|
|---|
| Birthday August 17, 1601 Pierre de Fermat, mathematician who needed wider margins |
| Birthday August 17, 1786 Davy Crockett, American frontiersman, adventurer, soldier |
| Birthday August 17, 1876 Eric Drummond, 1st secretary-general, League of Nations (1919-33) |
| Birthday August 17, 1882 Samuel Goldwyn, movie producer |
| Birthday August 17, 1887 Marcus Garvey, began back-to-Africa movement among US blacks |
| Birthday August 17, 1892 Mae West, Bkln, Actress., Go up & see her sometime |
| Birthday August 17, 1914 Franklin D. Roosevelt Jr., son of FDR |
| Birthday August 17, 1921 Maureen O'Hara, in Dublin Ireland |
| Birthday August 17, 1923 Larry Rivers, painter |
| Birthday August 17, 1941 Boog Powell, baseball player |
| Birthday August 17, 1943 Robert De Niro, Actor |
| Birthday August 17, 1943 Robert De Niro born |
| Birthday August 17, 1958 Belinda Carlisle, (GoGos lead singer) |
| Birthday August 17, 1960 Sean Penn, (Fast Times at Ridgemont High) |
| History August 17, 1785 Connecticut Patriot Jonathan Trumbull dies |
| History August 17, 1807 Robert Fulton's steamboat Clermont begins 1st trip up Hudson River |
| History August 17, 1846 US takes LA |
| History August 17, 1858 1st bank in Hawaii opens |
| History August 17, 1862 Dakota uprising begins in Minnesota |
| History August 17, 1863 Federal batteries & ships bombarded Ft Sumter in Charleston |
| History August 17, 1877 Billy the Kid kills his first man |
| History August 17, 1877 Asaph Hall discovers Mars' moon Phobos |
| History August 17, 1896 Gold discovered at Bonanza Creek in Klondike region of the Yukon |
| History August 17, 1908 Bank of Italy opens it's new HQ at Clay & Montgomery |
| History August 17, 1914 Russian troops invade East Prussia |
| History August 17, 1915 Mob lynches Jewish businessman Leo Frank in Cobb County Ga. after death sentence for murder of 13-year-old girl commuted to life |
| History August 17, 1915 Charles Kettering receives patent for electric self-starter |
| History August 17, 1933 Lou Gehrig goes the distance |
| History August 17, 1939 The Wizard of Oz opens at Loew's Capitol Theater in NY |
| History August 17, 1940 FDR & Canadian PM William M King agree to joint defense commission |
| History August 17, 1942 US bombers staged 1st independent raid on Europe attack Rouen France |
| History August 17, 1942 Carlson's Raiders land on Makin Island |
| History August 17, 1943 Patton wins race to Messina |
| History August 17, 1943 Allied forces gained completed control of Sicily |
| History August 17, 1944 Yanks Johnny Lindell ties record with 4 doubles in a game |
| History August 17, 1945 Indonesia declares independence from the Netherlands (National Day) |
| History August 17, 1948 Alger Hiss denied ever being a Communist agent |
| History August 17, 1950 Indonesia gains it's independence |
| History August 17, 1960 Gabon gains independence from France (National Day) |
| History August 17, 1960 Francis Gary Powers U-2 spy trial opens in Moscow |
| History August 17, 1961 Alliance for Progress established |
| History August 17, 1962 E German border guards shot & mortally wounded Peter Fechter 18 who attempted to cross the Berlin Wall into the western sector |
| History August 17, 1962 East Germans kill man trying to cross Berlin Wall |
| History August 17, 1968 117,000 combat missions flown over North Vietnam in three years |
| History August 17, 1969 Hurricane Camille claimed more than 250 lives |
| History August 17, 1970 USSR launches Venera 7 to Venus |
| History August 17, 1973 U.S. troops to withdraw from Thailand |
| History August 17, 1974 The Night Chicago Died by Paper Lace tops the U.S. pop charts |
| History August 17, 1978 Balloon crosses the Atlantic |
| History August 17, 1978 1st manned balloon crossing of the Atlantic Ocean (Eagle II) |
| History August 17, 1984 A serial rapist strikes in England |
| History August 17, 1987 Hitler's last living henchman dies |
| History August 17, 1987 Nazi Rudolph Hess dies at 93 after 46 years in Spandau Prison |
| History August 17, 1993 Random House gives Colin Powell largest autobiography advance to date |
| History August 17, 1998 Clinton testifies before grand jury |
| History August 17, 1999 Earthquake exposes weak infrastructure |
| History August 17, 1999 Deadly earthquake strikes Turkey |