Today in History

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Today in History

By Correspondent

YEARDAYEVENT
17ADMay 26Germanicus of Rome celebrated a victory over the Germans.
451ADMay 26The Battle of Avarair. Vardan Mamikonian, son of Sparapet (general) Hamazasp Mamikonian and Sahakanush, daughter of the Catholicos Sahak Bartev, led a force of 66,000 Armenians to face the Persians. Prior to battle Vardan read aloud the story of the Jewish Maccabees. Persian losses tripled the Armenian dead, but Mushkan won and Vardan was killed.
735May 26The Venerable Bede (~62), Beda Venerabilis, English speaking church historian, died.
1328May 26William of Ockham was forced to flee from Avignon by Pope John XXII.
1421May 26Mohammed I, Ottoman sultan (1413-21), died.
1521May 26Martin Luther was banned by the Edict of Worms of because of his religious beliefs and writings.
1538May 26Geneva threw out John Calvin and his zealots. Calvin was exiled from Geneva for three years and lived in Strasbourg.
1595May 26Philippus Nerius (79), [Filippo Neri], Italian merchant, Jesuit, saint, died.
1607May 26Some 200 Indian warriors stormed the unfinished stockade at Jamestown, Va. 2 settlers were killed and 10 seriously wounded before they were repulsed by cannon fire from the colonists’ 3 moored ships.
1637May 26The Connecticut English militia and their Mohegan allies killed over 600 Pequot Indians at their village at Mystic. The survivors were parceled out to other tribes. Those given to the Mohegans eventually became the Mashantucket Pequots.
1647May 26A new law banned Catholic priests from the colony of Massachusetts. The penalty was banishment or death for a second offense.
1660May 26Charles II (29), returning from exile, landed at Dover.
1667May 26Abraham De Moivre, mathematician, was born.
1670May 26A treaty was signed in secret in Dover, England, between Charles II and Louis XIV ending hostilities between them.
1689May 26Mary Wortley Montagu, English essayist, feminist, eccentric, was born.
1691May 26Jacob Leiser, leader of the popular uprising in support of William and Mary’s accession to the throne, was executed for treason.
1703May 26Samuel Pepys (b.1633), English diarist, died. In the 1930s Sir Arthur Bryant authored a 3-volume biography. In the 1970s Richard Ollard authored a single volume biography. In 2001 Stephen Coote authored “Samuel Pepys: A Life” and another was expected by Claire Tomalin. In 2002 Claire Tomalin authored “Samuel Pepys: The Unequaled Self.”
1736May 26In northwestern Mississippi, British and Chickasaw Indians defeated a combined force of French soldiers and Chocktaw Indians at the Battle of Ackia, thus opening the region to English settlement.
1790May 26Territory South of River Ohio was created by Congress.
1798May 26British killed about 500 Irish insurgents at the Battle of Tara.
1799May 26Alexander Pushkin, Russian poet (d.1837), was born. His bicentennial in Russia was celebrated Jun 6, 1999.
1805May 26Lewis and Clark first saw the Rocky Mountains.
1819May 26The first steam-propelled vessel to attempt a trans-Atlantic crossing, the 350-ton Savannah, departed from Savannah, Ga., May 26 and arrived in Liverpool, England, Jun 20. [HNQ set May 24 for the departure]
1822May 26Edmond de Goncourt, writer, was born.
1831May 26Russians defeated the Poles at battle of Ostrolenska.
1835May 26Edward Porter Alexander, brigadier general of artillery, was born.
1853May 26John Wesley Hardin was born in Bonham, Texas. The 19th-century Western outlaw John Wesley Hardin was named after John Wesley, who began the Methodist movement in 1738.
1856May 26George Templeton Strong, composer, essayist, was born.
1859May 26Captain James Simpson and his party, looking for the shortest route across Nevada, crossed the Hickison Summit into Big Smoky Valley. Their path was later followed by the Pony Express (1860) and the Overland Mail and Stage (1861).
1860May 26Garibaldi occupied Palermo, Italy.
1861May 26Postmaster General Blair announced the end of postal connection with South.
1864May 26There was a skirmish along the Totopotomoy Creek, Virginia.
1865May 26At the Battle of Galveston, TX., Edmund Kirby Smith surrendered.
1867May 26Mary, queen of Great Britain-North Ireland, was born.
1868May 26Michael Barrett, Irish nationalist, was executed for his part in the 1867 Clerkenwell bombing. This was the last British public execution.
