TUESDAY INHISTORY

Today is Tuesday, July 18, the 199th day of 2017. There are 166 days left in the year.

Highlight in History:

On July 18, 1947, President Harry S. Truman signed a 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.

On this date:

In A.D. 64, the Great Fire of Rome began, consuming most of the city for 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 1932, the United States and Canada signed a treaty to develop the St. Lawrence Seaway.

In 1944, American forces in France captured the Normandy town of St. Lo.

In 1955, President Dwight D. Eisenhower, Soviet Premier Nikolai Bulganin, British Prime Minister Anthony Eden and French Premier Edgar Faure held a summit in Geneva.

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 1984, Walter F. Mondale won the Democratic presidential nomination.

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

Ten years ago: Senate Republicans torpedoed legislation to force the withdrawal of U.S. combat troops from Iraq.

Five years ago: Rebels penetrated the heart of Syria’s power elite, detonating a bomb inside a high-level crisis meeting in Damascus that killed three leaders of the regime, including President Bashar Assad’s brother-inlaw and the defense minister.

One year ago: Republicans opened their national convention in Cleveland as they prepared to nominate Donald Trump for president.

Today’s Birthdays: Skating champion and commentator Dick Button is 88. Olympic goldmedal figure skater Tenley Albright is 82. Movie director Paul Verhoeven is 79. Actor James Brolin is 77. Baseball Hall of Famer Joe Torre is 77. Business mogul Richard Branson is 67. Singer Ricky Skaggs is 63. Actor Vin Diesel is 50. Actress Kristen Bell is 37.

Thought for Today: “It isn’t what we say or think that defines us, but what we do.” — From “Sense and Sensibility” by Jane Austen (17751817).