Today in history
On July 18, A.D. 64, the Great Fire of Rome began.
In1610 the painter Caravaggio (born Michelangelo Merisi) died in what is now Italy’s Tuscany region; he was in his late 30s.
In 1792 American naval hero John Paul Jones died in Paris; hewas 45.
In 1811 British novelist WilliamMakepeace Thackeray (“Vanity Fair”) was born in Calcutta.
In 1817 novelist Jane Austen died in Winchester, England; shewas 41.
In 1872 Britain introduced the concept of voting by secret ballot. Also in 1872 Mexican president and revolutionary Benito Juarez died inMexico City; he was 66.
In 1911 actor Hume Cronyn was born in London, Ontario.
In 1913 comedian Red Skelton was born Richard Bernard Skelton in Vincennes, Ind.
In1918NelsonMandela, the South African nationalist who ascended to his nation’s presidency after the end of apartheid, was born inUmtata, South Africa.
In 1927 Ty Cobb hit safely
for the 4,000th time in his career.
In 1929 blues singer Screamin’ JayHawkinswas born in Cleveland.
In 1932 the United States and Canada signed a treaty to develop the St. Lawrence
Seaway.
WarIn 1936 began. the Spanish Civil In 1937
Thompson journalist was Hunterborn inS. Louisville, Ky.
In 1940 theDemocraticNational Convention in Chicago nominated President Franklin Roosevelt for an unprecedented third term in office.
In 1944 Hideki Tojo stepped down as Japanese premier and war minister because of setbacks suffered by his country in WorldWar II.
In 1947 President Harry Truman signed the Presidential Succession Act, which placed the speaker of the House and the Senate president pro tempore next in the line of succession after the vice president.
In 1969 a car driven by Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., plunged off a bridge on Chappaquiddick Island near Martha’s Vineyard; passengerMary JoKopechne died.
In 1984 a gunman opened fire at aMcDonald’s restaurant in San Ysidro, Calif., killing 21 people before being shot dead by police. Also in 1984 Walter Mondale won the Democratic presidential nomination in San Francisco.
In 1986 the world got its first look at the remains of the Titanic as videotapes of the British luxury liner, which sank in 1912, were released by researchers from Woods Hole Oceanographic
Institution.
In 1988 Texas Treasurer Ann Richards delivered the keynote address at the Democratic national convention in Atlanta, needling Republican nominee-apparent George H.W. Bush as having been “born with a silver foot in his mouth.”
In 1989 actress Rebecca Schaeffer, 21, was shot to death at her Los Angeles home by obsessed fan Robert Bardo, who was later sentenced to life in prison.
In1990 Dr. KarlMenninger, the dominant figure in American psychiatry for six decades, died in Topeka, Kan., four days short of his 97th birthday.
In 1994 a car bomb destroyed a Jewish community center in Buenos Aires, killing 95 people. Also in 1994 Tutsi rebels declared an end to Rwanda’s 14-week-old civilwar.
In 1998 residents along the northern coast of Papua New Guinea were left reeling the day after a 23-foot-high tidal wave hit, killing an estimated 3,000 people.
In 2000, shrugging off a veto threat from President Bill Clinton, the Senate voted 61-38 in favor of eliminating the so-called marriage penalty by cutting taxes for virtually every married couple. Also in 2000 Sen. Paul Coverdell, R-Ga., died in Atlanta; he was 61.
In 2004 Todd Hamilton gained a playoff victory over Ernie Els to win the British Open. Also in 2004 former Environmental Protection Agency chief Anne Gorsuch Burford died in Aurora, Colo.; shewas 62.
In 2005 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. Also in 2005 retired Gen. William Westmoreland died in Charleston, S.C.; hewas 91.
In 2012 it was announced that the John Hancock Observatory in Chicago was being sold toMontparnasse 56 Group, a Paris-based observationoperator.
In2013 Detroit cited $18 billion in debt and filed for bankruptcy, the largest city inU.S. history to do so.