Today in History

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Today in History

By Correspondent

121Apr 26Antonius Marcus Aurelius, [Marcus A. Verus], Emperor of Rome (161-180), was born.
757Apr 26Stephen II ended his reign as Catholic Pope.
1319Apr 26Jean II, the Good, king of France (1350-64), was born.
1476Apr 26Simonetta Vespucci (b.~1453), nicknamed la bella Simonetta, died. She was an Italian Renaissance noblewoman from Genoa, the wife of Marco Vespucci of Florence. She also is alleged to have been the mistress of Giuliano de’ Medici, Lorenzo the Magnificent’s younger brother. She was renowned for being the greatest beauty of her age – certainly of the city of Florence.
1478Apr 26Pazzi conspirators attacked Lorenzo de’Medici but killed Giuliano de’Medici (~24), Medeheerser of Florence.
1514Apr 26Nicholas Copernicus made his first observations of Saturn. Copernicus later proposed that the sun is stationary and that the earth and the planets move in circular orbits around it.
1521Apr 26Magellan was killed in a fight with natives on Mactan Island. Magellan named the Mariana Islands Islas de los Ladrones (Islands of Thieves), and was killed by natives on Cebu. Juan Sebastian Elcano, Magellan’s second in command, returned to Spain with 18 men and one ship, the Vittorio, laden with spices. His coat of arms was augmented in reward with the inscription Primus circumdisti me: “You were the first to encircle me.” Some 50,000 Chamorro people populated the islands.
1538Apr 26Giovanni P. Lomazzo, Italian writer, poet (Trattato), was born.
1558Apr 26Jean Francois Fernel, French physician, died.
1564Apr 26William Shakespeare was baptized.
1573Apr 26Marie de’Medici, Queen of France, was born.
1607Apr 26Ships under the command of Capt. Christopher Newport sought shelter in Chesapeake Bay. The forced landing led to the founding of Jamestown on the James River, the first English settlement. An expedition of English colonists, including Capt. John Smith, went ashore at Cape Henry, Va., to establish the first permanent English settlement in the Western Hemisphere.
1654Apr 26Jews were expelled from Brazil.
1655Apr 26Dutch West Indies Co. denied Peter Stuyvesant’s desire to exclude Jews from New Amsterdam.
1703Apr 26Georg Christoph Leuttner (58), composer, died.
1711Apr 26David Hume (d.1776), Scottish historian and philosopher, was born. His work included the “Treatise of Human Nature” and the 6-volume “History of England.” Use of the new calendar puts his birthday on May 7.
1717Apr 26Pirate Black Sam Bellamy died along with 143 others when their ship, the Whydah, sank off of Wellfleet, Cape Cod. 2 men on the Whydah survived as did 7 others aboard the Mary Anne, a smaller ship loaded with Madeira wine. The slave ship Whydah had just been captured by Bellamy in February as it left Ouidau, Benin, with a load of sugar and indigo as well as chests of silver and gold. 6 or the 9 survivors were later hanged for piracy in Boston. In 1984 the wreck of the ship was discovered by Barry Clifford.
1718Apr 26Esek Hopkins, first U.S. commander-in-chief, was born.
   
