Main Page | See live article | Alphabetical index July 26 is the 207th day (208th in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian Calendar, with 158 days remaining. Table of contents 1 Events 2 Births 3 Deaths 4 Holidays and Observances Events 1139 - Afonso, then a count, is procclaimed first king of Portugal and declares independence from Castile 1788 - New York ratifies the United States Constitution and is admitted as the 11th state of the United States. 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). 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. 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 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. 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 masturbating at a Sarasota, Florida adult theatre. 1991 - Sonic the Hedgehog is released for the Sega Megadrive in Japan Births 1782 - John Field, composer († 1837) 1802 - Mariano Arista, president of Mexico († 1855) 1856 - George Bernard Shaw, author, playwright, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Literature 1925 († 1950) 1865 - Philipp Scheidemann, politician († 1939) 1875 - Carl Gustav Jung, founder of analytic psychology († 1961) 1894 - Aldous Huxley, author († 1963) 1895 - Robert Graves, writer († 1985) 1897 - Paul Gallico, author († 1976) 1902 - Gracie Allen, actress, comedienne († 1964) 1903 - Estes Kefauver, former United States Senator from Tennessee († 1963) 1908 - Salvador Allende, President of Chile 1970-1973 († 1973) 1909 - Vivian Vance, actress († 1979) 1920 - Bob Waterfield, National Football League player († 1983) 1921 - Jean Shepherd, writer († 1999) 1922 - Blake Edwards, movie director 1922 - Jason Robards, actor († 2000) 1923 - Hoyt Wilhelm, Major League Baseball player († 2002) 1928 - Stanley Kubrick, movie director († 1999) 1939 - John Howard, Australian Prime Minister 1939 - Bob Lilly, NFL player 1940 - Mary Jo Kopechne, congressional staffer for Edward Kennedy († 1969) 1943 - Mick Jagger, musician 1944 - Micki King, Olympic gold medal diver 1945 - Helen Mirren, actress 1956 - Dorothy Hamill, Olympic gold medal figure skater 1959 - Kevin Spacey, Academy Award winning actor 1964 - Sandra Bullock, actress 1973 - Kate Beckinsale, actress Deaths 796 - Offa, king of Mercia 1863 - Sam Houston, Americann politician, former President of Texas 1925 - Gottlob Frege, German mathematician and logician 1925 - William Jennings Bryan, American politician 1932 - Frederick Duesenberg, automotive inventor 1935 - Winsor McCay, early cartoonist 1952 - Eva Perón, former President of Argentina 1969 - Frank Loesser, composer 1984 - Ed Gein, serial killer 1986 - Averell Harriman, American diplomat Holidays and Observances Cuba - Anniversary of the Moncada Barracks Attack Day (1953), Revolution Day Liberia - Independence Day Maldives - Independence Day India - Vijay Divas (end of Kargil War) See Also: July 25 - July 27 - June 26 - August 26 -- listing of all days January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December This article is from Wikipedia. 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