History of 17 March
1901 – In Paris, Vincent Van Gogh’s paintings were shown at the Bernheim Gallery.
1909 – In France, the communications industry was paralyzed by strikes.
1910 – The Camp Fire Girls organization was founded by Luther and Charlotte Gulick. It was formally presented to the public exactly 2 years later.
1914 – Russia increased the number of active duty military from 460,000 to 1,700,000.
1917 – America’s first bowling tournament for ladies began in St. Louis, MO. Almost 100 women participated in the event.
1930 – Al Capone was released from jail.
1930 – In New York, construction began on the Empire State Building. Excavation at the site began on January 22.
1941 – The National Gallery of Art was officially opened by U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt in Washington, DC.
1942 – Douglas MacArthur became the Supreme Commander of the Allied forces in the Southwestern Pacific.
1944 – During World War II, the U.S. bombed Vienna.
1950 – Scientists at the University of California at Berkeley announced that they had created a new radioactive element. They named it “californium”. It is also known as element 98.
1958 – The Vanguard 1 satellite was launched by the U.S.
1959 – The Dalai Lama (Lhama Dhondrub, Tenzin Gyatso) fled Tibet and went to India.
1961 – The U.S. increased military aid and technicians to Laos.
1962 – Moscow asked the U.S. to pull out of South Vietnam.
1966 – A U.S. submarine found a missing H-bomb in the Mediterranean off of Spain.
1967 – Snoopy and Charlie Brown of “Peanuts” were on the cover of “LIFE” magazine.
1969 – Golda Meir was sworn in as the fourth premier of Israel.
1970 – The U.S. Army charged 14 officers with suppression of facts in the My Lai massacre case.
1972 – U.S. President Nixon asked Congress to halt busing in order to achieve desegregation.
1973 – Twenty were killed in Cambodia when a bomb went off that was meant for the Cambodian President Lon Nol.
1973 – The first American prisoners of war (POWs) were released from the “Hanoi Hilton” in Hanoi, North Vietnam.
1982 – In El Salvador, four Dutch television crewmembers were killed by government troops.
1985 – U.S. President Reagan agreed to a joint study with Canada on acid rain.
1989 – A series of solar flares caused a violent magnetic storm that brought power outages over large regions of Canada.
1992 – In Buenos Aires, 10 people were killed in a suicide car-bomb attack against the Israeli embassy.
1992 – White South Africans approved constitutional reforms to give legal equality to blacks.
1995 – Gerry Adams became the first leader of Sinn Fein to be received at the White House.
1998 – Washington Mutual announced it had agreed to buy H.F. Ahmanson and Co. for $9.9 billion dollars. The deal created the nation’s seventh-largest banking company.
1999 – A panel of medical experts concluded that marijuana had medical benefits for people suffering from cancer and AIDS.
1999 – The International Olympic Committee expelled six of its members in the wake of a bribery scandal.
2000 – In Norway, Jens Stoltenberg and the Labour Party took office as Prime Minister. The coalition government of Kjell Magne Bondevik resigned on March 9 as a result of an environmental dispute.
2000 – In Kanungu, Uganda, a fire at a church linked to the cult known as the Movement for the Restoration of the Ten Commandments killed more than 530. On March 31, officials set the number of deaths linked to the cult at more than 900 after authorities subsequently found mass graves at various sites linked to the cult.
2004 – NASA’s Messenger became the first spacecraft to enter into orbit around Mercury. The probe took more than 270,000 pictures before it crashed into the surface of Mercury on April 30, 2015.
2007 – Mike Modano (Dallas Stars) scored his 502nd and 503rd career goals making him the all-time U.S. leader in goal-scoring.
2009 – The iTunes Music Store reached 800 million applications downloaded.
Celebrating Birthday Today
- 1981 – Aaron Baddeley, American-Australian golfer
- 1981 – Servet Çetin, Turkish footballer
- 1981 – Kyle Korver, American basketball player
- 1982 – Steven Pienaar, South African footballer
- 1983 – Raul Meireles, Portuguese footballer
- 1983 – James Heath, English golfer
- 1984 – Ryan Rottman, American actor, producer, and screenwriter
- 1985 – Tuğba Karademir, Turkish-Canadian figure skater
- 1986 – Chris Davis, American baseball player
- 1986 – Edin Džeko, Bosnian footballer
- 1986 – Miles Kane, English singer-songwriter and guitarist
- 1986 – Silke Spiegelburg, German pole vaulter
- 1987 – Federico Fazio, the Argentinian footballer
- 1987 – Krisnan Inu, New Zealand rugby league player
- 1987 – Ryan Parent, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1987 – Bobby Ryan, American ice hockey player
- 1988 – Rasmus Elm, Swedish footballer
- 1988 – Fraser Forster, English footballer
- 1988 – Grimes, Canadian artist, musician and music video director
- 1988 – Ryan White, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1989 – Shinji Kagawa, Japanese footballer
- 1990 – Hozier, Irish singer-songwriter and musician
- 1990 – Saina Nehwal, Indian badminton player
- 1991 – Jack De Belin, Australian rugby league player
- 1992 – Patrick Cantlay, American golfer
- 1992 – John Boyega, English actor
- 1993 – Matteo Bianchetti, Italian footballer
- 1994 – Dean Britt, Australian rugby league player
- 1995 – Ashley Taylor, Australian rugby league player
- 1997 – Katie Ledecky, American swimmer