Winston Churchill orders British fleet to remain
1914 - German chief of staff/gen von Moltke states ultimatum on Belgium
1915 - International School for Wijsbegeerte forms
1917 - J. Edgar Hoover gets job on ministry of Justice
1918 - Race riot in Philadelphia (3 whites & 1 black killed)
1926 - National Bar Association incorporates
1926 - Philippines government asks US to plebiscite for independence
1928 - Gene Tunney TKOs Tom Heeney in 11 for heavyweight boxing title
1928 - Yanks score 11 runs in 12th beating Tigers 12-1
1933 - Joe Dimaggio ends 61 game hitting streak in Pacific Coast League
1936 - The Axis Powers decide to intervene in the Spanish Civil War.
1937 - End of the Battle of Brunete in the Spanish Civil War.
1938 - 1st radio broadcast of "Young Widder Brown" on NBC
Yankee
Clipper Joe
DiMaggio1939 - Yankee
catcher Bill Dickey hits 3 consecutive HRs1941 - 1st Dutch Austrians depart Hague
1941 - US embargo on oil-export to Japan
1942 - RAF bombs Hamburg
1942 - RC churches protest, Dutch bishops stand against spread of Judaism
1943 - 120°F (49°C), Tishmoningo, Oklahoma (state record)
1943 - Otto Skorzeny's commando group arrives in Rome
1944 - Japanese suicide attack on US lines in Guam
1944 - Russian troops arrive in Weichsel
1944 - US offensive at St-Lo/2nd Armour div occupies St Gilles
1944 - The first German V-2 rocket hits Great Britain.
1945 - After Labour landslide in general election, Clement Attlee becomes PM
1945 - Declaration of Potsdam: US/Brit/China demands Japanese surrender
1945 - Japanese government disregards US ultimatum
1945 - US cruiser Indianapolis reaches Tinian with atom bomb
1945 - Winston Churchill resigns as Britain's Prime Minister
1946 - President Harry Truman orders desegregation of all US forces
1946 - Aloha Airlines began service from Honolulu International Airport
1947 - Department of Defense forms
1947 - National Security Act establishes CIA
Baseball
Great Babe Ruth1948 - "Babe
Ruth Story," premieres, Babe Ruth's last public appearance1948 - 1st black host of a network show-CBS' Bob Howard Show
1948 - Leo Durocher returns to Ebbets Field as a NY Giant
1948 - Pres Harry Truman issues Executive Order No. 9981 directing "equality of treatment & opportunity" in armed forces
1949 - WCPO TV channel 9 in Cincinnati, OH (CBS) begins broadcasting
1950 - Dodgers' Jim Russell is 1st to switch-hits HRs twice in a game
1950 - KNIL (Royal Dutch East Indies Army) unites
1951 - Netherlands ends state of war with Germany
1952 - King Farouk I of Egypt abdicates [Black Saturday]
1952 - Mickey Mantle hits his 1st grand-slammer
1953 - Cuban pirate radio station's 1st transmission at Santiago de Cuba
1953 - Fidel Castro begins rebellion, the "26th of July Movement," against Fulgenico Batista's regime
1953 - Arizona Governor John Howard Pyle orders an anti-polygamy law enforcement crackdown on residents of Short Creek, Arizona, which becomes known as the Short Creek Raid.
1954 - WCET TV channel 48 in Cincinnati, OH (PBS) begins broadcasting
1955 - 37th PGA Championship: Doug Ford at Meadowbrook CC Detroit
Dictator Fidel Castro1955
- Last day as Test Cricket umpire for Frank Chester1955 - Ted Allen throws a record 72 consecutive horseshoe ringers
1956 - Egypt seizes Suez Canal
1957 - Mickey Mantle hits career HR # 200
1957 - USSR launches 1st intercontinental multistage ballistic missile
1957 - Carlos Castillo Armas, dictator of Guatemala, is assassinated
1958 - Army launches 4th US successful satellite, Explorer IV
1959 - Betsy Rawls wins LPGA Western Golf Open
1960 - Italian government of Fanfani forms
1962 - Maria Oeljanov, 1st airship with nuclear missiles, arrives in Cuba
1962 - Milwaukee Brave Warren Spahn sets HR record of 31 by a pitcher
1963 - Skopje, Yugoslavia, destroyed by earthquake, kills 1,000+
1963 - US Syncom 2, 1st geosynchronous communications satellite, launched
1963 - The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development votes to admit Japan.
