TODAY’S HISTORY LESSON – SEPT 26
1580 Sir Francis Drake returns to Plymouth, England, aboard the Golden Hind, after a 33-month voyage to circumnavigate the globe.
1687 City council of Amsterdam votes to support William of Orange’s invasion of England, which became the Glorious Revolution
1687 Parthenon destroyed in war between Turks & Venetians
1777 The British army launches a major offensive, capturing Philadelphia.
1789 Jefferson appointed 1st Sec of State; John Jay 1st chief justice; Samuel Osgood 1st Postmaster & Edmund J Randolph 1st Attorney Genl
1829 Scotland Yard, the official British criminal investigation organization, is formed.
1914 The Federal Trade Commission is established to foster competition by preventing monopolies in business.
1934 British liner Queen Mary is launched
1941 The U.S. Army establishes the Military Police Corps.
1955 New York Stock Exchange suffers a $44 million loss.
1960 The first televised debate between presidential candidates for the 1960 election takes place in Chicago between U.S. Senator John F. Kennedy, the Democratic nominee, and Vice President Richard Nixon, the Republican nominee. The debate was watched by an estimated 80 million viewers or close to half the population of the United States. The debate was a success for Kennedy who was generally considered to have won the debate.
1972 American Museum of Immigration dedicated
1980 The Cuban government abruptly closed Mariel Harbor to end the freedom flotilla of Cuban refugees that began the previous April.
1983 In the USSR Stanislav Petrov disobeys procedures and ignores electronic alarms indicating five incoming nuclear missiles, believing the US would launch more than five if it wanted to start a war. His decision prevented a retaliatory attack that would have begun a nuclear war between the superpowers..
1984 Pres Reagan vetoes sanctions against South Africa
1986 William Rehnquist becomes Chief Justice of the Supreme Court
1990 Motion Picture Assn of America creates new NC-17 rating
1991 The U.S. Congress heard a plea from Kimberly Bergalis concerning mandatory AIDS testing for health care workers.
2000 The U.S. House of Representatives passed the Born-Alive Infants Protection Act. The act states that an infant would be considered to have been born alive if he or she is completely extracted or expelled from the mother and breathes and has a beating heart and definite movement of the voluntary muscles.
2001 In Kabul, Afghanistan, the abandoned U.S. Embassy was stormed by protesters. It was the largest anti-Amercian protest since the terror attacks on New York City and Washington, DC, on September 11.
2005 Army Pfc. Lynndie England was convicted by a military jury during her court martial for charges of conspiracy to maltreat prisoners and assault consummated by battery stemming from the Abu Ghraib prison abuse scandal.
** history.net, onthisday.com, infoplease.com, timeanddate.com, thepeoplehistory.com, on-this-day.com **
