November 17

Birthdays:

1964 ~ Susan Rice, 24^th United States National Security Advisor.  She served in the Barack Obama administration.  She held that Office from July 2013 until January 2017.

1960 ~ RuPaul (né RuPaul Andre Charles), American drag queen and actor.

1954 ~ Mark “Chopper” Read (d. Oct. 9, 2013), Australian criminal who became a legend.  The 2000 movie Chopper was based on his life of crime.  He died at age 58 of liver cancer.

1951 ~ Stephen Root, American actor.

1949 ~ John Boehner, American politician and 61^st Speaker of the United States House of Representatives.

1948 ~ Howard Dean, American physician and politician.  He was the 79^th Governor of Vermont and a presidential candidate in 2000.

1944 ~ Danny DeVito, American actor.

1944 ~ Lorne Michaels, Canadian producer of Saturday Night Live.

1943 ~ Lauren Hutton, American actress and model.

1942 ~ Martin Scorsese, American film director.

1938 ~ Gordon Lightfoot, Canadian singer and musician.

1937 ~ Peter Cook (d. Jan. 9, 1995), British comedian and actor.  He died at age 57.

1928 ~ Rance Howard (né Harold Rance Beckenholdt), American actor and father of actor Ron Howard.

1925 ~ Rock Hudson (né Roy Harold Scherer, Jr., d. Oct. 2, 1985), American actor.  He died at age 59.

1922 ~ Thomas “Tom” Amberry (d. Mar. 18, 2017), American podiatrist who became a free throw master.  In 1993, at age 71, he began to shoot free throws and continued for 12 hours, making 2,750 baskets in a row.  He died at age 94.

1922 ~ Stanley Cohen, American biologist and recipient of the 1986 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.

1916 ~ Shelby Foote (d. June 27, 2005), American author and historian.  He died at age 88.

1906 ~ Soichiro Honda (d. Aug. 5, 1991), Japanese engineer and businessman who co-founded the Honda car company.  He died at age 84.

1902 ~ Eugene Wigner (d. Jan. 1, 1995), Hungarian physicist and mathematician.  He was the recipient of the 1963 Nobel Prize in Physics.  He died at age 92.

1901 ~ Lee Strasberg (né Israel Strassberg, d. Feb. 17, 1982), American actor and director.  He died at age 80.

1878 ~ Grace Abbott (d. June 19, 1939), American social worker.  She died of multiple myeloma at age 60.

1790 ~ August Ferdinand Möbius (d. Sept. 26, 1868), German mathematician and astronomer.  He is best known for the Möbius Strip.  Möbius was a pioneer in the branch of geometry known as topology.  He died at age 77.

1755 ~ King Louis XVIII of France (d. Sept. 16, 1824).  He reigned as King from July 1815 until his death in September 1824.  He died at age 68.

1749 ~ Nicolas Appert (d. June 1, 1841), French chef and inventor of the canning process.  He died at age 91.

9 ~ Emperor Vespasian (d. June 23, 79), the traditional date ascribed to the birth of the Roman Emperor.  He died at age 69.

Events that Changed the World:

2000 ~ Alberto Fujimori (b. 1938) was removed from office as president of Peru.

1997 ~ Islamic militants killed 62 people, most of whom were tourists, outside the Temple of Hatshepsut in Luxor, Egypt.  The assailants were subsequently killed by Egyptian police.

1993 ~ The United States House of Representatives passed a resolution to establish the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).

1989 ~ The Czechoslovakian Velvet Revolution began when students in Prague began a demonstration.  Although the police halted the demonstration, it began an uprising that ultimately overthrew the communist government.

1970 ~ The trial of Lieutenant William Calley (b. 1943) for his role in the My Lai Massacre during the Vietnam War began.

1968 ~ NBC interrupted the end of the Raiders-Jets football game to broadcast the movie Heidi.

1962 ~ Dulles International Airport, serving the Washington, D.C., area was dedicated.  The airport was named after John Foster Dulles, the 52^nd Secretary of State.  Eero Saarinen designed the airport.

1950 ~ Lhamo Dondrub (b. 1935) was officially named the 14^th Dalai Lama.

1947 ~ The Screen Actors Guild implemented an anti-Communist loyalty oath.