1883May 26Mamie Smith, blues singer, was born.
1885May 26Al Jolson (d.1950), American jazz singer and silent film actor, was born in Seredzius, Lithuania as Asa Yoelson. His father Morris was a rabbi and a cantor and so Asa started singing early, alongside his elder brother Harry and two elder sisters. In 1894 the family set off for America in search of a new life.
1895May 26Dorothea Lange, documentary photographer, was born.
1896May 26Nicholas II, the last Czar of Russia, was crowned.
1899May 26Pieter Menten, Dutch war criminal, was born.
1903May 26Estes Kefauver, senator from Tennessee, was born. He wanted the Democratic nomination for president against John Kennedy.
1905May 26There was a pogrom against Jews in Minsk, Belorussia.
1906May 26Pres. Theodore Roosevelt approved the US Congress chartered the Archaeological Institute of America.
1907May 26John Wayne, American actor, was born as Marion Michael Morrison in Winterset, Iowa. He became famous for his western and World War II movies.
1908May 26Robert Morley, British character actor, was born in Semley, England.
1910May 26Laurance S. Rockefeller, CEO (Chase Manhattan Bank), was born in NYC.
1912May 26Jay Silverheels (d.1980) was born as Harold J. Smith on the Six Nations Indian Reservation, Brantford, Ontario, Canada. He was the son of a Mohawk Indian chief and became an actor who portrayed Tonto on “The Lone Ranger.”
1913May 26The Actors’ Equity Association was organized in NYC.
1917May 26Up to eight separate tornadoes cut a path of destruction for nearly 300 miles across Illinois and Indiana.
1919May 26Jay Silverheels, actor, was born. He played Tonto in The Lone Ranger TV series
1920May 26Peggy Lee (d.2002), jazz singer, was born in Jamestown, ND, as Norma Dolores Egstrom.
1922May 26Lenin suffered a stroke.
1923May 26James Arness, actor (Gunsmoke), was born in Minneapolis, MN.
1924May 26German government of Marx resigned.
1927May 26Ford Motor Company manufactured its 15 millionth Model T automobile.
1930May 26Supreme Court ruled that buying liquor does not violate the Constitution.
1932May 26American Tobacco was re-instated as a component of the Dow Jones.
1933May 26Jimmie Rodgers (b.1897), American country singer known most widely for his rhythmic yodeling, died of tuberculosis in NYC.
1934May 26Century of Progress Exposition reopened in Chicago.
1938May 26Teresa Stratas, [Anastasia Stratakis], soprano (Salome), was born in Toronto.
1939May 26Charles H. Mayo (74), US surgeon, co-founder (Mayo Clinic), died.
1941May 26American Flag House, the Betsy Ross Home, was given to the city of Phila.
1942May 26Tank battle at Bir Hakeim: African corps vs. British army.
1943May 26Jews rioted against Germans in Amsterdam.
1945May 26US dropped fire bombs on Tokyo.
1946May 26A patent was filed in U.S. for H-bomb.
1948May 26Entire Hagana arm forces were sworn-in as Israeli soldiers.
1949May 26Hank Williams Jr, country singer (Honky Tonk), was born in Shreveport, La.
1951May 26Sally Ride, the first American woman in space, was born in LA, Calif. She flew on the Space Shuttle Challenger.
1955May 26Khrushchev arrived in Belgrade
1956May 26Aircraft carrier “Bennington” burned off RI, killing 103.
1958May 26Union Square in San Francisco became a state historical landmark.
1960May 26UN Ambassador Henry Cabot Lodge accused the Soviets of hiding a microphone inside a wood carving of the Great Seal of the United States that they presented to the U.S. embassy in Moscow.
1961May 26Civil rights activist group Freedom Ride Coordinating Committee was established in Atlanta.
1966May 26A Buddhist monk set himself on fire at US consulate in Hu, South-Vietnam.
1967May 26California State Senator J. Eugene McAteer (b.1916) died during his campaign for mayor of SF. Joseph Alioto, the co-chairman of the campaign, ran in his place and overcame his rival, Harold Dobbs.
1969May 26The Apollo 10 astronauts returned to Earth after a successful eight-day dress rehearsal for the first manned moon landing.
1971May 26Juan Corona (b.1934) was arrested for 25 murders. The farm labor contractor from Yuba City Ca., had killed and mutilated 25 farm workers. He was convicted to life in prison.
1973May 26Jacques Lipchitz (b.1891), Lithuanian-born, French-US cubist sculptor, died on Capri and was buried in Jerusalem.
