Historical Events and Current Affairs on February 17

1370: Battle at Rudau: Germany beats Lithuania
1568: Holy Roman Emperor agrees to pay tribute to the Sultan for peace
1598: Boris Godunov chosen tsar of Russia
1621: Miles Standish appointed 1st commander of Plymouth colony
1634: William Prynne tried in Star Chamber for publishing "Histrio-masti
1670: France & Bavaria sign military assistance treaty
1676: Kings Charles II & Louis XIV sign secret treaty
1691: Thomas Neale granted British patent for American postal service
1714: Parliament of Paris accepts Pope Clemens XI's "Unigenitus" degree
1772: 1st partition of Poland-Russia & Prussia, joined later by Austria
1776: 1st volume of Gibbon's "Decline & Fall of Roman Empire" published
1791: Messier catalogs M83 (spiral galaxy in Hydra)
1795: Thomas Seddal harvests 8.3-kg potato from his garden Chester, England
1801: House breaks electoral college tie, chooses Jefferson pres over Burr
1817: 1st US city lit by gas (Baltimore)
1818: Baron Karl von Drais de Sauerbrun patents "draisine" (early bicycle)
1836: HMS Beagle/Charles Darwin leaves Tasmania
1841: Dutch ex-king Willem I marries Henriette d'Oultremont de W‚gimont
1848: Toscane gets liberal Constitution
1854: British recognize independence of Orange Free State (South Africa)
1859: Giuseppe Verdi's opera "Un Ballo in maschera" premieres in Napoli
1864: Confederate sub "HL Hunley" sinks Union ship "Housatonic"
1865: -18] Battle of Charleston SC
1865: Columbia SC burns down during Civil War
1867: 1st ship passes through Suez Canal
1867: Gyula Andressy becomes premier of Hungary
1870: Esther Morris appointed 1st female judge
1870: Mississippi becomes 9th state readmitted to US after Civil War
1876: Sardines 1st canned (Julius Wolff-Eastport, Maine)
1878: 1st telephone exchange in SF opens with 18 phones
1880: Tsar Alexander II of Russia survives an assassination attempt
1883: A Ashwell patents free-toilet in London
1885: Bismarck gives Carl Peters' firm management of East-Africa
1896: London Country Councils' Muzzling Order becomes effective
1897: National Organization of Mothers forms (Parent Teacher Association)
1904: Giacomo Puccini's opera "Madama Butterfly," premieres in Milan
1905: Frances Willard becomes 1st women honored in National Statuary Hall
1906: Theodore Roosevelt's daughter Alice marries in the White House
1911: 1st hydroplane flight to & from a ship (Glenn Curtiss, San Diego)
1913: 1st minimum wage law in US takes effect (Oregon)
1913: NY Armory Show introduces Picasso, Matisse, Duchamp to US public
1915: Edward Stone, 1st US combatant to die in WW I, is mortally wounded
1916: Romberg/Hanley/Atteridge/Smith' musical premieres in NYC
1921: Arthur Honegger's "Pastorale D'‚t‚," premieres
1923: Ottawa Senator Cy Denneny becomes NHL's all time scorer (143 goals)
1924: Johnny Weissmuller sets 100-yard freestyle record (52.4 seconds)
1926: Avalanche buries 75 in Sap Gulch Bingham Utah, 40 die
1930: French govt of Tardieu, falls
1931: 1st telecast of a sporting event in Japan (baseball)
1931: Hockey's Hershey Bears (now with AHL) 1st game
1932: Irving Berlin's musical "Face the Music," premieres in NYC
1933: 1st issue of "Newsweek" magazine published
1933: Blondie Boopadoop married Dagwood Bumstead in the comic Blondie
1933: Marinus van der Lubbe arrives in Glindow, at Potsdam
1933: US Senate accept Blaine Act: ending prohibition
1934: 1st high school auto driving course offered (State College, Penn)
1936: "Phantom" cartoon strip by Lee Falk debuts
1936: -58øF (-50øC), McIntosh, South Dakota (state record)
1936: SN Behrmann's "End of Summer," premieres in NYC
1938: 1st public experimental demonstration of Baird color TV (London)
1939: Katwijk soccer team forms
1940: Bradman scores 135 in a non-Shield match for SA v West Australia
1940: British destroyers board German Altmark off Norway
1941: Joe Louis KOs Gus Dorazio in 2 for heavyweight boxing title
1943: -19] Hitler visits fieldmarshal von Mansteins hq in Zaporozje
1943: Dutch churches protest at Seyss-Inquart against persecution of Jews
1943: Gen-major Bradley flies to Wash DC
1943: NY Yankee Joe DiMaggio, enlists into the US army
1944: Battle of Eniwetok Atoll begins; US victory on Feb 22
1944: US begins night bombing of Truk
1946: Humanistic Covenant forms in Amsterdam
1947: Dutch RC bishops publish manifest against "godless communism"
1947: Voice of America begins broadcasting to USSR
1949: Chaim Weitzman elected 1st president of Israel
1949: Ice Pairs Championship at Paris won by Andrea Kekesy/Ede Kiraly of HUN
1949: Ladies Figure Skating Champions in Paris won by Alena Vrzanova of CZE
1949: Men's Figure Skating Championship in Paris won by Richard Button USA
1949: Richard Button retains world figure skating championship in Paris
1950: #3295 Murakami & #3440, #5658 Clausbaader & #5704 Schumacher
1950: 31 die in a train crash in Rockville Center NY
1950: K Reinmuth discovers asteroids #1611 Beyer, #1719 Jens, #2572,
1953: Baseball star/pilot Ted Williams uninjured as plane shot down in Korea
