July 18
64 - A great fire began that ultimately destroyed most of Rome. The emperor Nero blamed it on Christians and began the first Roman persecution of them.
1536 - Parliament passed an act declaring the authority of the pope void in England.
1863 - During the Civil War, Union troops spearheaded by the 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry, made up of Black soldiers, charged Confederate-held Fort Wagner on Morris Island, S.C. The Confederates were able to repel the Northerners, who suffered heavy losses; the 54th’s commander, Col. Robert Gould Shaw, was among those who were killed.
1872 - Britain enacted voting by secret ballot.
1918 - Nelson Mandela, a leading anti-apartheid figure and South Africa's first black president, was born in Mvezo.
1925 - The first volume of Adolf Hitler's "Mein Kampf" was published.
1936 - The Spanish Civil War began.
1940 - The Democratic National Convention at Chicago Stadium nominated President Franklin D. Roosevelt (who was monitoring the proceedings at the White House) for an unprecedented third term in office; earlier in the day, Eleanor Roosevelt spoke to the convention, becoming the first presidential spouse to address such a gathering.
1944 - Hideki Tojo was removed as Japanese premier and war minister because of setbacks suffered by his country in World War II. American forces in France captured the Normandy town of St. Lo.
1947 - President Harry S. Truman signed the Presidential Succession Act into law.
1964 - Nearly a week of rioting erupted in New York’s Harlem neighborhood following the fatal police shooting of a Black teenager, James Powell, two days earlier.
1969 - A car driven by Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-Massachusetts), plunged off a bridge on Chappaquiddick Island near Martha's Vineyard. His passenger, 28-year-old Mary Jo Kopechne, died.
1984 - Gunman James Huberty opened fire at a McDonald’s in San Ysidro, California, killing 21 people before being shot dead by police.
1984 - Walter Mondale won the Democratic presidential nomination at the party's convention in San Francisco.
1989 - Actress Rebecca Schaeffer, 21, was shot to death at her Los Angeles home by an obsessed fan. (The killing prompted California in 1990 to pass the nation's first anti-stalking law.)
1998 - A 23-foot tsunami along the coast of Papua New Guinea killed nearly 3,000 people.
2005 - An unrepentant Eric Rudolph was sentenced in Birmingham, Ala., to life in prison for an abortion clinic bombing that killed an off-duty police officer and maimed a nurse.
2011 - Gen. David Petraeus handed over command of American and coalition forces in Afghanistan to Gen. John Allen.
2013 - Detroit, which was once the very symbol of American industrial might, became the biggest U.S. city to file for bankruptcy, its finances ravaged and its neighborhoods hollowed out by a long, slow decline in population and auto manufacturing.
2016 - Republicans opened their national convention in Cleveland as they prepared to nominate Donald Trump for president; Trump’s wife, Melania, delivered a speech in which she assured delegates and voters that her husband had the character and determination to unite a divided nation. (Mrs. Trump’s well-received address was marred by two passages with similarities to a speech first lady Michelle Obama delivered at the 2008 Democratic convention; a speechwriter accepted responsibility for the passages in question.)
2020 - The World Health Organization reported a single-day record of new coronavirus infections – more than 259,000 worldwide – for a second day in a row.
Birthdays
27 - Taylor Russell (actress)
31 - Mandy Rose (professional wrestler)
35 - Travis Milne (actor)
36 - James Norton (actor)
36 - Chace Crawford (actor)
39 - Priyanka Chopra (actress)
40 - Michiel Huisman (actor)
41 - Kristen Bell (actress)
42 - Jason Weaver (actor)
45 - Elsa Pataky (actress/model)
49 - Elizabeth Cook (country singer)
50 - Penny Hardaway (basketball player)
53 - Grant Bowler (actor)
54 - Vin Diesel (actor)
57 - Wendy Williams (actress/talk show host)
60 - Elizabeth McGovern (actress)
61 - Anne-Marie Johnson (actress)
64 - Nick Faldo (golfer)
65 - Audrey Landers (actress)
67 - Ricky Skaggs (singer)
70 - Margo Martindale (actress)
71 - Richard Branson (entrepreneur)
80 - Martha Reeves (singer)
81 - Joe Torre (baseball manager)
81 - James Brolin (actor)
92 - Dick Button (figure skater and sportscaster)
============================================
Today in Sports History - July 18
1921 - Babe Ruth hits his 139th career home run, becoming baseball's all-time home run king, taking the title from Roger Connor.
1927 - Baseball Hall of Famer Ty Cobb recorded his 4,000th career hit.
1970 - Willie Mays becomes the 10th player in major league history to record 3,000 career hits.
1976 - 14-year-old Romanian gymnast Nadia Comaneci earned the first perfect score, a ten, at the Olympics and went on to score six more tens and win three gold medals.
1999 - David Cone of the New York Yankees pitched the 14th perfect game in modern major league history in a win over the Montreal Expos.
2020 - Canadian officials said the Toronto Blue Jays baseball team would not be able to play its home games in Toronto during the shortened 2020 season because it wasn’t safe for players to travel back and forth from the United States. (The Blue Jays would play “home” games in the ballpark of their minor league affiliate in Buffalo, New York.)
