Today in History

Today is Friday, Nov. 17, the 321st day of 2017. There are 44 days left in the year.

Today's Highlight in History:

On Nov. 17, 1917, French sculptor Auguste Rodin died in Meudon at age 77.

On this date:

In 1558, Elizabeth I acceded to the English throne upon the death of her half-sister, Queen Mary, beginning a 44-year reign.

In 1800, Congress held its first session in the partially completed U.S. Capitol building.

In 1869, the Suez Canal opened in Egypt.

In 1889, the Union Pacific Railroad Co. began direct, daily railroad service between Chicago and Portland, Oregon, as well as Chicago and San Francisco.

In 1925, actor Rock Hudson was born Roy Harold Scherer Jr. in Winnetka, Illinois.

In 1934, Lyndon Baines Johnson married Claudia Alta Taylor, better known as Lady Bird, in San Antonio, Texas.

In 1947, President Harry S. Truman, in an address to a special session of Congress, called for emergency aid to Austria, Italy and France. (The aid was approved the following month.)

In 1968, NBC outraged football fans by cutting away from the closing minutes of a New York Jets-Oakland Raiders game to begin the TV special "Heidi" on schedule. (After being taken off the air, the Raiders came from behind to beat the Jets, 43-32.)

In 1973, President Richard Nixon told Associated Press managing editors in Orlando, Florida: "People have got to know whether or not their president is a crook. Well, I'm not a crook."

In 1979, Iran's Ayatollah Khomeini ordered the release of 13 black and/or female American hostages being held at the U.S. Embassy in Tehran.

In 1987, a federal jury in Denver convicted two white supremacists of civil rights violations in the 1984 slaying of radio talk show host Alan Berg. (Both men later died in prison.)

In 1997, 62 people, most of them foreign tourists, were killed when militants opened fire at the Temple of Hatshepsut in Luxor, Egypt; the attackers were killed by police.

Ten years ago: U.S. Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte delivered a blunt message to Pakistan's military ruler, President Gen. Pervez Musharraf, telling him emergency rule had to be lifted and his opponents freed ahead of elections. A Nobel-winning U.N. scientific panel said in a landmark report released in Valencia, Spain, that the Earth was hurtling toward a warmer climate at a quickening pace.

Five years ago: Israel destroyed the headquarters of Hamas' prime minister and blasted a sprawling network of smuggling tunnels in the southern Gaza Strip, broadening a blistering four-day-old offensive against the Islamic militant group. A speeding train crashed into a bus carrying Egyptian children to their kindergarten, killing 48 children and three adults.

One year ago: President-elect Donald Trump, at Trump Tower in New York, held his first meeting with a world leader, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, and received advice from former U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger.

Today's Birthdays: Sen. James Inhofe, R-Okla., is 83. Rock musician Gerry McGee (The Ventures) is 80. Singer Gordon Lightfoot is 79. Singer-songwriter Bob Gaudio is 76. Movie director Martin Scorsese is 75. Actress Lauren Hutton is 74. Actor-director Danny DeVito is 73. "Saturday Night Live" producer Lorne Michaels is 73. Baseball Hall of Famer Tom Seaver is 73. Movie director Roland Joffe is 72. Former Democratic National Chairman Howard Dean is 69. Former House Speaker John Boehner is 68. Actor Stephen Root is 66. Rock musician Jim Babjak (The Smithereens) is 60. Actress Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio is 59. Actor William Moses is 58. Entertainer RuPaul is 57. Actor Dylan Walsh is 54. National Security Adviser Susan Rice is 53. Actress Sophie Marceau is 51. Actress-model Daisy Fuentes is 51. Blues singer/musician Tab Benoit is 50. Rhythm-and-blues singer Ronnie DeVoe (New Edition; Bell Biv DeVoe) is 50. Rock musician Ben Wilson (Blues Traveler) is 50. Actor David Ramsey is 46. Actor Leonard Roberts is 45. Actress Leslie Bibb is 44. Actor Brandon Call is 41. Country singer Aaron Lines is 40. Actress Rachel McAdams is 39. Rock musician Isaac Hanson (Hanson) is 37. Actor Justin Cooper is 29. Musician Reid Perry (The Band Perry) is 29. Actress Raquel Castro is 23.

Thought for Today: "Education is a private matter between the person and the world of knowledge and experience, and has little to do with school or college." -- Lillian Smith, American writer and social critic (1897-1966).