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.
1925
The first volume of Adolf Hitler’s Mein Kampf was published.
1936
The Spanish Civil War began.
1947
President Harry S. Truman signed the Presidential Succession Act.
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
New York Yankee David Cone pitched the 16th perfect game in baseball history.
Birthdays
Nelson Mandela
Pronunciation: [nel´sun rOlEhlä´lä mändA´lä]
1918–2014, South African political leader.
Robert Hooke
physicist, mathematician, and inventor (1635)
William Thackeray
novelist (1811)
Jessamyn West
novelist (1902)
S. I. Hayakawa
scholar, former U.S. Senator (1906)
Red Skelton
comedian, actor (1913)
John Glenn
astronaut (1921)
Dick Button
figure skater (1929)
Yevgeny Yevtushenko
poet (1933)