Today in History
May 17 - Today in History
By Staff
May 17, 2008 - 12:00:00 AM

0218 - 7th recorded perihelion passage of Halley's Comet
0352 - Liberius begins his reign as Catholic Pope replacing Julius I
0884 - St Adrian III begins his reign as Catholic Pope
1525 - Battle at Zabern: duke of Lutherans beats rebels
1527 - Ponfilo de Narvaz departs to explore Florida
1536 - Anne Boleyns 4 "lovers" executed
1544 - Scot earl Matthew van Lennox signs secret treaty with Henry VIII
1579 - Artois/Henegouwen/French-Flanders sign Treaty/Peace of Parma recognizing Spanish duke van Parma as land guardian
1606 - Forges Dimitri #1, czar of Russia (1605-06), murdered
1620 - First merry-go-round seen at a fair (Philippapolis, Turkey)
1630 - Italian Jesuit Niccolo Zucchi, first to see 2 belts on Jupiter surface
1631 - Earl Johann Tilly attacks Maagdenburg
1648 - Emperor Ferdinand III defeats Maximilian I of Bavaria
1672 - Frontenac becomes governor of New France (Canada)
1673 - Louis Joliet and Jacques Marquette begin exploring Mississippi
1678 - King Charles II and Louis XIV sign secret treaty
1712 - Maximilian Emanuel of Bavaria honored as "sovereign of Netherlands"
1727 - Catherine I, Empress of Russia (1725-27), dies
1733 - England passes Molasses Act, putting high tariffs on rum and molasses imported to the colonies from a country other than British possessions
1742 - Frederick great (Emperor of Prussia) beats Austrians
1744 - French army takes Austrian Netherlands
1750 - -18] Tax revolt in Gorinchem
1756 - Britain declares war on France (7 Years' or French and Indian War)
1787 - English slave ship Sisters, from Africa to Cuba, capsizes
1792 - 24 merchants form NY Stock Exchange at 70 Wall Street
1794 - Hard frost in southern New England
1803 - John Hawkins and Richard French patent the Reaping Machine
1804 - Lewis and Clark begin exploration of Louisiana Purchase
1809 - Papal States annexed by France
1814 - Denmark cedes Norway to Sweden (Natl Day)
1814 - Norwegian constitution passed by constitutent assembly at Eidsvoll
1837 - Royal Decides installs the Weapon of Belgium firm(ly)
1845 - Rubber band patented
1846 - Saxophone is patents by Antoine Joseph Sax
1848 - Premier earl Schimmelpenninck resigns
1849 - Fire destroy Centrum in St Louis Missouri
1853 - Thorbeckes liberals win 2nd-Parliamentary election
1862 - Battle of Princeton WV, ends, about 128 casualities
1863 - Battle of Big Black River Bridge, MS
1864 - Battle of Adairsville Georgia, Union forces Confederates to retreat
1871 - Indian fighter General Sherman escapes in ambulance vs Comanches
1872 - Bohemian Club incorporated
1875 - First Kentucky Derby: Oliver Lewis aboard Aristides wins in 2:37.75
1876 - 7th US Cavalry under Custer leaves Ft Lincoln
1877 - Edwin T Holmes installs first telephone switchboard burglar alarm
1881 - 7th Kentucky Derby: Jim McLaughlin aboard Hindoo wins in 2:40
1881 - Frederick Douglass appointed recorder of deeds for Wash DC
1881 - Revised version of New Testament
1883 - Buffalo Bill Cody's first wild west show premieres in Omaha
1884 - Alaska becomes a US territory
1890 - Comic Cuts, first weekly comic paper, published in London
1894 - 19th Preakness: Fred Taral aboard Assignee wins in 1:49�
1895 - W G Grace completes his 100th 100 v Somerset at Bristol
1898 - Camp Merritt forms in Presidio [see 0503]
1899 - Victoria and Albert Museum foundation laid England
1900 - British troops relieve Mafeking (Cape Colony)
1903 - Cleve Indians beat NY Highlanders 9-2 in Columbus Ohio
1905 - Waseda U of Tokyo defeats LA High School 5-3 in baseball
1906 - Switzerland's Simpion Tunnel open to rail traffic
1909 - White firemen on Georgia RR strike to protest hiring blacks
1910 - Canada sets the designs for the 1�-50� coins
1911 - 36th Preakness: Eddie Dugan aboard Watervale wins in 1:51
1915 - 40th Preakness: Douglas Hoffman aboard Rhine Maiden wins in 1:58
1915 - Cubs George "Zip" Zabel relieves with 2 outs in first and winds up with 4-3 19-inning win over Brooklyn in longest relief job ever
