Today in History

On July 18, 1976, at the Summer Olympics in Montreal, Nadia Comaneci of Romania became the first gymnast to receive a perfect score of 10 from Olympic judges for her performance on the uneven bars.

Also on this date:

1536: The English Parliament passed an act declaring the authority of the pope void in England.

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

1944: Hideki Tojo was removed as Japanese premier and war minister because of setbacks suffered by his country in World War II.

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.

1964: Nearly a week of rioting erupted in New York’s Harlem neighborhood following the fatal police shooting of a Black teenager, James Powell, two days earlier.

2005: An unrepentant Eric Rudolph was sentenced in Birmingham, Alabama, to life in prison for an abortion clinic bombing that killed an off-duty police officer and maimed a nurse.

Today’s Birthdays: Olympic gold medal figure skater Tenley Albright is 90. Movie director Paul Verhoeven is 87. Singer Dion DiMucci is 86. Actor James Brolin is 85. Baseball Hall of Famer Joe Torre is 85. Singer Martha Reeves is 84. Business mogul Richard Branson is 75. Actor Margo Martindale is 74. Musician Ricky Skaggs is 71. World Golf Hall of Famer Nick Faldo is 68. Actor Elizabeth McGovern is 64. Actor Vin Diesel is 58. Author Elizabeth Gilbert is 56.