On July 26, 1775, the U.S. postal system was established by the
Second Continental Congress, with Benjamin Franklin as its first postmaster general. Franklin (1706-1790) put in place the
foundation for many aspects of today’s mail system.
Clarissa Harlowe Barton (December 25, 1821 – April 12, 1912)
Clara Barton was an American nurse who founded the American
Red Cross. She was a hospital nurse in the American Civil War,
a teacher, and a patent clerk. Since nursing education was not
then very formalized and she did not attend nursing school, she
provided self-taught nursing care. Barton is noteworthy for
doing humanitarian work and civil rights advocacy at a time
before women had the right to vote. She was inducted into the
National Women’s Hall of Fame in 1973.
Headquarters building of the American Red Cross,
Washington, D.C.
In the aftermath of World War II, the General Assembly
of the United Nations voted to establish the United
Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund
(UNICEF), an organization to help provide relief and
support to children living in countries devastated by
the war.
President Harry S. Truman (third from left) in the Oval Office, receiving a report on the work of the United Nations
International Children’s Emergency Fund.
On October 1, 1890, an act of Congress created Yosemite National
Park, home of such natural wonders as Half Dome and the giant
sequoia trees. Environmental trailblazer John Muir (1838-1914)
and his colleagues campaigned for the congressional action,
which was signed into law by President Benjamin Harrison and
paved the way for generations of hikers, campers and nature
lovers, along with countless “Don’t Feed the Bears” signs.
Benjamin Harrison
(August 20, 1833 – March 13, 1901)
John Muir
(April 21, 1838 – December 24, 1914)
Riding through a giant sequoia tree.
In post-revolutionary Russia, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republic
(USSR) was established, comprising a confederatio of Russia,
Belorussia, Ukraine and the Transcaucasian Federation (divided
in 1936 into the Georgian, Azerbaijan and Armenian republics). Also
known as the Soviet Union, the new communist state was the
successor to the Russian Empire and the first country in the
world to be based on Marxist socialism.
Lenin Proclaims Soviet Power in Smolny Palace.
