Today is Saturday, July 26, the 207th day of 2014. There are 158 days left in the year.
Today’s Highlight in History: On July 26, 1775, Benjamin Franklin became America’s first
Postmaster-General.
On this date:
In 1908, U.S. Attorney General Charles J. Bonaparte ordered creation of a force of special agents that
was a forerunner of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
In 1912, the Edison Studios production "What Happened to Mary," one of the first, if not very
first, movie serials, was released with Mary Fuller in the title role.
In 1947, President Harry S. Truman signed the National Security Act, which established the National
Military Establishment (later renamed the Department of Defense).
In 1952, Argentina’s first lady, Eva Peron, died in Buenos Aires at age 33.
In 1953, Fidel Castro began his revolt against Fulgencio Batista with an unsuccessful attack on an army
barracks in eastern Cuba. (Castro ousted Batista in 1959.)
In 1956, the Italian liner Andrea Doria sank off New England, some 11 hours after colliding with the
Swedish liner Stockholm; at least 51 people died. Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser nationalized the
Suez Canal.
In 1964, Teamsters president Jimmy Hoffa was convicted in federal court in Chicago of fraud and
conspiracy in the handling of a union pension fund; six co-defendants were found guilty of conspiracy.
The Organization of American States enacted sanctions against Cuba.
In 1989, Mark Wellman, a 29-year-old paraplegic, reached the summit of El Capitan in Yosemite National
Park after hauling himself up the granite cliff six inches at a time over nine days.
In 1990, President George H.W. Bush signed the Americans with Disabilities Act.
Five years ago: Sarah Palin stepped down as governor of Alaska to write a book and build a
right-of-center coalition, but left her long-term political plans unclear.
One year ago: Ariel Castro, the man who’d imprisoned three women in his Cleveland home, subjecting them
to a decade of rapes and beatings, pleaded guilty to 937 counts in a deal to avoid the death penalty.
(Castro later committed suicide in prison.)