Today In History [17th February, 2016]

A chronological timetable of historical events that occurred on this day in history. Historical facts of the day in the areas of military, politics, science, music, sports, arts, entertainment and more. Discover what happened today in history.

February 17

1454		At a grand feast, Philip the Good of Burgundy takes the “vow of the pheasant,” by which he swears to fight the Turks.
1598		Boris Godunov, the boyar of Tarar origin, is elected czar in succession to his brother-in-law Fydor.
1720		Spain signs the Treaty of the Hague with the Quadruple Alliance ending a war that was begun in 1718.
1801		The House of Representatives breaks an electoral college tie and chooses Thomas Jefferson over Aaron Burr.
1864		The Confederate submarine Hunley sinks the USS Housatonic in Charleston Harbor, South Carolina.
1865		The South Carolina capital city, Columbia, is destroyed by fire as Major General William Tecumseh Sherman marches through.
1909		Apache chief Geronimo dies of pneumonia at age 80, while still in captivity at Fort Sill, Oklahoma.
1919		Germany signs an armistice giving up territory in Poland.
1925		The first issue of Harold Ross’ magazine, The New Yorker, hits the stands, selling for 15 cents a copy.
1933		The League of Nations censures Japan in a worldwide broadcast.
1935		Thirty-one prisoners escape an Oklahoma prison after murdering a guard.
1938		The first color television is demonstrated at the Dominion Theatre in London.
1944		U.S forces land on Eniwetok atoll in the South Pacific.
1945		Gen. MacArthur’s troops land on Corregidor in the Philippines.
1951		Packard introduces its “250” Chassis Convertible.
1955		Britain announces its ability to make hydrogen bombs.
1959		The United States launches its first weather station in space, Vanguard II.
1960		Martin Luther King Jr. is arrested in the Alabama bus boycott.
1963		Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev visits the Berlin Wall.
1969		Russia and Peru sign their first trade accord.
1973		President Richard Nixon names Patrick Gray director of the FBI.
1975		Art by Cezanne, Gauguin, Renoir, and van Gough, valued at $5 million, is stolen from the Municipal Museum in Milan.
1979		China begins a “pedagogical” war against Vietnam. It will last until March.
1985		Murray Haydon becomes the third person to receive an artificial heart.
Born on February 17
1774		Raphaelle Peale, U.S. painter
1864		A(ndrew) B(arton) “Banjo” Paterson, Australian poet and journalist.
1874		Thomas J. Watson Sr., U.S. industrialist.
1902		Marian Anderson, American singer.
1908		Walter Lanier “Red” Barber, baseball announcer for the Cincinnati Reds, the Brooklyn Dodgers and the New York Yankees.
1929		Chaim Potok, novelist (The Chosen, The Promise).