TODAY IN HISTORY

Today is Wednesday, July 26. On this date in:

1775: The Continental Congress established a Post Office and appointed Benjamin Franklin its PostmasterGeneral.

1847: The western African country of Liberia, founded by freed American slaves, declared its independence.

1863: Sam Houston, former president of the Republic of Texas, died in Huntsville at age 70.

1945: Winston Churchill resigned as Britain’s prime minister after his Conservatives were soundly defeated by the Labour Party. Clement Attlee succeeded him.

1947: President Harry S. Truman signed the National Security Act, which reorganized America’s armed forces as the National Military Establishment and created the Central Intelligence Agency.

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.) 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, from both vessels.

1971: Apollo 15 was launched from Cape Kennedy on America’s fourth successful manned mission to the moon.

1990: President George H.W. Bush signed the Americans with Disabilities Act.

2002: The Republican-led House voted to create an enormous Homeland Security Department in the biggest government reorganization in decades.

2016: Hillary Clinton became the first woman to be nominated for president by a major political party at the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia.

2018: As a deadline set by a federal judge arrived, the Trump administration said more than 1,800 children who were separated from their families at the U.S-Mexico border had been reunited with parents and sponsors; hundreds more remained apart.