1976May 26Martin Heidegger (b.1889), German philosopher (Holzweg), died.
1977May 26The movie “Star Wars” made its debut.
1978May 26The first legal casino in the eastern U.S. opened in Atlantic City, N.J.
1981May 2614 people were killed when a Marine jet crashed onto the flight deck of the aircraft carrier USS Nimitz off Florida.
1984May 26A frisbee was kept aloft for 16.72 seconds by Don Cain of Philadelphia.
1985May 26Harold Hecht (b.1907), choreographer, died of cancer.
1987May 26The US Supreme Court ruled that “dangerous defendants” can be held without bail.
1988May 26In San Francisco Lu Hurley’s $20 helicopter rides were grounded at Pier 43.
1989May 26Danish parliament allowed legal marriage among homosexuals.
1990May 26Soviet maverick politician Boris N. Yeltsin failed in a second round of voting to win the presidency of the Russian Federation. He succeeded in a third round of balloting three days later.
1991May 26Rick Mears became the third driver to win the Indianapolis 500 four times.
1992May 26President Bush and Arkansas Gov. Bill Clinton won primaries in Kentucky, Arkansas and Idaho.
1993May 26In what amounted to a sales pitch for health reform, first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton denounced price gougers and profiteers in medicine before an enthusiastic audience of union activists in Washington, D.C.
1994May 26President Clinton renewed trade privileges for China, and announced his administration would no longer link China’s trade status with its human rights record.
1995May 26In the tobacco industry’s largest recall ever, Philip Morris USA halted sales of several cigarette brands, including some versions of top-selling Marlboro, because some filters were contaminated.
1996May 26Buddy Lazier won the Indianapolis 500.
1997May 26In Ferryville, Wisconsin the 8th annual Weedstock Festival, a pro-marijuana event, had 3,500 people with 60 arrests.
1998May 26The Supreme Court made it far more difficult for police to be sued by people hurt during high-speed chases.
1999May 26House Republicans pushed through legislation that would put new obstacles in the way of spending government surpluses that came from Social Security taxes.
2000May 26The “Killer Resume” computer virus began to circulate.
2001May 26Republicans and moderate Democrats drove a sweeping $1.35 trillion, 10-year tax cut through Congress, handing President Bush a political triumph. Some 100 million refund checks were due to be mailed out by Oct 1.
2002May 26Roman Polanski won the Palme d’Or at Cannes for his film “The Pianist.”
2003May 26FBI and state police issued fugitive and murder warrants for Derrick Todd Lee, a prime suspect in the killings of 5 women in south Louisiana. Lee was arrested May 27 in Atlanta. Georgia.
2004May 26Fantasia Barrino was crowned the latest American Idol in the Fox network’s talent contest.
2005May 26President Bush met with Palestinian leader Mohmoud Abbas, praised his steps toward democracy, and said the US will pay $50 million in housing aid for Palestinians in Gaza.
2006May 26US Air Force General Michael Hayden won confirmation to be the 20th CIA director in a 78-15 Senate vote.
2007May 26In Washington, DC, some 100 supporters of Syria’s largest exile opposition group, the National Salvation Front, gathered outside the Damascus embassy to protest against the government of Pres. Assad.
2008May 26David Mumford of Brown University said he would donate his $33,333 portion of the prestigious Israeli mathematics Wolf Prize, to a Palestinian university and an Israeli group that tries to ease Israeli travel restrictions on Palestinian students.
2009May 26President Barack Obama tapped federal appeals judge Sonia Sotomayor for the Supreme Court, making her the first Hispanic in history picked to wear the robes of a justice.
2010May 26In Argentina Angie Sanclemente Valencia (30), a Colombian model accused of leading a drug-trafficking gang that persuaded pretty young women to smuggle cocaine to Mexico, was arrested after evading Argentine police for five months.
2011May 26Minutes before a midnight deadline, President Barack Obama signed into law a four-year extension of post-Sept. 11 powers to search records and conduct roving wiretaps in pursuit of terrorists.
2012May 26The iconic USS Iowa left San Francisco Bay on its way to its new home in Southern California.
2013May 26In central Texas Esteban Smith (23) was killed in an exchange of gunfire with state troopers after he opened fire on several vehicles killing 2 people in the Eden area.
2014May 26In Afghanistan a suicide bomber blew himself up close to an army minibus in Kabul, killing at least 2 people and injuring nine.
Source: Timelines of History

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