Holidays
Marnie the Dog
Photo Credit: Adam Rifkin
Marnie the DogPhoto Credit: Adam Rifkin
St. Patrick's Day
Celebrates the life of Saint Patrick who died on this date (Various sources give the year as AD 460, 461, or 493). St. Patrick's color was originally blue, but over the years it has changed to green to commemorate his use of the shamrock to explain the Trinity to pagans.
What Happened On
Live TV Coverage of Nuclear Blast
March 17, 1953
As part of Operation Upshot-Knothole, the 
Annie test was broadcast live on national TV. Annie was detonated from a 300-foot tower with a yield of 16 kilotons in Area 3 of Yucca Flat, Nevada. Reporters were allowed to view the detonation from 12 kilometers (7.5 miles) south of the shot. This began a series of tests on the effects on people, housing, and automobiles in the area of the blasts.
During this series of tests, more than a thousand U.S. troops were exposed to the nuclear blast tests. Their mission was to determine if solders would still take orders after begin exposed to an atomic explosion.
The movie The Conqueror, starring John Wayne as Genghis Khan, was shot downwind of one of the tests in this series, and has been blamed for the cancer deaths of its stars, including Wayne, and many others of the cast and crew. By 1980, of the 220 members of the cast and crew, 91 of them had developed some form of cancer and 46 had died of the disease.
World War II - I Shall Return
March 17, 1942
General Douglas MacArthur first makes his famous declaration "I shall return" after leaving the Philippines. This promise became his mantra during the next two and a half years, with him repeating it often in public appearances. He fulfilled his promise in 1944.
Iraq War - Hussein Given 48-Hour Deadline
March 17, 2003
U.S. President George W. Bush gives Saddam Hussein and his two sons, Uday and Qusay Hussein, 48 hours to leave Iraq or face war.
(top to bottom) Barry, Robin, and Maurice Gibb
(top to bottom) Barry, Robin, and Maurice Gibb
The Bee Gees
March 17, 1968
The British rock group The Bee Gees make their American TV debut on The Ed Sullivan Show, singing To Love Somebody and Words.
Vanguard I with its six solar cells
Vanguard I with its six solar cells
Vanguard 1
March 17, 1958
The U.S. launches its second artificial satellite into space, Vanguard 1. It was the first solar-powered satellite and was the fourth artificial Earth orbital satellite to be successfully launched, following Sputnik 1, Sputnik 2, and Explorer 1.
At 6.0 inches (152 mm) in diameter, it prompted Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev to call it the "grapefruit satellite."
This followed the disastrous launch of the first Vanguard rocket, which was the first U.S. attempt to launch a satellite.
Although it went silent in 1964, it and the upper stage of its launch vehicle remain the oldest human-made object still in orbit.
Californium
March 17, 1950
The heaviest of the elements is discovered.
First Significant Baseball League
March 17, 1871
The National Association of Professional Base Ball Players (NAPBBP) is formed.
Birthdays
Killer Clown
John Wayne Gacy, Jr.
Born March 17, 1942 d. 1994
American serial killer, aka "Killer Clown." He confessed to raping and killing 33 young men and boys between 1972 and 1978 - more than any other person in U.S. history up to that time. He buried 26 of his victims in the crawl space under his house.
Gacy regularly performed as "Pogo the Clown" or "Patches the Clown" at children's hospitals, local parties, political functions, and charitable events.
In 1968, Gacy was convicted of the sodomy of a teenage boy and was sentenced to 10 years' imprisonment, but was paroled after serving 18 months. He began his murder spree in 1972.
He was executed in 1994.
Jim Irwin on the Moon - Apollo 15
Jim Irwin on the Moon - Apollo 15
Eighth Person to Walk on the Moon
Jim Irwin (James Benson Irwin)
Born March 17, 1930 d. 1991
American Astronaut. He was the eighth person to walk on the Moon (1971) and was the lunar module pilot for Apollo 15, the fourth human lunar landing. Irwin died of a heart attack at age 61 and was the first of the 12 men who walked on the Moon to die.
First Internal Combustion Motorcycle (1885)
Photo Credit: Joachim Köhler
First Internal Combustion Motorcycle (1885)Photo Credit: Joachim Köhler
Father of the Motorcycle and Created the First Motorboat
Gottlieb Wilhelm Daimler
Born March 17, 1834 d. 1900
German inventor. He developed the first high speed internal combustion engine (1883) and invented the motorboat (1886). He also created the first internal combustion motorcycle (1885) after he and his partner Wilhelm Maybach created a vertical version of their compressed charge liquid petroleum engine which they fitted to a two-wheeler. For this, he is known as the Father of the Motorcycle.