64 - A great fire began that ultimately destroyed most of Rome. The emperor Nero blamed it on Christians and began the first Roman persecution of them.
1536 - Parliament passed an act declaring the authority of the pope void in England.
1863 - During the Civil War, Union troops spearheaded by the 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry, made up of Black soldiers, charged Confederate-held Fort Wagner on Morris Island, S.C. The Confederates were able to repel the Northerners, who suffered heavy losses; the 54th’s commander, Col. Robert Gould Shaw, was among those who were killed.
1872 - Britain enacted voting by secret ballot.
1918 - Nelson Mandela, a leading anti-apartheid figure and South Africa's first black president, was born in Mvezo.
1925 - The first volume of Adolf Hitler's "Mein Kampf" was published.
1936 - The Spanish Civil War began.
1940 - The Democratic National Convention at Chicago Stadium nominated President Franklin D. Roosevelt (who was monitoring the proceedings at the White House) for an unprecedented third term in office; earlier in the day, Eleanor Roosevelt spoke to the convention, becoming the first presidential spouse to address such a gathering.
1944 - Hideki Tojo was removed as Japanese premier and war minister because of setbacks suffered by his country in World War II. American forces in France captured the Normandy town of St. Lo.
1947 - President Harry S. Truman signed the Presidential Succession Act into law.
1964 - Nearly a week of rioting erupted in New York’s Harlem neighborhood following the fatal police shooting of a Black teenager, James Powell, two days earlier.
1969 - A car driven by Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-Massachusetts), plunged off a bridge on Chappaquiddick Island near Martha's Vineyard. His passenger, 28-year-old Mary Jo Kopechne, died.
1984 - Gunman James Huberty opened fire at a McDonald’s in San Ysidro, California, killing 21 people before being shot dead by police.
1984 - Walter Mondale won the Democratic presidential nomination at the party's convention in San Francisco.
1989 - Actress Rebecca Schaeffer, 21, was shot to death at her Los Angeles home by an obsessed fan. (The killing prompted California in 1990 to pass the nation's first anti-stalking law.)
1998 - A 23-foot tsunami along the coast of Papua New Guinea killed nearly 3,000 people.
2005 - An unrepentant Eric Rudolph was sentenced in Birmingham, Ala., to life in prison for an abortion clinic bombing that killed an off-duty police officer and maimed a nurse.
2011 - Gen. David Petraeus handed over command of American and coalition forces in Afghanistan to Gen. John Allen.
2013 - Detroit, which was once the very symbol of American industrial might, became the biggest U.S. city to file for bankruptcy, its finances ravaged and its neighborhoods hollowed out by a long, slow decline in population and auto manufacturing.
2016 - Republicans opened their national convention in Cleveland as they prepared to nominate Donald Trump for president; Trump’s wife, Melania, delivered a speech in which she assured delegates and voters that her husband had the character and determination to unite a divided nation. (Mrs. Trump’s well-received address was marred by two passages with similarities to a speech first lady Michelle Obama delivered at the 2008 Democratic convention; a speechwriter accepted responsibility for the passages in question.)
2020 - The World Health Organization reported a single-day record of new coronavirus infections – more than 259,000 worldwide – for a second day in a row.
Birthdays
27 - Taylor Russell (actress)
31 - Mandy Rose (professional wrestler)
35 - Travis Milne (actor)
36 - James Norton (actor)
36 - Chace Crawford (actor)
39 - Priyanka Chopra (actress)
40 - Michiel Huisman (actor)
41 - Kristen Bell (actress)
42 - Jason Weaver (actor)
45 - Elsa Pataky (actress/model)
49 - Elizabeth Cook (country singer)
50 - Penny Hardaway (basketball player)
53 - Grant Bowler (actor)
54 - Vin Diesel (actor)
57 - Wendy Williams (actress/talk show host)
60 - Elizabeth McGovern (actress)
61 - Anne-Marie Johnson (actress)
64 - Nick Faldo (golfer)
65 - Audrey Landers (actress)
67 - Ricky Skaggs (singer)
70 - Margo Martindale (actress)
71 - Richard Branson (entrepreneur)
80 - Martha Reeves (singer)
81 - Joe Torre (baseball manager)
81 - James Brolin (actor)
92 - Dick Button (figure skater and sportscaster)
============================================
Today in Sports History - July 18
1921 - Babe Ruth hits his 139th career home run, becoming baseball's all-time home run king, taking the title from Roger Connor.
1927 - Baseball Hall of Famer Ty Cobb recorded his 4,000th career hit.
1970 - Willie Mays becomes the 10th player in major league history to record 3,000 career hits.
1976 - 14-year-old Romanian gymnast Nadia Comaneci earned the first perfect score, a ten, at the Olympics and went on to score six more tens and win three gold medals.
1999 - David Cone of the New York Yankees pitched the 14th perfect game in modern major league history in a win over the Montreal Expos.
2020 - Canadian officials said the Toronto Blue Jays baseball team would not be able to play its home games in Toronto during the shortened 2020 season because it wasn’t safe for players to travel back and forth from the United States. (The Blue Jays would play “home” games in the ballpark of their minor league affiliate in Buffalo, New York.)
