This day in history

[March 17, 2011]  (AP)  Today is Thursday, March 17, the 76th day of 2011. There are 289 days left in the year. This is St. Patrick's Day.

Today's highlight in history:

On March 17, 1861, Victor Emmanuel II was proclaimed the first king of a united Italy.

On this date:

In A.D. 461 (or A.D. 493, depending on sources), St. Patrick, the patron saint of Ireland, died in Saul.

In 1762, New York's first St. Patrick's Day parade took place.

In 1776, British forces evacuated Boston during the Revolutionary War.

In 1906, President Theodore Roosevelt first likened crusading journalists to a man with "the muckrake in his hand" in a speech to the Gridiron Club in Washington.

In 1910, the Camp Fire Girls organization was formed. (It was formally presented to the public on this date two years later.) The U.S. National Museum, a precursor to the National Museum of Natural History, opened in Washington, D.C.

In 1941, the National Gallery of Art opened in Washington, D.C.

In 1950, scientists at the University of California at Berkeley announced they had created a new radioactive element, "californium."

In 1966, a U.S. midget submarine located a missing hydrogen bomb which had fallen from an American bomber into the Mediterranean off Spain.

In 1970, the United States cast its first veto in the U.N. Security Council. (The U.S. killed a resolution that would have condemned Britain for failure to use force to overthrow the white-ruled government of Rhodesia.)

In 1992, 29 people were killed in the truck bombing of the Israeli embassy in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Ten years ago: OPEC decided to curtail its official output by four percent, or one million barrels of oil a day, in an effort to halt a recent slide in oil prices, a decision the Bush administration called "disappointing."

Five years ago: Federal regulators reported the deaths of two women in addition to four others who had taken the abortion pill RU-486; Planned Parenthood said it would immediately stop disregarding the approved instructions for the drug's use. Fashion designer Oleg Cassini died on Long Island, N.Y., at age 92. Former Federal Reserve Chairman and former treasury secretary G. William Miller died at age 81.

One year ago: Idaho Gov. C.L. "Butch" Otter became the first state chief executive to sign a measure requiring his attorney general to sue Congress if it passed health reforms requiring residents to buy insurance. Michael Jordan became the first ex-player to become a majority owner in the league as the NBA's Board of Governors unanimously approved Jordan's $275 million bid to buy the Charlotte Bobcats from Bob Johnson.

Today's birthdays: Jazz/New Age musician Paul Horn is 81. The former national chairwoman of the NAACP, Myrlie Evers-Williams, is 78. Rock musician Paul Kantner is 70. Singer-songwriter Jim Weatherly is 68. Singer-songwriter John Sebastian (The Lovin' Spoonful) is 67. Rock musician Harold Brown (War; Lowrider Band) is 65. Actor Patrick Duffy is 62. Actor Kurt Russell is 60. Country singer Susie Allanson is 59. Actress Lesley-Anne Down is 57. Country singer Paul Overstreet is 56. Actor Gary Sinise is 56. Actor Christian Clemenson is 53. Former basketball and baseball player Danny Ainge is 52. Actress Vicki Lewis is 51. Actor Casey Siemaszko (sheh-MA'-zshko) is 50. Writer-director Rob Sitch is 49. Actor Rob Lowe is 47. Rock singer Billy Corgan is 44. Rock musician Van Conner (Screaming Trees) is 44. Actor Mathew St. Patrick is 43. Actor Yanic (YAH'-neek) Truesdale is 42. Rock musician Melissa Auf der Maur is 39. Soccer player Mia Hamm is 39. Rock musician Caroline Corr (The Corrs) is 38. Actress Amelia Heinle is 38. Actress Marisa Coughlan is 37. Rapper Swifty (D12) is 36. Actress Natalie Zea (zee) is 36. Actress Brittany Daniel is 35. Actress Eliza Hope Bennett is 19.

Thought for today: "Italy, and the spring and first love all together should suffice to make the gloomiest person happy." -- Bertrand Russell, British philosopher (1872-1970)

[Associated Press]

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