| April 26, 1954 The Geneva Conference began for the purpose of bringing to an end the conflicts in Korea and Indochina. This followed the defeat of the French in Vietnam at Dien Bien Phu. France had been trying to reassert colonial control over Indochina following World War II. The conferees included Cambodia, France, Laos, the People’s Republic of China, the Democratic Republic of Vietnam, the Soviet Union, Vietnam, the U.S. and the United Kingdom. As a result, Vietnam was temporarily partitioned pending elections on reunification to be held in 1956; those elections were never held. |
April 26, 1966 Rodolfo “Corky” Gonzales Rodolfo “Corky” Gonzales founded the Crusade for Justice, a Chicano activist group, in Denver, Colorado, and marked his departure from the Democratic Party. It was the beginning of a nationalist strategy for the attainment of Chicano civil rights. Read more video Democracy Now |
| April 26, 1968 A national student strike against the Vietnam war enlisted as many as one million high school and college students across the U.S. |
| April 26, 1986 A major accident occurred at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in the Ukraine near the border with Belarus, both then part of the Soviet Union (Union of Soviet Socialist Republics). An explosion and fire in the No. 4 reactor sent radioactivity into the atmosphere. Only after Swedish authorities reported the fallout over their country 1385 km away (860 miles), did Soviet authorities reluctantly admit that an accident had occurred. During a fire that burned for 10 days, 190 tons of toxic materials were expelled into the atmosphere (3% of the reactor core). Winds blew 70% of the radioactive material into neighboring Belarus.  The explosion at Chernobyl was the world’s largest-scale nuclear accident. Approximately 134 power-station workers were exposed to extremely high doses of radiation directly after the accident. About 31 of these people died within 3 months. Another 25,000 “liquidators”—Soviet soldiers and firefighters who were involved in clean-up operations — have died since the incident of diseases such as lung cancer, leukemia, and cardiovascular disease. 400,000 were evacuated and over 2,000 towns and villages were bulldozed to the ground in areas considered permanently contaminated. Deaths and illnesses directly attributable to radiation exposure continue. “Chernobyl is a global environment event of a new kind. It is characterized by the presence of thousands of environmental refugees, long-term contamination of land, water and air, and possibly irreparable damage to ecosystems.” – Christine K. Durbak, Chairwoman of the World Information Transfer, New York  Chernobyl for Kids |
April 26, 1998 Bishop Juan Gerardi Conedera Bishop Juan Gerardi Conedera, a leading human rights activist in Guatemala, was bludgeoned to death two days after a report he had compiled was made public. The report blamed the U.S.-backed Guatemalan military government and its agencies for atrocities committed during Guatemala’s 36-year civil war. About Bishop Gerardi’s murder (Democracy Now) |
https://www.peacebuttons.info/E-News/peacehistoryapril.htm#april26
Scottie's Playtime 
Hi. I was in Berlin when Chernobyl spewed all that radiation. It went right over us. I was unable to take the iodine that was all they could give us to help protect us. I got a lifetime dose of acceptable radiation. Another reason for some of my health issue. I was long out of the military before symptoms showed up. Hugs
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