Epic Idiot's what happened
On This Day

August 26

1993
Army's top civilian official is caught shoplifting: The Acting Army Secretary John Shannon is caught stealing a woman's blouse from an Army PX.

1978
Pope John Paul I is elected. He died 34 days later (Sept. 28).

1968
The 1968 National Democratic Convention begins in Chicago. Thousands came to protest the Vietnam War and the Democratic administration, resulting in massive demonstrations and police-civilian conflicts.

1947
First black to pitch in a major-league baseball game: Dan Bankhead for the Brooklyn Dodgers.

1939
First televised major-league baseball game, a doubleheader between the Cincinnati Reds and the Brooklyn Dodgers, shown by NBC's W2XBS of New York City.

1920
19th Amendment: Constitutional Amendment granting American women the right to vote is enacted.

1919
First black signed to a long-term Hollywood contract: Ernie Morrison (age 7) signs a two-year contract with Hal Roach. He went on to star as Sunshine Sammy and Booker T. in the Our Gang films.

1895
First large scale power from Niagara Falls: Three 5,000 h.p. generators begin supplying commercial power.

1883
The Indonesian volcanic island Krakatoa explodes with a force equivalent to 26 H-bombs, discharging 5 cubic miles of volcanic matter.

1862
Civil War - Second Battle of Bull Run: Jackson and Lee lead Confederate troops against Gen. John Pope. Although outnumbered 2 to 1, the Confederate troops forced the Union troops to retreat. (Source: The Civil War Day by Day)

1791
John Fitch is awarded the U.S. patent for the steamboat. He was also awarded the French patent later that year.

1980
Macaulay Culkin, American actor. Film: Home Alone.

1960
Branford Marsalis, American band leader for Jay Leno on The Tonight Show.

1949
Bob Cowsill, American singer, member of the singing family The Cowsills. Music: The Rain The Park And Other Things (1967, #2). They were the basis for TV's The Partridge Family.

1935
Geraldine Anne Ferraro, American politician, first female vice-presidential candidate for a major party (1984, Democratic).

1926
James Best, American actor. TV: Dukes of Hazzard (Roscoe P. Coltrane).

1915     d. 1981
Jim Davis, American actor. TV: Dallas (Jock Ewing).

1906     d. 1993
Albert Sabin, Russian-born American microbiologist. He developed the oral Polio vaccine, which was administered by sugar cube to millions.

1904     d. 1986
Christopher Isherwood, English-born American author. Writings: Goodbye Berlin (1939, a collection of short stories including Sally Bowles upon which the musical Cabaret was based).

1884     d. 1933
Earl Derr Biggers, American author, created the Chinese detective Charlie Chan.

1873     d. 1961
Lee De Forest, American inventor, "Father of the Radio." He invented the triode (amplifier vacuum tube, 1907) and was a pioneer in the development of talking pictures and television.

1855     d. 1923
James Leonard Corning, American neurologist, discoverer of spinal anesthesia (1885).

1743     d. 1794
Antoine-Laurent de Lavoisier, French chemist, founder of modern chemistry. He identified air as containing two principle elements (1778), one of which he named "oxygen," established the law of conservation of matter (1782), and showed that respiration was essentially a slow combustion of organic material using inhaled oxygen.. He was guillotined by the Revolutionary Tribunal for his association with the farmers general.

1740     d. 1810
Joseph Michel Montgolfier, French inventor. He and his brother invented the hot-air balloon (1782).

1728     d. 1777
Johann Heinrich Lambert, German mathematician, physicist, astronomer, proved that the numbers e and pi are irrational, and for whom the unit of brightness "lambert" is named.

2004     b. 1957
Laura Branigan, American singer. Music: Gloria (1982, #2). She died of a brain aneurism, which also killed her father and paternal grandfather.

1995     b. 1909
Evelyn Wood, American speed-reading instructor.

1989     b. 1903
Irving Stone, American author, The Agony and the Ecstasy (1961).

1986     b. 1923
Ted Knight (Tadeus Wladyslaw Konopka), American actor. TV: The Mary Tyler Moore Show (Ted Baxter) and Too Close for Comfort. Film: Caddyshack (1980)

1978     b. 1897
Charles Boyer, French-born American actor. Film: Algiers (1938, in which he made the famous invitation to Hedy Lamarr: "Come with me to the Casbah"). He also co-founded Four-Star Television (1951).

1937     b. 1855
Andrew William Mellon, American financier. He donated his art collection for the establishment of the National Gallery of Art.

1723     b. 1632
Anton van Leeuwenhoek, Dutch biologist, Father of Microscopy, using a crude microscope of his own design, he became the first person to see microorganisms in detail (1684).

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