February 26, 2021

160 years ago
1861

Born on this date
Ferdinand I. Czar of Bulgaria, 1908-1918; Knyaz of Bulgaria, 1887-1908. Ferdinand I, a German prince of the House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha-Koháry, was elected Knyaz (ruling prince) of Bulgaria by the Grand National Assembly. He proclaimed Bulgaria's de jure independence from the Ottoman Empire on October 5, 1908, and assumed the title of Czar. Bulgaria sided with the Central Powers in World War I, and in an effort to save the monarchy, Ferdinand abdicated in favour of his son Boris III on October 3, just two days short of 10 years as Czar. Ferdinand I lived the rest of his life in exile in Coburg, Germany, and died on September 10, 1848 at the age of 87.

120 years ago
1901

Died on this date
Chi-hsui; Hsu Cheng-yu. Chinese rebels. Leaders of the Boxer Rebellion in 1900, the two were beheaded.

100 years ago
1921

Born on this date
Betty Hutton. U.S. actress and singer. Miss Hutton, born Elizabeth Thornburg, appeared in plays, films, radio, and television programs from the late 1930s through the late '50s; her movies included The Miracle of Morgan's Creek (1944); Annie Get Your Gun (1950); and The Greatest Show on Earth (1952). Miss Hutton starred in the first colour television variety special, Satins and Spurs (1954), and the comedy series The Betty Hutton Show (1959-1960). She recorded six songs that reached the top 10 of the Billboard pop singles chart, reaching #1 in 1946 with Doctor, Lawyer, Indian Chief. Miss Hutton struggled with depression and pill addiction, but converted to Roman Catholicism in the early 1970s and obtained a master's degree in psychology. She occasionally worked in show business until 1983, and died of complications from colon cancer on March 12, 2007, two weeks after her 86th birthday.

90 years ago
1931

Died on this date
Otto Wallach, 83. German chemist. Dr. Wallach taught at the Universities of Bonn (1870-1889) and Göttingen (1889–1915). He was awarded the 1910 Nobel Prize in Chemistry "[for] his services to organic chemistry and the chemical industry by his pioneer work in the field of alicyclic compounds." Dr. Wallach died 29 days before his 84th birthday.

80 years ago
1941

War
The United Kingdom announced the first clash between British and German motorized patrols in Libya. Japan presented a "final mediation plan" for settlement of the border dispute between Thailand and French Indochina. U.S. Senator Burton K. Wheeler (Democrat--Montana) challenged the administration of President Franklin D. Roosevelt to let the American people vote on the issue of American entry into the European war.

Society
The Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano reported that the Congregation of the Holy Office had placed the German book Race, Culture and Christianity by P. Koltz on the list of forbidden works for advocating compulsory sterilization and euthanasia for the unfit.

Scandal
U.S. Justice Department official Maurice Milligan reported that the special Washington grand jury investigating alleged violations of federal election laws during the 1940 campaign returned no indictments.

Business
U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission officials Gerhard Gesell and Ernest Howe reported that the tremendous assets of the insurance companies were available only for big business.

75 years ago
1946

Diplomacy
The French cabinet ordered the Franco-Spanish border closed and commercial relations virtually suspended in protest against the execution by the regime of Generalissimo Francisco Franco of 10 Spanish veterans of the French resistance movement.

Terrorism
British troops in Palestine seized 5,000 Jews in a search for terrorists who had wrecked 22 Royal Air Force planes at Quastina, Petah Tikvah, and Lydda the previous night.

Politics and government
With the U.S.S.R. represented for the first time, the Allied Far Eastern Commission met in Washington, D.C. at its permanent headquarters in the Japanese embassy.

U.S. President Harry Truman nominated Julius Krug as Secretary of the Interior.

The United States Congress passed a $100-million national school lunch bill and a $250-million emergency housing bill for military veterans.

Defense
The U.S. War and Navy Departments asked Congress for a 20% pay increase for all men in the armed services to meet higher living costs and provide recruitment incentive. The U.S. House of Representatives passed the ships sale bill, giving U.S. shipping lines priority in the purchase or leasing of 50 million tons of shipping built during World War II.

Protest
Indian independence activist Jawaharlal Nehru told a rally in Bombay that every Indian in the armed forces should refuse to shoot or harm fellow Indians on British orders.

Crime
State militia seized 300 weapons in a house-to-house search in Columbia, Tennessee after 10 people were injured in race riots.

Oddities
Finnish observers reported the first of many thousands of sightings of ghost rockets.

Economics and finance
The Canadian government of Prime Minister Mackenzie King named Finance Minister J.L. Ilsley as its representative in the International Monetary Fund and International Bank for Reconstruction and Development.

