On This Day: December 17 On Dec. 17, 1903, Orville and Wilbur Wright made the first successful man-powered airplane flight, near Kitty Hawk, N.C. On Dec. 17, 1894, Arthur Fiedler, the American conductor who conducted the Boston Pops Orchestra , was born. Following his death on July 10, 1979, his obituary appeared in The Times. On This Date By The Associated Press 1933 In the first NFL championship game, the Chicago Bears defeated the New York Giants 23-21 at Wrigley Field. 1944 The U.S. Army announced the end of its policy of excluding Japanese-Americans from the West Coast. 1957 The United States successfully test-fired the Atlas intercontinental ballistic missile for the first time. 1969 The U.S. Air Force closed its Project Blue Book by concluding there was no evidence of extraterrestrial spaceships behind thousands of UFO sightings. 1969 An estimated 50 million viewers watched singer Tiny Tim marry Miss Vicky on NBCs Tonight Show. 1975 Lynette Squeaky Fromme was sentenced to life in prison for her attempt on the life of President Gerald R. Ford. (She was paroled in 2009.) 1989 The animated TV series The Simpsons premiered on Fox. 1992 President George H.W. Bush, Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney and Mexican President Carlos Salinas de Gortari signed the North American Free Trade Agreement in separate ceremonies. 1996 Kofi Annan of Ghana became United Nations secretary-general. 2004 President George W. Bush signed into law the largest overhaul of U.S. intelligence-gathering in 50 years. 2005 President George W. Bush acknowledged hed personally authorized a secret eavesdropping program in the U.S. following Sept. 11. 2010 Mohamed Bouazizi, a 26-year-old fruit vendor frustrated with harassment by local officials, set himself on fire in Sidi Bouzid, Tunisia. His act of defiance set off nationwide protests that brought down longtime President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali and soon spread to the rest of the Arab world.
Posted on: Wed, 17 Dec 2014 12:17:32 +0000
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