History for December 17

History for December 17 - On-This-Day.com
John Greenleaf Whittier 1807, Erskine Caldwell 1903, William Safire 1929


George Lindsey 1935 - Actor, Eugene Levy 1946, Sean Patrick Thomas 1970 - Actor


1777 - France recognized American independence.


1895 - George L. Brownell received a patent for his paper-twine machine.


1903 - The first successful gasoline-powered airplane flight took place near Kitty Hawk, NC. Orville Wright made the flight.


1939 - The German pocket battleship Graf Spee was scuttled by its crew, bringing the World War II Battle of the Rio de la Plata off Uruguay to an end.


1944 - The U.S. Army announced the end of its policy of excluding Japanese-Americans from the West Coast which ensured that Japanese-Americans were released from detention camps.


1957 - The United States successfully test-fired the Atlas intercontinental ballistic missile for the first time.


1959 - The film "On the Beach" premiered in New York City and in 17 other cities. It was the first motion picture to debut simultaneously in major cities around the world.


1969 - The U.S. Air Force closed its Project "Blue Book" by concluding that there was no evidence of extraterrestrial spaceships behind thousands of UFO sightings.


1969 - Television history was made when Tiny Tim and Miss Vicki Budinger were married on "The Tonight Show" with Johnny Carson.


1986 - Wayne "Danke Schoen" Newton won a $19.2 million suit against NBC News. NBC had aired reports claiming a link between Newton and mob figures. The reports were proven to be false.