TODAY’S HISTORY LESSON – FEB 26
1154 William the Bad succeeds his father, Roger the II, in Sicily
1616 Roman Inquisition delivers injunction to Galileo demanding he abandon his belief in heliocentrism, which states the Earth and planets revolve around the Sun
1732 1st mass celebrated in American Catholic church, (St Joseph’s Church, Philadelphia)
1790 As a result of the Revolution, France is divided into 83 departments.
1815 Napoleon and 1,200 of his men leave Elba to start the 100-day re-conquest of France.
1870 A 312-ft long pneumatic subway was opened in New York City; funding for a larger version never materialized.
1901 Boxer Rebellion leaders Chi-Hsin and Hsu-Cheng-Yu are publicly executed in Peking
1907 US Congress raised their own salaries to $7500
1919 Grand Canyon National Park was established.
1924 U.S. steel industry finds claims an eight-hour day increases efficiency and employee relations.
1929 President Calvin Coolidge establishes Grand Teton National Park
1935 RADAR (Radio Detection and Ranging) first demonstrated by Robert Watson-Watt
1936 Japanese military troops march into Tokyo to conduct a coup and assassinate political leaders.
1936 Hitler introduces Ferdinand Porsche’s “Volkswagen”
1951 The 22nd Amendment is added to the Constitution limiting the Presidency to two terms.
1954 Michigan Representative Ruth Thompson (R) introduces legislation to ban mailing “obscene, lewd, lascivious or filthy” phonograph (rock & roll) records
1964 Lyndon B. Johnson signs a tax bill with $11.5 billion in cuts.
1970 Five Marines are arrested on charges of murdering 11 South Vietnamese women and children.
1987 The Tower Commission rebuked U.S. President Reagan for failing to control his national security staff in the wake of the Iran-Contra affair.
1993 A bomb rocks the World Trade Center in New York City. Five people are killed and hundreds suffer from smoke inhalation.
1998 A Texas jury rejected an $11 million lawsuit by Texas cattlemen who blamed Oprah Winfrey for price drop after on-air comment about mad-cow disease.
2001 The Taliban destroy two giant Buddha statues in Bamyan, Afghanistan.
2004 The United States lifts a ban on travel to Libya, ending travel restrictions to the nation that had lasted for 23 years.
2009 The Pentagon reveresed its 18-year policy of not allowing media to cover returning war dead. The reversal allowsd some media coverage with family approval.
** history.net, onthisday.com, infoplease.com, timeanddate.com, thepeoplehistory.com, on-this-day.com **