1721Apr 26The smallpox vaccination was 1st administrated. Lady Mary Wortley Montegu had returned to England following a stay in Turkey with her ambassador husband. She had learned of a procedure to inoculate against smallpox and began a campaign to have the procedure established.
1726Apr 26Pasquale Paoli, Corsican freedom fighter, was born.
1731Apr 26Daniel Defoe (~70), English author, died. His work included the novels “Robinson Crusoe,” “Roxana” and the pamphlet “The Shortest Way With Dissenters.”  In 1998 Richard West published the biography “Daniel Defoe: The Life and Strange Surprising Adventures.”
1776Apr 26Joan M. Kemper, Dutch lawyer (designed civil code law book), was born.
1777Apr 26Sybil Ludington (16) rode from NY to Ct rallying her father’s militia.
1785Apr 26John James Audubon, American naturalist, bird watcher (ornithologist) and artist, was born in Haiti.
1798Apr 26Ferdinand Eugene Delacroix (d.1863), French painter, lithograph, etcher (Journal), was born.
1812Apr 26Alfred Krupp, German arms merchant, was born.
1814Apr 26King Louis XVIII landed on Calais from England.
1819Apr 26The first Odd Fellow lodge (Independent Order of Odd Fellows or IOOF) was established in the U.S. in Baltimore, Md. They started in Great Britain with the purpose: “to relieve the brethren, bury the dead, and care for the widow and orphan.”
1822Apr 26Frederick Olmstead, landscape architect, was born in Connecticut. His work included Yosemite Nat’l. Park, Central Park in New York City (1858), and other city parks in Boston, Ma., Hartford, Ct., and Louisville, Ky.
1827Apr 26Charles Edward Hovey, Bvt Major General (Union volunteers), was born.
1828Apr 26Russia declared war on Turkey to support Greece’s independence.
1834Apr 26Artemus Ward, (Charles Farrar Browne), humorist, was born.
1835Apr 26Frederic Chopin’s “Grand Polonaise Brillante,” premiered in Paris.
1855Apr 26Composer Gioacchino Rossini left Italy.
1856Apr 26Some 20 settlers of Honey Lake Valley, California, met at the cabin of Isaac Roop and formed “the independent Territory of Nataqua.” They named the cabin Fort Defiance, chose Peter Lassen as their surveyor and selected Susanville, named after Roop’s daughter, as the territorial capital.
1865Apr 26Battle of Ft. Tobacco, VA.
1868Apr 26Robert Herrick, US writer (Common lot), was born.
1875Apr 26Syngman Rhee, Pres. of South Korea (1948-60), was born. [see Mar 26]
1880Apr 26Mikhail Fokine (d.1942), choreographer, founder of modern dance, was born in Russia.
1882Apr 26Jessie Redmon Fauset, author, was born. Fauset’s work included: “There Is confusion,” “Plum Bun,” “The Chinaberry Tree,” and “American Style.”
1886Apr 26Ma Rainey, [Gertrude Pridgett], “Mother of the Blues”, US blues singer, was born.
1887Apr 26Huntsville Electric Co. was formed to sell electricity.
1888Apr 26Aleksandr Mikhailov, astronomer, was born in USSR.
1889Apr 26Ludwig Wittgenstein, philosopher (Tractatus), was born in Austria.
1893Apr 26Anita Loos, author and playwright, was born. Her work included: “Gentlemen Prefer Blondes,” “I Married an Angel,” “San Francisco,” “Saratoga,” and “The Women.”
1894Apr 26Rudolf Hess, Nazi leader, was born. He was the Hitler deputy who flew to England to negotiate an Anglo-German treaty.
   
1900Apr 26Charles Richter (1985), seismologist, was born in Hamilton, Ohio. He developed the Richter Scale for measuring the amplitude of earthquakes.
1904Apr 26William “Count” Basie, jazz pianist (Policy Man, Blazing Saddles), was born.
1906Apr 26Gracie Allen (Mrs. George Burns), comedienne (George Burns Show), was born.
1907Apr 26The Jamestown, Va., Tercentenary Exposition opened.
1913Apr 26Sun Yet San called for revolt against Pres. Yuan Shikai in China.
1914Apr 26James William Rouse, US builder of shopping malls, was born.
1915Apr 26Second Lieutenant Rhodes-Moorhouse became the first airman to win the Victoria Cross after conducting a successful bombing raid.
1916Apr 26Morris L. West, novelist (Shoes of the Fisherman), was born in Australia.
1917Apr 26Ieoh Ming Pei (IM Pei), architect (1961 Brunner Prize), was born in Canton, China. He designed the East Wing of the US National Gallery of Art
1920Apr 26Srinivasa Ramanujan (b.1887), Indian mathematician, died in India. In 1913 English mathematician G.H. Hardy recognized his brilliant work, and asked Ramanujan to study under him at Cambridge. In 2007 British playwright Simon McBurney created “A Disappearing Number,” for his theater group “Complicite,” based on Ramanujan’s 5 years a Cambridge.
1921Apr 26The first weather news was aired by station WEW in St. Louis, Mo.
1923Apr 26English prince Albert (George VI) married lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon.
1924Apr 26Teddy Edwards, tenor sax player, was born. He did “Me and My Lover.”
1928Apr 26Madame Tussaud’s waxwork exhibition opened in London.
1929Apr 26First non-stop flight from England to India was completed.
1931Apr 26NBC Radio presented Lum and Abner for the first time. It came from the fictitious town of Pine Ridge and ran for 24 years. In 1936 Waters, Ark., changed its name to Pine Ridge.
1932Apr 26Ed Wynn, the Texaco fire chief, was heard on radio’s Texaco Star Theater for the first time. He demanded and got a live audience to react to his humor.
1933Apr 26Carol Burnett, comedian, actress (Annie, 4 Seasons), was born in San Antonio, Tx.
1936Apr 26Carol Burnett, actress, was born.
1937Apr 26The radio show “Lorenzo Jones” began over NBC Radio with Karl Swenson in the lead role. It ran to 1955.
1938Apr 26Austrian Jews required to register property above 5,000 Reichsmarks.
1939Apr 26Following a period during which the Country Party leader, Sir Earle Page, was caretaker Prime Minister, Robert Gordon Menzies (1894-1978) was elected Leader of the UAP and was sworn in as PM.
1941Apr 26First organ played at a baseball stadium, Chicago, Illinois.
1942Apr 26Bobby Rydell (Ridarelli), singer, was born. His songs included: “Wild One,” “We Got Love,” and “Volare.”
1944Apr 26First B-29 attacked by Japanese fighters, one fighter shot down.
1945Apr 26Marshal Henri Philippe Petain, the head of France’s Vichy government during World War II, was arrested. In 2001 Adam Nossiter authored “The Algeria Hotel: France, Memory and the Second World War.” The Algeria Hotel had been headquarters for the Vichy government’s anti-Jewish agency. Nossiter included accounts of the hangings at Tulle and the massacre of 642 people in Oradour. In 204 Robert O. Paxton authored “Vichy France: Old Guard and New Order.”
1946Apr 26Popular music of the day included: “Oh, What It Seemed to Be” by the Frankie Carle Orchestra with Marjorie Hughes; “Personality” by Johnny Mercer; “Day by Day” by Frank Sinatra; and “Guitar Polka” by Al Dexter.
1949Apr 26Look Magazine proclaimed that radio was “doomed” and that within 3 years television would completely overshadow it.
   
