On May 26th...

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1478 Pope Clement VIII was born.

1637 English Puritans massacred over 400 Pequot Indian men, women, and children at Missituck (now Mystic, Connecticut).

1647 Massachusetts disallowed priest access to the colony.
1647 Alse Young became the first person in the American colonies to be executed as a witch, in Hartford, Connecticut.

1703 Author Samuel Pepys died.

1736 The British and their Chickasaw allies defeated the French at the Battle of Ackia (Louisiana).

1781 The Bank of North America was incorporated in Philadelphia.

1798 The British killed about 500 Irish insurgents at the Battle of Tara.

1803 Writer Edward Bulwer-Lytton was born.

1805 Napoleon Bonaparte was crowned King of Italy.

1824 Brazil was recognized by the United States.

1828 "Feral child" Kaspar Hauser was discovered wandering the streets of Nuremberg, Germany.

1834 The Portuguese Civil War ended with the capitulation of Dom Miguel.

1836 John Loudon McAdam, inventor of the macadamized road surface, died.

1857 Slave Dred Scott and his family were freed by their owner, Henry Taylor Blow.

1861 Union forces blockaded New Orleans, Louisiana, and Mobile, Alabama.

1864 The Territory of Montana was formed.

1868 President Andrew Johnson avoided impeachment by one vote.

1869 Boston University was chartered by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

1877 Dancer Isadora Duncan was born.

1879 Publisher Lord Beaverbrook was born.

1886 Singer Al Jolson was born.

1887 Racetrack betting became legal in New York State.

1893 Actress Norma Talmadge was born.

1895 Photographer Dorothea Lange was born.

1896 Dow Jones began an index of 12 industrial stocks; it closed at 40.94.
1896 Nicholas II was crowned Czar of Russia.

1899 Painter Aaron Douglas was born.

1906 Vauxhall Bridge opened in London, England.

1907 Actor John Wayne was born.
1907 Ida McKinley, widow of U.S. President William McKinley, died.

1910 Mexican President Adolfo López Mateos was born.

1912 Actor Jay Silverheels was born.

1913 U.S. Actors' Equity Association was formed in New York City, New York.
1913 Emily Duncan became the first female magistrate in Great Britain.

1918 Georgian Social Democratic Republic declared its independence from Russia.

1920 Singer Peggy Lee was born.

1923 The first Le Mans Grand Prix d'Endurance was run.
1923 Actor James Arness was born.

1924 President Calvin Coolidge signed the Immigration Law, restricting immigration.
1924 Composer, conductor, and cellist Victor Herbert died.

1926 Jazz trumpeter Miles Davis was born.

1927 The Ford Motor Company produced its 15 millionth Model T.

1928 Euthanasia advocate Jack Kevorkian was born.

1930 The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that buying liquor does not violate the Constitution.

1933 Singer Jimmie Rodgers died.

1934 The Century of Progress International Exposition opened for its second season.

1937 The Golden Gate Bridge opened.

1938 The House Committee on Un-American Activities began work.

1939 Sports commentator Brent Musberger was born.
1939 Charles Horace Mayo, co-founder of the Mayo Clinic, died.

1940 Evacuation of British troops from Dunkirk, France began.
1940 Drummer Levon Helm was born.

1941 John R. Brinkley, "the goat gland doctor," died.

1942 Belgian Jews were required by Nazis to wear a Jewish star.
1942 The Anglo-Soviet Treaty was signed in London, England.

1943 Jews rioted against Germany in Amsterdam.
1943 Edsel Ford, president of Ford, died.

1945 The United States dropped fire bombs on Tokyo, Japan.

1946 A U.S. patent was filed for the "H-Bomb."

1948 Singer Stevie Nicks was born.

1949 Actor Philip Michael Thomas was born.
1949 Singer Hank Williams, Jr., was born.

1951 Sally Ride, the first American woman in space, was born.

1955 Celebrity chef Masaharu Morimoto was born.

1956 A fire on board the aircraft carrier USS Bennington, in Narragansett Bay off Rhode Island, killed 103 crewmen.

1958 The Shippingport Nuclear Power Plant was dedicated.

1961 A U.S. jet bomber made a record New York-to-Paris nonstop flight, covering the 3,669 miles in 3 hours 19 minutes 41 seconds.

1962 Actress Genie Francis was born.
1962 Comedian Robert Francis "Bobcat" Goldthwait was born.

1964 The Moselle Canal opened.
1964 Musician Lenny Kravitz was born.

1966 British Guiana became the independent nation of Guyana.
1966 Actor Helena Bonham Carter was born.

1968 Prince Frederik of Denmark was born.

1970 The Tupolev Tu-144 became the first commercial plane to exceed Mach 2.

1972 U.S. President Richard Nixon and Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev signed the Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty.

1974 Johnny Rutherford won the Indianapolis 500.

1975 Singer Lauryn Hill was born.

1977 The movie Star Wars debuted.
1977 Golfer Ben Curtis was born.

1978 The first legal casino in the United States outside of Nevada opened for business in Atlantic City, New Jersey.

1979 Actor George Brent died.

1981 A Marine jet crashed on the flight deck of the USS Nimitz, killing 14 crewmen.

1985 Danny Sullivan won the Indianapolis 500.

1987 The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that dangerous defendants can be held without bail.

1988 The Edmonton Oilers swept the Boston Bruins in four games to win the Stanley Cup.

1993 Carlos Martinez hit a ball of Jose Canseco's head for a hume run.
1993 Marseille beat Milan 1-0 at Munich, Germany, to win the first UEFA Champions League Final.

1995 Cartoonist Friz Freleng died.

1996 Buddy Lazier won the Indianapolis 500.

1998 The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that most of Ellis Island belongs to the state of New Jersey.

2002 Mars Odyssey found signs of large ice deposits on Mars.
2002 Hélio Castroneves won the Indianapolis 500.

2004 Terry Nichols was found guilty of 161 state murder charges for helping carry out the bombing of the federal building in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.

2005 Actor Eddie Albert died.

2006 An earthquake on the island of Java killed more than 5,700 people and left about 200,000 homeless.

2008 Film director Sydney Pollack died.

2010 Television personality Art Linkletter died.

2013 Tony Kanaan won the Indianapolis 500.

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This page was last updated on January 17, 2018.