TODAY IN HISTORY

TODAY IS TUESDAY, JULY 18, the 199th day of 2017. There are 166 days left in the year.

TODAY’S HIGHLIGHT IN HISTORY: On this date in 1947, President Harry S. Truman signed a Presidential Succession Act that placed the speaker of the House and the Senate president pro tempore next in the line of succession after the vice president.

In A.D. 64, the Great Fire of Rome began, consuming most of the city in about a week. (Some blamed the fire on Emperor Nero, who in turn blamed Christians.)

In 1536, the English Parliament passed an act declaring the authority of the pope void in England.

In 1792, American naval hero John Paul Jones died in Paris at age 45.

In 1817, English novelist Jane Austen died in Winchester at age 41.

In 1927, Ty Cobb hit safely for the 4,000th time in his career during a game between the Philadelphia Athletics (his new team) and the Detroit Tigers (his old one) at Navin Field. (The Tigers won, 5-3.)

In 1932, the United States and Canada signed a treaty to develop the St. Lawrence Seaway.

In 1969, Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass., left a party on Chappaquiddick Island near Martha’s Vineyard with Mary Jo Kopechne, 28; some time later, Kennedy’s car went off a bridge into the water. Kennedy was able to escape, but Kopechne drowned.

In 1976, 14-year-old Romanian gymnast Nadia Comaneci, competing at the Montreal Olympics, received the first-ever perfect score of 10 with her routine on uneven parallel bars. (Comaneci would go on to receive six more 10s in Montreal.)

In 1994, Tutsi rebels declared an end to Rwanda’s 14-week-old civil war.

Today’s Birthdays: Skating champion and commentator Dick Button is 88. Movie director Paul Verhoeven is 79. Singer Martha Reeves is 76. Business mogul Richard Branson is 67. Actress Margo Martindale is 66. Singer Ricky Skaggs is 63. Actress Audrey Landers is 61. World Golf Hall of Famer Nick Faldo is 60. Actress Elizabeth McGovern is 56. Talk show host-actress Wendy Williams is 53.