March 17, 2018

1,010 years ago
1008

Died on this date
Kazan, 39 or 41. Emperor of Japan, 984-986. Kazan, born Morosada-shinnō, was the eldest son of Emperor Reizei, and succeeded his uncle En'yu on the throne. Emperor Kazan faced strong opposition from the Fujiwara family, and was manipulated into abdicating in 986. Kazan then became a Buddhist monk, and went on numerous pilgrimages.

225 years ago
1793

Died on this date
Leopold Hofmann, 54. Austrian composer. Mr. Hofmann wrote 66 symphonies and dozens of concertos.

130 years ago
1888

Born on this date
Paul Ramadier. Prime Minister of France, 1947. Dr. Ramadier was a jurist and a Socialist who served as Mayor of Decazeville (1919-1941, 1944-1959) and also represented Aveyron in the Chamber of Deputies (1928-1942, 1945-1951, 1956-1958), holding several cabinet posts. He served with the French Resistance during World War II. Dr. Ramadier was Prime Minister from January 22-November 24, 1947, and forced Communists out of the government in May, ending the "tripartisme" coalition of Communists, Socialists, and Christian Democrats. Mr. Ramadier died on October 14, 1961 at the age of 73.

125 years ago
1893

Died on this date
Jules Ferry, 60. Prime Minister of France, 1880-1881; 1883-1885. Mr. Ferry was known for his support of non-clerical education and French colonial expansion. He died of complications from a wound received in an assassination attempt more than five years earlier.

110 years ago
1908

Canadiana
The Canadian government of Prime Minister Wilfrid Laurier created the National Battlefields Commission, partly to save Quebec's Plains of Abraham from property development.

Boxing
Tommy Burns (38-3-8) retained his world heavyweight title by knocking out Jem Roche (10-2) just 1:28 into the 1st round at Theatre Royal in Dublin.

90 years ago
1928

Transportation
The Canadian National Railways Depot opened in Edmonton; it was demolished in 1964 for the CN Tower, which opened in 1966.

75 years ago
1943

War
Soviet troops claimed the destruction of two German battalions in driving them back at Chuguyev, 22 miles east of Kharkov. The U.S. Army 1st Division retook Gafsa and advanced toward El Guettar in Libya. Chinese troops recaptured five towns in the Hwajung area and attacked Hwajung itself.

Diplomacy
Hans Borchers and three other German diplomats left Buenos Aires for Spain under an Allied safe conduct pass.

Economics and finance
The U.S. Office of Price Administration announced that its ban on pleasure driving in the eastern states would end on March 22.

Labour
The U.S. Senate passed the Bankhead-Johnson bill, deferring essential famr labour from military service.

70 years ago
1948

Defense
Belgium, France, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom signed the Treaty of Brussels, a precursor to the North Atlantic Treaty establishing NATO.

Politics and government
Indian Socialists voted in Bombay to withdraw from the All-India Congress Party.

Aviation
A.V. Roe Canada's Orenda Engines division ran the Chinook engine (Turbo Research 4), Canada's first jet engine, for the first time; it was designed by Winnett Boyd.

Economics and finance
The U.S. House of Representatives Foreign Aid Committee approved the full $5.3-billion European Recovery Program bill.

The Canadian government of Prime Minister Mackenzie King announced a plan to ease restrictions on private prospecting for uranium and other nuclear materials.

Labour
The Greek government imposed general national mobilization, denying government employees the right to strike, following a one-day walkout of civil servants protesting non-payment of Christmas bonuses.

Basketball
NCAA
National Invitation Tournament @ Madison Square Garden, New York
Final
St. Louis University 65 New York University 52

AAU Championship @ Denver
Final
Phillips 66 Oilers 62 @ Denver Nuggets 48

60 years ago
1958

Hit parade
#1 singles in the U.S.A. (Billboard): Tequila--The Champs (Best Seller--1st week at #1; Top 100--1st week at #1); Don't--Elvis Presley (Disc Jockey--1st week at #1)

Died on this date
Roscoe Conkling McCulloch, 77. U.S. politician. Mr. McCulloch, a Republican, represented Ohio's 16th District in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1915-1921, and represented the state in the Senate from 1929-1930. He was appointed to the Senate to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Sen. Theodore Burton, but lost a special election in 1930 to fill the remainder of the term.

Literature
The Great Democracies, Volume IV of Sir Winston Churchill's A History of the English Speaking Peoples, was published in New York by Dodd, Mead.

Space
The United States launched the Vanguard 1 satellite into earth orbit from Cape Canaveral, Florida. The satellite carried two radios and a temperature sensor and was the first orbiting vehicle to be powered by solar energy. Photovoltaic silicon solar cells provided the electrical power to the 6.4-inch, 3.5-pound satellite until its experiments and transmitter fell silent in 1964. Vanguard 1 achieved the highest altitude of any man-made vehicle to that time and confirmed geologists' suspicions that the earth is pear-shaped. Vanguard 1 is the first artificial satellite to have been in space for 60 years.



Diplomacy
The United Nations Intergovernmental Maritime Consultative Organization came into existence when Japan became the 21st nation to accept the agency's convention.

