This Day in History

July 18

The Ultimate Blog Challenge is moving right along and we are on Day 18.  The suggested topic for today is to write about “This Day in History” and I found some interesting things that happened.

Today in the year of 2108, July 18 falls on a Wednesday which is also known as Hump Day because it’s in the middle of the week. It’s also the 199th day of 2018 with 166 days left in the year.  I searched the internet and found some interesting facts from years gone by.

64 A.D. the Great Fire of Rome began, consuming most of the city for about a week. (Some blamed the fire on Emperor Nero, who in turn blamed Christians.)

1536, the English Parliament passed an act declaring the authority of the pope void in England.In 1817, English novelist Jane Austen died in Winchester at age 41.

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.

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

1932, the United States and Canada signed a treaty to develop the St. Lawrence Seaway.

July 18, 1940, the Democratic National Convention at Chicago Stadium nominated President Franklin D. Roosevelt (who was monitoring the proceedings at the White House) for an unprecedented third term in office; earlier in the day, Eleanor Roosevelt spoke to the convention, becoming the first presidential spouse to address such a gathering.

1944, Hideki Tojo was removed as Japanese premier and war minister because of setbacks suffered by his country in World War II. American forces in France captured the Normandy town of St. Lo.

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.’

1955, President Dwight D. Eisenhower, Soviet Premier Nikolai Bulganin, British Prime Minister Anthony Eden and French Premier Edgar Faure held a summit in Geneva.

1969, Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass., left a party on Chappaquiddick Island near Martha’s Vineyard with Mary Jo Kopechne, 28; some time later, Kennedy’s car went off a bridge into the water. Kennedy was able to escape, but Kopechne drowned.

1984, gunman James Huberty opened fire at a McDonald’s fast food restaurant in San Ysidro, California, killing 21 people before being shot dead by police. Walter F. Mondale won the Democratic presidential nomination in San Francisco.

1994, a bomb hidden in a van destroyed a Jewish cultural center in Buenos Aires, Argentina, killing 85. Tutsi rebels declared an end to Rwanda’s 14-week-old civil war.

Do you remember any of theses dates in history?  The one that sticks vividly in my mind is in 1969 when Senator Edward Kennedy’s went off a bridge near Martha’s Vineyard and Mary Jo Kopechne drowned.  This is a blog I wrote about that incident last year on July 18, 2017.   There were many people who had different thoughts on the happenings of this day.  http://themarthareview.com/today-in-history/

This date is also special because it’s the birthday of a dear friend of our family who was taken way too soon after a long courageous battle with Leukemia.  Happy Heavenly Birthday Joan!  We love and miss you and always hold on to your memories in our hearts Joan.