1951Apr 26Arnold Sommerfeld (b.1868), German theoretical physicist, died. He pioneered developments in atomic and quantum physics. His atomic model permitted the explanation of fine-structure spectral lines.
1952Apr 26US minesweeper “Hobson” rammed the aircraft carrier “Wasp,” and 176 were killed.
1954Apr 26Nationwide test of Salk anti-polio vaccine began. [see Feb 23]
1955Apr 26Popular music of the day included: “Melody of Love” by Billy Vaughn; “Cherry Pink and Apple Blossom White” by Perez Prado; and “In the Jailhouse Now” by Webb Pierce. Jailhouse stayed at No. 1 for 21 weeks. Cherry Pink, sung by Alan Dale (d.2002 at 73), stayed on the charts for 30 weeks.
1957Apr 26Jamestown, Va., 350th Anniversary Festival opened.
1959Apr 26The Panamanian government reported ‘suppression’ of attempted guerilla invasion from Cuba.
1961Apr 26Roger Maris of the New York Yankees hit the first of a record 61 home runs in a single season; the homer was off Detroit’s Paul Foytack at Tiger Stadium.
1964Apr 26Popular music of the day included: “Can’t Buy Me Love” by The Beatles; “Twist and Shout” by The Beatles; Do You Want to Know a Secret” by The Beatles; and “Understand Your Man” by Johnny Cash. (Oh?)
1968Apr 26Students seized administration building at Ohio State University.
1969Apr 26Morihei Ueshiba (b.1883), Japanese martial arts master, died. He evolved aikido through a synthesis and repatterning of various Japanese martial arts forms. Ueshiba is remembered by his pupils as a master of the martial arts, whose studies transcended technical matters to include a moral and philosophical view of the world based around harmony in the face of aggression.
1970Apr 26The musical, “Company,” opened at the Alvin Theatre on Broadway. It starred Elaine Stritch and ran for 690 performances.
1973Apr 26“Two Gentlemen of Verona,” musical opened in London.
1975Apr 26The top Billboard song was “(Hey Won’t You Play) Another Somebody Done Somebody Wrong Song” by B.J. Thomas.
1976Apr 26Pan Am began non-stop flights between NYC and Tokyo.
1977Apr 26NY’s famed disco Studio 54 opened. It closed in March, 1986.
1978Apr 26A version of Mark Twain’s “The Prince and the Pauper” appeared on TV with former Beatle, Ringo Star.
1979Apr 26The US Treasury failed to redeem $122 million of Treasury bills on time. The Treasury was also late in redeeming T-bills which become due on May 3 and May 10, 1979.
1980Apr 26Following an unsuccessful attempt by the United States to rescue U.S. Embassy hostages in Iran, the Tehran government announced that captives were being scattered to thwart any future effort.
1982Apr 26Popular music of the day included: “I Love Rock ”˜n’ Roll” Joan Jett and the Blackhearts; “We Got the Beat” by the Go-Go’s” “Chariots of Fire” by Vangelis; and “Crying My Heart Out over You” by Ricky Scaggs.
1983Apr 26The Dow Jones moved past 1200 for the first time.
1984Apr 26Pres. Reagan arrived in China for the start of a 6-day visit.
1986Apr 26[William] Broderick Crawford (b.1911), actor (Highway Patrol), died.
1988Apr 26Vice President George Bush locked up the Republican presidential nomination with an easy win in the Pennsylvania primary. Massachusetts Gov. Michael Dukakis won the Democratic contest.
1989Apr 26Lucille Ball (b.1911), Actress-comedian and star of I Love Lucy, died at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles at age 77. She left behind a manuscript that was published in 1996 titled “Love, Lucy.” “The tremendous drive and dedication necessary to succeed in any field… often seems to be rooted in a disturbed childhood.” In 1993 Tom Gilbert wrote: “The Story of Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz.” Lucille Ball was married to Gary Morton
1990Apr 26Israeli PM Yitzhak Shamir, leader of the right-wing Likud bloc, was chosen to form a new government after Labor Party leader Shimon Peres failed to form a coalition.
1991Apr 26The US government reported the nation had sunk deeper into recession in the first quarter of 1991 as the gross national product shrank at an annual rate of two-point-eight percent.
1992Apr 26The musical “Grand Hotel” closed at the Martin Beck Theater NYC after 1,017 performances.
1993Apr 26President Clinton signed an executive order imposing new economic sanctions against Yugoslavia after the Serbian leadership in Bosnia voted against accepting a U.N.-sponsored plan to end the war.
1994Apr 26Rachelle “Shelley” Shannon, who admitted shooting and wounding an abortion provider outside his clinic, was sentenced in Wichita, Kan., to nearly 11 years in prison.
1995Apr 26The US Supreme Court led by Chief Justice William Rehnquist overturned a federal law banning gun possession near schools on the grounds that it was beyond the scope of congress power to regulate interstate commerce.
1996Apr 26The Effingham Baptist Church in Effingham, S.C., burned down. Arson was suspected and investigations by the FBI and ATF were later begun.
1997Apr 26In his Saturday radio address, President Clinton prepared for the opening of a community service summit by asking Congress to pay for a literacy drive for third-graders.
1998Apr 26In Russia former security chief Alexander Lebed led Governor Valery Zubov in voting for governor in the Siberian region of Krasnoyarsk.
1999Apr 26The Clinton administration urged a one-year extension of the Oslo peace process and pressured Pres. Arafat not to declare an independent state on May 4.
2000Apr 26Vermont Governor Howard Dean signed the nation’s first bill allowing same-sex couples to form civil unions.
   
