February 26 ...

In 1802 poet, novelist, and playwright Victor Hugo was born in Besancon, France. In 1815 Napoleon Bonaparte escaped from the Island of Elba to begin his second conquest of France. In 1848 the Second French Republic was proclaimed. In 1907 the US Congress raised its own pay to $7500. In 1916 Mutual Films signed Charlie Chaplin to a film contract for $10,000 per week, plus a $150,000 signing bonus. In 1919 Congress established Grand Canyon National Park in Arizona. In 1929 President Coolidge signed a measure establishing Grand Teton National Park. In 1940 the United States Air Defense Command was created. In 1945 a midnight curfew on nightclubs, bars, and other places of entertainment was set to go into effect across the nation. In 1952 British Prime Minister Winston Churchill announced that his nation has an atomic bomb. In 1970 National Public Radio was founded. In 1993 a bomb built by Islamic terrorists exploded in the parking garage of New York's World Trade Center, killing six people and injuring more than 1,000 others. In 1995 Barings PLC collapsed after a securities dealer lost more than $1.4 billion by gambling on Tokyo stock prices. The company was Britain's oldest investment banking firm.