1964 - Clifford Ann Creed wins LPGA Cosmopolitan Women's Golf Open
1964 - Teamsters President Jimmy Hoffa convicted of fraud & conspiracy
1964 - Train from Povoa de Varzin, Portugal derails near Oporto, 94 die
1964 - US union leader James Hoffa sentenced for fraud
1965 - Republic of Maldives gains independence from Britain (Natl Day)
1966 - WRLH TV channel 31 in Lebanon, NH (NBC) begins broadcasting
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.
1967 - Twins beat Yanks 3-2 in 18
1969 - Sharon Sites Adams, 39, becomes 1st lady to solo sail the Pacific
1970 - Reds Johnny Bench hits 3 consecutive HRs of Phillies Steve Carlton
1971 - Apollo 15 launched (Scott & Irwin) to 4th manned landing on Moon
1973 - Peter Shaffers "Equus," premieres in London
1974 - France performs nuclear Test at Muruora Island
1974 - USSR's Soyuz fails to dock with Salyut 3
1975 - Soyuz 18B returns to Earth
1977 - USSR performs underground nuclear Test
1978 - France performs nuclear Test at Muruora Island
1978 - Johnny Bench hits his 300th career home run
1979 - Estimated 109 cm (43") of rain falls in Alvin, TX (national record)
1981 - 2 climbers fall 550 m down cliff near Angel Falls, Venezuela
1981 - 36th US Women's Open Golf Championship won by Pat Bradley
1981 - NY Mayor Ed Koch is given Heimlich maneuver in a Chinese restaurant
1982 - Canada's Anik D1 Comsat launched by US Delta rocket
1982 - Karen Dianne Baldwin, 18, of Canada, crowned 31st Miss Universe
1983 - Challenger moves to Vandenberg AFB for mating for STS-8
1983 - Jarmila Kratochvilova of Czech sets 800m woman's record (1:53.28)
1983 - Light flashes seen on Jupiter moon Io
1984 - Expos Pete Rose ties Ty Cobb with his 3,052nd single
1984 - Kuhn announces Vida Blue is suspended due to cocaine conviction
1984 - Pitcher Vida Blue suspended for rest of 1984 due to drug use
1986 - Lebanese kidnappers released Rev Lawrence Martin Jenco
1987 - Catfish Hunter Billy Williams & Ray Dandridge inducted in Baseball Hall of Fame
1987 - Stephen Roche wins Tour de France
1988 - Mike Schmidt sets NL record appearing in 2,155 games at 3rd base, as Phillies & NY Mets end that game at 2:13 AM
1990 - General Hospital tapes its 7,000th episode
1990 - President Bush signs Americans With Disabilities Act
1990 - US beats Soviet Union 17-0 in baseball at Goodwill Games
1991 - CFL assumes ownership of Ottawa Rough Riders
1991 - Expo's Mark Gardner no hits Dodgers for 9 innings, but loses in 10th
1991 - Paul Reubens (Pee Wee Herman) is arrested in Florida, for exposing himself at an adult movie theater
1992 - "Man of La Mancha" closes at Marquis Theater NYC after 108 perfs
1992 - 47th US Women's Open Golf Championship won by Patty Sheehan
1992 - England honors her dead soldiers in the Falkland Is war
1992 - Nolan Ryan strikes out his 100th batter for 23rd consecutive seasons
1993 - Boeing 737-500 crashes in South Korea, 66 killed
1993 - Mars Observer takes 1st photo of Mars, from 5 billion km
1994 - Cambodia's Red Khmer surprise attack on train, kills 13
1994 - Turkish air force bombs Kurds, struggle in Iraq, 70 killed
1998 - 19th US Senior Golf Open ends at Riviera CC, Pacific Palisades, Calif
2005 - Space Shuttle program: STS-114 Mission - Launch of Discovery, NASA's first scheduled flight mission after the Columbia Disaster in 2003.
