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UPI Almanac for Thursday, July 18, 2019

On July 18, 1969, a car driven by Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., plunged from a bridge into a tidal pond at Chappaquiddick Island in Massachusetts, killing his passenger, Mary Jo Kopechne.

By United Press International
Mourners throw flowers off the Dike Bridge on July 19, 1979, the 10th anniversary of the day Sen. Edward Kennedy's car plunged off the bridge, killing Mary Jo Kopechne. UPI File Photo
1 of 3 | Mourners throw flowers off the Dike Bridge on July 19, 1979, the 10th anniversary of the day Sen. Edward Kennedy's car plunged off the bridge, killing Mary Jo Kopechne. UPI File Photo | License Photo

Today is Thursday, July 18, the 199th day of 2019 with 166 to follow.

The moon is waning. Morning stars are Jupiter, Neptune, Saturn, Uranus and Venus. Evening stars are Jupiter, Mars, Neptune and Saturn.

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Those born on this date are under the sign of Cancer. They include English novelist William Makepeace Thackeray in 1811; Titanic survivor Margaret Brown "The Unsinkable Molly Brown" in 1867; playwright Clifford Odets in 1906; comedian Red Skelton in 1913; South African leader/Nobel Peace Price laureate Nelson Mandela in 1918; astronaut/Sen. John Glenn, D-Ohio, in 1921; gold medal ice skater Dick Button in 1929 (age 90); journalist/author Hunter S. Thompson in 1937; pop singer Dion DiMucci in 1939 (age 80); actor James Brolin in 1940 (age 79); former baseball manager Joe Torre in 1940 (age 79); singer Martha Reeves in 1941 (age 78); publisher Steve Forbes in 1947 (age 72); businessman Richard Branson in 1950 (age 69); country singer Ricky Skaggs in 1954 (age 65); actor Elizabeth McGovern in 1961 (age 58); talk show host Wendy Williams in 1964 (age 55); actor Vin Diesel in 1967 (age 52); rapper MIA, born Mathangi "Maya" Arulpragasam, in 1975 (age 44); actor Kristen Bell in 1980 (age 39); actor Michiel Huisman in 1981 (age 38); actor Priyanka Chopra in 1982 (age 37); actor Chace Crawford in 1985 (age 34); actor Fionn Whitehead in 1997 (age 22).

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On this date in history:

In 1925, Adolf Hitler's Mein Kampf was published. The book hit bookstores in Germany for the first time in 70 years in 2016 and became a best-seller. The new version included 3,500 annotations and 2,000 pages versus the original's 800.

In 1938, Douglas Corrigan took off from Floyd Bennett Field in New York for a return flight to California but lost his bearings in the clouds, he said, and flew instead to Ireland. He became an instant celebrity called "Wrong Way" Corrigan.

In 1939, after a sneak preview of The Wizard of Oz, producers debated about removing "Over the Rainbow" because it seemed to slow things down. The song later contributed to the evolution of the rainbow flag as a gay icon.

In 1947, Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower appointed Florence Blanchfield lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Army, becoming the first woman to hold a permanent military rank.

In 1969, a car driven by Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., plunged from a bridge into a tidal pond at Chappaquiddick Island in Massachusetts, killing his passenger, Mary Jo Kopechne.

In 1976, Romanian gymnast Nadia Comaneci became the first person in Olympic Games history to be awarded the score of a perfect 10 in gymnastics.

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In 1977, Vietnam was admitted to the United Nations.

In 1984, a gunman opened fire at a McDonald's restaurant in San Ysidro, Calif., killing 21 people.

In 1989, My Sister Sam actor Rebecca Schaeffer was shot to death in her Los Angeles apartment. Her death led to the passage of an anti-stalking law in California.

In 1994, a car bombing in Buenos Aires killed about 100 people in or near a building that housed Jewish organizations.

In 2007, Michael Vick, quarterback for the Atlanta Falcons of the National Football League, was indicted on federal charges related to an illegal dogfighting operation. He was subsequently sentenced to 23 months in prison.

In 2012, victims of a suicide bomb at Syria's National Security Bureau included Defense Minister Daoud Rajiha, Deputy Defense Minister Assef Shawkat (President Bashar al-Assad's brother-in-law), former Defense Minister Hassan Turkomani and NSB chief Hisham Ikhtiar.

In 2013, Detroit became the largest U.S. city to file for bankruptcy.

In 2018, the European Union levied a $5 billion fine against Google for abusing dominance of the Android operating system to promote its own mobile apps and services.

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A thought for the day: "Few things can help an individual more than to place responsibility on him, and to let him know that you trust him." -- Booker T. Washington

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