July 18th

Today's Highlight in History:
On July 18th, 1947, President 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.

On this date:
In A.D. 64, the Great Fire of Rome began.

In 1872, Britain introduced the concept of voting by secret ballot.

In 1927, Ty Cobb hit safely for the 4,000th time in his career.

In 1936, the Spanish Civil War began.

In 1940, the Democratic national convention in Chicago nominated President Roosevelt for an uNPRecedented third term in office.

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

In 1969, a car driven by Senator Edward M. Kennedy (Democrat, Massachusetts) plunged off a bridge on Chappaquiddick Island near Martha's Vineyard; passenger Mary Jo Kopechne died.

In 1984, a gunman opened fire at a McDonald's fast food restaurant in San Ysidro, California, killing 21 people before being shot dead by police.

In 1984, Walter F. Mondale won the Democratic presidential nomination in San Francisco.

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.

Ten years ago: Dr. Karl Menninger, the dominant figure in American psychiatry for six decades, died in Topeka, Kansas, four days short of his 97th birthday.

Five years ago: Opening statements were presented in the trial of Susan Smith, the South Carolina woman charged with drowning her two young sons. Senate Republicans opened a new round of Whitewater hearings.

One year ago: Authorities looking into the disappearance of the plane carrying John F. Kennedy Junior, his wife and sister-in-law announced that the "search and rescue" operation had become "search and recovery." David Cone of the New York Yankees pitched a perfect game against the Montreal Expos, leading his team to a 6-to-0 victory. Paul Lawrie won the British Open after Jean Van de Velde triple-bogeyed on the 72nd hole.

"While we read history we make history."

-- George William Curtis, American author-editor (1824-1892).