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Disaster
1872
Deadly earthquake hits California
An earthquake felt from Mexico to Oregon rocks the Owens Valley in California on this day in 1872, killing 30 people. California, with the large San Andreas Fault running through the entire state, is a prime area for earthquakes. At 2:30 a.m. on March 26, a large quake hit Inyo County...
General Interest
1953
Salk announces polio vaccine
On March 26, 1953, American medical researcher Dr. Jonas Salk announces on a national radio show that he has successfully tested a vaccine against poliomyelitis, the virus that causes the crippling disease of polio. In 1952–an epidemic year for polio–there were 58,000 new cases reported in the United States, and...
1997
Heaven’s Gate cult members found dead
Following an anonymous tip, police enter a mansion in Rancho Santa Fe, an exclusive suburb of San Diego, California, and discover 39 victims of a mass suicide. The deceased–21 women and 18 men of varying ages–were all found lying peaceably in matching dark clothes and Nike sneakers and had no...
Hollywood
2000
American Beauty tops Academy Awards
On this day in 2000, Billy Crystal hosts the 72nd annual Academy Awards ceremony at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles. An Oscar crisis had been narrowly averted a week earlier, when Willie Fulgear, a man who made his living recovering and selling discarded objects, found 10 packing crates filled with...
Literary
1920
F. Scott Fitzgerald’s first novel published
This Side of Paradise is published, immediately launching 23-year-old F. Scott Fitzgerald to fame and fortune. Fitzgerald, named for his ancestor Francis Scott Key, author of “The Star Spangled Banner,” was born in St. Paul, Minnesota, to a once well-to-do family that had descended in wealth and influence. With the funding...
Music
1955
Black music gets whitewashed, as Georgia Gibbs hits the pop charts with “The Wallflower (Dance With Me, Henry)”
For its time, the mid-1950s, the lyrical phrase “You got to roll with me, Henry” was considered risqué just as the very label “rock and roll” was understood to have a sexual connotation. The line comes from an Etta James record originally called “Roll With Me Henry” and later renamed...
Old West
1832
The steamboat Yellowstone heads for Montana
The mighty American Fur Company adopts the latest in transportation technology to its business, dispatching the company’s new steamboat Yellowstone to pick up furs in Montana. A decade ...
Presidential
1804
Jefferson presented with a “mammoth loaf” of bread
On this day in 1804, President Thomas Jefferson attends a public party at the Senate and leads a diverse crowd in consuming an enormous loaf of bread dubbed the mammoth loaf. The giant bread was baked to go with the remnants of an enormous block of cheese. Two years earlier, a...
Sports
1979
Michigan State defeats Indiana State in NCAA championship
On March 26, 1979, Earvin “Magic” Johnson leads the Michigan State Spartans to a 75- 64 victory over Larry Bird’s Indiana State Sycamores in the NCAA men’s basketball championship game. The most watched college finale of its time, the game established Magic vs. Bird as a rivalry for the ages,...
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Vietnam War
1969
Antiwar demonstration in Washington
A group called Women Strike for Peace demonstrate in Washington, D.C., in the first large antiwar demonstration since President Richard Nixon’s inauguration in January. The antiwar movement had initially given Nixon a chance to make good on his campaign promises to end the war in Vietnam. However, it became increasingly...
1975
Hue falls to the communists
The city of Hue, in northernmost South Vietnam, falls to the North Vietnamese. Hue was the most recent major city in South Vietnam to fall to the communists during their new offensive. The offensive had started in December 1974, when the North Vietnamese had launched a major attack against the...
World War I
1917
First Battle of Gaza
The first of three battles fought in the Allied attempt to defeat Turkish forces in and around the Palestinian city of Gaza takes place on this day in 1917. By January 1917, the Allies had managed to force the Turkish army completely out of the Sinai Peninsula in northeastern Egypt, leaving...
World War II
1941
Naval warfare gets new weapon
On this day, Italy attacks the British fleet at Suda Bay, Crete, using detachable warheads to sink a British cruiser. This was the first time manned torpedoes had been employed in naval warfare, adding a new weapon to the world’s navies’ arsenals. The manned torpedo, also known as the “Chariot,” was...
ALSO ON THIS DAY
Lead Story
1979 Israel-Egyptian peace agreement signed
American Revolution
1776 South Carolina approves new constitution
Automotive
2008 Ford sells Jaguar and Land Rover to India’s Tata
Civil War
1864 McPherson takes over the Army of the Tennessee
Cold War
1950 McCarthy charges that Owen Lattimore is a Soviet spy
Crime
1987 Torture chamber uncovered in Philadelphia
Disaster
1872 Deadly earthquake hits California
General Interest
1953 Salk announces polio vaccine
1997 Heaven’s Gate cult members found dead
Hollywood
2000 American Beauty tops Academy Awards
Literary
1920 F. Scott Fitzgerald’s first novel published
Music
1955 Black music gets whitewashed, as Georgia Gibbs hits the pop charts with “The Wallflower (Dance With Me, Henry)”
Old West
1832 The steamboat Yellowstone heads for Montana
Presidential
1804 Jefferson presented with a “mammoth loaf” of bread
Sports
1979 Michigan State defeats Indiana State in NCAA championship
Vietnam War
1969 Antiwar demonstration in Washington
1975 Hue falls to the communists
World War I
1917 First Battle of Gaza
World War II
1941 Naval warfare gets new weapon
