Today in History - History - March 17th

1921Lenin proclaims New Economic Politics

1901A showing of seventy-one Vincent van Gogh paintings in Paris, 11 years after his death, creates a sensation.

1908Tommy Burns KOs Jem Roche in 1 for heavyweight boxing title

1942Gen Doug MacArthur arrives in Australia to become supreme commander

1963Bob Cousy plays his last NBA game

198370th hat trick in Islander history-Mike Bossy

1521Portuguese navigator Ferdinand Magellan reaches the Philippines

1658Pro-Charles II plot in England discovered

199319th People's Choice Awards: Kevin Costner & Demi Moore win (Dramatic Motion Picture) and Tim Allen & Candice Bergen win (TV)

1955After Maurice Richard is suspended for the remainder of the season, riots break out in Montreal. 37 people are injured and over 100 are arrested. The following morning, Richard goes on the radio to ask citizens to stop vandalizing the city.

1951Kurt Russell, Springfeild Mass, actor (Thing, Overboard, Mean Seasons)

1902Bobby Jones Jr, Atlanta Georgia, amateur golfer (Grand Slam 1930)

1914Sammy Baugh, Temple Texas, NFL hall of famer QB (Washington Redskins)

1919Nat "King" Cole, Montgomery Ala, singer (Unforgettable, Mona Lisa)

1942John Wayne Gacy, Chicago Illinois, serial killer (32 boys)

1967Billy Corgan, American musician (Smashing Pumpkins)

1944Actor Charlton Heston weds Lydia Clarke

2001NFL Quarterback Peyton Manning (24) weds Ashley Thompson in Memphis, Tennessee

1966The Who drummer Keith Moon (19) weds model Kim Kerrigan (18) at Brent Registry Office

1979Actor Kurt Russell (28) weds actress Season Hubley (28)

1967Novelist Alice Walker (23) weds civil rights lawyer Melvyn Leventhal in New York City

1905Eleanor Roosevelt (20) marries Franklin D. Roosevelt (23) later 32nd US President in New York, & given away by her uncle, 26th President Theodore Roosevelt

1956Irene Joliot-Curie, French physicist, Nobel laureate, dies at 58

1853Christian Doppler, Austrian physicist, dies at 49

180Antonius Marcus Aurelius, Emperor of Rome, dies at 58

1957Ramon Magsaysay, 7th President of the Philippines, dies in a plane crash at 49