The U.S. Office of Price Administration approved a 1.5% retail price increase for meat after March 11, 1946.

Labour
Ford and Congress of Industrial Organizations United Auto Workers signed an agreement calling for an 18c hourly wage increase and stringent action against workers who began wildcat strikes.

The U.S. Wage Stabilization Board orderd a 16c hourly wage increase for packing house workers.

Mediation efforts by Congress of Industrial Organizations President Philip Murray and RCA chief David Sarnoff averted a strike by transport workers in New York City.

70 years ago
1951

On television tonight
Lights Out, on NBC
Tonight's episode: The Dispossessed, starring June Dayton, Jeffrey Lynn, and Stefan Schnabel

Literature
The novel From Here to Eternity by James Jones was published in New York by Charles Scribners' Sons.

Diplomacy
Reports from India said that General Ngaboo, a Tibetan official captured by Chinese Communist forces at Chamdo in eastern Tibet, had gone to Peking to negotiate with the Chinese Communist government on Tibet's future.

Israel and the United States concluded negotiations for a technical aid agreement.

Politics and government
Sultan Mohammed V of Morocco agreed to French demands that he withdraw support from nationalist politicians in his cabinet and administration, who wanted complete independence from France.

Italian Communist Party leader Palmiro Toglatti returned to Rome from Moscow.

Labour
The U.S. Supreme Court invalidated a Wisconsin law prohibiting public utility strikes and requiring conpulsory arbitration of such disputes, ruling that it conflicted with the Taft-Hartley Act.

60 years ago
1961

Died on this date
Mohammed V, 51. Sultan of Morocco, 1927-1953, 1955-1957; King of Morocco, 1957-1961. Mohammed V acceded to the throne upon the death of his father Yusef. He helped to protect Jews during World War II, and supported Moroccan nationalism after the war. On August 20, 1953 Sultan Mohammed was forced into exile in Corsica by French forces that were occupying Morocco. He returned from exile on November 16, 1955 and was again recognized as Sultan after active opposition to the French protectorate. Mohammed successfully negotiated Morocco’s independence from France in 1956, and took the title of King in 1957. He died after unspecified surgery, and was succeeded by his son Hassan II.

Space
The mission of the Soviet satellite Sputnik 7, launched on February 4, ended. Meanwhile, the Communist Party newspaper Pravda published a picture of the probe Venera 1, launched toward Venus from Sputnik 8 on February 12, describing the probe as a heavily-instrumented airtight cylindrical body with two bulges containing scientific equipment and chemical battery blocks. Exclusive of four aerials and solar batteries, it was 80 inches long and 41 inches in diameter. It was stated that equipment aboard Venera 1 was turned on and off by radio command from the ground and that measurements were radioed to large new aerials set up at various sites of the "outer space radio communications centre" of the U.S.S.R.

50 years ago
1971

Hit parade
#1 single in New Zealand (RIANZ): Knock Three Times--Dawn

#1 single in West Germany (Media Control): My Sweet Lord--George Harrison (5th week at #1)

South Africa's Top 10 (Springbok Radio)
1 No Matter What--Badfinger
2 Knock Three Times--Dawn
3 I Hear You Knocking--Dave Edmunds
4 Rose Garden--Lynn Anderson
5 Look Out Here Comes Tomorrow--The Dealians
6 Gypsy Woman--Brian Hyland
7 Mango Mango--Tidal Wave
8 See Me, Feel Me--The Who
9 Mendocino--Michael Holm
10 Sailing--Fuzz

Singles entering the chart were Immigrant Song by Led Zeppelin (#17); and A Summer Prayer for Peace by the Archies (#18).

Vancouver's Top 10 (CKLG)
1 Rose Garden--Lynn Anderson (2nd week at #1)
2 One Bad Apple--The Osmonds
3 Have You Ever Seen the Rain/Hey Tonight--Creedence Clearwater Revival
4 Stay Awhile--The Bells
5 Watching Scotty Grow--Bobby Goldsboro
6 Amos Moses--Jerry Reed
7 Put Your Hand in the Hand--Ocean
8 Amazing Grace--Judy Collins
9 She's a Lady--Tom Jones
10 Temptation Eyes--The Grass Roots

Singles entering the chart were Oh What a Feeling by Crowbar (#25); Cried Like a Baby by Bobby Sherman (#26); One Toke Over the Line by Brewer and Shipley (#29); and Free by Chicago (#30).

