Today in History: July 26, Americans with Disabilities Act signed into law
Today in History
Today is Sunday, July 26, the 207th day of 2026. There are 158 days left in the year.
Today in History:
On July 26, 1990, President George H.W. Bush signed the Americans with Disabilities Act, prohibiting discrimination based on mental or physical disabilities.
Also on this date:
In 1775, the Continental Congress established an independent postal system and appointed Benjamin Franklin its Postmaster General.
In 1847, the western African country of Liberia, founded by freed American slaves, declared its independence.
In 1863, Sam Houston, former president of the Republic of Texas, died in Huntsville at age 70.
In 1945, Winston Churchill resigned as Britain’s prime minister after his Conservatives were soundly defeated by the Labour Party. Clement Attlee succeeded him.
In 1947, President Harry S. Truman signed the National Security Act, which reorganized America’s armed forces as the National Military Establishment and created the Central Intelligence Agency.
In 1948, President Truman issued Executive Order 9981, which desegregated the U.S. military.
In 1953, Fidel Castro began his revolt against Fulgencio Batista (fool-HEN’-see-oh bah-TEES’-tah) with an unsuccessful attack on an army barracks in eastern Cuba. (Castro ousted Batista in 1959.)
In 1971, Apollo 15 was launched from Cape Kennedy on America’s fourth successful manned mission to the moon.
In 2002, the Republican-led House voted to create the Homeland Security Department in the biggest government reorganization in decades.
In 2016, Hillary Clinton became the first woman to be nominated for president by a major political party at the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia.
In 2018, the last six members of a Japanese doomsday cult who remained on death row were executed for a series of crimes in the 1990s, including a gas attack on Tokyo subways that killed 13 people. Previously, seven other cult members were executed on July 6 of that year.
In 2020, a procession with the casket of the late U.S. Rep. John Lewis crossed the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Alabama, where Lewis and other civil rights marchers were beaten 55 years earlier.
Today’s Birthdays: Former Australian Prime Minister John Howard is 87. Football Hall of Famer Bob Lilly is 87. Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Famer Darlene Love is 85. The Rolling Stones’ Mick Jagger is 83. Actor Helen Mirren is 81. Rock musician Roger Taylor (Queen) is 77. Olympic gold medal figure skater Dorothy Hamill is 70. Actor Kevin Spacey is 67. Actor Sandra Bullock is 62. Actor Jeremy Piven is 61. Actor Jason Statham is 59. Actor Olivia Williams is 58. Actor Kate Beckinsale is 53. Former New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern is 46. Actor Juliet Rylance is 47. Actor Monica Raymund is 40. Actor Francia Raisa is 38. Actor-singer Taylor Momsen is 33. Actor Elizabeth Gillies is 33. Actor Thomasin McKenzie is 26.
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