On This Day

August 1926 in History

Events in History

  • Aug 1 Battles between Druze & French in Damascus
  • Aug 1 Failed assassination on General Primo de Rivera in Barcelona
  • Aug 3 Traffic lights installed at Piccadilly Circus, London
  • Aug 5 French & German trade agreement signed
  • Aug 6 American Gertrude Ederle (20) becomes 1st woman to swim English Channel in 14 hours, 39 minutes, a record for male or female
  • Aug 10 Italian-Spanish peace treaty signed
  • Aug 13 Enrique Tirabocchi of Argentina becomes the first to swim the English Channel from France to England (record 16 hours 33 minutes)
  • Aug 17 Greek-Serbian, Croatian and Slavs peace treaty signed
  • Aug 20 Japan's public broadcasting company, Nippon Hōsō Kyōkai(NHK) is established.

Event of Interest

Aug 20 Uprising against Rezā Shāh Pahlavi in Iran

Reza Shah Pahlavi
Shah of Iran Reza Shah Pahlavi
  • Aug 21 -22] Uprising against Greek president and dictator Pangalos
  • Aug 22 Gold discovered in Johannesburg, South Africa
  • Aug 22 Greek dictator Gen Pangulos driven out
  • Aug 25 Pavlos Koundouris becomes president of Greece

Birthdays in History

  • Aug 1 Burton Stein, American historian, born in Chicago, Illinois (d. 1996)
  • Aug 2 Betsy Bloomingdale, American socialite and fashion leader, born in Beverly Hills, California (d. 2016)
  • Aug 6 Christa Reinig, German poet and writer (Idleness is the Root of All Love, The Tightrope Walker), born in Berlin, Germany (d. 2008)
  • Aug 6 J[anet] O[pal] Jeppson [nee Janet Asimov], author (2nd Experiment)
  • Aug 7 Amo Houghton, American politician (Rep-R-New York), born in Corning, New York
  • Aug 10 Benjamin Ward, 1st African American NYC Police Commissioner (1984-89), born in Brooklyn, New York (d. 2002)
  • Aug 11 Aaron Klug, Biochemist (Nobel prize for Chemistry 1982), born in Lithuanian (d. 2018)
  • Aug 11 Bernard Ashley, English businessperson, fashion designer and co-founder of Laura Ashley, born in London (d. 2009)
  • Aug 11 Claus Von Bulow, socialite accused of murdering his wife
  • Aug 11 J R S Fincham, geneticist
  • Aug 12 Wallace Markfield, American writer (d. 2002)

Fidel CastroFidel Castro (1926-2016)

Aug 13 Cuban revolutionary, Prime Minister (1959-76) and President (1976-2008), born in Birán, Holguin Province

Fidel Castro
  • Aug 14 Alice Adams, American author (Beautiful Girl), born in Fredericksburg, Virginia (d. 1999)
  • Aug 15 Kostis Stephanopoulos, Greek conservative politician (President of Greece, 1995-2005), born in Patras, Greece (d. 2016)
  • Aug 15 Lewis T Preston, American banker (President of the World Bank 1991-95), born in NYC, New York

Jiang ZeminJiang Zemin (1926-2022)

Aug 17 General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (1989-2002) and President of the People's Republic of China (1993-2003), born in Yangzhou, Jiangsu

Jiang Zemin
  • Aug 19 Arthur Rock, American venture capitalist (Apple Inc.), born in Rochester, New York
  • Aug 22 Marc Bohan, French fashion designer, born in Paris
  • Aug 23 Clifford Geertz, American anthropologist (symbolic anthropology), born in San Francisco, California (d. 2006)
  • Aug 24 Nancy Spero, American feminist artist, born in Cleveland, Ohio (d. 2009)
  • Aug 27 Kristen Nygaard, Norwegian computer scientist, born in Oslo, Norway (d. 2002)
  • Aug 31 Georgiy Petrovich Katys, Russian cosmonaut (Voskhod 1 backup)
  • Aug 31 Jan de Koning, minister of Agriculture/Social Businesses (CDA)

Weddings in History

Arna Bontemps

Aug 26 Poet Arna Bontemps (24) weds fellow Seventh-Day Adventist Alberta Johnson

Arna Bontemps

Deaths in History

  • Aug 1 Israel Zangwill, Jewish author (Children of The Ghetto) and Zionist leader, dies at 62
  • Aug 14 John H. Moffitt, American politician (b. 1843)
  • Aug 22 Charles William Eliot, American academic (President of Harvard University, 1869-1909), dies at 92

Historical Figures

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