May 17
1792
The New York Stock Exchange was established when a group of 24 brokers and merchants met by a tree on what is now Wall Street and signed the Buttonwood Agreement.
1875
The first Kentucky Derby was held at Churchill Downs, in Louisville, Kentucky.
1938
NBC aired the Information Please quiz show on the radio for the first time.
1954
The Supreme Court ruled unanimously against segregation in schools in Brown v. Board of Education.
1973
Televised Watergate hearings opened, headed by North Carolina senator Sam Ervin.
1987
An Iraqi warplane attacked the U.S.S. Stark in the Persian Gulf, killing 37 American sailors and wounding 62.
1997
Laurent Kabila declared himself president of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
2004
In Massachusetts, same-sex couples exchanged marriage vows for the first time in the United States.
Today’s Birthdays
Seth Warner
hero of the American Revolution (1743)
Edward Jenner
physician (1749)
Erik Satie
composer (1866)
Ayatollah Khomeini
Iranian Shiite religious leader (1900)
Birgit Nilsson
soprano (1918)
Dennis Hopper
actor, director, producer (1936)
Sugar Ray Leonard
boxer (1956)