2005 - Mumbai, India receives 99.5cm of rain (39.17 inches) within 24 hours, bringing the city to a halt for over 2 days.
2005 - Samir Geagea, the Lebanese Forces (LF) leader, is released after spending 11 years in a solitary confinement. His release came after the end of the Syrian occupation to Lebanon.
2012 - At least 200 people are killed in a day of violence in Syria
2012 - Insurgent attack kills 19 people and destroys a helicopter at Baqubah, Iraq
2012 - North Korea is hit by Tropical Storm Khanun, killing 88 people and leaving 60,000 people homeless
1775 - A postal system was established by the 2nd Continental Congress of the United States. The first Postmaster General was Benjamin Franklin. 1788 - New York became the 11th state to ratify the U.S. Constitution. 1881 - Thomas Edison and Patrick Kenny execute a patent application for a facsimile telegraph (U.S. Pat. 479,184). 1893 - Commercial production of the Addressograph started in Chicago, IL. 1907 - The Chester was launched. It was the first turbine-propelled ship. 1908 - U.S. Attorney General Charles J. Bonaparte issued an order that created an investigative agency that was a forerunner of the FBI. 1945 - Winston Churchill resigned as Britain's prime minister. 1947 - U.S. President Truman signed The National Security Act. The act created the National Security Council, the Department of Defense, the Central Intelligence Agency and the Joint Chiefs of Staff. 1948 - Babe Ruth was seen by the public for the last time, when he attended the New York City premiere of the motion picture, "The Babe Ruth Story." 1948 - U.S. President Truman signed executive orders that prohibited discrimination in the U.S. armed forces and federal employment. 1952 - King Farouk I of Egypt abdicated in the wake of a coup led by Gamal Abdel Nasser. 1953 - Fidel Castro began his revolt against Fulgencio Batista with an unsuccessful attack on an army barracks in eastern Cuba. Castro eventually ousted Batista six years later. 1956 - Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser nationalized the Suez Canal. 1971 - Apollo 15 was launched from Cape Kennedy, FL. 1998 - AT&T and British Telecommunications PLC announced they were forming a joint venture to combine international operations and develop a new Internet system. 1999 - 1,500 pieces of Marilyn Monroe's personal items went on display at Christie's in New York, NY. The items went on sale later in 1999.
1788 New York became the 11th state in the United States. 1847 Liberia became Africa's first republic. 1908 The Office of the Chief Examiner, which in 1935 became the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), was created. 1947 President Harry S Truman signed the National Security Act, creating the Department of Defense, the National Security Council, the Central Intelligence Agency, and the Joint Chiefs of Staff. 1952 Argentina's first lady, Eva Peron, died in Buenos Aires at age 33. 1952 King Farouk I of Egypt abdicated after a coup led by Gamal Abdal Nasser. 1953 Fidel Castro was among a group of rebelling anti-Batistas who unsuccessfully attacked an army barracks
Today in Beatles History
1968 - John Lennon and Paul McCartney completed the song "Hey Jude."
1974 - The Strawberry Fields Forever Fan Club began its first Beatle Convention in Boston, MA.
2001 - Ringo Starr and his 2001 All Starr Band began a 28-city North American tour. The lineup included Supertramp's Roger Hodgson, Emerson, Lake and Palmer's Greg Lake, Mott the Hoople's Ian Hunter, Howard Jones, Sheila E. and Mark Rivera of Billy Joel's band.
http://www.on-this-day.com/cgi-bin/otd/beatlesotd/beatlesotd.pl
The following links are to web sites that were used to complete this blog entry:
http://www.historyorb.com/today/events.php
http://on-this-day.com/onthisday/thedays/alldays/jul26.htm
http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history
http://www.infoplease.com/dayinhistory
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