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March 17: Today in History – Historical Events
18th Century – What Happened on March 17 – The 1700s
1. 17th March 1756: For the first time in history St Patrick’s Day for celebrated today in New York City. The celebrations were held in Crown and Thistle Tavern.
2. 17th March 1766: The Stamp Act which had caused resentment in the North American colonies was repealed by Britain.
19th Century – March 17 This Day That Year – The 1800s
3. 17th March 1868: A patent was issued today for the postage stamp canceling machine.
4. 17th March 1870: The Massachusetts legislature today incorporated Wellesley College under its first name Wellesley Female Seminary.
5. 17th March 1884: John Joseph Montgomery made the first manned, controlled flight in a heavier-than-air glider in Otay, California, U.S.A.
6. 17th March 1886: In what is known as the Carrolton Massacre in Mississippi 20 blacks were killed today.
7. 17th March 1891: The “Etopia” a British Streamer sank off the coast of Gibraltar today.
8. 17th March 1894: The US and China signed a treaty today preventing Chinese laborers from entering the US.
20th Century – Important Events On This Day March 17th – The 1900s
9. 17th March 1901: The Bernheim Gallery in Paris today exhibited the paintings of Vincent Van Gogh.
10. 17th March 1905: Franklin D Roosevelt today married his distant cousin Eleanor Roosevelt. The wedding ceremony was attended by President Theodor Roosevelt.
11. 17th March 1909: Strikes paralyzed the communication industry in France today.
12. 17th March 1909: A powerful earthquake and its aftershocks rock Taiwan. Over 1200 people were killed in the quake.
13. 17th March 1910: Today Luther and Charlotte Gulick founded the Camp Fire Girls Organization. It was formally presented to the public only two years later.
14. 17th March 1914: Russia more than trebled its strength of active duty military from 4, 60,000 to 1,700,000.
15. 17th March 1919: Dutch steel workers went on strike today demanding 8 8-hour work days and minimum wages.
16. 17th March 1921: The first birth control clinic in Britain was opened today by Dr. Marie Stopes in London.
17. 17th March 1924: Diplomats were exchanged between Sweden and the USSR.
18. 17th March 1924: Today Netherlands and USSR began talks over recognition of USSR.
19. 17th March 1926: Germany was prevented from joining the League of Nations by Spain and Brazil.
20. 17th March 1927: The government of the United States does not sign the League of Nations disarmament treaty.
21. 17th March 1929: The German automobile manufacturer Adam Opel was acquired by General Motors.
22. 17th March 1930: Construction of the Empire State Building began in New York today. The excavation work had started on 22nd Jan.
23. 17th March 1931: The Senate of Nevada today legalized all forms of gambling. This provided the impetus for the development of Los Vegas.
24. 17th March 1932: Adolf Hitler’s Nazi headquarters was today raided by the German police.
25. 17th March 1938: About 300 lives are reported lost in about 9 air raids that took place in Spain.
26. 17th March 1939: The Sino-Japanese war broke out today with the Battle of Nanchang between Kuomintang and the Japanese.
27. 17th March 1941: President Franklin D Roosevelt officially opened the National Gallery of Art today in Washington DC.
28. 17th March 1942: Bełżec concentration camp opens today with the transportation of 30,000 Lublin Polish Jews.
29. 17th March 1942: Today General Douglas McArthur took over as the Supreme Commander of the Allied forces in Southwest Pacific.
30. 17th March 1943: The world’s first “hemodialysis” was today performed by William J Kolff, a physician, using an artificial kidney machine in the Netherlands. The treatment was not successful and the patient did not survive.
31. 17th March 1944: The US bombed Vienna today during World War II.
32. 17th March 1945: North Sumatra was today bombed by the Allied ships.
33. 17th March 1948: Today the 50-year Western European treaty was signed by Britain, Belgium, France Netherlands, and Luxemburg. The countries agreed to participate in this agreement which included a provision for each of these countries to provide military aid to one another.
34. 17th March 1949: The International Automobile Show exhibited a Porsche 356, the first car with a Porsche badge to be shown in the show.
