History of 26 June
1900 – The United States announced that it would send troops to fight against the Boxer rebellion in China.
1900 – A commission that included Dr. Walter Reed began the fight against the deadly disease yellow fever.
1907 – Russia’s nobility demanded drastic measures to be taken against revolutionaries.
1908 – Shah Muhammad Ali’s forces squelched the reform elements of Parliament in Persia.
1917 – General John “Black Jack” Pershing arrived in France with the American Expeditionary Force.
1925 – Charlie Chaplin’s comedy “The Gold Rush” premiered in Hollywood.
1926 – A memorial to the first U.S. troops in France was unveiled at St. Nazaire.
1924 – After eight years of occupation, American troops left the Dominican Republic.
1927 – The Coney Island Cyclone roller coaster opened in New York.
1936 – The Focke-Wulf Fw 61 made its first flight. It is often considered the first practical helicopter.
1942 – The Grumman F6F Hellcat fighter was flown for the first time.
1945 – The U.N. Charter was signed by 50 nations in San Francisco, CA.
1948 – The Berlin Airlift began as the U.S., Britain, and France started ferrying supplies to the isolated western sector of Berlin.
1951 – The Soviet Union proposed a cease-fire in the Korean War.
1959 – CBS journalist Edward R. Murrow interviewed Lee Remick. It was his 500th and final guest on “Person to Person.”
1959 – U.S. President Eisenhower joined Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II in ceremonies officially opening the St. Lawrence Seaway.
1961 – A Kuwaiti vote opposed Iraq’s annexation plans.
1963 – U.S. President John Kennedy announced “Ich bin ein Berliner” (I am a Berliner) at the Berlin Wall.
1971 – The U.S. Justice Department issued a warrant for Daniel Ellsberg, accusing him of giving away the Pentagon Papers.
1974 – In Troy, Ohio, a Marsh supermarket installed the first bar code scanning equipment, made by IBM, and a product with a bar code was scanned for the first time. The product was Juicy Fruit gum.
1975 – Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi declared a state of emergency due to “deep and widespread conspiracy.”
1976 – In Toronto, Canada, the CN Tower opened to the public. The official opening date is listed as October 1, 1976. It was the world’s tallest free-standing structure and the world’s tallest tower until 2010.
1979 – Muhammad Ali, at 37 years old, announced that he was retiring as world heavyweight boxing champion.
1985 – Wilbur Snapp was ejected after playing “Three Blind Mice” during a baseball game. The incident followed a call made by umpire Keith O’Connor.
1987 – The movie “Dragnet” opened in the U.S.
1996 – The U.S. Supreme Court ordered the Virginia Military Institute to admit women or forgo state support.
1997 – The U.S. Supreme Court struck down the Communications Decency Act of 1996 that made it illegal to distribute indecent material on the Internet.
1997 – J.K. Rowling’s book “Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone” was published in the U.K. The book was later released in the U.S. under the name “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone.” This was the first book in the Harry Potter series.
1997 – The U.S. Supreme Court upheld state laws that allow for a ban on doctor-assisted suicides.
1998 – The U.S. and Peru open school to train commandos to patrol Peru’s rivers for drug traffickers.
1998 – The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that employers are always potentially liable for the supervisor’s sexual misconduct toward an employee.
2000 – The Human Genome Project and Celera Genomics Corp. jointly announced that they had created a working draft of the human genome.
2000 – Indonesia’s President Abdurrahman Wahid declared a state of emergency in the Moluccas due to the escalation of fighting between Christians and Muslims.
2001 – Ray Bourque (Colorado Avalanche) announced his retirement just 17 days after winning his first Stanley Cup. Bouquet retired after 22 years and held the NHL record for a highest-scoring defenseman and playing in 19 consecutive All-Star games.
2002 – David Hasselhoff checked into The Betty Ford Center for treatment of alcoholism.
2002 – WorldCom Inc. filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.
2003 – The U.S. Supreme Court rules in Lawrence v. Texas that gender-based sodomy laws are unconstitutional.
2006 – Mari Alkatiri, the first Prime Minister of East Timor, resigns after weeks of political unrest.
2007 – Pope Benedict XVI reinstates the traditional laws of papal election in which a successful candidate must receive two-thirds of the votes.
2008 – A suicide bomber dressed as an Iraqi policeman detonates an explosive vest, killing 25 people.
2012 – The Waldo Canyon fire descends into the Mountain Shadows neighborhood in Colorado Springs burning 347 homes in a matter of hours and killing two people.
2013 – Riots in China’s Xinjiang region kill at least 36 people and injure 21 others.
2013 – The U.S. Supreme Court ruled, 5–4, that Section 3 of the Defense of Marriage Act is unconstitutional and in violation of the Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution.
2015 – Five different terrorist attacks in France, Tunisia, Somalia, Kuwait, and Syria occurred on what was dubbed Bloody Friday by international media. Upwards of 750 people were either killed or injured in these uncoordinated attacks.
2015 – The U.S. Supreme Court ruled, 5–4, that same-sex couples have a constitutional right to marriage under the 14th Amendment to the United States Constitution.
Celebrating Birthday Today
- 1981 – Natalya Antyukh, Russian sprinter and hurdler
- 1981 – Paolo Cannavaro, Italian footballer
- 1981 – Kanako Kondō, Japanese voice actress and singer
- 1981 – Takashi Toritani, Japanese baseball player
- 1982 – Zuzana Kučová, a Slovak tennis player
- 1983 – Vinícius Rodrigues Almeida, Brazilian footballer
- 1983 – Nick Compton, South African-English cricketer
- 1983 – Toyonoshima Daiki, Japanese sumo wrestler
- 1983 – Felipe Melo, Brazilian footballer
- 1983 – Antonio Rosati, Italian footballer
- 1984 – Indila, French singer
- 1984 – José Juan Barea, Puerto Rican-American basketball player
- 1984 – Yankuba Ceesay, Gambian footballer
- 1984 – Elijah Dukes, American baseball player
- 1984 – Raymond Felton, American basketball player
- 1984 – Priscah Jeptoo, Kenyan runner
- 1984 – Jūlija Tepliha, Latvian figure skater
- 1984 – Deron Williams, American basketball player
- 1984 – Preslava, Bulgarian singer
- 1985 – Ogyen Trinley Dorje, Tibetan spiritual leader, 17th Karmapa Lama
- 1986 – Duvier Riascos, Colombian footballer
- 1987 – Carlos Iaconelli, Brazilian race car driver
- 1987 – Samir Nasri, French footballer
- 1988 – Oliver Stang, German footballer
- 1990 – Belaynesh Oljira, Ethiopian runner
- 1990 – Igor Subbotin, Estonian footballer
- 1991 – Houssem Chemali, French footballer
- 1991 – Diego Falcinelli, Italian footballer
- 1991 – Dustin Martin, Australian rules footballer
- 1992 – Joel Campbell, Costa Rican footballer
- 1992 – Rudy Gobert, French basketball player
- 1993 – Ariana Grande, American singer-songwriter, dancer, and actress
- 1994 – Hollie Arnold, English javelin thrower
- 1994 – Leonard Carow, German actor
- 1997 – Baek Ye-rin, South Korean singer
- 1997 – Callum Taylor, English cricketer
- 2009 – Yesha Camile, Filipino child actress