Milestones for June 17

7 BC Global

A Venus-Jupiter conjunction occurs; this may have been the Star of Bethlehem mentioned in the gospel of St. Matthew; another possibility is the triple dance (three close visual passes in a row) of Saturn and Jupiter in the constellation of Pisces that also occurred in this year; the wise men were astrologers interested in the movements of planets and what those movements meant to humans. Pisces was the zodiac sign representing the Jews, Jupiter was the king of the gods, and Saturn symbolized both justice and the land of Palestine.

1579 California

Francis Drake sails into a bay that may have been San Francisco Bay and claims the region for Queen Elizabeth of England; other scholars suggest it may have been Whale Cove, Oregon. [left picture: from a miniature]

1775 Boston, Massachusetts

British commander William Howe sends his forces against William Prescott's American rebels at dawn in the Battle of Bunker Hill; this Revolutionary War battle actually took place on Breed's Hill; British took the strategic hill at the cost of 800 out of their force of 2,000; Prescott told his troops, "Don't fire till you see the whites of their eyes."

1860 Portsmouth, England

Isambard Kingdom Brunel's 692-foot liner Great Eastern leaves the Isle of Wight on her first transatlantic voyage; began life in 1858 as the Leviathan, and used as a passenger ship on the Australia and Far East route and her name was changed to Great Eastern; in 1864, she was engaged by cable manufacturers Glass Elliot of Greenwich because she was the only ship large enough to carry the single length of cable needed to span the Atlantic, completed in 1866; 1872 docked in Liverpool, where she rusted away until she was scrapped in 1888.

1867 Glasgow, Scotland

Joseph Lister performs the first surgical operation under antiseptic conditions on his sister Isabella, at Glasgow's Royal Infirmary.

1917 London, England

To protest German atrocities in World War I, British King George V takes the name Windsor, and orders members of the royal family to dispense with Battenberg and other German titles and surnames.

1925 Geneva, Switzerland

Geneva Protocol which prohibited the use of poisonous gases in wartime signed by 29 nations.

1941 New York CIty

WNBT-TV Channel 4 in New York granted the first permit to operate a commercial TV station in the United States; owned by Radio Corporation of America (RCA), the station later changed its call letters to WRCA, then, as RCA developed the NBC Television Network , to WNBC-TV.

1950 Chicago, Illinois

First kidney transplant takes place at the Little Company of Mary Hospital in Chicago, as Ruth Tucker receives a kidney from another woman who had died minutes earlier; world's first transplant of a vital human organ.

1972 Washington DC

Five men are arrested at 2:30 am trying to install eavesdropping equipment in the offices of the Democratic Party National Committee headquarters in the Watergate complex; two days later, Washington Post reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein begin their Watergate coverage by reporting that one of the burglars was the security coordinator for President Nixon's reelection committee; this will lead to the first resignation of a U.S. president, on Aug 8, 1974.

1991 Pretoria, South Africa

South Africa's white-dominated Parliament votes to end race classification, the legal foundation of apartheid since 1950; South Africa effectively abolishes the last of its apartheid laws and paves the way for majority rule.

