Today in History

Today is Thursday, July 18, the 200th day of 2024. There are 166 days left in the year.

Today’s Highlight in History:

On July 18, 1976, at the Summer Olympics in Montreal, Nadia Comaneci of Romania became the first gymnast to receive a perfect score of 10 from Olympic judges for her performance on the uneven bars.

Also on this date:

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

In 1863, during the Civil War, Union troops spearheaded by the 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry, made up of Black soldiers, charged Confederate-held Fort Wagner on Morris Island, S.C. The Confederates were able to repel the Northerners, who suffered heavy losses; the 54th’s commander, Col. Robert Gould Shaw, was among those who were killed.

In 1918, South African anti-apartheid leader and president Nelson Mandela was born in the village of Mvezo.

In 1925, Adolf Hitler published the first volume of his autobiographical manifesto, “Mein Kampf (My Struggle).”

In 1944, Hideki Tojo was removed as Japanese premier and war minister because of setbacks suffered by his country in World War II.

In 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.

In 1964, nearly a week of rioting erupted in New York’s Harlem neighborhood following the fatal police shooting of a Black teenager, James Powell, two days earlier.

In 1994, a bomb hidden in a van destroyed a Jewish cultural center in Buenos Aires, Argentina, killing 85.

In 2005, an unrepentant Eric Rudolph was sentenced in Birmingham, Alabama, to life in prison for an abortion clinic bombing that killed an off-duty police officer and maimed a nurse.

In 2013, Detroit became the biggest U.S. city to file for bankruptcy, its finances ravaged and its neighborhoods hollowed out by a long, slow decline in population and auto manufacturing.

In 2020, Canadian officials said the Toronto Blue Jays baseball team would not be able to play its home games in Toronto during the shortened 2020 season because it wasn’t safe for players to travel back and forth from the United States. (The Blue Jays would play “home” games in the ballpark of their minor league affiliate in Buffalo, N.Y.)

Today’s Birthdays: Skating champion and commentator Dick Button is 95. Olympic gold medal figure skater Tenley Albright is 89. Movie director Paul Verhoeven is 86. Singer Dion DiMucci is 85. Actor James Brolin is 84. Baseball Hall of Famer Joe Torre is 84. Singer Martha Reeves is 83. Business mogul Richard Branson is 74. Actor Margo Martindale is 73. Musician Ricky Skaggs is 70. World Golf Hall of Famer Nick Faldo is 67. Actor Elizabeth McGovern is 63. Broadcaster Wendy Williams is 60. Actor Vin Diesel is 57. Author Elizabeth Gilbert is 55. Retired NBA All-Star Penny Hardaway is 53. Singer-songwriter M.I.A. is 49. Actor Elsa Pataky (“The Fast and the Furious” films) is 48. Movie director Jared Hess is 45. Actor Kristen Bell is 44. Actor Priyanka Chopra is 42. Actor Chace Crawford is 39. Boxer Canelo Alvarez is 34. Olympic sprinter Noah Lyles is 27.