Today in History: July 18, Eric Rudolph sentenced to life

Jul 17, 2022, 9:00 AM | Updated: 9:01 pm

Today in History

Today is Monday, July 18, the 199th day of 2022. There are 166 days left in the year.

Today’s Highlight in History:

On July 18, 1969, Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass., left a party on Chappaquiddick (chap-uh-KWIH’-dihk) Island near Martha’s Vineyard with Mary Jo Kopechne (koh-PEHK’-nee), 28; Kennedy’s car later went off a bridge into the water. Kennedy was able to escape, but Kopechne drowned.

On this date:

In 1536, the English Parliament passed an act declaring the authority of the pope void in England.

In 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.

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

In 1925, Adolf Hitler published the first volume of his autobiographical screed, “Mein Kampf (My Struggle).”

In 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.

In 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.

In 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.

In 1984, gunman James Huberty opened fire at a McDonald’s in San Ysidro (ee-SEE’-droh), California, killing 21 people before being shot dead by police. Walter F. Mondale won the Democratic presidential nomination in San Francisco.

In 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.

In 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.

In 2013, Detroit, which was once the very symbol of American industrial might, became the biggest U.S. city to file for bankruptcy, its finances ravaged and its neighborhoods hollowed out by a long, slow decline in population and auto manufacturing.

In 2020, Canadian officials said the Toronto Blue Jays baseball team would not be able to play its home games in Toronto during the shortened 2020 season because it wasn’t safe for players to travel back and forth from the United States. (The Blue Jays would play “home” games in the ballpark of their minor league affiliate in Buffalo, N.Y.)

Ten years ago: Rebels penetrated the heart of Syria’s power elite, detonating a bomb inside a high-level crisis meeting in Damascus that killed three leaders of the regime, including President Bashar Assad’s brother-in-law and the defense minister.

Five years ago: President Donald Trump declared that it was time to “let Obamacare fail” after the latest Republican effort to repeal President Barack Obama’s health care law was blocked in the Senate. Trump announced that he would nominate former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman to be U.S. ambassador to Russia. The Trump administration slapped new sanctions on 18 Iranian individuals, groups and networks, a day after certifying to Congress that Iran was technically complying with the nuclear deal and could continue enjoying nuclear sanctions relief.

One year ago: Collin Morikawa, a 24-year-old from California, won the British Open to become the first golfer to capture two different majors on his first attempt; he’d won the 2020 PGA Championship 11 months earlier. Tadej Pogacar of Slovenia won cycling’s Tour de France for a second straight year.

Today’s Birthdays: Skating champion and commentator Dick Button is 93. Olympic gold medal figure skater Tenley Albright is 87. Movie director Paul Verhoeven is 84. Musician Brian Auger is 83. Singer Dion DiMucci is 83. Actor James Brolin is 82. Baseball Hall of Famer Joe Torre is 82. Singer Martha Reeves is 81. Country-rock singer Craig Fuller (Pure Prairie League) is 73. Business mogul Richard Branson is 72. Actor Margo Martindale is 71. Singer Ricky Skaggs is 68. Actor Audrey Landers is 66. World Golf Hall of Famer Nick Faldo is 65. Actor Anne-Marie Johnson is 62. Actor Elizabeth McGovern is 61. Rock musician John Hermann (Widespread Panic) is 60. Rock musician Jack Irons is 60. Broadcaster Wendy Williams is 58. Actor Vin Diesel is 55. Actor Grant Bowler is 54. Retired NBA All-Star Penny Hardaway is 51. Bluegrass musician Jesse Brock (The Gibson Brothers) is 50. Alt-country singer Elizabeth Cook is 50. Actor Eddie Matos is 50. Dance music singer-songwriter M.I.A. is 47. Rock musician Daron Malakian (System of a Down; Scars on Broadway) is 47. Actor Elsa Pataky (“The Fast and the Furious” films) is 46. Rock musician Tony Fagenson (formerly with Eve 6) is 44. Movie director Jared Hess is 43. Actor Jason Weaver is 43. Actor Kristen Bell is 42. Actor Michiel Huisman (MIHK’-heel HOWS’-man) is 41. Rock singer Ryan Cabrera is 40. Actor Priyanka Chopra is 40. Christian-rock musician Aaron Gillespie (Underoath) is 39. Actor Chace Crawford is 37. Actor James Norton is 37. Musician Paul Kowert (Punch Brothers) is 36. Actor Travis Milne is 36.