NATIONAL PARKS
1919 Congress established Grand Canyon National Park in Arizona.
1929 President Coolidge signed a measure establishing Grand Teton National Park.
WAR!
1942 WWII Navy flier Don Mason sends message "Sighted sub sank same".
2003 President Bush, offering new justification for war in Iraq, told a think tank that "ending this direct and growing threat" from Saddam Hussein would pave the way for peace in the Middle East and encourage democracy throughout the Arab world.
TERRORISM
1531 Earthquake in Lisbon Portugal, kills 20,000.
1993 A bomb built by Islamic extremists exploded in the parking garage of New York's World Trade Center, killing six people and injuring more than 1,000 others.
2007 Iraq's Shiite vice president, Adel Abdul-Mahdi, narrowly escaped death as a blast ripped through a government meeting hall just hours after it had been searched by U.S. teams with bomb-sniffing dogs; at least 10 people were killed.
DISASTER
1852 British frigate Birkenhead sinks off South Africa-458 die.
1918 Stands at Hong Kong Jockey Club collapse & burn, killing 604.
1972 Slag heap dam collapses above Buffalo Creek WV, kills 125.
2003 A fire at the Greenwood Health Center in Hartford, Conn., killed 16 nursing home patients; a patient charged with setting the blaze was later ruled incompetent to stand trial.
SHORT PEOPLE
1876 Pauline Musters shortest known adult (58.9 cm, 1' 11.2") born.
TIRED
1984 Pak Awang (84) marries 80th spouse
PRO WRESTLING
1960 Verne Gagne beats Doctor X in Omaha, to become NWA wrestling champion.
1967 Verne Gagne beats Mad Dog Vachon in St Paul, to become NWA champion.
GOLD
1974 Gold hits record $188 an ounce in Paris.
CURFEW
1945 A midnight curfew on nightclubs, bars and other places of entertainment was set to go into effect across the nation.
CLYDESDALES
1893 2 Clydesdale horses set record by pulling 48 tons on a sledge, Michigan.
KOs
1941 2 fighters unable to continue slugfest, referee declares double KO.
IMMIGRATION
1907 Congress created the Dillingham Commission to examine the impact of immigrants on America. (The panel later recommended curtailing immigration from southern and eastern Europe.)
UNREST
1946 2 killed & 10 wounded in race riot in Columbia TN.
ESCAPES
1815 Napoleon Bonaparte escaped from exile on the Island of Elba.
MERGER
1907 Royal Oil & Shell merge to form British Petroleum (BP).
GOVERNMENT OVERREACH
2003 In a victory for abortion foes, the Supreme Court ruled that federal racketeering and extortion laws had been wrongly used to try to stop blockades, harassment and violent protests outside clinics.
NAZI CARS
1936 Hitler introduces Ferdinand Porsche's "Volkswagen".
LYNCHED
1870 Wyatt Outlaw black leader of Union League in North Carolina, lynched.
A-BOMB
1952 Prime Minister Winston Churchill announced that Britain had developed its own atomic bomb.
BUFFALO
1891 1st buffalo purchased for Golden Gate Park.
JEWS
1941 Utrecht & Zaandam strike against raid on Jews.
1980 Egypt & Israel exchange ambassadors for the 1st time
SHADOWS
1979 A total solar eclipse cast a moving shadow 175 miles wide from Oregon to North Dakota before moving into Canada.
COMMIES
1848 Marx & Engels publish "The Communist Manifesto".
NANNY STATE
1954 Michigan Representative Ruth Thompson (R) introduces legislation to ban mailing "obscene, lewd, lascivious or filthy" phonograph (rock & roll) records.
SLURS
1984 Reverend Jesse Jackson acknowledges that he called NYC, "Hymietown".
REBUKES
1987 The Tower Commission, which probed the Iran-Contra affair, issued its report, which rebuked President Reagan for failing to control his national security staff.
CHESS
1859 Paul Morphy's chess match vs Augustus Mongredien begins; Morphy wins.
OPRAH
1998 A jury in Amarillo, Texas, rejected an $11 million lawsuit brought by Texas cattlemen who blamed Oprah Winfrey's talk show for a price fall after a segment on food safety that included a discussion about mad cow disease.
BORN
1846 William F "Buffalo Bill" Cody Davenport IA, killed 4000 buffaloes.
1852 John Harvey Kellogg surgeon, inspired flaked cereal industry.
1893 William Frawley Iowa, actor (Fred Mertz-I Love Lucy, Bub-My 3 Sons).
1916 Jackie Gleason Brooklyn NY, comedian (Ralph Kramden-Honeymooners).
BIRTHDAYS
Singer Fats Domino is 80. Political columnist Robert Novak is 77. Country-rock musician Paul Cotton (Poco) is 65. Actor-director Bill Duke is 65. Singer Mitch Ryder is 63. Rock musician Jonathan Cain (Journey) is 58. Singer Michael Bolton is 55. Actor Greg Germann is 50. Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine is 50. Bandleader John McDaniel is 47. Actress Jennifer Grant is 42. Rock musician Tim Commerford (Audioslave) is 40. Singer Erykah Badu is 37. Rhythm-and-blues singer Rico Wade (Society of Soul) is 36. Rhythm-and-blues singer Kyle Norman (Jagged Edge) is 33. Rhythm-and-blues singer Corinne Bailey Rae is 29. Country singer Rodney Hayden is 28. Actress Taylor Dooley is 15.
DEATH
1959 Lou Costello actor (Abbott & Costello), dies at 52.
February 26, the 57th day of 2008. There are 309 days left in the year.
by Mondoreb
image: virtual tourist
Source:
* Today in History
* Today in History
Death by 1000 Papercuts Front Page.