History of 17 September
1911 – The first transcontinental airplane flight started. It took C.P. Rogers 82 hours to fly from New York City to Pasadena, CA.
1920 – The American Professional Football Association was formed in Canton, OH. It was the precursor to the National Football League (NFL).
1930 – Construction on Boulder Dam, later renamed Hoover Dam, began in Black Canyon, near Las Vegas, NV.
1932 – Sir Malcolm Campbell set a speed record when he reached 276.27 mph over a half-mile.
1937 – At Mount Rushmore, Abraham Lincoln’s face was dedicated.
1939 – The Soviet Union invaded Poland. Germany had invaded Poland on September 1.
1944 – Operation “Market Garden” was launched by Allied paratroopers during World War II. The landing point was behind German lines in the Netherlands.
1947 – The first U.S. Secretary of Defense, James V. Forrestal, was sworn into office.
1953 – Ernie Banks became the first black baseball player to wear a Chicago Cubs uniform. He retired in 1971 known as ‘Mr. Cub’.
1953 – The Ochsner Foundation Hospital in New Orleans, LA, successfully separated Siamese twins. Carolyn Anne and Catherine Anne Mouton were connected at the waist when born.
1955 – “The Perry Como Show” moved to Saturday nights on NBC-TV.
1961 – The Minnesota Vikings were debuted as the new National Football League (NFL) team.
1962 – U.S. space officials announced the selection of Neil A. Armstrong and eight others as new astronauts.
1963 – “The Fugitive” premiered on ABC-TV. The show starred David Janssen.
1964 – “Bewitched” premiered on ABC-TV.
1965 – “Hogan’s Heroes” debuted on CBS-TV.
1966 – “Mission Impossible” premiered on CBS-TV.
1972 – “M*A*S*H” premiered on CBS-TV.
1976 – NASA unveiled the space shuttle Enterprise in Palmdale, CA.
1983 – Vanessa Williams, as Miss New York, became the first black woman to be crowned Miss America.
1983 – Johnny Bench (Cincinnati Reds) retired after 16 years as a catcher.
1983 – Carl Yastrzemski (Boston Red Sox) broke Hank Aaron’s major league record for games played when he started his 3,299th game. (MLB)
1984 – 9,706 immigrants became naturalized citizens when they were sworn in by U.S. Vice-President George Bush in Miami, FL. It was the largest group to become U.S. citizens.
1984 – Gordon P. Getty was named the richest person in the U.S. His fortune was $4.1 billion.
1984 – Reggie Jackson hit his 500th career home run. It was exactly 17 years from the day he hit his first major league home run.
1988 – Lt. Gen. Prosper Avril declared himself president of Haiti after President Henri Hamphy was ousted.
1991 – The United Nations General Assembly opened its 46th session. The new members were Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, North and South Korea, Micronesia and the Marshall Islands.
1992 – Lawrence Walsh called a halt to his probe of the Iran-Contra scandal. The investigation had lasted 5 1/2 years.
1995 – Hong Kong held its last legislative election before being taken over by China in 1997.
1997 – Northern Ireland’s main Protestant party joined in peace talks. It was the first time that all of the major players had come together.
1998 – The United States government offered a reward for the capture of Haroun Fazil for his role in the U.S. bombing in Kenya on August 7, 1998.
1998 – The U.S. announced a plan that would compensate victims in the Kenya and Tanzania U.S. Embassy bombings on August 7, 1998.
2014 – The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at an all-time high of 17,156.
2016 – Two bombs explode in Seaside Park, New Jersey, and Manhattan. Thirty-one people are injured in the Manhattan bombing.
2018 – A Russian reconnaissance aircraft carrying 15 people on board is brought down by a Syrian surface-to-air missile over the Mediterranean Sea.
