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Other Notable Events for December 17

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Published in History & Quotes

On this date in history:

In 1790, the Aztec Calendar, or Solar Stone, was uncovered by workmen repairing Mexico City's Central Plaza.

In 1903, Orville Wright made history's first sustained airplane flight, lasting 12 seconds and covering 120 feet near Kitty Hawk, N.C. His brother Wilbur flew 852 feet later that day.

In 1925, U.S. Army Gen. William Billy Mitchell, outspoken advocate of a separate Air Force, was found guilty of conduct prejudicial to the good of the armed services. (He was awarded the Medal of Honor 20 years after his death.)

In 1939, the Nazi warship Graf Spee was scuttled off the coast of Uruguay as British vessels pursued it.

In 1944, the more than 110,000 Japanese-Americans who had been relocated from the West Coast shortly after the 1941 Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor were told they would be allowed to return home Jan. 2.

In 1967, the Clean Air Act was passed by the U.S. Congress.

In 1975, a federal jury in Sacramento sentenced Lynette Alice Squeaky Fromme to life in prison for her attempted assassination of U.S. President Gerald R. Ford. (She was released from prison in August 2009.)

In 1981, U.S. Army Brig. Gen. James Dozier was kidnapped in Rome by Italy's Red Brigades. (He was freed 42 days later in a raid by Italian anti-terrorist forces.)

In 1986, a Las Vegas federal jury awarded entertainer Wayne Newton $19.3 million in his defamation suit against NBC. (A judge reduced the award to $5.3 million.)

In 1989, The Simpsons, which began as a section of The Tracy Ullman Show, had its first stand-alone episode broadcast.

In 1990, Jean-Bertrand Aristide, a radical Roman Catholic priest and opponent of the dictatorship of Jean-Claude Duvalier, was elected president of Haiti in a landslide victory.

In 1992, U.S. President George H.W. Bush and the leaders of Mexico and Canada formally signed the North American Free Trade Treaty.

In 1996, the United Nations elected Kofi Annan of Ghana as secretary-general.

In 1997, New Jersey became the first state in the United States to permit same-sex couples to adopt children.

In 2006, two large Virginia Episcopal parishes and several smaller churches in the state, upset over the consecration of an openly gay bishop and same-sex weddings in some congregations, voted to secede from the worldwide organization.

In 2010, U.S. President Barack Obama signed legislation that extended Bush-era tax cuts for two years and gave the unemployed another 13 months of benefits.

In 2012, U.S. Sen. Daniel Inouye, D-Hawaii, died at the age of 88. Inouye, a World War II Medal of Honor winner, was in the Senate since 1963 and had been a congressman before that.

In 2013, Angela Merkel began her third term as chancellor of Germany.

 


Copyright 2014 by United Press International

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