GOOD MORNING – TODAY IS WEDNESDAY, July 26, the 204th day of 2017 with 161 to follow. Sunrise in the Boston area is @ 5:29 and sunset is @ 8:11. The moon is waxing. The morning stars are stars are Jupiter, Saturn & Mercury. The evening stars are Mars, Neptune, Uranus & Venus.
ON THIS DAY IN: 1775 – A postal system was established by the 2nd Continental Congress of the United States. The first Postmaster General was Benjamin Franklin.
1788 – New York became the 11th state to ratify the U.S. Constitution.
1881 – Thomas Edison and Patrick Kenny execute a patent application for a facsimile telegraph (U.S. Pat. 479,184).
1893 – Commercial production of the Addressograph started in Chicago, IL.
1907 – The Chester was launched. It was the first turbine-propelled ship.
1908 – U.S. Attorney General Charles J. Bonaparte issued an order that created an investigative agency that was a forerunner of the FBI.
1945 – Winston Churchill resigned as Britain’s prime minister.
1947 – U.S. President Truman signed The National Security Act. The act created the National Security Council, the Department of Defense, the Central Intelligence Agency and the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
1948 – Babe Ruth was seen by the public for the last time, when he attended the New York City premiere of the motion picture, “The Babe Ruth Story.”
1948 – U.S. President Truman signed executive orders that prohibited discrimination in the U.S. armed forces and federal employment.
1952 – King Farouk I of Egypt abdicated in the wake of a coup led by Gamal Abdel Nasser.
1953 – Fidel Castro began his revolt against Fulgencio Batista with an unsuccessful attack on an army barracks in eastern Cuba. Castro eventually ousted Batista six years later.
1956 – Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser nationalized the Suez Canal.
1971 – Apollo 15 was launched from Cape Kennedy, FL.
1998 – AT&T and British Telecommunications PLC announced they were forming a joint venture to combine international operations and develop a new Internet system.
1999 – 1,500 pieces of Marilyn Monroe’s personal items went on display at Christie’s in New York, NY. The items went on sale later in 1999.