On this day in History - Dec. 17

• 283 - St Gaius becomes Pope.
• 384 - St Siricius becomes Pope.
• 1187 - Gregory VIII, [Alberto de Morra], Italian Pope dies
• 1471 - Isabella of Portugal, Duchess of Burgundy, dies
• 1531 - Installation de l'Inquisition à Lisbonne par le pape Clément VII
• 1538 - Pope Paul III excommunicates King Henry VIII of England
• 1663 - Dona Ana de Souza, falecimento, rainha do Ndongo e de Matamba, em Angola.
• 1718 - England declared war on Spain.
• 1734 - Maria I, nascia; a Pia, Rainha de Portugal
• 1770 - Johann Friedrich Schubert, born this day, composer.
• 1777 - France recognized American independence.
• 1796 - Thomas Chandler Haliburton, Canadian novelist (d. 1865)
• 1797 - Joseph Henry, was born ; US, Scientist / inventor / pioneer of electromagnetism
• 1807 - John Greenleaf Whittier was born [d. 1892]. American Poet. Whittier was a pioneer in regional literature as well as a crusader for many humanitarian causes.
• 1830 - Simon Bolivar died in Santa Marta [b. 1783]; General and Venezuelan statesman, first President of Colombia,
• 1843 - A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens is published.
• 1903 - Orville and Wilbur Wright made the first flight in a heavier-than-air plane at Kitty Hawk, N.C.
• 1906 - Nascimento do musicólogo e compositor português Fernando Lopes Graça em Tomar.
• 1907 - Indépendance du Bhoutan
• 1909 - King Leopold II of Belgium , dies (b. 1835)
• 1925 - Manuel Teixeira Gomes abandona definitivamente Portugal.Depois de ser eleito presidente, o seu mandato foi marcado por grande instabilidade política e social, conduzindo à sua resignação em 11 de Dezembro de 1925. Em 17 de Dezembro, embarca no paquete grego "Zeus". Nunca mais regressará a Portugal.
• 1925 -Russia & Turkey sign non-aggresion pact.
• 1930 - Bob Guccione, was born, publisher of Penthouse magazine
• 1939 - the German pocket battleship "Graf Spee" was scuttled by its crew, ending the World War II Battle of the River Plate off Uruguay.
• 1941 - Nazi siege of Sevastopol begins.
• 1941 - Dutch & Australian troops lands on Portuguese-Timor.
• 1944 -The U.S. Army announced the end of its policy of holding Japanese-Americans in internment camps, allowing "evacuees" to return home.
• 1944 - Ference Bene, was born, Hungary, record 12 soccer goals (Olympic Gold-1964).
• 1951 -Tatyana Kazankina was born,in Petrovsk, USSR;
  middle distance runner (Olympic Gold-1976).
• 1953 - Dmitri Shostakovitch' 10th Symphony, premieres in Leningrad.
• 1957 - the United States successfully test-fired the Atlas intercontinental ballistic missile for the first time.
• 1957 - création du "Partido Acción Nacional", parti politique Mexico.
• 1958 - Mike Mills, was born, rock musician (R.E.M.).
• 1960 - Emperor Haile Selassie returns to Ethiopia after being ousted by his son.
• 1961 - India seizes Goa, Damão and Diu from Portugal.
• 1963 -Tsjoi Doo Sun forms government in South Korea.
• 1969 - General Arthur da Costa e Silva, President of Brazil (1967-69), dies in Rio de Janeiro, at age of 67.
• 1969 - Signature d'un traité d'amitié de 20 ans entre l'Algérie et la Tunisie.
• 1969 -The U.S. Air Force ended its "Project Blue Book" and concluded that there was no evidence of extraterrestrial activity behind UFO (OVNI) sightings.
• 1969 - SALT I talks begin.
• 1970 - My Lai trial begins.
• 1970 - Coastal cities events Mass riots in the coastal cities of Poland ended in massacre of shipyard workers in Gdynia .
• 1971 -Cease fire between India & Pakistan in Kashmir .
