Editorials

On July 18, 1947, President 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.

On this date:

In A.D. 64, the Great Fire of Rome began.

In 1792, American naval hero John Paul Jones died in Paris at age 45.

In 1927, Ty Cobb hit safely for the 4,000th time in his career.

In 1932, the United States and Canada signed a treaty to develop the St. Lawrence Seaway.

In 1936, the Spanish Civil War began.

In 1940, the Democratic national convention in Chicago nominated President Franklin D. Roosevelt for an unprecedented third term in office.

In 1944, Hideki Tojo was removed as Japanese premier and war minister because of setbacks suffered by his country inWorld War II.

In 1984, a gunman opened fire at a McDonald’s fast food restaurant in San Ysidro, Calif., killing 21 people before he was shot dead by police.

In 1984, Walter F. Mondale won the Democratic presidential nomination in San Francisco.

Ten years ago: Britain’s opposition Labor Party chose John Smith as its leader to replace Neil Kinnock.

Five years ago: German businessman Thomas Kramer was slapped with a record $323,000 penalty by the Federal Election Commission for making illegal U.S. political contributions. All key systems on the Russian space station Mir returned to near-normal, about 24 hours after the already disabled spacecraft lost power.

One year ago: President Bush, en route to an economic summit in Italy, stopped over in Britain as he began his second trip to Europe in a