Friday, June 26
1945
The charter of the United Nations was signed by 50 countries in San Francisco.
1483
Richard III began his reign as King of England (he was crowned the following month at Westminster Abbey).
1870
The first section of Atlantic City, New Jersey’s Boardwalk was opened to the public.
1915
Following a whirlwind courtship, poet T.S. Eliot married Vivienne Haigh-Wood in London. (The marriage proved disastrous, but the couple never divorced.) Air conditioning manufacturer Carrier Engineering Corp. was incorporated in New York.
1925
Charles Chaplin’s classic comedy “The Gold Rush” premiered at Grauman’s Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood.
1936
President Franklin D. Roosevelt was nominated for a second term of office by delegates to the Democratic national convention in Philadelphia.
1950
President Harry S. Truman authorized the U.S. Air Force and Navy to enter the Korean War.
1959
President Dwight D. Eisenhower joined Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II in ceremonies officially opening the St. Lawrence Seaway. Swedish boxer Ingemar Johansson knocked out Floyd Patterson in the third round of their match at New York’s Yankee Stadium to win the heavyweight title.
1963
President John F. Kennedy visited West Berlin, where he delivered his famous speech expressing solidarity with the city’s residents, declaring: “Ich bin ein Berliner” (I am a Berliner).
1973
Former White House counsel John W. Dean told the Senate Watergate Committee about an “enemies list” kept by the Nixon White House.
1974
The supermarket price scanner made its debut in Troy, Ohio, as a 10-pack of Wrigley’s Juicy Fruit chewing gum costing 67 cents and bearing a Uniform Product Code (UPC) was scanned by a Marsh Supermarket cashier.
1988
Three people were killed when a new Airbus A320 jetliner carrying more than 130 people crashed into a forest during a demonstration at an air show in Mulhouse, France.
1990
President George H.W. Bush went back on his “no-new-taxes” campaign pledge, conceding that tax increases would have to be included in any deficit-reduction package worked out with congressional negotiators.
2005
Dozens of international leaders met in San Francisco to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the United Nations’ birth. Tens of thousands of festively dressed people marched in parades around the country to celebrate the 35th anniversary of gay pride. South Korea’s Birdie Kim holed a 30-yard bunker shot to birdie the 18th hole and win the U.S. Women’s Open.
2010
At odds over how to strengthen the global economic recovery, Group of Eight leaders meeting in Canada did find common ground on foreign policy, condemning North Korea for the alleged sinking of a South Korean warship and endorsing a five-year exit timetable for Afghanistan. Ghana sent the U.S. packing from the World Cup in South Africa, eliminating the Americans in the second round.
2014
The U.S. Supreme Court unanimously ruled that President Barack Obama had exceeded his executive authority in 2012 when he appointed members to the National Labor Relations Board without Senate confirmation. The nation’s highest court also unanimously struck down the 35-foot protest-free zone outside abortion clinics in Massachusetts, declaring it an unconstitutional restraint on the free-speech rights of protesters. Former Senate majority leader and White House chief of staff Howard Baker, 88, died at his Tennessee home. Julius Rudel, 93, who was the general director and principal conductor for the New York City Opera for 22 years, died in New York. Mary Rodgers, 83, the daughter of famed Broadway composer Richard Rodgers who found her own fame as composer of “Once Upon a Mattress” and as author of the body-shifting book “Freaky Friday,” died in New York.
Source: The Associated Press
