March 17
1762 - The first St. Patrick's Day parade was held in New York City.
1776 - British forces evacuated Boston during the Revolutionary War.
1870 - Wellesley Female Seminary (later Wellesley College) received its charter from the Massachusetts legislature.
1905 - Franklin D. Roosevelt married his distant cousin, Eleanor Roosevelt, in New York City. President Theodore Roosevelt, FDR's fifth cousin, gave his niece away.
1910 - The Camp Fire Girls organization was founded in Thetford, Vermont.
1936 - Pittsburgh's Great St. Patrick's Day Flood began as the Monongahela and Allegheny rivers and their tributaries, swollen by rain and melted snow, started exceeding flood stage; the high water was blamed for more than 60 deaths.
1941 - The National Gallery of Art opened in Washington, D.C.
1942 - Gen. Douglas MacArthur became supreme commander of Allied forces in the southwest Pacific theater during World War II.
1959 - The Dalai Lama fled Tibet for India in the wake of a failed uprising by Tibetans against Chinese rule.
1963 - Mount Agung on Bali erupted, killing nearly 1,200 people.
1966 - A U.S. Navy midget submarine located a missing hydrogen bomb that had fallen from a U.S. Air Force B-52 bomber into the Mediterranean off the coast of Spain. (It took several more weeks to actually recover the bomb.)
1969 - Golda Meir was sworn in as prime minister of Israel.
1970 - The United States cast its first veto in the U.N. Security Council, killing a resolution that would have condemned Britain for failing to use force to overthrow the white-ruled government of Rhodesia.
1988 - Avianca Flight 410, a Boeing 727, crashed after takeoff into a mountain in Colombia, killing all 143 people on board.
2003 - President George W. Bush delivered an ultimatum to Saddam Hussein: leave Iraq within 48 hours or face an attack. (Iraq rejected the ultimatum.)
2008 - Rock musician Paul McCartney's divorce from Heather Mills was settled for $48.6 million.
2009 - The Seattle Post-Intelligencer published its final print edition.
2009 - U.S. journalists Laura Ling and Euna Lee were detained by North Korea while reporting on North Korean refugees living across the border in China. (Both were convicted of entering North Korea illegally and were sentenced to 12 years of hard labor; both were freed in August 2009 after former President Bill Clinton met with North Korean leader Kim Jong Il.)
2011 - The U.N. Security Council voted to authorize military action to protect civilians and impose a no-fly zone over Libya.
2016 - The Obama administration formally concluded the Islamic State group was committing genocide against Christians and other minorities in Iraq and Syria.
2016 - An Arizona man was convicted of a terror charge tied to an attack on a Prophet Muhammad cartoon contest in Texas, marking the second conviction in the U.S. related to the Islamic State group; Abdul Malik Abdul Kareem, an American-born Muslim convert, was later sentenced to 30 years in prison.
2016 - Finally bowing to years of public pressure, SeaWorld Entertainment said it would no longer breed killer whales or make hem perform crowd-pleasing tricks.
2020 - A three-week shelter-in-place order took effect in six San Francisco-area counties, requiring most residents to stay inside and venture out only for food, medicine or exercise.
Birthdays
20 - Jade Alleyne (actress)
24 - Katie Ledecky (swimmer)
27 - Kruttika Ravindra (actress)
28 - Julia Winter (actress)
29 - John Boyega (actor)
29 - Eliza Hope Bennett (actress)
33 - Markie Adams (actress)
34 - Rob Kardashian (reality star)
35 - Olesya Rulin (actress)
40 - Kyle Korver (basketball player)
42 - Samoa Joe (professional wrestler)
44 - Tamar Braxton (singer)
45 - Brittany Daniel (actress)
46 - Tracy Wolfson (sports reporter)
46 - Natalie Zea (actress)
47 - Marisa Coughlan (actress)
48 - Amelia Heinle (actress)
49 - Mia Hamm (soccer player)
53 - Matthew St. Patrick (actor)
54 - Billy Corgan (singer)
57 - Rob Lowe (actor)
60 - Casey Siemaszko (actor)
61 - Vicki Lewis (actress)
62 - Danny Ainge (basketball player)
63 - Christian Clemenson (actor)
66 - Gary Sinise (actor)
66 - Paul Overstreet (country singer)
66 - Mark Boone Jr. (actor)
67 - Lesley-Anne Down (actress)
70 - Kurt Russell (actor)
72 - Patrick Duffy (actor)
==========================================
Today in Sports History - March 17
1940 - For the first time in NHL history, one line (Boston's Milt Schmidt, Woody Dumart and Bobby Bauer) finished 1-2-3 in NHL scoring.
