Major Mike | Today in History 07/18 (Nelson Mandela)

Nelson Mandela (© Allan Tannenbaum/The LIFE Images Collection/Getty Images)

(1918) A South African political icon is born

Rolihlahla Mandela, later given the name Nelson by a teacher, is born in Mvezo, South Africa. He will go on to become a lawyer and political activist, spending 27 years in prison for conspiring to overthrow the state, before serving as president of South Africa from 1994 to 1999.

Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela was a South African anti-apartheid revolutionary, political leader, and philanthropist who served as President of South Africa from 1994 to 1999. He was the country’s first black head of state and the first elected in a fully representative democratic election. His government focused on dismantling the legacy of apartheid by tackling institutionalised racism and fostering racial reconciliation. Ideologically an African nationalist and socialist, he served as President of the African National Congress party from 1991 to 1997.

Lived: Jul 18, 1918 – Dec 05, 2013 (age 95)
Height: 6′ 0″
Spouse: Graça Machel (m. 1998 – 2013) · Winnie Madikizela-Mandela (m. 1958 – 1996) · Evelyn Mase (m. 1944 – 1958)
Parties: African National Congress · South African Communist Party
Education: University of South Africa · University of the Witwatersrand (1943 – 1949) · University of Fort Hare (1939 – 1940) · University of London International Programmes · University of London · Healdtown Comprehensive School (1937 – 1939)
Founded: Umkhonto we Sizwe · Truth and Reconciliation Commission · African National Congress Youth League · The Elders

Photograph of young Mandela, taken in Umtata in 1937
wiki/Nelson_Mandela

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(1918) A South African political icon is born.
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Today in History ^07/18/17

Curious onlookers inspect Sen. Ted Kennedy's car in July 1969, Chappaquiddick Island, MA (© AP)

(1969) Senator Ted Kennedy drives off bridge and into scandal

Just after 11PM, Senator Ted Kennedy drives his colleague Mary Jo Kopechne away from a party near Martha's Vineyard, and about an hour later their car goes off a bridge and into a pond, where Kennedy escapes, but Kopechne does not. The ensuing scandal will be blamed for hindering Kennedy's presidential ambitions.

The Chappaquiddick incident was a single-vehicle car accident on Chappaquiddick Island, Massachusetts, on July 18, 1969, that was the result of U.S. Senator Ted Kennedy's negligence and resulted in the death of his 28-year-old companion, Mary Jo Kopechne, who was trapped inside the vehicle.