September 17 is the 260th day of the year (261st in leap years). There are 105 days remaining.
Events 1394 - King Charles VI of France orders all Jews expelled from France 1462 - Battle of Swiecin, called also Battle of Zarnowiec, during Thirteen Years' War 1630 - City of Boston, Massachusetts founded 1776 - Presidio of San Francisco founded 1787 - United States Constitution adopted 1809 - Peace between Sweden and Russia in the Finnish War. The territory to become Finland is ceded to Russia by the Treaty of Fredrikshamn. 1859 - Joshua A. Norton declares himself Emperor Norton I of the United States 1862 - Battle of Antietam 1908 - Lieutenant Thomas Selfridge crashes a Wright Brothers airplane and becomes the first airplane fatality 1920 - National Football League organized in Canton, Ohio 1939 - Soviet Union attacks Poland 1944 - British troops parachute into Arnhem, as a part of Operation Market Garden 1947 - James V. Forrestal was sworn in as the 1st Secretary of Defense of United States 1948 - Lehi of the Stern gang assassinates Count Folke Bernadotte, who was appointed by the UN to mediate between the Arabs and Jews 1951 - Robert A. Lovett was sworn in as the 4th Secretary of Defense of United States 1976 - Space shuttle unveiled 1978 - Camp David peace agreement between Israel and Egypt 1983 - Vanessa Williams becomes first African-American Miss America 1984 - Brian Mulroney sworn in as Prime Minister of Canada 1988 - Opening ceremony of the Games of the Olympiad in Seoul, South Korea 1991 - North Korea and South Korea joined the United Nations 2001 - The Late Show with David Letterman is the first TV talk show to return to the airways six days after terrorists attack the United States in New York City and Washington D.C. Births 879 - King Charles III of France 1271 - Wenceslas II of Bohemia and Poland 1552 - Camillo Borghese, later Pope Paul V 1743 - Marquis de Condorcet, mathematician, philosopher, and political scientist 1819 - Thomas Hendricks, former Vice President of the United States († 1885) 1857 - Konstantin Tsiolkovsky, rocket scientist, inventor († 1935) 1874 - Ben Turpin, actor, comedian († 1940) 1879 - Rube Foster, Negro League baseball star (some sources say 1878) († 1930) 1883 - William Carlos Williams, physician and writer († 1963) 1890 - Gabriel Heatter, journalist († 1972) 1900 - John Willard Marriott, hotelier († 1985) 1907 - Warren Burger, 15th Chief Justice of the United States († 1995) 1923 - Hank Williams, musician († 1953) 1927 - George Blanda, National Football League and American Football League star 1928 - Roddy McDowall, actor († 1998) 1929 - Sir Stirling Moss, Formula One racer 1930 - Edgar Mitchell, astronaut 1931 - Anne Bancroft, actress 1934 - Maureen Connolly, tennis star († 1969) 1935 - Ken Kesey, author († 2001) 1937 - Orlando Cepeda, Baseball Hall of Famer 1947 - Jeff MacNelly, Pulitzer Prize winning political cartoonist 1947 - Tessa Jowell, British politician 1948 - John Ritter, actor († 2003) 1951 - Cassandra Peterson (Elvira), actress 1956 - Rita Rudner, comedienne 1962 - Baz Luhrmann, film director and producer 1973 - Anastacia, singer Deaths 1863 - Alfred de Vigny, author 1873 - Alexander Berry, Scotish adventurer, founder of Berry, Australia. 1908 - Lt. Thomas Selfridge, first to die in an airplane crash. Orville Wright was the pilot. 1972 - Akim Tamiroff, actor 1973 - Hugo Winterhalter, band leader 1980 - Anastazio Somoza Debayle, former president of Nicaragua 1984 - Richard Basehart, actor 1993 - Christian Nyby, film and television director 1996 - Spiro Agnew, former Vice President of the United States 1997 - Red Skelton, actor, comedian Holidays Feast of Hildegard of Bingen The fourth day of the Eleusinian mysteries in ancient Greek mythology, when the initiates sacrificed a pig. September 16 · September 18 · August 17 · October 17 · more historical anniversaries
See Also: January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December - more historical anniversaries