September 17
September 17 is the 260th day of the year (261st in leap years ). There are 105 days remaining.
Events
1176 - Battle of Myriokephalon
1394 - King Charles VI of France orders all Jews expelled from France
1462 - Battle of Swiecin , called also Battle of Zarnowiec, during Thirteen Years' War
1577 - Peace of Bergerac signed between Henry III of France and the Huguenots
1630 - City of Boston, Massachusetts founded
1776 - Presidio of San Francisco founded
1787 - The text of the United States Constitution Philadelphia
1809 - Peace between Sweden and Russia in the Finnish War . The territory to become Finland is ceded to Russia by the Treaty of Fredrikshamn .
1859 - Joshua A. Norton declares himself Emperor Norton I of the United States
1862 - George McClellan halted the northward drive of Robert E. Lee 's Confederate army at Antietam (See Battle of Antietam )
1894 - Battle of Yalu River , the largest naval engagement of the First Sino-Japanese War .
1900 - Philippine-American War : Filipinos under Juan Cailles defeat Americans under Colonel Benjamin F. Cheatham at Mabitac .
1908 - Lieutenant Thomas Selfridge crashes a Wright Brothers airplane and becomes the first airplane fatality
1914 - Andrew Fisher becomes Prime Minister of Australia for the third time.
1920 - National Football League organized in Canton, Ohio
1939 - The Soviet Union joined Nazi Germany 's invasion of Poland during the Polish Defence War of 1939
1944 - British troops parachute into Arnhem , as a part of Operation Market Garden
1947 - James V. Forrestal was sworn in as the 1st Secretary of Defense of United States
1948 - Lehi (also know as the Stern gang ) assassinates Count Folke Bernadotte , who was appointed by the UN to mediate between the Arabs and Jews
1949 - Canadian steamship SS Noronic burns in Toronto Harbor with the loss of over 118 lives
1951 - Robert A. Lovett was sworn in as the 4th Secretary of Defense of United States
1976 - The first Space Shuttle , Enterprise , was unveiled by NASA
1978 - The Camp David Accords were signed by Israel and Egypt
1983 - Vanessa Williams becomes first African American Miss America
1984 - Brian Mulroney sworn in as Prime Minister of Canada
1988 - Opening ceremony of the Games of the XXIV Olympiad in Seoul , South Korea
1991 - Lithuania , North Korea and South Korea joined the United Nations .
2001 - The Late Show with David Letterman is the first TV talk show to return to the airwaves six days after terrorists attack the United States in New York City and Washington D.C.
2001 - The Dow Jones Industrial Average opens for the first time after the September 11 attacks . The stocks plummet throughout the trading session and posts its biggest point drop in its history closing down 684.81 points to 8920.70.
2004 - Tamil is declared first classical language in India.
2004 - Barry Bonds reaches an elite number of 700 homeruns in Major League Baseball .
Births
879 - King Charles III of France (d. 929 )
1271 - Wenceslas II of Bohemia and Poland (d. 1305 )
1550 - Pope Paul V (d. 1621 )
1630 - Ranuccio Farnese II , Duke of Parma (d. 1694 )
1743 - Marquis de Condorcet , mathematician, philosopher, and political scientist (d. 1794 )
1819 - Thomas Hendricks , former Vice President of the United States (d. 1885 )
1857 - Konstantin Tsiolkovsky , rocket scientist, inventor (d. 1935 )
1874 - Ben Turpin , actor, comedian (d. 1940 )
1879 - Rube Foster , Negro League baseball star (some sources say 1878 ) (d. 1930 )
1883 - William Carlos Williams , physician and writer (d. 1963 )
1890 - Gabriel Heatter , journalist (d. 1972 )
1892 - Katharine S. White , gardener, fiction editor of The New Yorker E. B. White
1900 - John Willard Marriott , hotelier (d. 1985 )
1907 - Warren Burger , 15th Chief Justice of the United States (d. 1995 )
1918 - Chaim Herzog , President of Israel (d. 1997 )
1922 - Agostinho Neto , Angolan politician (d. 1979 )
1923 - Hank Williams , musician (d. 1953 )
1927 - George Blanda , National Football League and American Football League star
1928 - Roddy McDowall , actor (d. 1998 )
1929 - Sir Stirling Moss , Formula One racer
1930 - Edgar Mitchell , astronaut
1931 - Anne Bancroft , actress
1934 - Maureen Connolly , tennis star (d. 1969 )
1935 - Ken Kesey , author (d. 2001 )
1937 - Orlando Cepeda , Baseball Hall of Famer
1939 - David Souter , US Supreme Court Associate Justice
1941 - Bob Matsui , US Senator from Hawaii (d. 2005 )
1942 - Des Lynam , Television Presenter
1944 - Reinhold Messner , mountain climber
1947 - Tessa Jowell , British politician
1947 - Jeff MacNelly , Pulitzer Prize winning political cartoonist
1948 - John Ritter , actor (d. 2003 )
1950 - Narendra Modi , chief minister of Gujarat
1951 - Cassandra Peterson (Elvira ), actress
1956 - Rita Rudner , comedienne
1957 - Omar Q. Beckins , medical researcher and AIDS victim (d. 1989 )
1960 - Damon Hill , 1996 Formula 1 World Champion
1962 - Baz Luhrmann , film director and producer
1969 - Ken Doherty , Irish snooker player
1973 - Anastacia , singer
1974 - Rasheed Wallace , NBA basketball player
1975 - Jimmie Johnson , NASCAR race car driver
1983 - Jennifer Peņa , Mexican-American (Tejano) singer
Deaths
1179 - Hildegard of Bingen , German mystic and poet (b. 1098 )
1771 - Tobias Smollett , Scottish novelist (b. 1721 )
1808 - Benjamin Bourne , politician (b. 1755 )
1836 - Antoine Laurent de Jussieu , French botanist (b. 1748 )
1863 - Alfred de Vigny , French author (b. 1797 )
1873 - Alexander Berry , Scottish adventurer, founder of Berry , Australia
1908 - Lt. Thomas Selfridge , first to die in an airplane crash. Orville Wright was the pilot.
1938 - Bruno Jasieński , Polish poet (b. 1901 )
1966 - Fritz Wunderlich , tenor
1972 - Akim Tamiroff , actor
1973 - Hugo Winterhalter , band leader
1980 - Anastasio Somoza Debayle , former president of Nicaragua
1984 - Richard Basehart , actor
1991 - Zino Francescatti , French violinist (b. 1902 )
1993 - Christian Nyby , film and television director
1996 - Spiro Agnew , Vice President of the United States
1997 - Red Skelton , American actor and comedian
Holidays and observances
External links
September 16 · September 18 · August 17 · October 17 · more historical anniversaries
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