Other Events

0653 06 17 St Martin I ends his reign as Catholic Pope
0656 06 17 Ali ibn Abu Talib chosen kalief of Islam
0676 06 17 Deusdedit III ends his reign as Catholic Pope
1091 06 17 Floris II de Vette becomes earl of Holland
1119 06 17 Charles the Good becomes earl of Flanders
1291 06 17 Akko reconquered after 200 years by French crusaders, & destroyed
1397 06 17 Union of Kalmar established between Denmark, Sweden & Norway
1535 06 17 English Catholic Cardinal John Fischer state rights
1579 06 17 Anti-English uprising in Ireland
1579 06 17 Francis Drake entered SF Bay
1579 06 17 Sir Francis Drake lands on coast of Calif
1580 06 17 Battle at Hardenberg: Spanish troops beat rebels
1583 06 17 Brabant: duke of Parma beats French mercenaries
1609 06 17 Netherlands, England & France sign 12 year Covenant
1665 06 17 Battle at Viciosa: English & Portuguese army beat Spain
1700 06 17 Mass orders priest to leave the colony
1734 06 17 French troops occupy Philipsburg at Rhine
1745 06 17 American colonials capture Louisburg, Cape Breton I from French
1775 06 17 Battle of Bunker Hill (actually it was Breed's Hill)
1789 06 17 3rd Estate in France declared itself a national assembly
1815 06 17 Stephen Decatur conquerors Algerian frigate Mashouda
1824 06 17 Bureau of Indian Affairs established
1837 06 17 Charles Goodyear obtains his first rubber patent
1850 06 17 Paddle-wheeler G P Griffith burns off Mentor Ohio (206 die)
1855 06 17 Heavy French/British bombing of Sebastopol, 2000+ killed
1856 06 17 Republican Party opens its first national convention in Philadelphia
1861 06 17 Battle of Boonville, MI-Brig General Lyon defeats Confederate forces
1863 06 17 Battle at Middleburg Virginia
1863 06 17 Battle of Aldie, Confederates fail to drive back Union in Virginia
1863 06 17 Naval Engagement at Warsaw Sound GA-USS Weehawken vs CSS Atlanta
1863 06 17 Travelers Insurance Co of Hartford chartered (first accident insurer)
1864 06 17 -18] Confederate troops pull back out Solves/lost Mt, Georgia
1864 06 17 640m long ponton bridge over James River Virginia finished
1864 06 17 General John B Hood replaces General Johnston
1864 06 17 Skirmish at Mud Creek/Noyes's (Nose) Creek, Georgia
1876 06 17 First to hit 2 HRs; & score 5 runs in 9 inn NL game (George Hall, A's)
1876 06 17 Battle of Rosebud/Battle Where Girl Saved Her Brother
1880 06 17 John Ward, Providence, pitches perfect game vs Buffalo
1882 06 17 Tornado kills 130 in Iowa
1885 06 17 Statue of Liberty arrived in NYC aboard French ship `Isere'
1894 06 17 First US poliomyelitis epidemic breaks out, Rutland, Vermont
1895 06 17 US Ship Canal (W 225th St) in the Bronx completed; cutting Marble Hill off from Manhattan
1897 06 17 William Frank Powell, NJ educator, named minister to Haiti
1898 06 17 US Senate agrees to annex Hawaii
1911 06 17 Belgium govt of De Broqueville forms
1915 06 17 League to Enforce Peace forms in Philadelphia
1916 06 17 First national congress of Sarekat Islam at Bandoeng Java
1916 06 17 US troops under Gen Pershing march into Mexico
1917 06 17 British king George V takes the name Windsor
1919 06 17 Barney Google cartoon strip, by Billy De Beck, premieres
1920 06 17 Dutch 2nd Chamber accept Anti-revolution law
1928 06 17 Amelia Earhart leaves Nfld to become first woman (passenger) to fly Atlantic (as a passenger in a plane piloted by Wilmer Stultz)
1930 06 17 Bradman scores 131 in the first Test cricket at Trent Bridge
1930 06 17 Chuck Klein sets Phillies hitting streak at 26 straight games
1932 06 17 Oil tanker Cymbeline explodes in Montreal, Canada
