Today is Saturday, August 17, the 230th day of the yr 2024. There are 136 days left within the yr.

Today in history:

On August 17, 1998, President Bill Clinton testified before a grand jury via closed-circuit television from the White House about his relationship with Monica Lewinsky. He then gave a televised address by which he admitted that his relationship with Lewinsky was “wrong” but denied having previously committed perjury (Clinton was subsequently impeached by the House of Representatives but acquitted within the Senate).

Also on this date:

In 1807, Robert Fulton's North River Steamboat made its first voyage, completing a successful round trip up the Hudson River between New York City and Albany.

In 1915, a mob in Cobb County, Georgia, lynched 31-year-old Jewish businessman Leo Frank, whose death sentence for the murder of 13-year-old Mary Phagan had been commuted to life in prison. (Frank, who maintained his innocence, was pardoned by the state of Georgia in 1986.)

In 1945, Sukarno and Mohammad Hatta proclaimed Indonesia's independence, triggering the Indonesian National Revolution against Dutch rule.

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In 1959, trumpeter Miles Davis released “Kind of Blue,” which is taken into account one of the crucial influential jazz albums of all time.

In 1978, the primary successful transatlantic balloon flight ended when Maxie Anderson, Ben Abruzzo and Larry Newman landed their Double Eagle II off the coast of Paris.

In 1988, Pakistani President Mohammad Zia ul-Haq and US Ambassador Arnold Raphel (RAY'-fehl) were killed in a mysterious plane crash.

In 1999, a magnitude 7.4 earthquake within the Turkish province of Kocaeli killed greater than 17,000 people.

Today's birthdays:

• Computer scientist Margaret Hamilton is 88.
• Actor Robert DeNiro is 81.
• Businessman Larry Ellison is 80.
• Film director Martha Coolidge is 78.
• Filmmaker/author Julian Fellowes is 75.
• Guillermo Vilas, member of the Tennis Hall of Fame, is 72.
• Singer Belinda Carlisle is 66.
• Author Jonathan Franzen is 65.
• Actor Sean Penn is 64.
• Singer/actor Donnie Wahlberg is 55.
• Christian Laettner, a member of the College Basketball Hall of Fame and former NBA All-Star, is 55.
• The rapper Posdnuos (PAHS'-deh-noos) (De La Soul) is 55.
• Jim Courier, a member of the Tennis Hall of Fame, is 54.
• Football star Thierry Henry is 47.
• Climber Alex Honnold is 39.
• Actor Austin Butler is 33.
• Singer-songwriter Phoebe Bridgers is 30.

Originally published: August 17, 2024 at 01:00