1939 ~ Nine Czech students were executed in as a response to anti-Nazi demonstrations.  Czech universities were closed and over 1200 Czech students were sent to concentration camps.  This date is now known as International Students’ Day and is celebrated in many countries.

1933 ~ The United States formally recognized the Soviet Union.

1894 ~ H.H. Holmes (1861 ~ 1896) was arrested in Boston, Massachusetts for the serial murders of many women, mostly during the time of the Chicago World’s Fair in the early 1890s.

1871 ~ The National Rifle Association was granted a charter by New York State.

1869 ~ The Suez Canal, which links the Mediterranean Sea with the Red Sea, opened to traffic.

1820 ~ Captain Nathaniel Palmer (1799 ~ 1877) became the first known American to see the continent of Antarctica.  The Palmer Peninsula on Antarctica was named after him.

1811 ~ José Miguel Carrera (1785 ~ 1821) was sworn as president of the executive Junta of the government of Chile.  He is considered a founding father of Chile.

1800 ~ The United States Congress met for the first time in Washington, D.C.

1777 ~ The Articles of Confederation were submitted to the States of the Union for ratification.

1603 ~ Sir Walter Raleigh’s trial for treason began.

1558 ~ The Elizabethan era began with the death of Queen Mary I (1516 ~ 1558) of England and her half-sister Elizabeth I (1533 ~ 1603) became Queen of England.

Good-Byes:

2013 ~ Doris Lessing (d. Oct. 22, 1919), English author and recipient of the 2007 Nobel Prize in Literature.  She died 26 days after her 94^th birthday.

2012 ~ Margaret Yorke (née Margaret Larminie, b. Jan. 30, 1924), British crime fiction author.  She died at age 88.

2010 ~ Isabelle Caro (b. Sept. 12, 1982), French fashion model who warned that women can be too thin.  She died of anorexia at age 28.

2008 ~ Irving Brecher (b. Jan. 17, 1914), American quick wit who wrote for the Marx Brothers.  He died at age 94.

2002 ~ Abba Eban (b. Feb. 2, 1915), Israeli diplomat.  He was born in Cape Town, South Africa.  He died at age 87.

2000 ~ Louis Néel (b. Nov. 22, 1904), French physicist and recipient of the 1970 Nobel Prize in Physics.  He died 5 days before his 96^th birthday.

1990 ~ Robert Hofstadter (b. Feb. 5, 1915), American physicist and recipient of the 1961 Nobel Prize in Physics.  He died in Stanford, Connecticut at age 75.

1958 ~ Yutaka Taniyama (b. Nov. 12, 1927), Japanese mathematician.  He committed suicide 5 days after his 31^st birthday.

1917 ~ Auguste Rodin (d. Nov. 12, 1840), French sculptor.  He died 5 days after his 77^th birthday.

1818 ~ Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz (b. May 19, 1744), German wife of King George III of the United Kingdom.  She died at age 74.

1796 ~ Catherine II, also known as Catherine the Great of Russia (b. May 2, 1729), Empress of Russia.  She became Empress after her husband, Peter III of Russia was assassinated in 1762.  She died at age 67.

1768 ~ Thomas Pelham-Holles, 1^st Duke of Newcastle (b. July 21, 1693), Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.  He was Prime Minister from March 1754 until November 1756 during the reign of King George II, and again during the reigns of King George II and King George III, from March 1757 until May 1762.  He died at age 75.

1592 ~ King John III of Sweden (b. Dec. 20, 1537).  He died at age 54.

1558 ~ Queen Mary I of England (b. Feb. 18, 1516).  She was the half-sister of Queen Elizabeth I.  She died at age 42.

1231 ~ St. Elizabeth of Hungary (b. July 7, 1207).  She was a princess of the Kingdom of Hungry.  She was married at 14 and widowed at age 20.  She then began building hospitals to tend to the sick.  She died at age 24.

474 ~ Leo II (b. 467), Byzantine emperor.  The exact date of his birth is not known.  He was 7 years old when he died.

375 ~ Emperor Kang of Jin (b. 322), Chinese emperor of the eastern Jin Dynasty.  He was emperor for only 2 years.  The exact date of his birth is not known, but he is believed to have been about 21 or 22 at the time of his death.