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Born on This Day

Ma Rainey

1886 - 1939

American vocalist dubbed the "Mother of the Blues." Her 1920s recordings helped advance and popularize the genre.

Carol Burnett

1933 -

Emmy-winning comedy legend, best known for her infectious likeability and long-running self-titled TV variety show.

I.M. Pei

1917 - 2019

Chinese-born American architect who designed the glass pyramid outside the Louvre museum in Paris.

Ma RaineyGetty Images

Carol BurnettGetty Images

I.M. PeiBettmann Archive

1937

APR26

The German Luftwaffe bombs the Spanish town of Guernica, killing or wounding one-third of the town's 5,000 residents. Artist Pablo Picasso would memorialize the tragedy in his most famous mural.

Timeline

Also on This Day in History

Discover more of the major events, famous births, notable deaths and everything else history-making that happened on April 26th

British rampage Danbury, Connecticut

On April 26, 1777, British troops under the command of General William Tryon attack the town of Danbury, Connecticut, and begin destroying everything in sight. Facing little, if any, opposition from Patriot forces, the British went on a rampage, setting fire to homes, farmhouses, storehouses and more than 1,500 tents. The British destruction continued for […]

Mountain man James Beckwourth is born

James Beckwourth, one of only a handful of early mountain men to emerge from the system of slavery, is born in Fredericksburg, Virginia. The exact year of Beckwourth’s birth is in dispute. Some historians suggest it may have been 1800 rather than 1798. The uncertainty arises both from Beckwourth’s notorious reputation for exaggerating and rewriting […]

Lincoln assassin John Wilkes Booth dies

John Wilkes Booth is killed when Union soldiers track him down to a Virginia farm 12 days after he assassinated President Abraham Lincoln. Twenty-six-year-old Booth was one of the most famous actors in the country when he shot Lincoln during a performance at Ford’s Theater in Washington, D.C., on the night of April 14. Booth […]

Murder in Atlanta pencil factory leads to lynching of Leo Frank

Thirteen-year-old Mary Phagan is found sexually molested and murdered in the basement of the Atlanta, Georgia, pencil factory where she worked. Her murder later led to one of the most disgraceful episodes of bigotry, injustice and mob violence in American history: the lynching of Leo Frank. Next to Phagan’s body were two small notes that […]

Allies sign Treaty of London

On April 26, 1915, after receiving the promise of significant territorial gains, Italy signs the Treaty of London, committing itself to enter World War I on the side of the Allies. With the threat of imminent war looming in July 1914, the Italian army under Chief of Staff Luigi Cadorna had begun preparing for war […]

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Nazis test new air force, Luftwaffe, on Basque town of Guernica

In the Spanish Civil War, Germany tests its Luftwaffe air force by bombing the small town of Guernica in Spain. One-third of Guernica’s 5,000 civilian inhabitants were killed or wounded.

Geneva Conference to resolve problems in Asia begins

In an effort to resolve several problems in Asia, including the war between the French and Vietnamese nationalists in Indochina, representatives from the world’s powers meet in Geneva. The conference marked a turning point in the United States’ involvement in Vietnam. Representatives from the United States, the Soviet Union, the People’s Republic of China, France, […]

Polio vaccine trials begin

The Salk polio vaccine field trials, involving 1.8 million children, begin in McLean, Virginia. A year later, the vaccine was declared safe and effective and quickly became a standard part of childhood immunizations in America.

Studio 54 opens in New York City

On April 26, 1977, the legendary discoteque Studio 54 opens its doors for the very first time. It would soon become the global epicenter of the disco craze and the most famous nightclub in the world. The impresarios behind Studio 54 were Steve Rubell and Ian Schrager, college roommates at Syracuse University who got into […]

Soviet leader Yuri Andropov writes letter to U.S. fifth-grader Samantha Smith

The Soviet Union releases a letter that Russian leader Yuri Andropov wrote to Samantha Smith, an American fifth-grader from Manchester, Maine, inviting her to visit his country.

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President Reagan visits China

On April 26, 1984, President Ronald Reagan arrives in China for a diplomatic meeting with Chinese President Li Xiannian. The trip marked the third time a U.S. president had traveled to China since President Richard Nixon’s historic trip in 1972 (Gerald Ford visited in 1975). First lady Nancy Reagan accompanied her husband to China, along […]

Maria Shriver marries Arnold Schwarzenegger

Almost a decade after meeting at a celebrity tennis tournament, television news reporter Maria Shriver marries movie actor and former bodybuilder Arnold Schwarzenegger on April 26, 1986. Politically, it seemed an unlikely match: Shriver, then a co-anchor for the CBS Morning News in New York City, was a Democrat and a member of one of […]

Former Liberian president Charles Taylor found guilty of war crimes

On April 26, 2012, former Liberian president Charles Taylor is found guilty of abetting horrific war crimes, including rape and mutilation in Sierra Leone. His conviction was the first for war crimes by a former head of state in an international court since the Nuremberg trials of Nazi leaders after World War II. Taylor was found […]

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