July 18




0064 - The Great Fire of Rome began.

1536 - The authority of the pope was declared void in England.

1743 - "The New York Weekly Journal" published the first half-page newspaper ad.

1789 - Robespierre, a deputy from Arras, France, decided to back the French Revolution.

1812 - Great Britain signed the Treaty of Orebro, making peace with Russia and Sweden.

1830 - Uruguay adopted a liberal constitution.

1872 - The Ballot Act was passed in Great Britain, providing for secret election ballots.

1914 - Six planes of the U.S. Army helped to form an aviation division called the Signal Corps.

1927 - Ty Cobb set a major league baseball record by getting his 4,000th career hit. He hit 4,191 before he retired in 1928.

1932 - The U.S. and Canada signed a treaty to develop the St. Lawrence Seaway.

1935 - Ethiopian King Haile Selassie urged his countrymen to fight to the last man against the invading Italian army.

1936 - The first Oscar Meyer Wienermobile rolled out of General Body Company’s factory in Chicago, IL.

1936 - The Spanish Civil War began as Gen. Francisco Franco led an uprising of army troops based in Spanish North Africa.

1936 - "The Columbia Workshop" debuted on CBS radio.

1942 - The German Me-262, the first jet-propelled aircraft to fly in combat, made its first flight.

1944 - U.S. troops captured Saint-Lo, France, ending the battle of the hedgerows.

1944 - Hideki Tojo was removed as Japanese premier and war minister due to setbacks suffered by his country in World War II.

1947 - U.S. 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.

1964 - Pete Rose of the Cincinnati Reds hit the only grand slam home run of his career.

1970 - Ron Hunt of the San Francisco Giants was hit by a pitch for the 119th time in his career.

1971 - New Zealand and Australia announced they would pull their troops out of Vietnam.

1984 - A gunman opened fire at a McDonald's fast-food restaurant in San Ysidro, CA. He killed 21 people before being shot dead by police.

1985 - Jack Nicklaus II, at age 23 years old, made his playing debut on the pro golf tour at the Quad Cities Open in Coal Valley, IL.

1994 - In Buenos Aires, a massive car bomb killed 96 people belonging to Argentinean Jewish organizations.

2000 - It was announced that Christopher Reeve would direct and serve as executive producer on the TV movie "Rescuing Jeffrey."

2000 - Kareem Abdul-Jabbar was arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence of marijuana. He was stopped for speeding and then failed to pass a sobriety test. Abdul-Jabbar was the leading scorer in National Basketball Association (NBA) history at the time.

2001 - A train derailed, involving 60 cars, in a Baltimore train tunnel. The fire that resulted lasted for six days and virtually closed down downtown Baltimore for several days.