February 26 Birthday
On February 26, 1815, Napoleon Bonaparte escaped from the Mediterranean island of Elba, where he had been exiled after his abdication the previous year. He landed in southern France with a small guard and marched toward Paris. Royalist troops sent to intercept him joined him instead. When he reached Grenoble, he is said to have unbuttoned his coat and called out, "If any of you will shoot his Emperor, here I am." No one fired. He entered Paris on March 20, beginning the Hundred Days. He was defeated at Waterloo on June 18 and exiled again, this time to Saint Helena, a remote island in the South Atlantic. He never returned. The World Trade Center was bombed on February 26, 1993. A Ryder van packed with 1,500 pounds of explosives was detonated in the underground parking garage of the North Tower. The blast created a crater five stories deep and killed six people. The intended plan was to topple the North Tower into the South Tower, killing 250,000 people. The blast failed to bring down the building but exposed the vulnerability of American landmarks. The mastermind, Ramzi Yousef, was captured in Pakistan in 1995. His uncle, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, would plan the September 11 attacks eight years later. The 1993 bombing was treated as a crime, not an act of war. The difference in response between 1993 and 2001 defined the shift from law enforcement to the War on Terror. Johnny Cash, born this day in 1932, grew up picking cotton in Dyess, Arkansas. His brother Jack was killed by a table saw at fourteen — Cash carried the guilt for the rest of his life. He joined the Air Force, learned Morse code, and was the first American to intercept the news of Stalin's death. He recorded at Sun Records alongside Elvis and Jerry Lee Lewis. He performed in prisons because he identified with the inmates — he had been arrested for drug smuggling and destruction of property. His 1994 comeback album, American Recordings, was produced by Rick Rubin and recorded in Cash's living room with a single acoustic guitar. It won a Grammy and introduced him to a new generation. He died in 2003, four months after June Carter Cash. Victor Hugo, born this day in 1802, wrote Les Misérables while in exile on the Channel Islands. He had been banished from France by Napoleon III for his republican views. He wrote standing up at a podium. When the novel was published in 1862, it was an immediate bestseller. The story of Jean Valjean, imprisoned for stealing bread, has been adapted into the longest-running musical in history. People born on February 26 fall under the zodiac sign of Pisces. The birthstone is Amethyst and the birth flower is Violet. Historical events on February 26 include 1815: Napoleon Bonaparte escapes from exile on Elba, 1993: World Trade Center bombed by terrorists in New York (first attack), 1994: Tower Commission report on Iran-Contra rebukes President Reagan. Famous people born on February 26 include Victor Hugo (1802), Johnny Cash (1932), Fats Domino (1928).