TODAY IN HISTORY

TUESDAY APR 26, 2022

1986

An explosion and fire at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in Ukraine caused radioactive fallout to begin spewing into the atmosphere.

1607

English colonists went ashore at present-day Cape Henry, Virginia, on an expedition to establish the first permanent English settlement in the Western Hemisphere.

1865

John Wilkes Booth, the assassin of President Abraham Lincoln, was surrounded by federal troops near Port Royal, Virginia, and killed.

1913

Mary Phagan, a 13-year-old worker at a Georgia pencil factory, was strangled; Leo Frank, the factory superintendent, was convicted of her murder and sentenced to death.

1933

Nazi Germany’s infamous secret police, the Gestapo, was created.

1964

The African nations of Tanganyika and Zanzibar merged to form Tanzania.

1968

The United States exploded beneath the Nevada desert a 1.3 megaton nuclear device called “Boxcar.”

1977

The legendary nightclub Studio 54 had its opening night in New York.

1984

Bandleader Count Basie, 79, died in Hollywood, Florida.

1994

Voting began in South Africa’s first all-race elections, resulting in victory for the African National Congress and the inauguration of Nelson Mandela as president.

2000

Vermont Gov. Howard Dean signed the nation’s first bill allowing same-sex couples to form civil unions.

2009

The United States declared a public health emergency as more possible cases of swine flu surfaced from Canada to New Zealand; officials in Mexico City closed everything from concerts to sports matches to churches in an effort to stem the spread of the virus.

2018

comedian Bill Cosby was convicted of drugging and molesting Temple University employee Andrea Constand at his suburban Philadelphia mansion in 2004.