1933 06 17 Kansas City Massacre: 1 FBI agent, 4 cops & 1 gangster killed by mob
1937 06 17 Marx Brothers' A Day At The Races opens in NY
1938 06 17 Japan declares war on China
1940 06 17 France asks Germany for terms of surrender in WW II
1940 06 17 General De Gaulle departs Bordeaux for London
1940 06 17 Germany occupiers ration bread in Holland
1940 06 17 USSR occupies Estonia
1942 06 17 First WW II American expeditionary force lands in Africa (Gold Coast)
1943 06 17 Player-manager Joe Cronin of Red Sox hits two 3-run pinch home runs
1944 06 17 -19] French troops under Lattre de Tssigny conquer Elba
1944 06 17 Hitler secretly meets with von Rundstedt in Marjival Soissons
1944 06 17 Iceland declares independence from Denmark
1944 06 17 Republic of Iceland proclaimed at Thingvallir, Iceland
1944 06 17 Resistance fighter/poet Col Blake arrives in London
1945 06 17 Day of Unity in West Germany (National Day)
1946 06 17 SW Bell inaugurates mobile telephone commercial service, St Louis
1947 06 17 First round-the-world civil air service leaves NYC
1947 06 17 Earnest Reuter becomes mayor of Berlin
1947 06 17 Pan Am Airways chartered as first worldwide passenger airline
1948 06 17 Joe Cronin pinch hit HRs in both ends of a doubleheader
1950 06 17 First kidney transplant (Chicago)
1950 06 17 Egypt, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia & Syria sign security pact
1951 06 17 Flahooley closes at Broadhurst Theater NYC after 40 performances
1952 06 17 2 mine cave-ins at Charleroi, Belgium
1953 06 17 Most runs scored in 1 inning (17 by Red Sox)
1953 06 17 Riots in East Germany for reunification
1953 06 17 Sup Court Justice Wm O Douglas stays executions of spies Julius & Ethel Rosenberg scheduled for next day their 14th anniversary
1954 06 17 CIA exile army lands in Guatemala (JF Dulles & United Fruit Co)
1954 06 17 Rocky Marciano beats Ezzard Charles in 15 for heavyweight boxing title
1954 06 17 Televised Senate Army McCarthy hearings ends
1956 06 17 Golda Meir begins her term as Israel's foreign minister
1957 06 17 So Rare by Jimmy Dorsey Orch peaks at #2
1957 06 17 Tuskegee boycott begins (Blacks boycotted city stores)
1958 06 17 Radio Moscow reports execution of Hungarian ex-premier Imre Nagy
1959 06 17 Eamon de Valera elected pres of Ireland
1960 06 17 Ted Williams hit his 500th HR
1961 06 17 Billy Barnes People closes at Royale Theater NYC after 8 perfs
1961 06 17 61st US Golf Open: Gene Littler shoots a 281 at Oakland Hills Mich
1961 06 17 Russian ballet dancer Rudolph Nureyev defects to west in Frankfurt
1962 06 17 62nd US Golf Open: Jack Nicklaus shoots a 283 at Oakmont CC PA
1962 06 17 Brazil Beats Czechoslovakia in soccer's 7th World Cup at Santiago
1962 06 17 Lou Brock is 2nd to HR into Polo Grounds right-center field bleachers
1962 06 17 Sandra Haynie wins LPGA Cosmopolitan Golf Open
1963 06 17 British House of Commons debates Profumo-Christine Keeler affair
1963 06 17 Supreme Court rules against Bible reading/prayer in public schools
1965 06 17 11.08 (28.14 cm) of rainfall, Holly, Colorado (state 24-hour record)
1965 06 17 First bombing by B-52 (50 km north of Saigon)
1965 06 17 Kinks arrive in NYC beginning their first US tour
1966 06 17 Peter Green joins John Mayall's Bluebreakers
1967 06 17 Somebody To Love by Jefferson Airplane peaks at #5
1967 06 17 First Chinese hydrogen bomb explodes
1967 06 17 Barbra Streisand: A Happening in Central Park performed
1967 06 17 China becomes world's 4th thermonuclear (H-bomb) power
