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On this Day In History

Birthdates which occurred on April 17:
1573 Maximilian I duke/ruler of Bayern (Catholic League)
1586 John Ford English dramatist ('Tis Pity She's a Whore)
1676 Frederik I [van Hessen Kassel] King of Sweden (1720-51)
1741 Samuel Chase judge (signed Declaration of Independence)
1788 Joseph Gilbert Totten Brevet Major General (Union Army), died in 1864
1809 Philip St George Cocke Brigadier General (Confederate Army), died in 1861
1813 Henry Washington Benham Brevet Major General (Union Army), died in 1884
1837 John Pierpont Morgan US banker/CEO (US Steel)
1870 Ray Stannard Baker US, journalist (Puliter Prize 1940)
1885 Karen Blixen-Finecke [Dinesen], Danish writer (Out of Africa)
1890 Art Acord Glenwood Sevier UT, western actor (Arizona Kid, Hard Fists)
1894 Nikita S Khrushchev 1st Secretary USSR (1953-64)
1897 Thornton N Wilder US, novelist/playwright (Our Town)
1911 Mikhail Botvinnik of USSR, world chess champion (1948-63)
1916 Donald Gibson British Vice-Admiral
1918 William Holden [Franklin Beedle Jr] O'Fallon IL, actor (Stalag 17, Bridge Over the River Kwai, Wild Bunch)
1923 Harry Reasoner Dakota City IA, newscaster (60 Minutes, ABC, CBS)
1927 Tadeusz Mazowiecki premier of Poland (1989-90)
1933 Monique Van Vooren Brussels Belgium, actress (Warhol's Frankenstein)
1934 Don Kirshner rock & roll producer (invented bubblegum music)
1937 Daffy Duck, Thespian
1937 Eduard N Stepanov Russian cosmonaut
1943 Roy Estrada rocker (Morthers Of Invention)
1948 Jan Hammer composer (Escape from TV, Miami Vice)
1949 John Oates New York NY,rock guitarist/vocalist (Hall & Oates-Rich Girl)
1958 Byron Cherry Atlanta GA, actor (Coy-Dukes of Hazzard)
1958 Sergei Yuriyevich Vozovikov Russian Major/cosmonaut
1961 [Norman] Boomer Esiason West Islip NY, NFL quarterback (Cincinnati Bengals, New York Jets)
1976 Nadine Thomas Miss Jamaica-Universe (1997)

Deaths which occurred on April 17:
0485 Proclus Greek mathematician, dies in Athens
0818 Bernhard I King of Italy, dies
0858 Benedict III Italian Pope (855-58), dies
1297 Willem van Afflighem Flemish poet/abbot St Truiden, dies at about 86
1679 John van Kessel Flemish painter, dies at 53
1711 Jozef I [Habsburg] emperor of Germany (1705-11), dies at about 32
1790 Benjamin Franklin US, (Poor Richard's Almanac), dies at 84
1835 William Henry Ireland forger (Shakespearean manuscripts), dies
1838 J Schopenhauer writer, dies at 71
1863 Daniel Smith Donelson Confederate General/cousin of Andrew Jackson, dies at 61
1945 Walter Model German fieldmarshal, commits suicide at 54
1960 Eddie Cochran rocker, dies in an auto accident at 21
1970 Sergei Aleksi patriarch of Russian-Orthodox church, dies at 92
1974 Frank McGee Today show host, dies of cancer at 52
1974 Vinnie Taylor rocker (Canned Heat), dies of a drug overdose
1983 Felix Pappalardi rocker (Cream, Mountain), dies
1983 Mark W Clark US General (WWII), dies at 87
1987 Dick Shawn comedian (Producers), dies on stage from a heart attack at 63
1990 Reverend Ralph David Abernathy civil rights activist, dies at 64
1992 Hank Penny country music singer, dies at 73 of heart failure
1993 Turgut Özal President of Turkey (1989-93), dies at 65
1997 Chaim Herzog President of Israel (1983-93), dies at 78

Reported: MISSING in ACTION

1965 WOODWORTH SAMUEL ALEXANDER--MINCO OK.
[CRASH EXPLODE]
1966 TROMP WILLIAM L.---FENNVILLE MI.
1967 CARLTON JAMES E.---BIRMINGHAM AL.
1967 MC GARVEY JAMES M.---VALPARAISO IN.
1968 HELD JOHN W.---INDIANAPOLIS IN.
1969 DAHILL DOUGLAS E.---LIMA OH.
1969 NEWTON CHARLES V.---CANADIAN TX.
1969 PREVEDEL CHARLES F.---FLORISSANT MO.
1969 WILLETT ROBERT V. JR.---GREAT FALLS MT.
1971 GILLESPIE JOHN FRANCIS---AUSTRALIA
[LANCE CORPORAL, 8 FD AMP MISSING IN ACTION]

POW / MIA Data & Bios supplied by
the P.O.W. NETWORK. Skidmore, MO. USA.