U.S. and U.K. mediators flew to Paris to present French Prime Minister Felix Gaillard the Tunisian terms for the settlement of the Franco-Tunisian border dispute

Politics and government
Italian Prime Minister Giovanni Gronchi dissolved the Senate and Chamber of Deputies in preparation for general elections.

Protest
A manifesto endorsed by 42 religious, professional, and civic organizations in Cuba was presented to President Fulgencio Batista urging that he resign "to save Cuba" from anarchy and chaos.

50 years ago
1968

Hit parade
#1 single in Ireland (IRMA): Nora--Johnny McEvoy

Protest
More than 200 people were arrested after thousands clashed in an anti-Vietnam War protest outside the United States embassy in London.

Environment
As a result of nerve gas testing in Skull Valley, Utah, over 6,000 sheep were found dead.

Economics and finance
The London Gold Pool members met in Washington to address the crisis of their rapidly dwindling reserves, and agreed that all gold transactions between governments would continue to be made at $35 U.S. per ounce, but that they would no longer sell gold to private investors. The crisis was believed by many to be the result of two factors: a $3.572-billion deficit in the U.S. balance of payments for 1967; and the devaluation of the British pound on November 18, 1967, which was followed by speculation in U.S. dollars. Some governments (such as France, which openly wanted a return to the gold standard) were believed to be behind much of the buying.

Disasters
Ninve people were killed when a twin-engine Beechcraft BE-18 crashed while landing at Municipal Airport in Rapid City, South Dakota.

Golf
Dan Sikes won the Florida Citrus Open in Orlando with a score of 274. First prize money was $23,000.

40 years ago
1978

Hit parade
#1 single in Sweden (Topplistan): It's a Heartache--Bonnie Tyler (2nd week at #1)

#1 single in West Germany (Media Control): Mull of Kintyre--Wings (10th week at #1)

#1 single in France: How Deep is Your Love--Bee Gees

War
Thousands of Palestinian civilians in southern Lebanon fled a third day of Israeli attacks.

Journalism
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police charged Toronto Sun editor Peter Worthington and publisher Donald Creighton with violating the Official Secrets Act for publishing information from a secret report on Soviet espionage activities in Canada.

Economics and finance
U.S. Treasury Secretary W. Michael Blumenthal and Charles L. Schultze, chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers, warned President Jimmy Carter that inflation had replaced unemployment as the nation's worst economic problem.

Environment
The supertanker Amoco Cadiz broke in two after running aground in heavy seas off the Brittany coast in France, spilling more than 1.3 million of its cargo of 1.6 million barrels of crude oil into the sea.

30 years ago
1988

Hit parade
#1 single in Spain (PROMUSICAE): Always on My Mind--Pet Shop Boys (5th week at #1)

#1 single in Finland (Musiikkituottajat – IFPI Finland): Sleepy Sleepers--Nykäsen Matti (3rd week at #1)

War
Honduran jets bombed a Nicaraguan army position in the border area; Nicaragua claimed that the bombs had fallen in its own territory. Local Nicaraguan commanders said that the offensive along the border had been ended. U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Jim Wright said that he knew of no reasons to send U.S. troops to Honduras.

In the Eritrean War of Independence, the Eritrean People's Liberation Front circled an Ethiopian force and gained a decisive victory in the Battle of Afabet.

World events
The government of Panama announced that it had retired five senior military officials sympathetic to the officers who had attempted to seize military headquarters the day before.

Economics and finance
The United States Commerce Department reported that the U.S. deficit on merchandise trade had edged upward to $12.4 billion in January.

Disasters
Avianca Flight 410, a Colombian Boeing 727 jetliner, crashed into a mountainside near the Venezuelan border three minutes after taking off from Cucuta, killing all 143 aboard.

25 years ago
1993

Hit parade
#1 single in Sweden (Topplistan): No Limit--2 Unlimited (4th week at #1)

Died on this date
Helen Hayes, 92. U.S. actress. Miss Hayes was known as the "First Lady of the American Theatre." She won the Academy Award for Best Actress for The Sin of Madelon Claudet (1931) and for Best Supporting Actress for Airport (1970), and won the Tony Award for Best Leading Actress in a Play for Happy Birthday (1947) and Time Remembered (1958). Miss Hayes also won an Emmy Award for Best Actress in 1953--for no specific role--and also won a Grammy Award, becoming one of 11 people to win all four awards.

Terrorism
Five days after more than 250 people had been killed in a bomb explosion in Bombay, 86 people were killed in an explosion in Calcutta that levelled two apartment buildings in a central residential area.

20 years ago
1998

Health
Researchers in Finland announced that Vitamin E reduced the incidence of prostate cancer by one third, and the death rate by 41% in a study of thousands of smokers. Vitamin A was found to have no effect.

10 years ago
2008

Died on this date
Roland Arnall, 68. French-born U.S. businessman and diplomat. Mr. Arnall moved with his family to Montreal after World War II and to Los Angeles in the late 1950s. He was the billionaire owner of ACC Capital Holdings, the parent company of Ameriquest, which was once one of America's largest sub-prime mortgage lenders. Mr. Arnall and his companies circumvented various laws and had to make settlements with the authorities. Mr. Arnall donated heavily to the political campaign of U.S. President George W. Bush, and was rewarded by being appointed U.S. Ambassador to the Netherlands. He resigned for health reasons 10 days before his death from cancer, 12 days before his 69th birthday.