• 1972 - Ivan Pedroso, was born, Cuba, long jumper (Olympics-4th-92) .
• 1973 - The American Psychiatric Association removes homosexuality from its list of mental illnesses.
• 1973 - Paula Radcliffe, was born, distance runner in athletics .
• 1975 - Milla Jovovitch was born in Kiev, Ukraine, actress, model.
• 1975 - Lynette Fromme was sentenced in federal court in Sacramento, Calif., to life in prison for her attempt on the life of President Ford.
• 1978 - OPEC raises oil prices 18% .
• 1978 - Referendum approves new constitution of Rwanda.
• 1979 - in a case that aggravated racial tensions, Arthur McDuffie, a black insurance executive, was fatally beaten after a police chase in Miami. (Four white police officers were later acquitted of charges stemming from McDuffie’s death.)
• 1981 - members of the Red Brigades kidnapped Brigadier General James L. Dozier, the highest-ranking U.S. Army official in southern Europe, from his home in Verona, Italy. (Dozier was rescued 42 days later).
• 1982 - Tootsie opens in theaters, starring Dustin Hoffman, Jessica Lange, Teri Garr, Dabney Coleman, Charles Durning, Bill Murray, Sydney Pollack, George Gaynes, and Geena Davis.
• 1983 - Bomb attack on Harrod's war house in London, 5 killed, 94 injured.
• 1983 - Disco in Madrid catches fire; 83 die.
• 1986 - Eugene Hasenfus, the American convicted by Nicaragua for his part in running guns to the Contras, was pardoned, then released.
• 1986 - Vanessa Zima was born , actress.
• 1986 -US Congress forms "Irangate" committee.
• 1987 - Marguerite Yourcenar, dies, novelist (Memoirs of Hadrien), [b. 1903]
• 1989 - The first half-hour length episode of The Simpsons debuts with their Christmas special, "Simpsons Roasting Over an Open Fire".
• 1989 - Brazil holds its first direct free election in 29 years. Fernando Collor de Mello is elected President.
• 1989 - Full scale street manifestations and riots in Timisoara ignite the Romanian Revolution
• 1992 - North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) signed by U.S (President Bush)., Canada, (Prime Minister Brian Mulroney) and Mexico (President Carlos Salinas) in separate ceremonies.
• 1993 - American troops are pulled out of Somalia following a series of gun battles with Somali troops under the command of General Mohammed Farah Aidid.
• 1993 -Tennis star Boris Becker (26) weds Barbara Feltus (27)
• 1994 - North Korea shot down a U.S. Army helicopter which had strayed north of the demilitarized zone — the co-pilot, Chief Warrant Officer David Hilemon, was killed; the pilot, Chief Warrant Officer Bobby Hall, was captured and held for nearly two weeks.
  1994 -Six shots were fired at the White House by an unidentified gunman.
• 1996 - Inauguration de la Bibliothèque François-Miterrand par Jacques Chirac
• 1996 -Guerrilheiros do Movimento Revolucionário Tupac Amaru invadem a residência do embaixador japonês em Lima, Peru, e fazem 500 reféns.
• 1996- A Assembléia Geral das Nações Unidas elege Kofi Annan, do país africano de Gana, como seu novo secretário-geral.
• 1996 -Stanko Todorov, PM of Bulgaria (1971-81), dies
• 1997 - A chartered Yakovlev-42 from Ukraine crashes into the mountains near Katerini, Greece killing 70
• 1998 - Claudia Benton is murdered in her West University, Texas home by Angel Maturino Resendiz. She is his third victim in his third incident.
• 2002 - Peace accord signed in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
• 2002 - Giovanni Intra dies; born in New Zealand in 1968, co-founder in 1998 (with artist Steve Hanson) of China Art Objects Galleries in Los Angeles.
• 2003 - First supersonic flight by Scaled Composites SpaceShipOne
• 2003 - The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King is the third and final Lord of the Rings movie to open in theaters.
• 2003 - The British government announced the first reported case of a person dying from the human form of mad cow disease after a blood transfusion from an infected donor.