November 26th in History
On This Day in History
- Wallachian prince Vlad III Țepeș (Dracula) retakes the throne by defeating Dominator Basarab Laiotă cel Bătrân (1476)
- The first US official Thanksgiving Day is observed (1789)
- The first college social fraternity, Kappa Alpha, is founded (1825)
- The University of Notre Dame is founded (1842)
- The tomb of Pharaoh Tutankhamun is entered for the first time in 3,000 years (1922)
- Casablanca premiers (1942)
- Germany begins V-1 and V-2 attacks on Antwerp, Belgium (1944)
- The longest-running TV game show, The Price Is Right, debuts (1956)
- France launches its first satellite, Asterix-1 (1965)
- George W. Bush is certified winner of Florida’s electoral votes (although later recounts demonstrated that he did not carry a majority of Florida votes) and thus wins the US Presidential election (2000)
- The Concorde makes its final flight (2003)
Births
- William Cowper, poet (1731)
- Mary Edwards Walker, first female US Army surgeon, abolitionist, alleged spy, only female winner of the Medal of Honor (1832)
- Bat Masterson, sheriff (1853)
- Katharine Drexel, saint and nun (1858)
- Willis Carrier, inventor of air conditioning (1876)
- عبد العزيز آل سعود (Ibn Saud), first monarch of Saudi Arabia (1876)
- Norbert Wiener, mathematician (1894)
- Bill W., co-founder of Alcoholics Anonymous (1895)
- Richard Hauptmann, convicted kidnapper and killer of Charles Lindbergh’s infant son (1899)
- Maurice McDonald, co-founder of McDonald’s Restaurants (1902)
- Lefty Gomez, baseball player (1908)
- Eugène Ionesco, playwright (1909)
- Eric Sevareid, TV journalist (1912)
- Frederik Pohl, science fiction writer (1919)
- Charles M. Schultz, creator of Peanuts (1922)
- Robert Goulet, singer (1933)
- Rich Little, impressionist (1938)
- Wayland Flowers, puppeteer (1939)
- Tina Turner, singer (1939)
- Bruce Paltrow, director and producer (1943)
- John McVie, Fleetwood Mac bassist (1945)
- Art Shell, football coach (1946)
- Cicciolina (Ilona Staller), porn star and politician (1951)
- Roz Chast, cartoonist (1954)
- Chuck Finley, baseball player and Burn Notice alias (1962)
- Natasha Bedingfield, singer-songwriter (1981)
Deaths
- John McAdam, road-builder, inventor of “tar macadam,” or “tarmac” (1836)
- John Browning, firearms designer (1926)
- Edward “Butch” O’Hare, first US Navy ace, Chicago airport namesake (1943)
- “Spittin'” Bill Doak, baseball player (1954)
- Tommy Dorsey, bandleader (1956)
- Max Euwe, chess grandmaster (1981)
- Vivien Thomas, African-American cardiac surgery pioneer (1985)
- Marguerite Henry, children’s book author (1997)
- Stan Berenstain, children’s book author (2005)
- Dave Cockrum, comic book artist (2006)
Holidays
- Constitution Day (India)
- Day of the Covenant (Bahá’í)
- Independence Day (Mongolia)
- John Harvard Day (Harvard University)
- National Cake Day (US food holidays)
November 26 is the 330th day of the year (331st in leap years), with 35 days remaining until year’s end.