On this day in history, June 26, 1945, the United Nations was
formally established with the signing of the U.N. Charter in San Francisco, California.

According to the National Archives, Article 111 of the charter
indicated, “The present Charter, of which the Chinese, French,
Russian, English, and Spanish texts are equally authentic,
shall remain deposited in the archives of the Government of
the United States of America. Duly certified copies thereof
shall be transmitted by that Government to the Governments
of the other signatory states.”

According to the United Nations official website, the U.N.
Charter was signed by representatives of the 50 countries
attending the United Nations Conference on International
Organization in San Francisco. 

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.

TIM MAGUIRE

JOHN BELMONT

The first airplane flight over the South Pole was made by U.S. Navy Lt. Comdr. Richard E. Byrd on this day in 1929.

Rear Admiral Richard Evelyn Byrd Jr.
(October 25, 1888 – March 11, 1957)

A 1930 documentary film about Rear Admiral Richard E. Byrd 
and his 1st quest to the South Pole.          

TIM MAGUIRE

On this day in 1936, the first issue of the pictorial magazine Life 
was published, featuring a cover photo of the Fort Peck Dam’s
spillway by Margaret Bourke-White.

Life actually had its start earlier in the 20th century as a different
kind of magazine: a weekly humor publication, not unlike today’s
The New Yorker in its use of tart cartoons, humorous pieces and
cultural reporting. When the original Life folded during the Great
Depression, the influential American publisher Henry Luce
bought the name and re-launched the magazine as a picture-
based periodical on this day in 1936. By this time, Luce had
already enjoyed great success as the publisher of Time, a
weekly news magazine.

Henry Robinson Luce (April 3, 1898 – February 28, 1967)