TODAY’S HISTORY LESSON – MARCH 26
1790 Congress passes Naturalization Act, requires 2-year residency
1804 Congress orders the removal of Indians east of the Mississippi River to Louisiana.
1812 Earthquake measuring 7.7 on the Richter scale destroys 90% of Caracas, Venezuela and kills an estimated 15,000–20,000 people
1872 Thomas J Martin patents fire extinguisher
1885 Eastman Film Co. manufactures the first commercial motion picture film.
1910 US forbid immigration to criminals, anarchists, paupers & the sick
1942 The Germans begin sending Jews to Auschwitz in Poland.
1950 Senator Joe McCarthy names Owen Lattimore, an ex-State Department adviser, as a Soviet spy.
1951 The United States Air Force flag design is approved.
1953 Dr Jonas Salk announces new vaccine to prevent polio [myelitis]
1966 Large-scale anti-Vietnam War protests take place in the United States, including in New York, Washington D.C. and Chicago
1969 Writer John Kennedy Toole commits suicide at the age of 32. His mother helps get his first and only novel, A Confederacy of Dunces, published. It goes on to win the 1981 Pulitzer Prize.
1971 Bangladesh (East Pakistan) under Sheikh Mujibur Rahman declares its independence from Pakistan
1971 “Benny Hill Show” tops TV ratings
1973 Soap opera “The Young and the Restless” premieres
1975 The Biological Weapons Convention comes into effect. The treaty bans the development, production and stockpiling of biological and toxin weapons. It has now been ratified by most countries worldwide.
1979 Middle East peace In a ceremony at the White House, President Sadat of Egypt and Prime Minister Begin of Israel signed a peace treaty ending 30 years of war between the two countries.
1982 Ground is broken in Washington D.C. for the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.
1989 The first free elections take place in the Soviet Union. Boris Yeltsin is elected.
1997 Thirty-nine bodies found in the Heaven’s Gate cult suicides
2005 The Taiwanese government calls on 1 million Taiwanese to demonstrate in Taipei, in opposition to the Anti-Secession Law of the People’s Republic of China. Around 200,000 to 300,000 attend the walk.
2019 Maker of Oxyconti, Purdue Pharma agrees to pay Oklahoma $270 million settlement ahead of trial accusing the company of fueling the opioid epidemic
** history.net, onthisday.com, infoplease.com, timeanddate.com, thepeoplehistory.com, on-this-day.com **
