On This Day: Monday July 18, 2005 This is the 199th day of the year, with 166 days remaining in 2005.
Fact of the Day: golf course
The first 18-hole golf course in America, laid out by Charles Blair MacDonald, was incorporated at Wheaton, Illinois. MacDonald was the architect of many of the early U.S. courses and he modeled them on the best golf courses of Scotland and England. It was his belief that at each tee, a golfer should face a hazard at the average distance of his shot. A regulation 18-hole course may stretch to more than 7,000 yards, about 4 miles while a par-three, or short-hole, course can be laid out in about 1,800 yards. On a par-three golf course, each hole measures 100 yards (more or less).
Holidays Feast day of St Bruno of Segni, St Pambo, St Arnoul or Arnulf of Metz, and St Frederick of Utrecht.
Uruguay: Constitution Day.
Events 64 - The Great Fire of Rome started; in 9 days, two-thirds of the city was destroyed.
1872 - Britain introduced the concept of voting by secret ballot.
1925 - Adolf Hitler published the first volume of his personal manifesto, Mein Kampf.
1927 - Ty Cobb recorded his 4,000th career hit.
1932 - The United States and Canada signed a treaty to develop the St. Lawrence Seaway.
1936 - The Spanish Civil War began. It was the first major military contest between left-wing forces and Fascists led by General Francisco Franco, and has been called the first chapter of World War II.
1947 - President Harry 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.
1969 - A car driven by Senator Edward M. Kennedy (D-MA) plunged off a bridge on Chappaquiddick Island near Martha's Vineyard; passenger Mary Jo Kopechne died. The senator did not report the fatal car accident for 10 hours.
Births 1811 - William Makepeace Thackeray, author.
1906 - S.I. (Samuel Ichiye) Hayakawa, US senator, college administrator, writer.
1909 - Andrey Gromyko, Soviet foreign minister (1957-1985).
1913 - Red (Richard) Skelton, comedian.
1918 - Nelson Mandela, civil rights activist, first black president of South Africa.
1921 - John Glenn Jr., first astronaut to orbit Earth; US Senator.
