17 March

Events

• 45 BC - In his last victory, Julius Caesar defeats the Pompeian forces of Titus Labienus and Pompey the Younger in the Battle of Munda.
• 1756 - St. Patrick's Day is celebrated in New York City for the first time (at the Crown and Thistle Tavern).
• 1776 - American Revolution: British forces evacuate Boston, Massachusetts after George Washington places artillery overlooking the city.
• 1861 - The Kingdom of Italy is proclaimed.
• 1886 - Carrollton Massacre: 20 African Americans are killed in Mississippi.
• 1891 - The British steamship SS Utopia sinks off the coast of Gibraltar, killing 574.
• 1901 - A showing of 71 Vincent van Gogh paintings in Paris, 11 years after his death, creates a sensation.
• 1910 - Luther Gulick and his wife Charlotte found Camp Fire Girls (formally announced in 1912).
• 1931 - Nevada legalizes gambling.
• 1941 - In Washington, DC, the National Gallery of Art is officially opened by President Franklin D. Roosevelt.
• 1948 - Benelux, France, and the United Kingdom sign the Treaty of Brussels which is a precursor to the NATO Agreement.
• 1950 - University of California, Berkeley researchers announce the creation of element 98 which they have named "californium".
• 1958 - The United States launches the Vanguard 1 satellite.
• 1959 - Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama, flees Tibet and travels to India.
• 1966 - Off the coast of Spain in the Mediterranean, the ALVIN submarine finds a missing American hydrogen bomb.
• 1969 - Golda Meir of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA, becomes Prime Minister of Israel.
• 1970 - My Lai massacre: The United States Army charges 14 officers with suppressing information related to the incident.
• 1985 - Serial killer Richard Ramirez, the "Night Stalker", commits his first two murders in Los Angeles, California murder spree.
• 1988 - A Colombian Boeing 727 jetliner, Avianca Flight 410, crashes into the side of the mountains near Venezuela border killing 143.
• 1992 - 29 are killed and 242 injured when a suicide car-bomb goes off in the Israeli embassy in Buenos Aires.
• 2003 - British Cabinet Minister, Robin Cook, resigns over government plans for war with Iraq.

Births

• 1473 - King James IV of Scotland, (d. 1513)
• 1777 - Roger Taney, Chief Justice of the United States, (d. 1864)
• 1804 - Jim Bridger, pioneer, (d. 1881)
• 1834 - Gottlieb Daimler, engineer and inventor, (d. 1900)
• 1862 - Silvio Gesell, economist, (d. 1930)
• 1870 - Horace St. John Kelly Donisthorpe, British entomologist, myrmecologist and coleopterist, (d. 1951)
• 1888 - Frank Buck, "big game" hunter, (d. 1950)
• 1894 - Paul Green, novelist, Pulitzer Prize winning playwright, (d. 1981)
• 1895 - Shemp Howard, actor ("The Three Stooges"), (d. 1955)
• 1902 - Bobby Jones, golfer, (d. 1971)
• 1908 - Brigitte Helm, actress, (d. 1996)
• 1912 - Bayard Rustin, civil rights activist, (d. 1987)
• 1914 - Sammy Baugh, American football star
• 1918 - Mercedes McCambridge, actress
• 1919 - Nat King Cole, singer, (d. 1965)
• 1920 - Mujibur Rahman, Prime Minister of Bangladesh, (d. 1975)
• 1926 - Siegfried Lenz, writer
• 1936 - Ladislav Kupkovic, composer
• 1938 - Rudolf Nureyev, dancer and choreographer, (d. 1993)
• 1942 - John Wayne Gacy, serial killer, (d. 1994)
• 1944 - John Sebastian, singer-songwriter, also a member of the Lovin' Spoonful
• 1948 - William Gibson, writer
• 1949 - Patrick Duffy, actor
• 1951 - Kurt Russell, actor
• 1954 - Lesley-Anne Down, actress
• 1955 - Gary Sinise, actor
• 1956 - Patrick McDonnell, creator of syndicated cartoon strip "Mutts"
• 1959 - Danny Ainge, basketball player, coach, baseball player
• 1964 - Rob Lowe, actor
• 1972 - Mia Hamm, soccer player

Deaths

• 45 BC - Titus Labienus (b. c. 100 BC), Roman statesman, and Gnaeus Pompeius (died in and executed after the battle of Munda)
• 180 - Marcus Aurelius, Roman Emperor, (b. 121)
• 461 - Saint Patrick, patron saint of Ireland died in Saul, County Down, (b. c. 373)
• 1058 - King Lulach I of Scotland, (b. c. 1029)
• 1917 - Franz Brentano, German philosopher and psychologist, (b. 1838)
• 1956 - Irene Joliot-Curie, scientist, (b. 1897)
• 1965 - Amos Alonzo Stagg, baseball, basketball and American football coach and player, (b. 1862)
• 1976 - Luchino Visconti, director, (b. 1906)
• 1957 - Ramon Magsaysay, President of the Philippines
• 1990 - Capucine, actress, (b. 1931)
• 1993 - Helen Hayes, actress, (b. 1900)
• 2003 - Klaus Oldendorff, ship owner

Holidays and observances

• Saint Patrick's Day: a public holiday in Ireland and Montserrat
• Roman Empire - the second day of the Bacchanalia in honor of Bacchus
• Roman Empire - the Liberia in honor of Liber
• Ancient Latvia - Kustonu Diena observed
• Boston, Massachusetts - Evacuation Day

March 16 - March 18 - February 17 - April 17 -- listing of all days

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Referenced By