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What happened in history on this day: August 17?
On August 17 in ...
- 1807 - Robert Fulton's American steamboat Clermont leaves New York City, inaugurating the world's first commercial steamboat service.
- 1846 - US takes Los Angeles.
- 1863 - Federal batteries and ships bombard Fort Sumter, Charleston.
- 1865 - Near Memphis, Tennessee, USA, a magnitude 5.0 earthquake occurs. Felt from St. Louis, Missouri, to Jackson, Mississippi.
- 1869 - First international boat race (Thames River) (Oxford beats Harvard).
- 1870 - First ascent of Mount Rainier, Washington.
- 1915 - Mob lynches Jewish businessman Leo Frank in Cobb County, Georgia, USA after death sentence for murder of 13-year-old girl commuted to life.
- 1915 - Hurricane kills 275 in Galveston, Texas with $50 million damage.
- 1916 - US Senate confirms Johannes Hugo von Engelken as Mint director.
- 1925 - The Fort Vancouver Exposition opens, in Vancouver, Washington, USA.
- 1939 - The Wizard of Oz movie opens at Loew's Capitol Theater in New York.
- 1940 - US President Franklin Roosevelt and Canadian Prime Minister William King meet at Ogdensburg, New York for a conference on hemispheric defence. They announce a joint defence commission on North American defence.
- 1942 - US bombers stage first independent raid on Europe, attacking Rouen, France.
- 1948 - Alger Hiss denies ever being a Communist agent.
- 1955 - Hurricane Diane, following hurricane Connie floods Connecticut River killing 190 and doing $1.8 billion damage.
- 1958 - World's first Moon probe, USA's Thor-Able, explodes 77 seconds after launch.
- 1959 - Quake Lake is formed in Yellowstone National Park in Montana by a 7.5 magnitude earthquake.
- 1960 - CIA pilot Francis Gary Powers is found guilty of espionage by the Soviet Union, sentenced to ten years in prison.
- 1961 - US Government establishes Alliance for Progress.
- 1966 - Pioneer 7 launched into solar orbit.
- 1978 - Double Eagle II becomes the first balloon to successfully cross the Atlantic Ocean, flying from Presque Isle, Maine, USA to Miserey, France.
- 1982 - South Bend, Indiana jury acquits self-avowed racist Joseph Paul Franklin.
- 1986 - Bronze pig statue unveiled at Seattle's Pike Place Market.
- 1987 - Dow Jones Industrial Average closes above 2,700 for first time (2,700.57).
- 1988 - The Pakistani president, Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq, and the U.S. ambassador to Pakistan, Arnold Raphel, are killed when the president's air force plane crashes on takeoff from Bhawalpur.
- 1988 - New York City first case of Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever (9-year-old Bronx boy).
- 1991 - West of Crescent City, California, a magnitude 7.1 earthquake occurs.
- 1998 - US President Bill Clinton testifies before a grand jury, acknowledging that he had had an extramarital affair with Monica Lewinsky.
- 2007 - Disney film High School Musical 2 is shown on TV in the USA, becoming the single most-watched basic cable telecast, with about 17.2 million viewers.
- 2007 - The US Federal Reserve reduces the discount rate from 6.25 to 5.75 percent.
- 2008 - Michael Phelps wins his record eighth gold medal of the Beijing Games, in the 4x100 medley relay, in record time of 3:29.34. Phelps now holds the record for most gold medals at an Olympics event.
- 2009 - Reader's Digest Association of New York announces it will file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy for its U.S. businesses as part of a plan to cut debt by 75 percent.
Births on August 17
- 1888 - Birth of Monty Wooley in New York City, New York, USA; actor (Pied Piper, The Man Who Came to Dinner).
- 1893 - Birth of Mary Jane West AKA Baby Mae AKA Jane Mast AKA Mae West in Bushwick, Brooklyn, New York, USA; actress (Night After Night, She Done Him Wrong, I'm No Angel, Klondike Annie, My Little Chickadee) (dies 1980).
- 1900 - Birth of Quincy Howe in Boston, Massachusetts, USA; newscaster (CBS Weekend News).
- 1914 - Birth of Franklin D Roosevelt Junior, son of Franklin Delano Roosevelt; American politician (Democrat for New York in House of Representatives, 1949-55).
- 1918 - Birth of Mort Marshall in New York City, New York, USA; actor (Cully - Dumplings).
- 1920 - Birth of Georgia Gibbs in Worcester, Massachusetts, USA; singer ("Ballin the Jack", "Kiss of Fire").
- 1922 - Birth of Ralph Roberts in North Carolina, USA; actor (Tradition, Gone are the Days).
- 1927 - Birth of Robert Moore in Detroit, Michigan, USA; actor (Marshall - Diana).
- 1932 - Birth of Chet Allen in Chickasha, Oklahoma, USA; actor (Jerry - Bonino, Slats - Troubleshooter).
- 1939 - Birth of Luther Allison in Arkansas, USA; guitarist ("Bad News is Coming").
- 1943 - Birth of Robert De Niro in New York City; actor (Bang the Drum Slowly, Taxi Driver).
- 1952 - Birth of Kathryn C Thornton in Montgomery, Alabama, USA; PhD/astronaut (STS 33, sk: 49).
- 1958 - Birth of Belinda Carlisle in Hollywood, California, USA; singer (The Go Gos, "Heaven on Earth").
- 1969 - Birth of Donald E Wahlberg Junior in Boston, Massachusetts, USA; rocker (New Kids - "Hangin' Tough").
Deaths on August 17
- 1920 - Ray Chapman, hit in the head by New York Yankees' Carl Mays' pitch, dies.
- 1979 - Death of Vivian Vance AKA Vivian Roberta Jones of bone cancer at age 70; actress (Ethel Mertz - I Love Lucy, The Lucy Show).
- 1983 - Ira Gershwin, American lyricist, dies in Beverly Hills, California, at age 86 (born 1896).
- 1988 - Franklin Delano Roosevelt Junior, American lawyer and politician (Representative-Democrat-New York, 1949-55) dies on 74th birthday (born 1914).
- 1988 - The Pakistani president, Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq, and the U.S. ambassador to Pakistan, Arnold Raphel, are killed when the president's air force plane crashes on takeoff from Bhawalpur.
- 1990 - Death of Pearl Bailey at age 72 of heart disease; singer ("Takes Two to Tango"), actress (As the World Turns TV show), and comedienne.
- 2007 - Death of Eddie Griffin, American basketball player (born 1982).
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