2001Apr 26A US federal judge ruled that military exercises could resume on Vieques Island. Puerto Ricans mobilized for mass demonstrations.
2002Apr 26David Gunn, who had run transit systems in New York City and Washington, was named president of Amtrak, the troubled national rail passenger service.
2003Apr 26Charlton Heston (78), diagnosed with symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease, made his last appearance as president of the National Rifle Association during a convention in Orlando, Fla., where he briefly thanked the membership. Kayne Robinson took over. In 2006 Emilie Raymond authored “From My Cold, Dead Hands: Charlton Heston and American Politics.”
2004Apr 26The US unveiled a new $50 bill to make counterfeiting more difficult.
2005Apr 26US Congressional aides said global terrorist attacks rose to 650 in 2004 from 175 in 2003.
2006Apr 26Pres. Bush formally named Tony Snow, a Fox News commentator, to be his press secretary.
2007Apr 26The Senate joined the House in clearing legislation calling for the withdrawal of US troops from Iraq to begin by Oct. 1, 2007, with a goal of a complete pullout six months later. President Bush vetoed the measure.
2008Apr 26Eos Airlines, a business-class carrier launched in 2005, filed for bankruptcy. It ceased operations the next day.
2010Apr 26Former Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega extradited was from the US to France to face money laundering charges in a French courtroom, opening up a whole new legal battle for the strongman who spent two decades behind bars in Florida for drug trafficking.
2011Apr 26Former US President Jimmy Carter and three other former heads of state embarked on a three-day mission to North Korea, where they plan to discuss dangerous food shortages and stalled nuclear disarmament talks.
   
2012Apr 26US officials said the White House has given the CIA and the Pentagon broader authority to carry out drone strikes in Yemen against terrorists who imperil the US.
2013Apr 26Mohamed Mamdouh, an American citizen of Moroccan descent, was sentenced to 5 years in prison for plotting to blow up NYC synagogues. Mamdouh and co-defendant Ahmed Ferhani had been arrested in a police sting.
Source: Timelines of History    

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