Today in History -- Friday, July 18 (Kristen Bell)

By The Associated Press

Today is Friday, July 18, the 200th day of 2008. There are 166 days
left in the year.

Today's Highlight in History:

On July 18, 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 1792, American naval hero John Paul Jones died in Paris at age 45.

In 1918, during World War I, American and French forces launched a
counteroffensive against the Germans during the Second Battle of the
Marne.

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

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 1969, a car driven by Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass., 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, Calif., killing 21 people before being shot dead by police.

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

In 1988, Texas Treasurer Ann Richards delivered the keynote address
at the Democratic National Convention in Atlanta, skewering presumed
Republican nominee George H.W. Bush as having been "born with a
silver foot in his mouth."

Ten years ago: South African President Nelson Mandela capped his 80th
birthday by marrying Graca Machel, the widow of a Mozambican
president and black liberation leader.

Five years ago: Basketball star Kobe Bryant was charged with sexually
assaulting a 19-year-old woman at a Colorado spa; Bryant denied the
charge, saying he was guilty only of adultery. (Prosecutors later
dropped the case.) The body of British scientist David Kelly, a
weapons expert at the center of a storm over British intelligence on
Iraq, was found a day after he'd committed suicide.

One year ago: Senate Republicans torpedoed legislation to force the
withdrawal of U.S. combat troops from Iraq. An underground steam pipe
exploded on a New York City street, swallowing a tow truck and
claiming the life of a woman who suffered a heart attack. Armed men
kidnapped two Germans and five Afghans working on a dam project in
central Afghanistan. (One of the Germans, Ruediger Diedrich, was
found shot dead three days later; the others were later released.)
Opera tenor Jerry Hadley, 55, died at a hospital in Poughkeepsie,
N.Y., a week after he'd shot himself with an air rifle.

Today's Birthdays: Former South African President Nelson Mandela is
90. Former Sen. John Glenn, D-Ohio, is 87. Skating champion and
commentator Dick Button is 79. Movie director Paul Verhoeven is 70.

Singer Brian Auger is 69. Singer Dion DiMucci is 69. Actor James
Brolin is 68. Singer Martha Reeves is 67. Blues guitarist Lonnie Mack
is 67.

Pop-rock musician Wally Bryson (The Raspberries) is 59. Country-
rock singer Craig Fuller (Pure Prairie League) is 59. Actress Margo
Martindale is 57. Singer Ricky Skaggs is 54. Rock musician Nigel
Twist (The Alarm) is 50.

Actress Anne-Marie Johnson is 48. Actress Elizabeth McGovern is 47.
Rock musician John Hermann (Widespread Panic) is 46. Rock musician
Jack Irons is 46. Actor Vin Diesel is 41.

Rock musician Daron Malakian (System of a Down; Scars on Broadway) is
33. Rock musician Tony Fagenson (Eve 6) is 30.

Movie director Jared Hess is 29. Actor Jason Weaver is 29. Actress
Kristen Bell is 28. Rock singer Ryan Cabrera is 26. Actor Chace
Crawford is 23.

Thought for Today: "While we read history we make history." -- George
William Curtis, American author-editor (1824-1892).

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