Browsing: May 26

A Brief History On May 26, 2002, Interstate highway I-40 in Oklahoma was the scene of a disaster when barges towed on the Arkansas River struck a support pier on a bridge, crashing it to the water and killing 14 people.  Another 11 people were injured in the wreck. Digging Deeper The captain of the towboat pulling the barges suffered a fainting spell, leading to the accident.  Eight passenger cars and three semi-trucks fell into the water.  Some other major Interstate highway disasters include: A church bus on I-71 in Kentucky was struck head on by a drunk driver in…

A Brief History This article presents a chronological list of notable events that happened on May 26th.  For each date below, please click on the date to be taken to an article covering that date’s event. Digging Deeper On May 26, 1328, William of Ockham, a Franciscan Friar, snuck out of Avignon fearing his execution would be ordered by the Pope. On May 26, 1868, US President Andrew Johnson was acquitted at his impeachment trial by the narrowest of margins, one single vote. On May 26, 1897, Bram Stoker’s horror novel, Dracula, was published. On May 26, 1908, the first…

A Brief History On May 26, 1951, Sally Ride was born in Los Angeles, California.  She would grow up to earn BA, BS, MS and PhD diplomas from Stanford University, and in June of 1983 became the first American woman to take a ride into space, via the Space Shuttle Challenger. Digging Deeper Ride became the third woman space explorer, having been preceded into space by Soviet cosmonauts Belarusian Valentina Tereshkova in 1963 and Russian Svetlana Savitskaya in 1982. Since the flights of these history making women, women have made over 75 space flights by at least 70 women.  In…

A Brief History On May 26, 1908, the first major commercial oil strike in the Middle East was made when the Masjed Soleyman strike was made in Southwest Persia, the country now known as Iran. The fact that the Middle East is so rich in petroleum oil resources has been an overwhelming factor in the history of the 20th and 21st Centuries and will continue to be of monumental importance until such time as human civilization drastically reduces its dependence on fossil fuels. Today we look at 10 of the dates in the 20th Century when events of great importance…

A Brief History On May 26, 1868, US President Andrew Johnson was acquitted at his impeachment trial by the narrowest of margins, one single vote. Johnson had been charged with 11 counts of “high crimes and misdemeanors” by the US House of Representatives and tried by the US Senate, the first time any US President had been impeached. Digging Deeper The next time a US President was impeached was when President Bill Clinton made the blunder of lying to Congress about his sexual relationship with intern, Monica Lewinsky. President Clinton was charged by the House of Representatives with 2 counts…