35. 17th March 1950: The Scientists at California University announced today that they had found a new radioactive element known as element 98. The element was called “Californium”.
36. 17th March 1950: A constitutional crisis results in the resignation of the Gaston Eyskens government in Belgium.
37. 17th March 1953: The US today performed the nuclear test at the Nevada test site.
38. 17th March 1957: Pilipino Ramon Magsaysay and 24 others were killed when the Presidential plane of the Philippines crashed on Mt Manunggal in Cebu.
39. 17th March 1960: President Dwight D. Eisenhower formed an anti-Castro-exile army under the CIA.
40. 17th March 1958: The United States today launched the “Vanguard I” Satellite.
41. 17th March 1959: Dalai Lama fled Tibet today and went to India.
42. 17th March 1959: Diplomatic relations between Australia and Russia were restored today.
43. 17th March 1961: South Africa today left the British Commonwealth.
44. 17th March 1961: The military aid and technicians to Lagos were today increased by the US.
45. 17th March 1962: Moscow today asked the US to pull out of South Vietnam.
46. 17th March 1963: In Bali Mount Agung Bali erupted today killing 1,900 Balinese.
47. 17th March 1965: It was reported that the United States had invaded communist regions of Laos. The US had dropped more than 20 tons of bombs in this region.
48. 17th March 1966: The Defense and Aid fund was today banned by the South African government.
49. 17th March 1966: A missing H Bomb was found by a US submarine today in the Mediterranean off Spain.
50. 17th March 1968: About 10,000 people took out a rally at Trafalgar Square in an anti-Vietnam war demonstration. The rally was peaceful but turned violent outside the US embassy in London. About 130 people were injured. About 50, including 25 policemen were taken to the hospital.
51. 17th March 1969: Swearing in of Golda Meir as the fourth Prime Minister of Israel.
52. 17th March 1970: Fourteen officers of the US Army were today charged with suppression of facts in the My Lai Massacre case.
53. 17th March 1970: The United States today exercised its first veto in the UN Security Council in support of England.
54. 17th March 1973: A bomb which was meant for the Cambodian President Lon Nol went off killing twenty people in Cambodia.
55. 17th March 1973: The New London Bridge was today opened by Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II.
56. 17th March 1973: North Vietnam today released the first American Prisoners of war from the “Hanoi Hilton” in Hanoi.
57. 17th March 1973: Commemorating Bloody Sunday, St Patrick’s Day marchers carried 14 coffins.
58. 17th March 1976: The US today performed a nuclear test at the Nevada test site.
59. 17th March 1976: A car bomb exploded today by the Ulster Volunteer Force at Hillcrest Bar in Dungannon killing 4 Christians including 2 children besides injuring twelve others.
60. 17th March 1978: In retaliation to the bus hijack in Tel Aviv by Palestinians in which 35 people were killed and 100 others were injured, Israel today launched an attack on Southern Lebanon forcing hundreds and thousands of Palestinians to head to safety in Beirut, by buses, lorries and other means of transport.
61. 17th March 1978: There was an oil spill off the French coast when the tanker Amoco Cadiz spilled about 1.6 million gallons of oil.
62. 17th March 1979: The Penmanshiel Tunnel today collapsed during engineering works killing two workers.
63. 17th March 1982: Government troops in El Salvador today killed four Dutch television crew members.
64. 17th March 1985: US President Ronald Regan today agreed to a joint study on acid rain with Canada.
65. 17th March 1986: The Haemers Gang today robbed gold transport in Belgium of 35 million BF.
66. 17th March 1987: The PC-DOS version 3.3 was today released by IBM.
67. 17th March 1988: Iran today accused Iraq of using poison gas.
68. 17th March 1988: A precautionary warning was issued in the United States on the treatment of warts using carbon dioxide. Although this was a proven treatment, persons performing the procedure were advised to be careful not to allow the wart virus vapor to enter the air
69. 17th March 1989: Large regions of Canada suffered power outages caused by violent magnetic fields due to a series of Solar flares.