On this day...
0858 Benedict III ends his reign as Catholic Pope
1421 Dikes at Dort Holland breaks, 100,000 drown
1492 Christopher Columbus signs contract with Spain to find the Indies
1521 Martin Luther is excommunicated from the Roman Catholic Church
1524 Giovanni Verrazano, a florentine navigator, discovers New York Bay
1534 Sir Thomas More confined in London Tower
1629 1st commercial fishery established
1704 1st successful US newspaper; published in Boston by John Campbell
1711 Charles VI Habsburg becomes king of Austria
1793 Battle of Warsaw
1808 Bayonne Decree by Napoleon I of France orders seizure of US ships
1817 1st US school for the deaf founded by Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet and Laurent Clerc (American School for the Deaf-Hartford CT)
1824 Russia abandons all North American claims south of 54º 40' N
1839 Guatemala forms republic
1853 US Marine Hospital at Presidio (San Francisco) established
1861 Virginia become 8th state to secede
1861 Indianola TX-"Star of West" taken by Confederacy
1863 Grierson's Raid La Grange TN to Baton Rouge LA
1864 Battle of Plymouth NC
1864 Bread revolt in Savannah GA
1864 Grant suspends prisoner-of-war exchanges
1865 Mary Surratt is arrested as a conspirator in Lincoln's assassination
1869 1st pro baseball games-Cincinnati Reds 24, Cincinnati amateurs 15
1875 "Snooker" (variation of pool) invented by Sir Neville Chamberlain
1892 1st Sunday National League baseball game, Cincinnati Reds beat St Louis Cardinals 5-1
1895 Treaty of Shimonoseki signed, ends 1st Sino-Japanese War (1894-95)
1905 US Supreme court judges maximum work day unconstitutional
1907 11,745 immigrants arrive at Ellis Island NY
1912 1st unofficial gold record (Al Jolson's "Ragging The Baby To Sleep")
1920 American Professional Football Association forms (NFL)
1924 Metro Pictures, Goldwyn Pictures & Louis B Mayer Company merged to form MGM
1927 Japan's Wakarsoeki government falls/Baron Tanaka becomes premier
1930 Abkhazian ASSR established in Georgian SSR
1932 Emperor Haile Selassie of Ethiopia ends slavery
1933 Chicago Bears win their 1st NFL Game beating New York Giants 23-21
1934 The new Fenway Park opens, Washington Senators beat Red Sox 6-5
1937 Cartoon characters Daffy Duck, Elmer J Fudd & Petunia Pig, debut
1939 Joe Louis KOs Jack Roper in 1 for heavyweight boxing title
1939 Stalin signs British-France-Russian anti-nazi pact
1941 Office of Price Administration established (to handle rationing)
1941 British troop land in Iraq/Yugoslavia; surrender to Nazi's
1942 12 Lancasters bombs MAN-factory in Augsburg
1942 Operations begin to destroy Sobibor Concentration Camp
1943 Admiral Yamamoto flies from Truk to Rabaul
1943 SS-Lieutenant-General Jürgen Stoop arrives in Warsaw
1945 8th Air Force bombs Dresden
1945 German occupiers flood Wieringermeer Netherlands
1945 Mussolini flees from Salò to Milan
1945 US troops lands in Mindanao
1946 Last French troops leave Syria (National Day)
1946 Syria declares independence from French administration
1947 Jackie Robinson bunts for his 1st major league hit
1951 New York Yankee Mickey Mantle's 1st game, he goes 1 for 4
1953 Mickey Mantle hits a 565' homerun in Washington DC's Griffith Stadium
1956 Willie Mosconi sinks 150 consecutive balls in a billiard tournament
1958 Brussel's (Belgium) World Fair opens
1960 American Samoa sets up a constitutional government
1961 1,400 Cuban exiles land in Bay of Pigs attempt to overthrow Castro
1964 Ford Mustang formally introduced ($2368 base)
1964 1st game at Shea Stadium, New York Mets lose to Pittsburgh Pirates, 4-3
1967 Surveyor 3 launched; soft lands on Moon, April 20
1969 Czechoslovakia's Communist Party chairman Alexander Dubcek deposed
1969 Sirhan Sirhan is convicted of assassinating Senator Robert F Kennedy
1969 The Band (formerly The Hawks), perform their 1st concert
1969 Bernadette Devlin elected to British House of Commons
1970 Apollo 13 limps back safely, Beech-built oxygen tank no help
1970 Paul McCartney's 1st solo album "McCartney" is released
1971 Egypt, Libya & Syria form federation (FAR)
1971 People's Republic Bangladesh forms, under sheik Mujib ur-Rahman
1972 76th Boston Marathon won by Olavi Suomalainen of Finland in 2:15:39
1974 Ted Bundy victim Susan Rancourt disappears from Central Washington State College, Ellensburg WA
1974 Moslem fundamentalists assault military academy in Heliopolis Egypt
1975 Phnom Penh fell to Communist insurgents, ending Cambodia's 5-year war
1976 National League greatest comeback, trailing 12-1 the Phillies win 18-16 in 10, Mike Schmidt hits 4 consecutive homeruns
1978 63,500,000 shares traded on New York stock exchange (record)
1978 Pulitzer prize awarded to Carl Sagan for "Dragons of Eden"
1983 1st National Coin Week begins
1983 In Warsaw, police route 1,000 Solidarity supporters
1983 India entered space age launching SLV-3 rocket
1983 Nolan Ryan strikes out his 3,500th batter
1984 Libyan embassy demonstration, 1 shot dead
1986 IBM produces 1st megabit-chip
1986 Netherlands & Scilly Islands sign peace treaty (war of 1651)
1989 Polish labor union Solidarity granted legal status
1991 Railroad workers go on strike in the US
1993 Police officers found guilty of violating Rodney King's civil rights
1993 STS-56 (Discovery) lands
1997 John Bell, 115, recieves new pacemaker