Vancouver's Top 10 (CKVN)
1 Have You Ever Seen the Rain/Hey Tonight--Creedence Clearwater Revival
2 One Bad Apple--The Osmonds
3 Watching Scotty Grow--Bobby Goldsboro
4 Woodstock--Matthews' Southern Comfort
5 If You Could Read My Mind--Gordon Lightfoot
6 Me and Bobby McGee--Janis Joplin
7 Born to Wander--Rare Earth
8 Hang on to Your Life--The Guess Who
9 She's a Lady--Tom Jones
10 Amazing Grace--Judy Collins

Singles entering the chart were Eighteen by Alice Cooper (#26); What is Life by George Harrison (#27); Whole Lotta Love by King Curtis and the Kingpins (#28); Oye Como Va by Santana (#29); and Put Your Hand in the Hand by Ocean (#30).

Edmonton's Top 10 (CJCA)
1 Rose Garden--Lynn Anderson (4th week at #1)
2 Bridget the Midget (The Queen of the Blues)--Ray Stevens
3 One Bad Apple--The Osmonds
4 Wild World--Cat Stevens
5 Stay Awhile--The Bells
6 Knock Three Times--Dawn
7 Put Your Hand in the Hand--Ocean
8 Amos Moses--Jerry Reed
9 Your Song--Elton John
10 Mother--John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band

On television tonight
The Interns, on CBS
Tonight's episode: Heart Trouble

Diplomacy
United Nations Secretary-General U Thant signed the UN proclamation of the vernal equinox as Earth Day.

Defense
The Canadian government of Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau began a program to raise the percentage of Francophones in the Canadian Armed Forces to at least 28%.

Crime
The U.S. Army ordered a court-martial for Colonel Oran K. Henderson, former commander of the 11th Brigade, Americal Division, on charges of failing to conduct a "proper and thorough" investigation of the alleged massacre of civilians in the South Vietnamese hamlet of My Lai on March 16, 1968. The legal action against Col. Henderson, on specific charges of dereliction of duty; failure to obey regulations; making a false statement; and false swearing, made him the only officer to be tried, out of 14 originally accused of suppressing information about the incident. The Army at the same time announced that charges had been dropped against Captain Dennis H. Johnson, one of the original 14 officers charged. Capt. Johnson had been accused of failure to obey regulations while attached to an intelligence unit.

Politics and government
The first convention of the Parti québécois opened in Quebec City.

Disasters
A flood that swept through Rio de Janeiro killed more than 130 people and left thousands homeless.

40 years ago
1981

Died on this date
Howard Hanson, 84. U.S. composer. Mr. Hanson was a Neo-Romantic composer who wrote seven symphonies, as well as orchestral, choral, and other works. His Symphony No. 4 (1943) won the Pulitzer Prize, but his Symphony No. 2 "Romantic" (1930) is his most famous work. Mr. Hanson directed the Eastman School of Music (1924-1964), and founded the Eastman-Rochester Orchestra in 1939.

Diplomacy
British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher paid her first visit to U.S. President Ronald Reagan at the White House, where she said that the two leaders were determined "to sweep away the restrictions that hold back enterprise."

Economics and finance
After being informed that his advisers had underestimated the growth of federal spending for fiscal 1982, U.S. President Ronald Reagan ordered further cuts in his proposed budget of $3 billion-$6 billion.

Protest
450 students occupied the rector’s offices at a teachers’ college in Olsztyn, Poland, protesting inadequate accommodations.

Religion
Pope John Paul II met with atomic bomb victims and conducted mass in Nagasaki before departing for Anchorage, Alaska, where he conducted mass and met with clergy.

Hockey
NHL
Minnesota 1 @ Boston 5

Rick Middleton scored 2 goals and 2 assists to help the Bruins beat the North Stars at Boston Garden. The teams combined for 409 minutes in penalties--205 for Minnesota, 197 for Boston--in setting a National Hockey League record for a single game that stood for 23 years. The eventual winning goal was scored by Jean Ratelle in the 1st period; it was his 491st and last regular season NHL goal.



30 years ago
1991

War
Kuwait City was liberated by the allies after 208 days of Iraqi occupation. American forces scored a decisive victory over Iraqi forces in the Battle of Al Busayyah. Iraqi President Saddam Hussein announced on Baghdad radio that he had ordered his forces to withdraw from Kuwait.

Politics and government
Republican Party candidate J. Fife Symington III defeated Democratic Party candidate Terry Goddard 52%-48% in a runoff election to become Governor of Arizona. Neither candidate had obtained the required majority of votes necessary to win in the November 1990 election.

Economics and finance
Canadian Finance Minister Michael Wilson tabled the budget for 1991-1992 to the House of Commons, describing it as "the most difficult" of the seven budgets he had presented. Though total government spending was increased by 5.1% from the previous year, the budget would restrain public servant wages; raise cigarette taxes; increase unemployment insurance premiums; and squeeze federal payments to the provinces. Mr. Wilson projected that the federal budget deficit would be limited to $30.5 billion, the same as the previous fiscal year.