1953: DSB soccer team forms in Eindhoven
1955: Ice Dance Championship at Vienna Austria won by J Westwood/Demmy GRB
1955: Ice Pairs Championship at Vienna won by Frances Dafoe & Bowden of CAN
1955: KTVF TV channel 11 in Fairbanks, AK (CBS/ABC) begins broadcasting
1955: Ladies Figure Skating Championship in Vienna won by Tenley Albright US
1955: Mike Souchak sets PGA 72-hole record of 257
1956: Ice Dance Championship at Garmisch won by Pamela Weight/P Thomas GRB
1956: Ice Pairs Championship at Garmisch won by Schwarz & Oppelt of AUT
1956: Ladies Figure Skating Championship in Garmisch won by Carol Heiss USA
1956: Men's Figure Skating Championship in Garmisch won by H A Jenkins USA
1957: Fire in Warreton Mo, kills 72
1957: Suez Canal reopens
1958: Comic strip "BC" 1st appears
1958: WETV (now WPBA) TV channel 30 in Atlanta, GA (PBS) begins broadcasting
1959: 1st weather satellite launched, Vanguard 2, 9.8 kg
1962: Beach Boys introduced a new musical style with their hit "Surfin"
1962: Storm in Hamburg, kills 265
1962: Wilt Chamberlain of NBA Phila Warriors scores 67 points vs St Louis
1963: Toru Terasawa runs world record marathon (2:15:15.8
1964: 101st member elected to baseball's hall of fame (Luke Appling)
1964: US House of Reps accept Law on the civil rights
1964: US Supreme court rules - 1 man 1 vote (Westberry v Sanders)
1964: WMEM TV channel 10 in Presque Isle, ME (PBS) begins broadcasting
1965: US Ranger 8 launched, will transmit 7,137 lunar pictures
1965: US-Japan baseball relations suspended over Masanori Murakami dispute
1966: French satellite Diapason D-1A launch into Earth orbit
1967: Beatles release "Penny Lane" & "Strawberry Fields"
1967: Kosmos 140 (Soyuz Test) launches into Earth orbit
1968: Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, Springfield Mass, opens
1969: Bob Dylan & Johnny Cash record an album (never released)
1969: Golda Meir sworn in as Israel's 1st female prime minister
1970: Jeffrey McDonald slices up his wife & daughter
1970: Joni Mitchell's final concert (Royal Albert Hall)
1970: Robert Marasco's "Child's Play," premieres in NYC
1972: British Parliament votes to join European Common Market
1972: President Nixon leaves Washington DC for China
1974: 49 die in stampede for seats at soccer match, Cairo, Egypt
1976: "Rockabye Hamlet" opens at Minskoff Theater NYC for 7 performances
1976: Macau adopts constitution (Organic Law of Macau)
1976: Richard Hadlee takes 7-23 v India, his 1st match-winning spell
1979: China invades Vietnam
1979: Eric Heiden equals skating world record 1000m (1:14.99)
1980: Buddy Baker wins Daytona 500 (177.6 MPH/285.8 kph)
1981: Chrysler Corp reports largest corporate losses in US history
1983: Bob Bourne fails on 8th Islander penalty shot
1983: Netherlands adopts constitution
1983: US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
1985: 1st class postage rises from 20› to 22›
1985: 1st day/night game at the MCG, Australia v England
1985: 3rd person to receive an artificial heart (Murray Haydon)
1985: Hein Vergeer becomes world champion skater
1985: Laffit Pincay Jr is third to ride 6,000th winners at Santa Anita
1986: 1st Francophone Summit convenes at Versailles
1986: Howard Stern radio show returns to NYC morning radio (WXRK 92.3 FM)
1986: Johnson & Johnson announces it no longer sell capsule drugs
1986: Libyan bombers attack N'djamena Airport in Chad
1987: Don Mattingly wins highest salary arbitration ($1,975,000 per year)
1987: Michelle Renee Royer, 21, (Texas), crowned 36th Miss USA
1988: Lebanese terrorists kidnap UN truce observer Lt Col William Higgins
1988: US Lt Col Wm Higgins kidnapped by Lebanese terrorists & later killed
1989: 6-week study of Arctic atmosphere shows no ozone "hole"
1989: Former baseball player/manager Leo Durocher injured in a car crash
1989: Mauritania, Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia & Libya form common market
1989: Orel Hershiser, Dodger pitcher signs record $7.9M-3 year contract
1989: USSR performs nuclear test at Eastern Kazakh/Semipalitinsk USSR
1989: Whitesnake's rocker David Coverdale weds actress Tawny Kitaen
1991: US male Figure Skating championship won by Todd Eldredge
1993: Haitian ferry boat capsize in storm, 800-2,000 die
1993: Mark Foster swims world record 50m free style (21.60 sec)
1995: 11th Soap Opera Digest Awards
1995: Colin Fergusson found guilty of killing 6 people on the LIRR in NY
1995: Federal judge allows lawsuit claiming US tobacco makers knew nicotine
1995: Tiger mgr Sparky Anderson takes unpaid leave due to baseball strike
1995: was addictive & manipulated its levels to keep customers hooked
1996: Nolan Clarke makes ODI debut for Netherlands at age 47
1997: Carl Sagan Public Memorial at Pasadena Calif
1997: Weekly Standard shows evidence Larry Flint sex abused his daughter
1998: Diane Zamora, 20, Naval Academy cadet convicted of capital murder
1998: Larry Wayne Harris & Bill Levitt arrested for possession of anthrax

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