Today in History
Today is Wednesday, July 26, the 207th day of 2023. There are 158 days left in the year.
Today’s Highlight in History:
On July 26, 2016, Hillary Clinton became the first woman to be nominated for president by a major political party at the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia.
On this date:
In 1775, the Continental Congress established a Post Office and appointed Benjamin Franklin its Postmaster-General.
In 1847, the western African country of Liberia, founded by freed American slaves, declared its independence.
In 1863, Sam Houston, former president of the Republic of Texas, died in Huntsville at age 70.
In 1945, Winston Churchill resigned as Britain’s prime minister after his Conservatives were soundly defeated by the Labour Party. Clement Attlee succeeded him.
In 1947, President Harry S. Truman signed the National Security Act, which reorganized America’s armed forces as the National Military Establishment and created the Central Intelligence Agency.
In 1953, Fidel Castro began his revolt against Fulgencio Batista (fool-HEN’-see-oh bah-TEES’-tah) with an unsuccessful attack on an army barracks in eastern Cuba. (Castro ousted Batista in 1959.)
In 1956, the Italian liner Andrea Doria sank off New England, some 11 hours after colliding with the Swedish liner Stockholm. At least 51 people died, from both vessels.
In 1971, Apollo 15 was launched from Cape Kennedy on America’s fourth successful manned mission to the moon.
In 1990, President George H.W. Bush signed the Americans with Disabilities Act.
In 2002, the Republican-led House voted to create an enormous Homeland Security Department in the biggest government reorganization in decades.
In 2020, a processional with the casket of the late U.S. Rep. John Lewis crossed the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Alabama, where Lewis and other civil rights marchers were beaten 55 years earlier.
Ten years ago: Ariel Castro, the man who’d imprisoned three women in his Cleveland home, subjecting them to a decade of rapes and beatings, pleaded guilty to 937 counts in a deal to avoid the death penalty. (Castro later committed suicide in prison.) A gunman went on a rampage at a Hialeah, Florida, apartment complex, killing six people before being shot dead by police. Billionaire Texas oilman George P. Mitchell, considered the father of fracking, died at his home in Galveston; he was 94. JJ Cale, whose best songs like “After Midnight” and “Cocaine” were towering hits for other artists, died in La Jolla, California at age 74.
Five years ago: As a deadline set by a federal judge arrived, the Trump administration said more than 1,800 children who were separated from their families at the U.S-Mexico border had been reunited with parents and sponsors; hundreds more remained apart. Shares in Facebook plunged 19 percent, wiping out $119 billion of the company’s Wall Street value; the plunge followed Facebook’s warning that its revenue growth would slow significantly. The last six members of a Japanese doomsday cult who remained on death row were executed for a series of crimes in the 1990s, including a gas attack on Tokyo subways that killed 13 people.
One year ago: Former President Donald Trump returned to Washington for the first time since leaving office, vigorously repeating his false election claims that sparked the Jan. 6 insurrection at the nearby Capitol. Russia said it would pull out of the International Space Station after 2024 and focus on building its own orbiting outpost, amid high tensions between Moscow and the West over the fighting in Ukraine. The announcement, which was expected, threw into question the future of the 24-year-old space station. Klondike announced it would be discontinuing the Choco Taco.
Today’s Birthdays: Actor Robert Colbert is 92. Actor-singer Darlene Love is 82. Singer Brenton Wood is 82. Rock star Mick Jagger is 80. Movie director Peter Hyams is 80. Actor Helen Mirren is 78. Rock musician Roger Taylor (Queen) is 74. Actor Susan George is 73. Olympic gold medal figure skater Dorothy Hamill is 67. Actor Nana Visitor is 66. Actor Kevin Spacey is 64. Rock singer Gary Cherone is 62. Actor Sandra Bullock is 59. Actor-comedian Danny Woodburn is 59. Rock singer Jim Lindberg (Pennywise) is 58. Actor Jeremy Piven is 58. Rapper-reggae singer Wayne Wonder is 57. Actor Jason Statham is 56. Actor Cress Williams is 53. TV host Chris Harrison is 52. Actor Kate Beckinsale is 50. Actor Gary Owen is 50. Rock musician Dan Konopka (OK Go) is 49. Gospel/Contemporary Christian singer Rebecca St. James is 46. Actor Eve Myles is 45. Actor Juliet Rylance is 44. Actor Monica Raymund is 37. Actor Caitlin Gerard is 35. Actor Francia Raisa is 35. Actor Bianca Santos is 33. Actor-singer Taylor Momsen is 30. Actor Elizabeth Gillies is 30.
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