December 26: What Happened on This Day in History (High_school Level)?

(Page last edited 10/12/2017)

1. 1799 - Four thousand people attend George Washington's funeral where Henry Lee III declares him as "first in war, first in peace and first in the hearts of his countrymen."
2. 1862 - Four nuns serving as volunteer nurses on board USS Red Rover are the first female nurses on a U.S. Navy hospital ship.
3. 1898 - Marie and Pierre Curie announce the isolation of radium.
4. 1919 - Babe Ruth of the Boston Red Sox is sold to the New York Yankees by owner Harry Frazee.
5. 1941 - U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs a bill establishing the fourth Thursday in November as Thanksgiving Day in the United States.
6. 1966 - The first Kwanzaa is celebrated by Maulana Karenga, the chair of Black Studies atCalifornia State University, Long Beach.
7. 1982 - Time's Man of the Year is for the first time a non-human, the personal computer.
8. 1991 - The Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union meets and formally dissolves the Soviet Union.
9. 1997 - The Soufrière Hills volcano on the island of Montserrat explodes, creating a small tsunami offshore.
10. 2004 - A 9.3 magnitude earthquake creates a tsunami causing devastation in Sri Lanka,India, Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, the Maldives and many other areas around the rim of the Indian Ocean, killing over 230,000 people including over 1700 on a moving train.
11. Famous Birthdays: Jesus Christ (founder of the Christian religion), Charles Babbage (English mathematician and engineer, invented the Difference engine), Norman Angell (English journalist, author, and politician, Nobel Prize laureate), Edward C. Prescott (American economist, Nobel Prize laureate), Peter Hillary (New Zealand mountaineer)

For famous birthdays and other daily events in history, visit our Daily Dose Activities.

Click Here for Yesterday in History: December 25

Click Here for Tomorrow in History: December 27

For more history resources on Internet 4 Classrooms, visit our Social Studies and History index. For Pre K-8th Grade Level History and Social Studies Resources, visit our Grade Level Index.