18 July

Events

• 64 - Great fire of Rome: A fire begins to burn in the merchant area of Rome and soon burns completely out of control while Emperor Nero reportedly plays his lyre and sings while watching the blaze from a safe distance.
• 1830 - Uruguay adopts its first constitution.
• 1863 - American Civil War: The first formal African American military unit, the 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry, unsuccessfully assaults Confederate-held Fort Wagner but their valiant fighting still proves the worth of African American soldiers during the war.
• 1914 - Within the United States Army the Signal Corps is formed giving definite status to its air service for the first time.
• 1925 - Adolf Hitler publishes his personal manifesto Mein Kampf.
• 1942 - World War II: The Germans test fly the Messerschmitt Me-262 using only its jets for the first time.
• 1944 - World War II: Hideki Tojo resigns as Prime Minister of Japan due to numerous setbacks in the war effort.
• 1947 - President Harry S. Truman signs the Presidential Succession Act into law which places the Speaker of the House and the Senate President Pro Tempore next in the line of succession after the United States Vice President.
• 1968 - Vietnam War: The two-day Honolulu Conference begins in Honolulu, Hawaii between US President Lyndon B. Johnson and South Vietnamese President Nguyen Van Thieu.
• 1969 - After a party on Chappaquiddick Island, Senator Edward Kennedy from Massachusetts drives an Oldsmobile off a wooden bridge into a tide-swept pond and his passenger, Mary Jo Kopechne, drowns. Kennedy doesn't report the incident for 10 hours.
• 1984 - In San Ysidro, California, 41-year-old James Oliver Huberty sprays a McDonald's restaurant with gun-fire killing 21 people before being shot dead by police.
• 1986 - A tornado is broadcast live on KARE television in Minnesota when the station's helicopter pilot makes a chance encounter.
• 1994 - In Buenos Aires, an explosion destroys a building housing several Jewish organizations killing 96 and injuring many more.
• 1996 - Storms provoke severe flooding on the Saguenay River in Quebec, beginning one of Canada's costliest natural disasters ever.
• 2001 - In Baltimore, Maryland, a 60-car train derailment occurs in a tunnel sparking a fire that will last days and virtually shut-down downtown Baltimore.

Births

• 1635 - Robert Hooke, scientist († 1703)
• 1811 - William Makepeace Thackeray, author († 1863)
• 1821 - Pauline Garcia-Viardot, singer/composer († 1910)
• 1853 - Hendrik Lorentz, Dutch physicist and Nobel laureate († 1928)
• 1863 - Franz Ferdinand, Archduke of Austria († 1914)
• 1864 - Ricarda Huch, writer († 1947)
• 1864 - Phillip Snowden, British politician († 1937)
• 1887 - Vidkun Quisling, Norwegian politician and famous traitor († 1945)
• 1902 - Nathalie Sarraute, writer († 1999)
• 1902 - Jessamyn West, author († 1984)
• 1902 - Chill Wills, actor († 1978)
• 1906 - Clifford Odets, author, playwright († 1963)
• 1909 - Andrei Gromyko, Soviet diplomat and President 1985-1989 († 1989)
• 1909 - Mohammed Daoud Khan, Afghani President (1973-1978) († 1978)
• 1911 - Hume Cronyn, actor († 2003)
• 1913 - Red Skelton, actor, comedian († 1997)
• 1918 - Nelson Mandela, South Africa revolutionary and president
• 1921 - John Glenn, American astronaut and politician
• 1922 - Thomas Kuhn, philosopher († 1996)
• 1925 - Shirley Strickland, Australian athlete
• 1927 - Ludwig Harig, writer
• 1929 - Screamin' Jay Hawkins († 2000)
• 1929 - Dick Button, Olympic gold medal figure skater
• 1933 - Yevgeny Yevtushenko, poet
• 1937 - Hunter S. Thompson, journalist and author
• 1937 - Roald Hoffman, Nobel prize-winning theoretical chemist
• 1940 - James Brolin, actor
• 1940 - Joe Torre, baseball player, manager, New York Yankees
• 1941 - Martha Reeves, singer
• 1947 - Steve Forbes, entrepreneur, politician
• 1950 - Sir Richard Branson, entrepreneur

Deaths

• 1374 - Petrarch, Italian Humanist
• 1623 - Pope Gregory XV
• 1721 - Antoine Watteau, French painter
• 1792 - John Paul Jones, American naval commander
• 1949 - Vitezslav Novák, composer
• 1988 - Nico (Christa Paffgen), German and American model and singer
• 2001 - Fabio Taglioni, automotive engineer
• 2003 - Jane Barbe, voice of the telephone operator recording

Holidays and observances

• Uruguay - Constitution Day

July 17 - July 19 - June 18 - August 18 -- listing of all days

January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December

Referenced By