After his death in 1900, his company merged with Benz & Cie to form Daimler-Benz in 1926, which eventually became Mercedes-Benz Group.
Rob Lowe
Born March 17, 1964
American actor. Film: St. Elmo's Fire and About Last Night. He also made headlines by starring in a home pornographic video.
Lesley-Anne Down
Born March 17, 1954
English actress. TV: Dallas (Stephanie Rogers).
Kurt Russell
Born March 17, 1951
American actor. Film: The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes (1969), The Barefoot Executive (1970), Escape From New York (1981), and Backdraft (1991). TV: The Deadly Tower (1975, Texas tower sniper Charles J. Whitman)
Patrick Duffy
Born March 17, 1949
American actor. TV: Man From Atlantis (title role) and Dallas (Bobby Ewing).
George Stallings, Jr.
Born March 17, 1948
American ex-catholic priest. He formed the African American Catholic Congregation (c1989), and is one of the leading proponents of the theory that Jesus Christ was a black man.
Rudolf Nureyev
Born March 17, 1938 d. 1993
Russian ballet dancer. He defected to the West in 1961, and became the Paris Opera ballet director (1983-89). He died of AIDS.
Nat King Cole (Nathaniel Adams Coles)
Born March 17, 1919 d. 1965
American jazz singer. Music: Unforgettable (1951) and Stardust (1957).
Frank de Kova
Born March 17, 1910 d. 1981
Italian-America actor. TV: F Troop (1965-1967, Hekawi Chief Wild Eagle). He also received TV's first Man-to-Man Kiss from Neville Brand playing Al Capone in the pilot for the TV series The Untouchables (1959).
Brigitte Helm (Gisele Eva Schittenhelm)
Born March 17, 1906 d. 1996
German actress. Film: Fritz Lang's Metropolis (1926, the female robot Robotrix).
Banned Golf, But Later Became a Golfer Himself
James IV
Born March 17, 1473 d. 1513
King of Scotland (1488-1513). In 1491, he reaffirmed a ban on golf that had started in 1457 when James II banned golf and football to preserve the skills of archery. The ban was lifted in 1502 with the signing of the Treaty of Perpetual Peace between England and Scotland. James soon became a golfer himself and made the first recorded purchase of golf equipment, a set of golf clubs from a bow-maker in Perth.
Deaths
First U.S. Woman Elected Mayor - Nominated as a Prank that Backfired
Susanna Madora Salter
Died March 17, 1961 b. 1860
American politician. She was the first U.S. woman elected mayor (1887, Argonia, Kansas). Nominated as a prank, she didn't find out she was running until the morning of the election. She was nominated without her knowledge by a group of men who opposed women in politics as an attempt to humiliate her and discourage other women from running for office. She won with two-thirds of the vote. She served her one-year term and declined to run for reelection.
Fred Allen (John Florence Sullivan)
Died March 17, 1956 b. 1894
American radio and TV comedian. His long standing feud with fellow radio comedian Jack Benny earned some of the highest ratings in radio history.
Christian Johann Doppler
Died March 17, 1853 b. 1803
Austrian physicist. He discovered the "Doppler effect" (1842, The frequency of a wave is relative to the motion between its source and observer).
Lyle Waggoner in Wonder Woman
Lyle Waggoner in Wonder Woman
Lyle Waggoner
Died March 17, 2020 b. 1935
American actor. TV: The Carol Burnett Show (1967-74) and Wonder Woman (1975-79, Steve Trevor).
Ferlin Husky
Died March 17, 2011 b. 1925
American Country Music Hall of Fame singer. Music: A Dear John Letter (1953, #1), Gone (1957, #1), Country Music Is Here To Stay (1958), and Wings of a Dove (1960, #1).
Oleg Cassini
Died March 17, 2006 b. 1913
French-born fashion and costume designer. He was the official couturier to Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis.
Helen Hayes
Died March 17, 1993 b. 1900
American Oscar-Tony-Emmy-winning actress. Film: Victoria Regina (1935), Airport (1970, Oscar), and Herbie Rides Again (1974).
Grace Lantz (Grace Stafford)
Died March 17, 1992 b. 1903
American actress, wife of Walter Lantz. She provided the voice for her husband's famous creation Woody Woodpecker from 1950 to 1972 Note: Woody Woodpecker was originally voiced by Mel Blanc (1940-1941, 1948-1955) along with others.
Alonzo "Lonnie" Clayton
Died March 17, 1917 b. 1876
American horse racer. He was the youngest jockey to win the Kentucky Derby (1892 at 15 years old).
Friedrich Wilhelm Bessel
Died March 17, 1846 b. 1784
German astronomer. He was the first to measure the distance to a star other than the Sun (1838, 61 Cygni at 11.4 light years).