On This Day: December 17 (original) (raw)
Updated December 17, 2013, 1:28 pm
On Dec. 17, 1903, Orville and Wilbur Wright made the first successful man-powered airplane flight, near Kitty Hawk, N.C.
On Dec. 17, 1894, Arthur Fiedler, the American conductor who conducted the Boston Pops Orchestra , was born. Following his death on July 10, 1979, his obituary appeared in The Times.
Go to obituary » | Other birthdays »
| 1933 | In the first NFL championship game, the Chicago Bears defeated the New York Giants 23-21 at Wrigley Field. |
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| 1944 | The U.S. Army announced the end of its policy of excluding Japanese-Americans from the West Coast. |
| 1957 | The United States successfully test-fired the Atlas intercontinental ballistic missile for the first time. |
| 1969 | The U.S. Air Force closed its Project "Blue Book" by concluding there was no evidence of extraterrestrial spaceships behind thousands of UFO sightings. |
| 1969 | An estimated 50 million viewers watched singer Tiny Tim marry Miss Vicky on NBC's "Tonight Show." |
| 1975 | Lynette "Squeaky" Fromme was sentenced to life in prison for her attempt on the life of President Gerald R. Ford. (She was paroled in 2009.) |
| 1989 | The animated TV series "The Simpsons" premiered on Fox. |
| 1992 | President George H.W. Bush, Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney and Mexican President Carlos Salinas de Gortari signed the North American Free Trade Agreement in separate ceremonies. |
| 1996 | Kofi Annan of Ghana became United Nations secretary-general. |
| 2004 | President George W. Bush signed into law the largest overhaul of U.S. intelligence-gathering in 50 years. |
| 2005 | President George W. Bush acknowledged he'd personally authorized a secret eavesdropping program in the U.S. following Sept. 11. |
| 2010 | Mohamed Bouazizi, a 26-year-old fruit vendor frustrated with harassment by local officials, set himself on fire in Sidi Bouzid, Tunisia. His act of defiance set off nationwide protests that brought down longtime President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali and soon spread to the rest of the Arab world. |
Historic Birthdays
Arthur Fiedler 12/17/1894 - 7/10/1979 American conductor of the Boston Pops Orchestra.Go to obituary »
| 87 | Sir Roger L'Estrange 12/17/1616 - 12/11/1704 English journalist and pamphleteer |
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| 51 | Domenico Cimarosa 12/17/1749 - 1/11/1801 Italian composer |
| 80 | Joseph Henry 12/17/1797 - 5/13/1878 American scientist |
| 84 | John Greenleaf Whittier 12/17/1807 - 9/7/1892 American poet and abolitionist |
| 65 | Ford Madox Ford 12/17/1873 - 6/26/1939 English novelist and editor |
| 75 | Mackenzie King 12/17/1874 - 7/22/1950 Canadian prime minister (1921-26, 1926-30, 1935-48) |
| 60 | Edwin Cohn 12/17/1892 - 10/1/1953 American biochemist |
| 83 | Erskine Caldwell 12/17/1903 - 4/11/1987 American author |