Today in History
Today is Sunday, March 17, the 77th day of 2024. There are 289 days left in the year. This is St. Patrick’s Day.
TODAY’S HIGHLIGHT
On March 17, 1969, Golda Meir took power in Israel, beginning a stint as prime minister that would last through five crucial years in the nation’s history.
ON THIS DATE
› 1762: New York held its first St. Patrick’s Day parade.
› 1776: The Revolutionary War Siege of Boston ended as British forces evacuated the city.
› 1905: Anna Eleanor Roosevelt married Franklin Delano Roosevelt in New York.
› 1941: The National Gallery of Art opened in Washington, D.C.
› 1950: Scientists at the University of California at Berkeley announced they had created a new radioactive element, “californium.”
› 1970: The United States cast its first veto in the U.N. Security Council, killing a resolution that would have condemned Britain for failing to use force to overthrow the white-ruled government of Rhodesia.
› 2003: Edging to the brink of war, President George W. Bush gave Saddam Hussein 48 hours to leave his country. Iraq rejected Bush’s ultimatum, saying that a U.S. attack to force Saddam from power would be “a grave mistake.”
› 2013: Two members of Steubenville, Ohio’s celebrated high school football team were found guilty of raping a drunken 16-year-old girl and sentenced to at least a year in juvenile prison in a case that rocked the Rust Belt city of 18,000 people.
› 2020: The Kentucky Derby and the French Open were each postponed from May to September because of the coronavirus.
› 2023: The International Criminal Court said it issued an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin for war crimes because of his alleged involvement in abductions of children from Ukraine.
TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS
The former national chairwoman of the NAACP, Myrlie Evers-Williams, is 91. Singer-songwriter John Sebastian (The Lovin’ Spoonful) is 80. Actor Patrick Duffy is 75. Actor Kurt Russell is 73. Country singer Paul Overstreet is 69. Actor Gary Sinise is 69. Actor Casey Siemaszko is 63. Writer-director Rob Sitch is 62. Actor Rob Lowe is 60. Rock singer Billy Corgan is 57. Actor Yanic Truesdale is 55. Olympic gold medal soccer player Mia Hamm is 52. Country singer Keifer Thompson (Thompson Square) is 51. Actor Natalie Zea is 49. Sports reporter Tracy Wolfson is 49. Actor Brittany Daniel is 48. Singer and TV personality Tamar Braxton is 47. Country musician Geoff Sprung (Old Dominion) is 46. Reggaeton singer Nicky Jam is 43. TV personality Rob Kardashian is 37. Pop/rock singer-songwriter Hozier is 34. Actor Eliza Hope Bennett is 32. Actor John Boyega is 32. Olympic gold medal swimmer Katie Ledecky is 27. Actor Flynn Morrison is 19.