1915 - Last liberal British government of Asquith falls
1915 - National Baptist Convention chartered
1916 - British Summer Time (Daylight Savings), first introduced
1920 - First De Havilland double-decker flight (London) lands in Schiphol
1920 - First flight by Dutch airlines KLM (Koninklijke-Luchtvaart-Maatschappij)
1921 - Belgian-Luxembourg sign customs union
1921 - President Harding opens (via telephone) first Valencia Orange Show
1923 - Fire during closing day ceremonies at Grover Cleveland School (SC)
1924 - 50th Kentucky Derby: John Mooney aboard Black Gold wins in 2:05.2
1925 - Cleveland Indian Tris Speaker gets his 3,000th hit
1926 - Chiang Kai-shek is made supreme war lord in Canton
1926 - German government of Marx takes power
1927 - Chicago Cubs beat Boston Braves, 4-3, in 22 innings
1928 - 9th modern Olympic games opens in Amsterdam
1930 - 56th Kentucky Derby: Earl Sande aboard Gallant Fox wins in 2:07.6
1932 - Congress changes name "Porto Rico" to "Puerto Rico"
1937 - Juan Negrin succeeds Largo Caballero as Spain's premier
1938 - Congress approves Vinson Naval Act, which funds a two-ocean navy
1938 - Radio quiz show "Information Please!" debuts on NBC Blue Network
1939 - First sports telecast-Columbia vs Princeton-college baseball
1940 - Germany occupies Brussels, Belgium and begins invasion of France
1940 - Nazi's bombs Middelburg/B IJzerdrat begins illegal defiance
1941 - Pennsylvania declares legal holiday to honor A's manager Connie Mack
1942 - Dutch SS vows loyalty to Hitler
1944 - -18] Allied air raid on Surabaja, Java
1944 - Chinese/US arm forces take Myitkyina Airport, Burma
1944 - General Eisenhower sets D-Day for June 5th
1945 - 2 US P-47 Thunderbolts bomb Kiushu
1946 - KVP Labor/Communists win first post-WW2 Dutch parliamentary elections
1946 - Pres Truman seizes control of nation's railroads to delay a strike
1948 - Israel liberates Acre, Nebi Yusha and Telel-Kadi
1948 - Soviet Union recognized Israel
1949 - British government recognizes Republic of Ireland
1952 - 78th Preakness: Conn McCreary aboard Blue Man wins in 1:57.4
1953 - Patty Berg wins LPGA Reno Golf Open
1953 - Yanks and Browns use record 41 players in a game
1954 - Supreme Court unanimously rules on Brown v Topeka Board of Education reversed 1896 "separate but equal" Plessy Vs Ferguson decision
1955 - Dutch government of Drees resigns
1957 - Prayer Pilgrimage, biggest civil rights demonstration to date (DC)
1957 - School desegregation law, Brown v Board of education
1958 - 84th Preakness: Ismael Valenzuela aboard Tim Tam wins in 1:57.2
1958 - Emergency crisis proclaimed in Algeria
1959 - Sam Snead sets PGA record for 36 holes at 122
1960 - First atomic reactor system patents, J W Flora of Canoga Park CA
1961 - Castro offers to exchange Bay of Pigs prisoners for 500 bulldozers
1962 - Marin County withdraws from BART district
1963 - Bruno Sammartino beats Buddy Rogers in NY, to become WWF champ
1963 - Houston Colt .45's Don Notterbart no-hits Phillies, 4-1
1963 - US performs nuclear Test at Nevada Test Site
1964 - Mickey Wright wins LPGA Muskogee Civitan Golf Open Invitational
1964 - Phillies triple play Houston Colt .45s
1967 - Dylan's 1965 UK Tour is released as film "Don't Look Back"
1968 - European Space Research Org launches first satellite
1968 - Frank Howard belts record 8th HR in 5th straight game
1968 - US performs nuclear Test at Nevada Test Site
1969 - "My Wife, My Dog, My Cat," by Maskman and The Agents hits #92
1969 - 95th Preakness: Bill Hartack aboard Majestic Prince wins in 1:55.6
1969 - Balt, Cleve and Pitts agree to go from NFC to AFC in NFL
1969 - Russian probe Venera 6 landed on Venus
1970 - Hank Aaron becomes 9th player to get 3,000 hits
1970 - Shirley Englehorn wins LPGA Johnny Londoff Chevrolet Golf Tournament
1970 - Thor Heyerdahl crosses Atlantic on reed raft Ra
1971 - Washington State bans sex discrimination
1972 - Neth and China PR exchange ambassadors
1972 - Tottenham Hotspur wins first UEFA Cup in London
1973 - Joe Ferguson, hits the 6,000th Dodger home run