1955 - In Montreal, there was a seven-hour riot that caused more than $1 million in damage. Canadiens fans were upset because NHL President Clarence Campbell had suspended Rocket Richard for attacking an official during a fight in a game on March 13.
1988 - The highest-scoring NCAA basketball game to-date took place as Loyola Marymount defeated Wyoming 119-115.
1998 - The United States beat Canada 3-1 to win the first gold medal for women's hockey.
2002 - WrestleMania X8 is held in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The event was headlined with Triple H defeating Chris Jericho for the WWF Championship and The Rock defeating Hulk Hogan in a matchup of two of the biggest stars in professional wrestling history.
2005 - Baseball players Rafael Palmeiro and Sammy Sosa testified before Congress that they hadn't used steroids; Mark McGwire refused to say whether he had.
2007 - Mike Modano (Dallas Stars) scored his 502nd and 503rd career goals making him the all-time U.S. leader in goal-scoring.
2010 - Michael Jordan became the first ex-player to become a majority owner in the NBA as the league's Board of Governors unanimously approved Jordan's $275 million bid to buy the Charlotte Bobcats from Bob Johnson.
2019 - At the PGA Players Championship, TPC at Sawgrass, Rory McIlroy wins the biggest single payday in golf history, earning $2.25 million for his one-stroke win over Jim Furyk.
2020 - The Kentucky Derby and the French Open were each postponed from May to September due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
1762 - The first St. Patrick's Day parade was held in New York City.
1776 - British forces evacuated Boston during the Revolutionary War.
1870 - Wellesley Female Seminary (later Wellesley College) received its charter from the Massachusetts legislature.
1905 - Franklin D. Roosevelt married his distant cousin, Eleanor Roosevelt, in New York City. President Theodore Roosevelt, FDR's fifth cousin, gave his niece away.
1910 - The Camp Fire Girls organization was founded in Thetford, Vermont.
1936 - Pittsburgh's Great St. Patrick's Day Flood began as the Monongahela and Allegheny rivers and their tributaries, swollen by rain and melted snow, started exceeding flood stage; the high water was blamed for more than 60 deaths.
1941 - The National Gallery of Art opened in Washington, D.C.
1942 - Gen. Douglas MacArthur became supreme commander of Allied forces in the southwest Pacific theater during World War II.
1959 - The Dalai Lama fled Tibet for India in the wake of a failed uprising by Tibetans against Chinese rule.
1963 - Mount Agung on Bali erupted, killing nearly 1,200 people.
1966 - A U.S. Navy midget submarine located a missing hydrogen bomb that had fallen from a U.S. Air Force B-52 bomber into the Mediterranean off the coast of Spain. (It took several more weeks to actually recover the bomb.)
1969 - Golda Meir was sworn in as prime minister of Israel.
1970 - The United States cast its first veto in the U.N. Security Council, killing a resolution that would have condemned Britain for failing to use force to overthrow the white-ruled government of Rhodesia.
1988 - Avianca Flight 410, a Boeing 727, crashed after takeoff into a mountain in Colombia, killing all 143 people on board.
2003 - President George W. Bush delivered an ultimatum to Saddam Hussein: leave Iraq within 48 hours or face an attack. (Iraq rejected the ultimatum.)
2008 - Rock musician Paul McCartney's divorce from Heather Mills was settled for $48.6 million.
2009 - The Seattle Post-Intelligencer published its final print edition.