1967 06 17 Longest doubleheader 9:15 (Tigers & Athletics)
1968 06 17 Belgium govt of Eyskens-Merlot forms
1968 06 17 KQEC TV channel 32 in SF, CA (PBS) begins broadcasting
1968 06 17 Ohio Express' Yummy Yummy Yummy goes gold
1969 06 17 Oh! Calcutta! opens in NYC (almost entirely in the nude)
1970 06 17 Edwin Land patents Polaroid camera
1972 06 17 Long Haired Lover From Liverpool by Little Jimmy Osmond peaks at #38
1972 06 17 5 arrested for burglarizing Democratic Party HQ at Watergate
1972 06 17 Chile president Allende forms new government
1972 06 17 Looking Glass releases Brandy
1973 06 17 First du Maurier Golf Classic (La Canadienne): Jocelyne Bourassa
1973 06 17 73rd US Golf Open: Johnny Miller shoots a 279 at Oakmont CC PA
1973 06 17 Russian party leader Brezhnev visits US
1975 06 17 Voters in Northern Mariana Is approve commonwealth status with US
1976 06 17 ABA (Nets, Pacers, Nuggets & Spurs) merges into NBA
1976 06 17 Indonesia annexes Portuguese East-Timor
1978 06 17 Cheeseburger In Paradise by Jimmy Buffett peaks at #32
1978 06 17 Ron Guidry sets Yankee record with 18 strike-outs
1979 06 17 Sarava closes at Mark Hellinger Theater NYC after 140 performances
1979 06 17 79th US Golf Open: Hale Irwin shoots a 284 at Inverness Club in Toledo
1979 06 17 Jane Blalock wins LPGA Sarah Coventry Golf Tournament
1980 06 17 Led Zeppelin begins their last European tour
1981 06 17 Battle between Moslems & Christians in Cairo, 14 killed
1982 06 17 Pres Reagan first UN Gen Assembly address (evil empire speech)
1982 06 17 President Galtieri resigns after leading Argentina to defeat
1984 06 17 Ayako Okamoto wins LPGA Mayflower Golf Classic
1984 06 17 John Turner succeeds Pierre Trudeau as premier of Canada
1985 06 17 18th Space Shuttle Mission (51-G)-Discovery 5 launched
1986 06 17 Chief Justice Warren Earl Burger resigns Antonin Scalia nominated
1988 06 17 Bruce Springsteen separates from Juliette Phillips
1988 06 17 Givens' Family reports Mike Tyson beats his wife Robin Givens
1988 06 17 Microsoft releases MS DOS 4.0
1988 06 17 Soyuz TM-5 launches
1988 06 17 Women sentenced to 90 years in first product tampering murder case
1989 06 17 US beats Guatemala 2-1, in 3rd round of 1990 world soccer cup
1990 06 17 Some Americans Abroad closes at Vivian Beaumont NYC after 62 perfs
1990 06 17 Zoya's Apartment closes at Circle in Sq Theater NYC after 45 perfs
1990 06 17 90th US Golf Open: Hale Irwin shoots a 280 at Medinah CC in Medinah Il
1990 06 17 Chris Johnson wins LPGA Atlantic City Golf Classic
1991 06 17 Country entertainer Minnie Pearl suffers a stroke at 78
1991 06 17 Pres Zachary Taylors body is exhumed to test how he died
1991 06 17 South Africa abolishes last of its apartheid laws
1992 06 17 Conn Gov Lowell Weicker & WFAN DJ Don Imus change places for 1 day
1992 06 17 Phila 76ers trade Charles Barkley to Phoenix Suns
1992 06 17 Slaughtering by Inkhata-followers at Boipatong, S Africa, kills 42
1993 06 17 Indians' Carlos Baerga hits 3 home runs against Detroit
1994 06 17 1994 World Cup soccer match begin, Germany vs Bolivia in Chicago
1994 06 17 OJ Simpson doesn't turn himself in on murder charges, LA cops chase his Ford Bronco for 1� hours, eventually gives up (seen live on TV)
1995 06 17 Who's Tommy closes at St James Theater NYC after 899 performances
1996 06 17 Howard Stern Radio Show premieres in Syracuse NY on WAQX 95.7 FM
1997 06 17 NHL announces it will add Nashville in 1998, Atlanta in 1999 & Minneapolis-St Paul & Columbus, Ohio in 2000

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