August 17
1807
Robert Fulton’s steamboat, the Clermont, began its trip up the Hudson River to Albany.
1863
Fort Sumter, S.C. was bombarded by Union ships during the Civil War.
1896
Prospectors found gold in Alaska, a discovery that set off the Klondike gold rush.
1945
Indonesian nationalists proclaimed independence from the Netherlands.
1962
18-year-old Peter Fechter was shot and killed by guards at the Berlin Wall, spurring riots.
1969
Hurricane Camille devastated the Gulf Coast, killing 248 people.
1978
The first successful trans-Atlantic balloon flight landed outside of Paris.
1987
Rudolf Hess, Adolf Hitler’s second in command, committed suicide.
2008
U.S. swimmer Michael Phelps won his eighth gold medal, breaking the record set by Mark Spitz in the 1972 Games. Phelps also set the record for the most golds in a single Olympics.
Birthdays
Pierre de Fermat
1601–65, French mathematician.
William Carey
missionary (1761)
Davy Crockett
frontiersman (1786)
Marcus Garvey
black nationalist leader (1887)
Mae West
American comedienne (1893)
Ted Hughes
poet (1930)
V. S. Naipaul
author (1932)
Robert De Niro
film actor (1943)
Sean Penn
actor, producer, director (1960)