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What happened in history on this day: May 17?
On May 17 in ...
- 1792 - 24 merchants form New York Stock Exchange at 70 Wall Street.
- 1862 - Battle of Princeton, West Virginia, ends; about 128 casualities.
- 1863 - Battle of Big Black River Bridge, Mississippi.
- 1864 - Battle of Adairsville, Georgia; USA forces Confederates to retreat.
- 1881 - Frederick Douglass is appointed recorder of deeds for Washington DC.
- 1883 - Buffalo Bill Cody's first wild west show premieres in Omaha, Nebraska, USA.
- 1884 - Alaska becomes a US territory.
- 1909 - White firemen on Georgia railroad strike to protest hiring blacks.
- 1910 - US Congress establishes the Commission of Fine Arts.
- 1915 - National Baptist Convention chartered.
- 1932 - US Congress changes spelling of the name "Porto Rico" back to "Puerto Rico".
- 1938 - US Congress approves Vinson Naval Act, which funds a two-ocean navy.
- 1938 - Radio quiz show Information Please! debuts on NBC Blue Network.
- 1944 - Chinese/US armed forces take Myitkyina Airport, Burma.
- 1945 - Two US P-47 Thunderbolts bomb Kiushu, Japan.
- 1946 - US President Harry Truman seizes control of nation's railroads to delay a strike.
- 1954 - U.S. Supreme Court rules unanimously in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, that racial segregation in public educational facilities is unconstitutional.
- 1957 - Prayer Pilgrimage takes place; biggest American civil rights demonstration to date (District of Columbia).
- 1960 - First atomic reactor system to be patented, JW Flora, Canoga Park, California, USA.
- 1961 - Fidel Castro offers to exchange Bay of Pigs prisoners for 500 bulldozers.
- 1963 - US performs nuclear Test at Nevada Test Site.
- 1968 - US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site.
- 1971 - Washington State bans sex discrimination.
- 1973 - US Senate Watergate Committee begins its hearings.
- 1973 - US performs three nuclear tests at Rifle, Colorado.
- 1975 - Los Angeles police raid the secret headquarters of the Symbionese Liberation Army, killing six of the group's nine known members.
- 1979 - -12 degrees F (-11 degrees C), on top of Mauna Kea, Hawaii (state record).
- 1980 - A Miami, Florida court acquits four white police officers of killing Arthur McDuffie, a black insurance executive, provoking three days of race riots - 16 killed, 300 injured.
- 1983 - Lebanon, Israel, and the United States sign an agreement on Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon.
- 1984 - Mai Shanley, age 21 of New Mexico, crowned 33rd Miss USA.
- 1985 - Les Anderson catches record 97-pound 4-ounce Chinook Salmon, off Alaska.
- 1987 - Iraqi Mirage F-1 fighter-bomber fires two Exocet missiles into USS Stark in the Persian Gulf, killing 37 US sailors, wounding 2. Iraqi government claims it was a mistake.
- 1991 - Disney's Port Orleans Resort hotel opens in Walt Disney World. It has 1008 guest rooms.
- 1995 - Shawn Nelson, 35, goes on a tank rampage in San Diego, California.
- 2004 - Massachusetts legalizes same-sex marriage in compliance with a ruling from the state's Supreme Judicial Court (Goodridge v. Department of Public Health).
- 2008 - In Baltimore, Maryland, USA, the 133rd running of the Preakness Stakes is held. The undefeated 3-year-old Big Brown wins by 5 1/4 lengths, ridden by Kent Desormeaux.
- 2017 - New Orleans removes statue of Confederate General Robert E. Lee, first unveiled in 1884.
- 2021 - Discovery, Inc. agrees to buy media conglomerate WarnerMedia and all of its subsidiaries from AT&T for US$43 billion.
- 2022 - According to Johns Hopkins University, the Covid-19 death toll in America reaches 1 million.
Births on May 17
- 1899 - Birth of Ralf Harolde in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA; actor (Framed, Smart Money, Tip-off).
- 1907 - Birth of Horace McMahon in South Norwalk, Connecticut, USA; actor (Martin Kane Private Eye).
- 1920 - Birth of Harriet Van Horne in Syracuse, New York, USA; columnist/panelist (Leave it to Girls).
- 1923 - Birth of Peter Mennin[i] in Erie, Pennsylvania, USA; composer (Moby Dick).
- 1936 - Birth of Dennis Hopper in Dodge City, Kansas, USA; actor (True Grit, Blue Velvet, Easy Rider).
- 1938 - Birth of Don Dolan in Staten Island, New York, USA; actor (Guy Lewis - General Hospital).
- 1942 - Birth of Taj Mahal in New York City, New York, USA; singer/songwriter ("The Real Thing").
- 1944 - Birth of Jesse Winchester in Shreveport, Louisiana, USA; singer/songwriter ("Learn to Love it").
- 1953 - Birth of George Johnson in Los Angeles, California, USA; rocker (Brothers Johnson).
- 1953 - Birth of Kathleen Sullivan in Pasadena, California, USA; newscaster (ABC-TV, CBS Morning Show).
- 1956 - Birth of "Sugar" Ray [Charles] Leonard in Palmer Park, Maryland, USA; welter/middle/light-heavyweight boxing champion (Olympics-gold-1976).
- 1956 - Birth of Bob Saget in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA; comedian/actor (Danny - Full House, America's Funniest Home Videos).
- 1960 - Birth of Fiona Hutchison in Miami, Florida, USA; actress (One Life to Live, Guiding Light).
- 1965 - Birth of Paige Turco in Springfield, Massachusetts, USA; actress (Dinah - Guiding Light).
- 1967 - Birth of Debbie Dutch in Titusville, New Jersey, USA; actress (Hell's Paradox).
- 1970 - Birth of Jim Cummins in Dearborn, Michigan, USA; NHL right wing (Chicago Blackhawks).
- 1970 - Birth of Jordan Nathaniel Marcel Knight in Worcester, Massachusetts, USA; rocker (New Kids on the Block - "Hangin' Tough").
- 1971 - Birth of Bill Lindsay in Big Fork, Montana, USA; NHL left wing (Florida Panthers).
- 1974 - Birth of Marcia Turner in Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA; Miss America (Massachusetts-Top 10-1996).
- 1976 - Birth of Peter Devine in New York City, New York; fencer-foil (Olympics-1996).
- 1977 - Birth of Jere Michael in Aspen, Colorado; figure skater (1994 National Junior champion).
Deaths on May 17
- 1930 - Herbert David Croly, US founder (New Republic), dies at age 61.
- 1945 - Sasaki Shigetsu Sokei-an, founder of first Zen Institute of America, dies.
- 1981 - Jeannette Ridlon Piccard, first US woman free balloon pilot, dies.
- 1992 - Death of Lawrence Welk at age 89 from pneumonia; bandleader (The Lawrence Welk Show TV show, "Calcutta" (1961)).
- 1996 - Scott Evans Brayton, American racing car driver, dies at age 37 (born 1959).
- 2004 - Death of Tony Randall AKA Leonard Rosenberg at age 84 of pneumonia following heart surgery; actor (Reggie - I Love a Mystery radio show, Mr. Peepers TV show, The Odd Couple, The Tony Randall Show, Love Sidney).
- 2007 - Death of Lloyd Alexander, American author (born 1924).
- 2014 - Death of Gerald Edelman, American Nobel biologist (born 1929).
- 2022 - Death of Kristine Gebbie at age 78; American health policy expert (AIDS).
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