Celebrating Birthday Today
- 1982 – Manos Loïzos, Egyptian-Greek composer (b. 1937)
- 1983 – Humberto Sousa Medeiros, Portuguese-American cardinal (b. 1915)
- 1984 – Richard Basehart, American actor and director (b. 1914)
- 1985 – Laura Ashley, Welsh fashion designer, founded Laura Ashley plc (b. 1925)
- 1987 – Harry Locke, English actor (b. 1913)
- 1991 – Zino Francescatti, French violinist and composer (b. 1902)
- 1992 – Roger Wagner, American conductor, and educator (b. 1914)
- 1993 – Willie Mosconi, American pool player, and actor (b. 1913)
- 1993 – Christian Nyby, American director and producer (b. 1913)
- 1994 – John Delafose, American accordion player (b. 1939)
- 1994 – Vitas Gerulaitis, American tennis player and coach (b. 1954)
- 1994 – Karl Popper, Austrian-English philosopher and academic (b. 1902)
- 1995 – Isadore Epstein, Estonian-American astronomer and academic (b. 1919)
- 1995 – Lucien Victor, Belgian cyclist (b. 1931)
- 1996 – Spiro Agnew, American soldier, and politician, 39th Vice President of the United States (b. 1918)
- 1997 – Red Skelton, American actor, and comedian (b. 1913)
- 1998 – Ted Binion, American poker player and businessman (b. 1943)
- 1998 – Geoffrey Dutton, Australian historian and author (b. 1922)
- 1999 – Frankie Vaughan, English singer, and actor (b. 1928)
- 2000 – Georgiy Gongadze, Georgian-Ukrainian journalist and director (b. 1969)
- 2003 – Erich Hallhuber, German actor (b. 1951)
- 2005 – Jacques Lacarrière, French journalist and critic (b. 1925)
- 2005 – Alfred Reed, American composer, and educator (b. 1921)
- 2009 – Dick Durock, American stuntman, and actor (b. 1937)
- 2009 – Noordin Mohammad Top, Malaysian terrorist (b. 1968)
- 2011 – Colin Madigan, Australian architect, and author designed the National Gallery of Australia (b. 1921)
- 2012 – Melvin Charney, Canadian sculptor, and architect (b. 1935)
- 2012 – Lou Kenton, English soldier and potter (b. 1908)
- 2012 – Russell E. Train, American soldier and civil servant (b. 1920)
- 2013 – Kristian Gidlund, Swedish drummer and journalist (b. 1983)
- 2013 – Larry Lake, American-Canadian trumpet player, and composer (b. 1943)
- 2013 – Bernie McGann, Australian saxophonist, and composer (b. 1937)
- 2013 – Alex Naumik, Lithuanian-Norwegian singer-songwriter, and producer (b. 1949)
- 2013 – Michael J. Noonan, Irish farmer, and politician, 25th Irish Minister of Defence (b. 1935)
- 2013 – Marvin Rainwater, American singer-songwriter (b. 1925)
- 2013 – Eiji Toyoda, Japanese businessman (b. 1913)
- 2014 – George Hamilton IV, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1937)
- 2014 – Andriy Husin, Ukrainian footballer and manager (b. 1972)
- 2014 – Wakachichibu Komei, Japanese sumo wrestler (b. 1939)
- 2014 – Charles Read, Australian air marshal (b. 1918)
- 2014 – Peter von Bagh, Finnish historian, director, and screenwriter (b. 1943)
- 2014 – China Zorrilla, Uruguayan actress (b. 1922)
- 2015 – Ingrīda Andriņa, Latvian actress (b. 1944)
- 2015 – Dettmar Cramer, German footballer, and manager (b. 1925)
- 2015 – Milo Hamilton, American sportscaster (b. 1927)
- 2015 – Vadim Kuzmin, Russian physicist and academic (b. 1937)
- 2015 – David Willcocks, English organist, composer, and conductor (b. 1919)
- 2016 – Bahman Golbarnezhad, Iranian racing cyclist (b. 1968)
- 2016 – Sigge Parling, Swedish footballer (b. 1936)