July 26
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
- 1469 - Battle of Edgecote Moor
- 1581 - Plakkaat van Verlatinghe (Oath of Abjuration). The declaration of independence of the northern Low Countries from the Spanish king, Philip II.
- 1775 - The birth of what would later become the United States Post Office Department was established by the Second Continental Congress and Benjamin Franklin was appointed the first Postmaster General.
- 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.
- 1822 - Simón Bolívar and José de San Martín meet in Guayaquil, Ecuador.
- 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).
- 1936 - The Axis Powers decide to intervene in the Spanish Civil War
- 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.
- 1945 - The Potsdam Declaration is signed in Potsdam, Germany.
- 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, thus 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.
- 1963 - Earthquake in Skopje, Yugoslavia - 1800 dead
- 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 allegedly exposing himself at a Sarasota, Florida adult theatre.
- 1991 - Sonic the Hedgehog is released for the Sega Megadrive in Japan
Births
- 1030 - Stanislaus of Szczepanów, St. Stanislaw (d. 1079)
- 1782 - John Field, Irish composer (d. 1837)
- 1791 - Franz Xaver Wolfgang Mozart, composer (d. 1844)
- 1802 - Mariano Arista, President of Mexico (d. 1855)
- 1856 - George Bernard Shaw, author, playwright, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Literature 1925 (d. 1950)
- 1865 - Philipp Scheidemann, politician (d. 1939)
- 1874 - Serge Koussevitsky, Russian conductor (d. 1951)
- 1875 - Carl Jung, Swiss psychiatrist (d. 1961)
- 1875 - Antonio Machado, Spanish poet (d. 1939)
- 1892 - Sad Sam Jones, Major League Baseball player (d. 1966)
- 1894 - Aldous Huxley, author (d. 1963)
- 1897 - Paul Gallico, author (d. 1976)
- 1902 - Gracie Allen, actress, comedienne (d. 1964)
- 1903 - Estes Kefauver, U.S. Senator from Tennessee (d. 1963)
- 1908 - Salvador Allende, President of Chile (d. 1973)
- 1909 - Vivian Vance, actress (d. 1979)
- 1920 - Bob Waterfield, American football player (d. 1983)
- 1921 - Jean Shepherd, writer (d. 1999)
- 1922 - Blake Edwards, film director
- 1922 - Jason Robards, actor (d. 2000)
- 1923 - Hoyt Wilhelm, Major League Baseball player (d. 2002)
- 1928 - Stanley Kubrick, movie director (d. 1999)
- 1928 - Francesco Cossiga, eighth President of Italy
- 1939 - John Howard, twenty-fifth Prime Minister of Australia
- 1939 - Bob Lilly, American football player
- 1940 - Mary Jo Kopechne, aide to Robert F. Kennedy (d. 1969)
- 1943 - Mick Jagger, English musician (Rolling Stones)
- 1944 - Micki King, diver
- 1945 - Helen Mirren, actress
- 1949 - Roger Taylor, musician (Queen)
- 1956 - Dorothy Hamill, American figure skater
- 1957 - Nana Visitor, actress
- 1959 - Kevin Spacey, Academy Award-winning actor
- 1964 - Sandra Bullock, actress
- 1965 - Jeremy Piven, actor
- 1969 - Jonty Rhodes, South African cricketer
- 1973 - Kate Beckinsale, British actress
- 1976 - Chad Pennington, American football player
- 1993 - Taylor Momsen, actress
Deaths
- 456 - Offa, king of Mercia
- 811 - Nicephorus I, Byzantine emperor (slain in battle)
- 1380 - Emperor Komyo of Japan, second of the Northern Ashikaga Pretenders (b. 1322)
- 1680 - John Wilmot, 2nd Earl of Rochester, writer (b. 1647)
- 1863 - Sam Houston, American politician, former President of the Republic of Texas (b. 1793)
- 1919 - Sir Edward Poynter, British painter (b. 1836)
- 1925 - Gottlob Frege, German mathematician and logician (b. 1848)
- 1925 - William Jennings Bryan, American politician (b. 1860)
- 1932 - Frederick Duesenberg, automotive inventor
- 1935 - Winsor McCay, early cartoonist (b. 1871)
- 1952 - Eva Perón, former wife of President of Argentina (b. 1919)
- 1953 - Nikolaos Plastiras, Greek general and politician (b. 1883)
- 1969 - Frank Loesser, composer (b. 1910)
- 1971 - Diane Arbus , photographer (b. 1923)
- 1984 - Ed Gein, American serial killer (b. 1906)
- 1986 - Averell Harriman, American diplomat (b. 1891)
- 1988 - Fazlur Rahman, Pakistani scholar (b. 1919)
- 2001 - Peter von Zahn, German journalist (b. 1913)
Holidays and Observances
- Algeria - Fanon Day
- Cuba - Anniversary of the Moncada Barracks Attack Day (1953), Revolution Day
- Liberia - Independence Day
- Maldives - Independence Day
- India - Vijay Divas (end of Kargil War)
External links
July 25 - July 27 - June 26 - August 26 -- listing of all days
See also: July 26, 1030, 1079, 1139, 1322
