This Day in History: Oct. 26

On this day, Oct. 26 ...

2001: President George W. Bush signs the USA Patriot Act, giving authorities unprecedented ability to search, seize, detain or eavesdrop in their pursuit of possible terrorists.

Also on this day:

• 1774: The First Continental Congress adjourns in Philadelphia.
• 1825: The Erie Canal opens in upstate New York, connecting Lake Erie and the Hudson River.
• 1881: The “Gunfight at the O.K. Corral” takes place in Tombstone, Ariz., as Wyatt Earp, his two brothers and “Doc” Holliday confront Ike Clanton’s gang. Three members of Clanton’s gang are killed; Earp’s brothers and Holliday are wounded.
• 1944: The World War II Battle of Leyte Gulf ends in a major Allied victory over Japanese forces, whose naval capabilities are badly crippled.
• 1949: President Harry S. Truman signs a measure raising the minimum wage from 40 to 75 cents an hour.
• 1965: The Beatles receives MBE medals as Members of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire from Queen Elizabeth II at Buckingham Palace.
• 1979: South Korean President Park Chung-hee is shot to death by the head of the Korean Central Intelligence Agency, Kim Jae-kyu.
• 1980: Israeli President Yitzhak Navon becomes the first Israeli head of state to visit Egypt.

Baby Fae (AP Photo/Duane R. Miller)

• 1984: “Baby Fae,” a newborn with a severe heart defect, is given the heart of a baboon in an experimental transplant in Loma Linda, Calif. (Baby Fae would live 21 days with the animal heart.)
• 2000: The New York Yankees become the first team in more than a quarter-century to win three straight World Series championships, beating the New York Mets 4-to-2 in game five of their “Subway Series.”
• 2009: Bill Cosby receives the 12th annual Mark Twain Prize for American Humor during a salute at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C.
• 2018: Federal authorities capture a Florida man with a criminal history and accused him of sending at least 13 mail bombs to prominent Democrats. (Cesar Sayoc would be sentenced to 20 years in prison by a judge who concluded that the bombs purposely were not designed to explode.)
• 2018: The Los Angeles Dodgers and the Boston Red Sox take the field for what would become the longest World Series game in history, an 18-inning marathon lasting 7 hours and 20 minutes; the Red Sox win 3-2 on a home run by Max Muncy. 

FILE - Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi (Al-Furqan media via AP, File)

• 2019: Islamic State mastermind Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi is killed by U.S.-led forces in Syria.