History of the Day for:
February 26
- 1846: William F. "Buffalo Bill" Cody was born in Iowa.
- 1919: Congress established the Grand Canyon National Park in Arizona.
- 1929: President Calvin Coolidge signed a measure establishing the Grand Teton National Park.
- 1930: The first red and green signal lights were installed at Manhattan street corners in New York City.
- 1942: "How Green Was My Valley" won best picture of 1941 at the Academy Awards. Gary Cooper won best actor for "Sergeant York" and Joan Fontaine took best actress for "Suspicion."
- 1951: The 22nd Amendment to the Constitution was ratified, limiting a president to two terms in office.
- 1985: At the 27th Annual Grammy Awards, "What's Love Got To Do With It" won record and song of the year and Tina Turner won for best female pop vocalist.
- 1987: The Tower Commission, which probed the Iran-Contra affair, issued its report, which rebuked President Reagan for failing to control his national security staff.
- 1991: Kuwaiti resistance leaders declared themselves in control of their capital, following nearly seven months of Iraqi occupation. Iraqi President Saddam Hussein announced on Baghdad Radio that he had ordered his forces to withdraw from Kuwait.
- 1993: A bomb exploded in the garage of the World Trade Center in New York City, killing 6 people and injuring more than 1,000 others.
- 1995: The United Kingdom's oldest investment banking institute, Barings Bank, collapses after a securities broker, Nick Leeson, loses $1.4 billion by speculating on the Singapore International Monetary Exchange using futures contracts.
- 2000: Mount Hekla in Iceland erupts.
- 2001: The Taliban destroys two giant statues of Buddha in Bamyan, Afghanistan.
- 2003: Generally said to be the starting date of the War in Darfur.
- 2004: The United States lifts a ban on travel to Libya, ending travel restrictions to the nation that had lasted for 23 years.
- 2004: Macedonian President Boris Trajkovski is killed in a plane crash near Mostar, Bosnia and Herzegovina.
- 2005: Hosni Mubarak the president of Egypt orders the constitution changed to allow multi-candidate presidential elections before September 2005 by asking Egyptian parliament to amend Article 76.