70. 17th March 1991: The turnpike toll was today raised by 70% by New Jersey.
71. 17th March 1991: Irish Lesbians and Gays take out a march on St Patrick’s Day.
72. 17th March 1991: Today the new union treaty was officially approved by 9 of the 15 Soviet representatives.
73. 17th March 1992: Constitutional reforms to give legal equality to blacks, were today approved by the White South Africans.
74. 17th March 1992: The Russian manned spacecraft TM-14 was today launched into orbit.
75. 17th March 1992: There was a suicide car bomb attack today in Buenos Aires against the Israeli embassy which killed 10 people.
76. 17th March 1993: A bomb attack in Calcutta in India killed at least 83 people.
77. 17th March 1994: An Iranian transport aircraft crashed in Azerbaijan killing 32 people.
78. 17th March 1995: Today Garry Adams, the Sinn-Finn leader visited the Whitehouse.
79. 17th March 1995: The first chickenpox vaccine “Varivax” by Merck & Co was today approved by the US.
80. 17th March 1997: CNN began its Spanish broadcast today.
81. 17th March 1999: In the wake of a bribery scandal, the International Olympic Committee today expelled six of its members.
82. 17th March 1999: A panel of medical experts concluded today that Marijuana had medical benefits for people suffering from cancer and AIDS.
21st Century – March 17 This Day In History – The 2000s
83. 17th March 2000: A fire broke out in a church in Kanungu Uganda in which over 500 people were killed. The fire was linked to a cult known as the “Movement for the Restoration of the Ten Commandments”.
84. 17th March 2001: It was decided by OPEC to cut oil output by 4% or 1 million barrels per day with effect from 1st April.
85. 17th March 2003: Today the British Cabinet Minister Robin Cook resigned over government plans for war with Iraq.
86. 17th March 2003: Today George W Bush gave a final ultimatum to Saddam Hussein that he and his sons had 48 hours to leave Iraq. This came two days before the US invasion of Iraq.
87. 17th March 2004: The spacecraft “Messenger” of NASA today became the first spacecraft to enter into orbit around Mercury. It crashed into the surface of Mercury on 30 April 2015. The probe had taken 2,70,000 pictures before it crashed.
88. 17th March 2004: There was unrest in Kosovo which destroyed 35 Serb Orthodox shrines in Kosovo, and two mosques in Belgrade and Nis. Twenty-two people lost their lives and over 200 were injured in the unrest.
89. 17th March 2008: New York State Governor Eliot Spitzer, after a scandal involving a high-end prostitute, resigned from office today. David Paterson took over as acting governor.
90. 17th March 2008: Today Kosovo became independent of Serbia. The Kosovan Prime Minister has promised democracy that respects the rights of all ethnic communities.
91. 17th March 2009: The “iTunes Music Store” today reached 800 million applications downloaded.
92. 17th March 2009: The Seattle newspaper “Seattle Post-Intelligencer” today printed its final edition. The 146-year-old new paper will now become solely an online operation.
93. 17th March 2010: US President Barack Obama today said that the US will pursue aggressive sanctions against Iran to prevent Iran from getting a nuclear weapon.
94. 17th March 2013: Pope Francis today delivered his first Angelus prayer and blessing.
95. 17th March 2013: A car bombing in Basra Iraq killed 10 people.
96. 17th March 2013: The 2013 Pritzker Architecture Prize was won by Toyo Ito.
97. 17th March 2014: The Republic of Crimea was declared today.
98. 17th March 2014: The Electoral Court of El Salvador today confirmed the election of Salvador Sanchez Ceren’s victory in the keenly contested presidential elections.
99. 17th March 2016: Archaeologists today announced the discovery of the Iron Age warrior king’s burial ground. They found 75 graves which were 2500 years old in Pocklington in Northern England.
100. 17th March 2016: As part of the “Car Wash” controversy Brazilian federal judge blocked the swearing-in of Luiz Inacio Lula de Silva as chief of staff of President Dilma Rousseff.
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