A Blast from the Past

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Today is July 18.

In a grim prelude of things to come, on this date in 1925, Adolph Hitler published the first volume of his personal manifesto, "Mein Kampf." Dictated by Hitler during his nine-month stay in prison, "Mein Kampf," or "My Struggle," was a bitter and turgid narrative filled with anti-Semitic outpourings, disdain for morality, worship of power and the blueprints for his plan of Nazi world domination. The autobiographical work became the bible of Germany's Nazi Party.

It was on the night of July 18, 1969, that a car driven by Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., plunged into a pond on Chappaquiddick Island, Mass. Kennedy escaped the sinking vehicle but his passenger, Mary Jo Kopechne, drowned. Although criticized for failing to report the accident for 10 hours, Kennedy's political career survived the incident.

On July 18, 1936, the Spanish Civil War began as a revolt by right-wing Spanish military officers in Spanish Morocco and spread to mainland Spain. From the Canary Islands, Gen. Francisco Franco called for all army officers to join the uprising and overthrow Spain's leftist Republican government.

The Justice Department announced on this date in 1974 that it had ordered ex-Beatle John Lennon to leave the United States by Sept. 10. Earlier, immigration officials had denied the renewal of Lennon's non-immigrant visa because of a 1968 marijuana possession conviction in Britain. Lennon fought the deportation order and eventually won.

And it was on this date in 1936 that Carl Mayer, a nephew of hot dog mogul Oscar Mayer, invented the "Weinermobile."

We now return you to the present, already in progress.