This Day In History — The Burning of Rome

July 18

64
A great fire began that ultimately destroyed most of Rome. The emperor Nero blamed it on Christians and began the first Roman persecution of them.

1925
The first volume of Adolf Hitler’s Mein Kampf was published.

1936
The Spanish Civil War began.

1947
President Harry S. Truman signed the Presidential Succession Act.

1976
14-year-old Romanian gymnast Nadia Comaneci earned the first perfect score, a ten, at the Olympics and went on to score six more tens and win three gold medals.

1999
New York Yankee David Cone pitched the 16th perfect game in baseball history.

Birthdays

Nelson Mandela

Pronunciation: [nel´sun rOlEhlä´lä mändA´lä] 1918–2014, South African political leader.

Robert Hooke

physicist, mathematician, and inventor (1635)

William Thackeray

novelist (1811)

Jessamyn West

novelist (1902)

S. I. Hayakawa

scholar, former U.S. Senator (1906)

Red Skelton

comedian, actor/VOCATION> (1913)

John Glenn

astronaut (1921)

Dick Button

figure skater (1929)

Yevgeny Yevtushenko

poet (1933)