Holidays
Note: Some Holidays are only applicable on a given "day of the week"

World Grits Day
American Samoa : Flag Day (1900)
Burma : New Years
Democratic Kampuchea : Day of the Great Victory
Japan : Children's Protection Day
New York NY : Verrazano Day (1524)
Syria : Evacuation Day/Independence Day (1946)
US : National Garden Week Week Ends
National Cheeseball Day
Travel and Entertainment Books Month

Religious Observances
Roman Catholic : Commemoration of St Anicetus, pope [150-66], martyr
Islam : New Year's Day (Muharram 1, 1420 AH)

Religious History
1640 Reorus Torkillus, 41, from Sweden, landed at Fort Christie in Delaware, making him the first Lutheran pastor to arrive in North America.
1776 English founder of Methodism John Wesley wrote in a letter: 'You have now such faith as is necessary for your living unto God. As yet you are not called to die. When you are, you shall have faith for this also.'
1833 English historian and statesman Thomas B. Macaulay declared: 'The whole history of Christianity proves that she has little indeed to fear from persecution as a foe, but much to fear from persecution as an ally.'
1920 Birth of Robert G. Bratcher, principal translator of the American Bible Society's 1966-1976 "Good News Bible" (also known as "Today's English Version").
1960 Swedish statesman and Secretary General of the U.N. Dag Hammarskjld noted in his journal "Markings": 'Forgiveness breaks the chain of causality because he who forgives you -- out of love - - takes upon himself the consequences of what you have done. Forgiveness, therefore, always entails a sacrifice.'

Source: William D. Blake. ALMANAC OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. Minneapolis: Bethany House, 1987.

Thought for the day :
"Thrift is a wonderful virtue - in an ancestor."

What a Difference 30 Years Makes...
1970: Parents begging you to get your hair cut.
2000: Children begging you to get their heads shaved.

New State Slogans...
North Carolina: Where Yankees stop to eat on the way to Florida.

Male Language Patterns...
"I'm going fishing." REALLY MEANS,
"I'm going to drink myself dangerously stupid, and stand by a stream with a stick in my hand, while the fish swim by in complete safety."

Female Language Patterns...
"That's men's work." REALLY MEANS,
"I'm going shopping. Give me your gold card."

1945 8th Air Force bombs Dresden

What a day this would have been to re-enact this at Fallujah.

1989 Polish labor union Solidarity granted legal status

1875 "Snooker" (variation of pool) invented by Sir Neville Chamberlain

Figures. Pool is a good game, snooker is a stupid variation, imo.

1967 Surveyor 3 launched; soft lands on Moon, April 20

Explanation: Apollo 12 was the second mission to land humans on the Moon. The landing site was picked to be near the location of Surveyor 3, a robot spacecraft that had landed on the Moon three years earlier. In the above photograph, taken by lunar module pilot Alan Bean, mission commander Pete Conrad retrieves parts from the Surveyor. The lunar module is visible in the distance. Apollo 12 brought back many photographs and moon rocks. Among the milestones achieved by Apollo 12 was the deployment of the Apollo Lunar Surface Experiments Package, which carried out many experiments including one that measured the solar wind.

1970 Apollo 13 limps back safely, Beech-built oxygen tank no help

An unidentified airline passenger snapped these bright objects, believed to be the Apollo 13 Service Module and Lunar Module as they entered Earth's atmosphere over the Pacific Ocean on April 18, 1970. The aircraft, an Air New Zealand DC-8, was midway between the Fiji Islands (Nandi Island, to be specific) and Aukland, New Zealand when the photograph was taken.

The Apollo 13 spacecraft heads toward a splashdown in the South Pacific Ocean. The Apollo 13 Command Module splashed down in the South Pacific at 12:07:44 p.m., April 17, 1970. Note the capsule and its parachutes just visible against a gap in the dark clouds.

Astronaut James A. Lovell Jr., A U.S. Navy captain and Apollo 13 mission commander, salutes the U.S. flag during ceremonies with President Richard M. Nixon at Hickam Air Force Base, Hawaii. The Apollo 13 crewmen, Astronauts Lovell, John L. Swigert Jr. (right) and Fred W. Haise Jr. were presented the Presidential Medal of Freedom by the Chief Executive.