The People History Home

May 26th Major News Events

  1. 1896 The Dow Jones industrial average was first published.
  2. 1940 The Dunkirk evacuation began to help Allied soldiers stranded in France.
  3. 1950 Petrol rationing ended in England after 11 years.
  4. 1969 The Apollo 10 space mission returned to Earth.
  5. 1972 President Nixon signed the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty.

Find More Details for What happened 26th May This Day in History on your birthday

26 May, 1940 France The Dunkirk Evacuation

1940 : The Dunkirk evacuation begins "Operation Dynamo" was launched for the evacuation of British, French and Belgian soldiers from the beaches of Dunkirk in northern France, they were rescued by a flotilla of any and every craft that could make the channel crossing which included fishing boats, pleasure craft and The Royal Navy and the new British Spitfire fighters helped provide air cover. The evacuation ended on June 4th. More about the Dunkirk Evacuation

1896 U.S.A. Dow Jones

1896 : The Dow Jones Industrial Average was first published.

The average price of the 12 initial stocks was 40.94

General Electric The only company still in existence and trading under original name.

American Cotton Oil Company, now part of Unilever

American Sugar Company, now Amstar Holdings

American Tobacco Company, Broken Up

Chicago Gas Company, now part of Integrys Energy Group, Inc.

Distilling & Cattle Feeding Company, now part of Lyondell Chemical Company

Laclede Gas Light Company, still in operation as The Laclede Group

National Lead Company, now NL Industries

North American Company, Broken Up

Tennessee Coal part of U.S. Steel

U.S. Leather Company Gone

United States Rubber Company part of Michelin

1930 U.S.A. Banks Closing

1930 : The Reynoldsburg State Bank in Columbus Ohio closed its doors as a result of frozen assets. This was just 1 news story that we found for a bank closing it's doors in 1930 but was being repeated throughout the country with thousands of small banks after the stock market collapse the previous year.

Born This Day In History 26th May

Celebrating Birthdays Today

Peggy Lee

Born: May 26th, 1920 Jamestown, North Dakota

Died: January 21, 2002 Los Angeles, California

Known For : Peggy Lee is a popular American jazz singer and music composer. She had a career spanning 70 years, during which she recorded 1,100 masters and composed more than 270 songs. She began her music career in the 1940s as a singer for Benny Goodman's big band. Her most famous recording is a version of Little Willie Johnson's "Fever" which was nominated for 3 awards at the inaugural Grammys in 1959. She was also an actor and famously voiced several roles for Disney's Lady and the Tramp while also co-writing all of the original songs in the film. Lee continued to perform throughout the 1990s despite health issues. She was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1999.

Part of our Collection of Electrical from The 1920's

Electric Sewing Machine With Electric Motor

Electric Sewing Machine

Price: $78.95

The electric sewing machine shown here is identical to a pedal machine sold the same year except the electric motor is included at a cost of about $35.00, the better Sewing machines were well made of mahogany.


Part of our Fashions From the 1950s

Late Fifties Teen Rebel Fashions for Boys and Girls Late Fifties Teen Rebel Fashions for Boys and Girls 1950s Teen Girl Fashion Clothes Examples

Part of our Home Electrical in the 80s

1986 Commodore Computer System

1986 Commodore Computer System

Price: $399.98

RGB composite color monitor has a sharp 13-inch diagonal measure picture. The Commodore 64 computer has 64K RAM. The 16-color selection reproduces games with close to arcade quality. 66-character keyboard includes upper and lower case letters along with four programmable function keys.


26 May, 1896 Russia Nicholas II

1896 : Following the death of his father Czar Alexander III in 1894 , the last Czar of Russia Nicholas II is crowned ruler of Russia, In 1917, the Bolsheviks led by Vladimir Lenin seize power from Czar Nicholas II and set about establishing the world's first communist state.

1897 England Dracula

1897 : The vampire novel Dracula, by Irish writer Bram Stoker, goes on sale in London bookshops.

26 May, 1948 South Africa Apartheid

1948 : The National Party of the Dutch Afrikaners headed by Daniel François Malan who had been campaigning on the policy of implementing full scale apartheid came to power and begin the policy of apartheid.

26 May, 1948 U.S.A. Public Housing Building Program

1948 : A major bill is before congress to provide additional Public Housing from federal funding , currently there are major problems and many of the homes built to put a roof over the head of poorer families are being rented to affluent single bachelors . So many of these projects that were designed to help the most needy are now in the hands of some of those who are in the high income bracket of $4,000 to $6,000 per year and a full reform is needed including the administration of these projects.

26 May, 1950 Germany Berlin Divided

1950 : In Berlin as both sides prepare for the unity parade by east German youth this weekend tensions are running high as Britain talks to the Russians about allowing free elections, many believe that instead of a united Berlin as part of a United Germany we could well end up with a city divided by political doctrine.

26 May, 1950 England Petrol Rationing Ends

1950 : After 11 years petrol rationing finally ends in Great Britain and the British People tear up petrol rationing books which have been in use since the beginning of World War II in 1939.

