Hankering For History: Events that happened today in history, October 26th!

Some of the great historical events that happened today in history, on October 26th!

1774	The first Continental Congress, which protested British measures and called for civil disobedience, concludes in Philadelphia.
1795	When General Paul Barras resigns his commission as head of France’s Army of the Interior to become head of the Directory, his second-in-command becomes the army’s commander-Napoleon Bonaparte.
1825	The Erie Canal opened, connecting Lake Erie and the Hudson River in upstate New York.
1881	Wyatt Earp, his two brothers and “Doc” Holliday confronted Ike Clanton’s gang in a gunfight at the OK Corral in Tombstone, Ariz. Three members of Clanton’s gang were killed; Earp’s brothers were wounded. Wyatt Earp
1905	Norway signs a treaty of separation with Sweden. Norway chooses Prince Charles of Denmark as the new king; he becomes King Haakon VII.
1918	Germany’s supreme commander, General Erich Ludendorff, resigns, protesting the terms to which the German Government has agreed in negotiating the armistice. This sets the stage for his later support for Hitler and the Nazis, who claim that Germany did not lose the war on the battlefield but were “stabbed in the back” by politicians.
1942	U.S. Navy aircraft carrier Hornet is sunk in the Battle of Santa Cruz Island, in the South Pacific.
1950	A reconnaissance platoon for a South Korean division reaches the Yalu River. They are the only elements of the U.N. force to reach the river before the Chinese offensive pushes the whole army down into South Korea.
1955	The Village Voice is first published, backed in part by Norman Mailer.
1957	The Russian government announces that Marshal Georgi Zhukov, the nation’s most prominent military hero, has been relieved of his duties as Minister of Defense. Khrushchev accused Zhukov as promoting his own “cult of personality” and saw him as a threat to his own popularity.
1958	The first New York – Paris transatlantic jet passenger service is inaugurated by Pan Am, while the first New York – London transatlantic jet passenger service is inaugurated by BOAC.
1962	In one of the most dramatic verbal confrontations of the Cold War, American U.N. Ambassador Adlai Stevenson asked his Soviet counterpart during a Security Council debate whether the USSR had placed missiles in Cuba.
1970	Gary Trudeau’s comic strip Doonesbury first appears. Doonesbury First Comic Strip
1972	National security adviser Henry Kissinger declared “peace is at hand” in Vietnam.
1984	A newborn with a severe heart defect was given the heart of a baboon in an experimental transplant in Loma Linda, Calif. She lived for 21 more days.
1994	Israel and Jordan signed a peace treaty.
2002	A hostage siege by Chechen rebels at a Moscow theater ended with 129 of the 800-plus captives dead, most from a knockout gas used by Russian special forces who stormed the theater.
2005	The Chicago White Sox won their first World Series since 1917 by defeating the Houston Astros 1-0 in Game 4.

Today’s historical facts are from various sites including, but not limited too: the History Channel, The New York Times, WHG Historynet.com, HistoryOrb.com, and On This Day blogs from my blogroll.