25 years ago
1996

Hit parade
#1 single in Spain (PROMUSICAE): Children--Robert Miles (2nd week at #1)

#1 single in Norway (VG-lista): Spaceman--Babylon Zoo (6th week at #1)

#1 single in Germany (Media Control): Lemon Tree--Fools Garden

Canada's Top 10 (RPM)
1 Missing--Everything But the Girl (2nd week at #1)
2 Time--Hootie & the Blowfish
3 One Sweet Day--Mariah Carey and Boyz II Men
4 One of Us--Joan Osborne
5 The World I Know--Collective Soul
6 I Want to Come Over--Melissa Etheridge
7 Wonderwall--Oasis
8 Wildest Dreams--Tom Cochrane
9 You'll See--Madonna
10 1979--Smashing Pumpkins

Singles entering the chart were Faithfully by Peter Cetera (#77); You're O.K. by k.d. lang (#78); Right Hand Man by Joan Osborne (#79); I Cry by Bass is Base (#82); A Common Disaster by Cowboy Junkies (#84); Lucky Love by Ace of Base (#87); Aeroplane by Red Hot Chili Peppers (#92); Oh Virgins by Blessid Union of Souls (#94); Glycerine by Bush (#95); and Real Love by the Beatles (#96).

Space
A U.S.-Italian satellite system failed when a 20-kilometre cable snapped and a ½-tonne ($443 million) satellite was lost in space.

Law
Outrage over the February 24 downing by Cuba of two American civilian aircraft prompted U.S. President Bill Clinton to support the Helms-Burton law, without the clause allowing lawsuits against citizens of other countries. The Cuban government claimed that the American planes had violated Cuban air space.

Labour
Provincial civil servants in Ontario walked off the job to protest the handling of proposed spending cuts by the Progressive Conservative government of Premier Mike Harris.

20 years ago
2001

Diplomacy
U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell continued his visit to the Middle East with meetings with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and Saudi Arabian foreign minister Prince Saud al-Faisal. In Kuwait, Mr. Powell, former U.S. President George H.W. Bush, and U.S. General Norman Schwarzkopf participated in a ceremony observing the 10th anniversary of the liberation of Kuwait City from Iraqi occupation in the Gulf War.

Crime
The three-man international war crimes tribunal meeting at The Hague sentenced Dario Kordic, an ally of the late Croatian President Franjo Tudjman, and Mario Cerkez, a former brigade commander of Croatians in Bosnia, to 25 years and 15 years in prison, respectively, for crimes against humanity. The charges related to the killings of hundreds of Muslims in central Bosnia in 1992 and 1993.

Politics and government
The Israeli Labour Party’s governing body voted to join a unity government.

10 years ago
2011

Died on this date
Arnošt Lustig, 84. Czech author. Mr. Lustig was a Jew who was interned in Nazi concentration camps during World War II, and escaped in 1945 from a train that was carrying him to the Auschwitz death camp in Poland. He worked as a journalist in Czechoslovakia, Israel, and the United States, and wrote novels, short stories, plays, and screenplays, often about the Holocaust. Mr. Lustig's books included Dita Saxová (1962); A Prayer For Katerina Horowitzowa (1974); and The Unloved: From the Diary of Perla S. (1979). He died after a long battle with Hodgkin lymphoma.

Roch Thériault, 63. Canadian cult leader and criminal. Mr. Thériault, a native of Saguenay, Quebec, was raised in Thetford Mines, Quebec as a Roman Catholic, but converted to Seventh-day Adventism, claimed to be a prophet named Moïse, and founded a small doomsday cult called the Ant Hill Kids in 1977 in Sainte-Marie, Quebec. The cult moved to a location near Burnt River, Ontario in 1984. Mr. Thériault had just a dozen adult followers, but had multiple wives and concubines, and fathered 26 children. He dissolved the cult after being arrested for assault in 1989, and was convicted in 1993 of the murder of one of his followers, Solange Boilard. Mr. Thériault had previously killed an infant named Samuel Giguère, while two of his disciples, Geraldine Gagné Auclair and Gabrielle Nadeau, had died following homeopathic treatments that he had administered to them. He was serving a life sentence at Dorchester Penitentiary in New Brunswick when he was stabbed to death by fellow inmate Matthew MacDonald, a convicted murderer.

Space
The U.S. space shuttle Discovery docked with the International Space Station as part of mission STS-133; they were welcomed by the crew of Expedition 26.



Politics and government
Former Deputy Premier Christy Clark defeated former Health Minister Kevin Falcon 52%-48% on the third ballot to win the leadership of the British Columbia Liberal Party at the party's convention at the Vancouver Convention Centre. She succeeded Premier Gordon Campbell, who was resigning.