1969 Canada John Lennon

1969 : Beatle John Lennon and his wife Yoko Ono stage a public 'bed in' for world peace - staying in bed for a week in a hotel in Montreal.

1969 U.S.A. Apollo 10

1969 : Apollo 10 returns to Earth after a mission that served as a dress rehearsal for the first moon landing.

1972 U.S.A. Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty

1972 : President Nixon signed the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty on behalf of the United States the treaty puts a limit on the number of anti-ballistic missile sites in USA and Russia.

Born This Day In History 26th May

Celebrating Birthday Today

Moondog

Born: Louis Thomas Hardin, May 26th, 1916, Marysville, Kansas

Died: September 8th, 1999, Germany

Known For : Whilst still at school in Wyoming, he played tom-tom and flute at Arapaho and Blackfoot Sun Dances, as well drums at high school. He was blinded in his teenage years and studied at schools for the blind in Iowa and Missouri, where he learnt to write in braille. In 1942 he was given a scholarship in Memphis. On moving to New York in 1947 he adopted the name of Moondog. The music he produced was regarded as avant-garde and contained a number of unusual musical gestures and contrapuntal styles. His philosophical lyrics were recorded in 1956 and 1957, and he acted as a street musician in Manhattan.

1975 U.S.A. Alternative Energy Sources

1975 : Secretary of State Henry Kissinger today outlined a trillion dollar program to save oil consuming nations from being held hostage by the worlds oil producing nations including the increased use of Nuclear Power and funding to find alternative forms of energy. This is in response to the oil producing nations saying a sixth increase in oil prices can be expected later this year.

1977 U.S.A. George Willig

1977 : George Willig climbed the South Tower of the World Trade Center in New York City.

1981 Italy Cabinet Resigns

1981 : The Italian Prime Minister Arnaldo Forlani and his coalition cabinet resign following a scandal over membership of the P2 (Propaganda Two) Masonic lodge.

1989 China Tiananmen Square

1989 : Following the communist party stripping power from moderate party chief Zhao Ziyang of power student protesters are leaving Tiananmen Square by the thousands , at one point the number of protesters was estimated at 100,000 in the square but the number is now down to 15,000 , it is now a waiting game by the protesters to see what the new much harder line administration will decide to do to break up the demonstration.

1991 Thailand Plane Crash In Jungle

1991 : A Boeing 767 crashes into the jungle near Bangkok, Thailand, killing all 223 people on board.

1994 Dominican Republic Michael Jackson

1994 : Michael Jackson marries Lisa Marie Presley in the Dominican Republic.

Visit our 1950's Music Page

Popular Music from the 1950s, Genres including Rock 'n' Roll, Traditional Pop, Country, Rhythm & Blues, top songs and artists from each year Includes a description of each Genre and the top performers and songs for each year in the Fifties

Fifties Music

100 years of price Change

100 Years Of Price Changes

We spent many hours researching cost of living information for each year and I created this page after being asked a number of times about why I did not include current prices alongside our cost of living information for each year and thought this was the easiest way to make the information available. includes Average Cost Of New Home, Average Wages, New Car cost, Gallon Of Gas and a 1lb Hamburger Meat, 1920 to 2023

2000 South Lebanon Israel Leaves

2000 : Hezbollah announces that its fighters will soon pull out of southern Lebanon, now that the Israelis have withdrawn.

2004 U.S.A. Oklahoma City Bombing

2004 : Terry Nichols was found guilty of 161 state murder charges for being an accomplice to Timothy McVeigh who carried out the Oklahoma City bombing.

2006 Germany Largest European Railway Station Opens

2006 : The largest railway station in Europe opened in Berlin, Germany. The Hauptbahnhof, as it was called, cost over 700 million euros to build over a period of eight years. The celebration of the opening was interrupted when a man attacked the crowd with a knife, injuring nineteen people.

2008 Single Child Rule Relaxed For Earthquake Families

2008 : Following the devastating earthquake in the Chengdu area the "Chengdu Population and Family Planning Committee" will allow couples whose only child was killed or severely injured during the earthquake to have one more child. The single child rule was bought in during the 1970s when population growth in China caused concerns in the Chinese Government over over population.

2009 Thousands Gather in Protest in Georgia

2009 : Over 50,000 people gathered to protest against the Georgian president, Mikhail Saakashvili. The opposition supporters demanded the president's resignation in a large protest in Tbsilisi, the capital, on the nation's independence day. The gathering was just one of many daily rallies that opposition party had been staging.

2012 Germany Nazi War Criminal Dies

2012 : Klaas Carel Faber, convicted Nazi war criminal, died at the age of ninety in Germany. Faber served on an SS unit and was sentenced to death in 1947 for the death of twenty-two Jewish people. His term was later commuted to life but he had escaped in 1952 and went to Germany where he was able to live as a free man because the country refused to extradite him.

2013 Serbia Funeral for King Peter II

2013 : A funeral for Yugoslavia's last king, Peter II, was held in Belgrade. Peter had become king in 1941 but was forced to flee only eleven days later after Nazis invaded Yugoslavia. He had never returned to the region while alive and had died in the United States.