2009 - U.S. journalists Laura Ling and Euna Lee were detained by North Korea while reporting on North Korean refugees living across the border in China. (Both were convicted of entering North Korea illegally and were sentenced to 12 years of hard labor; both were freed in August 2009 after former President Bill Clinton met with North Korean leader Kim Jong Il.)
2011 - The U.N. Security Council voted to authorize military action to protect civilians and impose a no-fly zone over Libya.
2016 - The Obama administration formally concluded the Islamic State group was committing genocide against Christians and other minorities in Iraq and Syria.
2016 - An Arizona man was convicted of a terror charge tied to an attack on a Prophet Muhammad cartoon contest in Texas, marking the second conviction in the U.S. related to the Islamic State group; Abdul Malik Abdul Kareem, an American-born Muslim convert, was later sentenced to 30 years in prison.
2016 - Finally bowing to years of public pressure, SeaWorld Entertainment said it would no longer breed killer whales or make hem perform crowd-pleasing tricks.
2020 - A three-week shelter-in-place order took effect in six San Francisco-area counties, requiring most residents to stay inside and venture out only for food, medicine or exercise.
Birthdays
20 - Jade Alleyne (actress)
24 - Katie Ledecky (swimmer)
27 - Kruttika Ravindra (actress)
28 - Julia Winter (actress)
29 - John Boyega (actor)
29 - Eliza Hope Bennett (actress)
33 - Markie Adams (actress)
34 - Rob Kardashian (reality star)
35 - Olesya Rulin (actress)
40 - Kyle Korver (basketball player)
42 - Samoa Joe (professional wrestler)
44 - Tamar Braxton (singer)
45 - Brittany Daniel (actress)
46 - Tracy Wolfson (sports reporter)
46 - Natalie Zea (actress)
47 - Marisa Coughlan (actress)
48 - Amelia Heinle (actress)
49 - Mia Hamm (soccer player)
53 - Matthew St. Patrick (actor)
54 - Billy Corgan (singer)
57 - Rob Lowe (actor)
60 - Casey Siemaszko (actor)
61 - Vicki Lewis (actress)
62 - Danny Ainge (basketball player)
63 - Christian Clemenson (actor)
66 - Gary Sinise (actor)
66 - Paul Overstreet (country singer)
66 - Mark Boone Jr. (actor)
67 - Lesley-Anne Down (actress)
70 - Kurt Russell (actor)
72 - Patrick Duffy (actor)
==========================================
Today in Sports History - March 17
1940 - For the first time in NHL history, one line (Boston's Milt Schmidt, Woody Dumart and Bobby Bauer) finished 1-2-3 in NHL scoring.
1955 - In Montreal, there was a seven-hour riot that caused more than $1 million in damage. Canadiens fans were upset because NHL President Clarence Campbell had suspended Rocket Richard for attacking an official during a fight in a game on March 13.
1988 - The highest-scoring NCAA basketball game to-date took place as Loyola Marymount defeated Wyoming 119-115.
1998 - The United States beat Canada 3-1 to win the first gold medal for women's hockey.
2002 - WrestleMania X8 is held in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The event was headlined with Triple H defeating Chris Jericho for the WWF Championship and The Rock defeating Hulk Hogan in a matchup of two of the biggest stars in professional wrestling history.
2005 - Baseball players Rafael Palmeiro and Sammy Sosa testified before Congress that they hadn't used steroids; Mark McGwire refused to say whether he had.
2007 - Mike Modano (Dallas Stars) scored his 502nd and 503rd career goals making him the all-time U.S. leader in goal-scoring.
2010 - Michael Jordan became the first ex-player to become a majority owner in the NBA as the league's Board of Governors unanimously approved Jordan's $275 million bid to buy the Charlotte Bobcats from Bob Johnson.
2019 - At the PGA Players Championship, TPC at Sawgrass, Rory McIlroy wins the biggest single payday in golf history, earning $2.25 million for his one-stroke win over Jim Furyk.
2020 - The Kentucky Derby and the French Open were each postponed from May to September due to the COVID-19 pandemic.