1973 - Senate Watergate Committee begins its hearings
1973 - Stevie Wonder releases "You are the Sunshine of my Love"
1973 - US performs 3 nuclear tests at Rifle Colorado
1973 - Angels outfielder Bobby Valentine breaks his leg trying to scale wall to prevent a Dick Green home run during a 5-4 loss to the A's
1974 - Bayern Munchen wins 20th Europe Cup 1 at Brussels
1974 - Dmitri Shostakovitch completes his 15th String quartet
1975 - "Funky Gibbon" by The Goodies hits #79
1975 - 101st Preakness: Darrel McHargue aboard Master Derby wins in 1:56.4
1975 - 10cc releases "I'm Not in Love"
1975 - Mick Jagger punches a restaurant window, gets 20 stitches
1975 - NBC paid $5M for rights to show "Gone with the Wind" one time
1976 - 28th Emmy Awards: Mary Tyler Moore Show, Jack Albertson and M Learned
1976 - Earthquake in Uzbekistan: 1000's killed
1977 - Menahem Begins Likoed-party wins election in Israel
1978 - Lee Lacy hits record 3rd consecutive pinch-hit home run
1979 - -12�F (-11�C), on top of Mauna Kea, Hawaii (state record)
1979 - Emmy 6th Daytime Award presentation
1979 - Phillies beat Cubs, 23-22, on 50 hits with 11 HRs
1980 - 106th Preakness: Angel Cordero Jr aboard Codex wins in 1:54.2
1980 - Kumar Anandan balanced on one foot for 33 hours
1980 - Major race riot in Miami Florida - 16 killed, 300 injured
1980 - Paul and Linda McCartney appear on Saturday Night Live
1981 - Islanders score 5 power play goals against Flyers in a playoff
1981 - Kathy Whitworth wins LPGA Coca-Cola Golf Classic
1983 - Israel and Lebanon sign a peace treaty
1983 - Stanley Cup: NY Islanders sweep Edmonton Oilers in 4 games
1984 - Cincinnati Reds Mario Soto throws 4 strikeouts in one inning
1984 - Mai Shanley, 21, (NM), crowned 33rd Miss USA
1985 - Les Anderson, catches record 97 lb 4 oz Chinook Salmon, off Alaska
1986 - "Chicken Song" by Spitting Image hit #1 on the UK pop chart
1986 - 112th Preakness: Alex Solis aboard Snow Chief wins in 1:54.8
1987 - Ayako Okamoto wins LPGA Chrysler-Plymouth Golf Classic
1987 - USS Stark hit by Iraqi missiles, 37 sailors die
1989 - Longest Cab Ride Ever: 14,000 miles cost $16,000!
1989 - Napoli wins 18th UEFA Cup in Stuttgart
1989 - Nelson Mandela receives a BA from U of S Africa
1989 - Vincent Van Gogh's "Portrait of Dr Gachet" auctioned for $825M
1990 - Cheers' star Kelsey Grammer sentenced to jail for 30 days for DWI
1990 - Dow Jones avg hits a record 2,831.71
1990 - European court rules pension rights for both men and women
1990 - WIBC Bowling Queens won by Patty Ann
1991 - Lupita Jones, 23, of Mexico, crowned 40th Miss Universe
1992 - 38th Mazda LPGA Championship won by Betsy King
1992 - Expos Gary Carter is 3rd to catch 2,000 games (joins Boone and Fisk)
1993 - Intel's new Pentium processor is unveiled
1994 - Bakili Muluzi's UDF wins Malawi presidents/parliamentary election
1996 - Alicia Machado, 18, of Venezuela crowned 45th Miss Universe
1996 - Habib and Whitaker make 320 for 5th Cricket wkt, Leics v Worcs
1997 - 123rd Preakness: Gary Stevens aboard Silver Charm wins in 1:54
1997 - Sylvester Stallone weds Jennifer Flavin in London
1997 - WIBC Bowling Queens won by Sandra Jo Shiery-Odom
1998 - 44th McDonald's LPGA Championship
1999 - Labor Party leader Ehud Barak unseated Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Israeli elections
2000 - Two former Ku Klux Klansmen were arrested on murder charges in the 1963 church bombing in Birmingham, Ala., that killed four black girls. (Thomas E. Blanton Jr. and Bobby Frank Cherry were later convicted and sentenced to life in prison. Cherry died in 2004)
2003 - A top Vatican official confirmed that Pope John Paul II was suffering from Parkinson's disease
2004 - Massachusetts became the first state to allow legal same-sex marriages
2005 - Los Angeles Councilman Antonio Villaraigosa trounced Mayor James Hahn to be elected the city's first Hispanic mayor in more than a century
2006 - It was announced that Paul McCartney and his second wife, Heather Mills McCartney, had agreed to separate