1900 – In response to an ambush that has killed two Philippine based Marines the day before, the gunboat USS Manileno was present and willing to help but broken down, so Captain Draper, the local commander, prevailed upon the master of a native steamer to tow the gunboat with himself and a force of 107 men aboard to the village of Moron a little after midnight on the morning of 17 February. Surprising the defenders, he took the town without much resistance, destroyed a store of ammunition, and burned the blockhouse. On the afternoon of the same day he ordered the inhabitants of Benictican and Baton to move into Olongapo, where the Marines were based, within three days or be declared outlaws. All obeyed his order except six families, who, according to his information, moved to another town.
1909 – Apache chief Geronimo dies of pneumonia at age 80, while still in captivity at Fort Sill, Oklahoma. The slaughter of Geronimo’s family when he was a young man turned him from a peaceful Indian into a bold warrior. Originally Goyathlay (“One Who Yawns”) joined a fierce band of Apaches known as Chiricahuas and with them took part in raids in northern Mexico and across the border into U.S. territory which are now known as the states of New Mexico and Arizona. Geronimo was the last Apache fighting force. He became the most famous Apache of all for standing against the U.S. government and for holding out the longest. He was a great Apache medicine man, a great spiritual leader. Geronimo was highly sought by Apache chiefs for his wisdom. He is said to have had magical powers. He could see into the future and walk without creating footprints. He could even prevent dawn from rising to protect his people. In 1876, Federal authorities captured and forced Geronimo and his band onto a U.S. reservation at San Carlos, Arizona. It was described as “Hell’s Forty Acres.” He soon escaped and fled to Mexico to resume the life that he loved. Geronimo roamed Arizona and New Mexico and was persued relentlessly by more than five-thousand U.S. troops. Exhausted and hopelessly out numbered, Geronimo surrendered in 1886. His band consisted of a handful of warriors, women, and children. Geronimo, along with a few hundred of his fellow Apaches, were shipped by box-car to Florida for imprisonment. Geronimo was relocated to Fort Sill, Oklahoma and, as a prisoner of war, unable to return to his much loved homeland, died of pneumonia. He is buried in the Apache cemetery at Fort Sill, Oklahoma.
1933 – The League of Nations censured Japan in a worldwide broadcast. The rise of militaristic nationalism led Japan down the road to Pearl Harbor and World War II.
1933 – The Blaine Act ends Prohibition in the United States. The 21st Amendment reverses the 18th.
1940 – President Roosevelt sends Sumner Welles, Under-Secretary of State, on a “fact-finding” tour of Europe and appoints Myron C. Taylor as his “personal representative” to the Vatican.
1940 – United States Lines sells the liner President Harding and seven cargo ships to a Belgian concern in an attempt to circumvent the ban on US sea borne trade with Europe, imposed by the Neutrality Act.
1942 – The 296 men of the first naval construction unit to deploy from the United States was designated the First Construction Detachment arrived at Bora Bora in the Societies Islands with the mission of constructing a fueling station and other facilities. The unit left Quonset Point (Newport), Rhode Island, on 17 January 1942. It stopped at Norfolk, Virginia, and Charleston, South Carolina, and on 27 January left for their destination. This unit took on the name of Bobcat Detachment as Bobcat was the code name for Bora Bora. On 5 March, Construction Battalion personnel were officially named Seabees by the Navy Department and the fighting, building bee insignia and shoulder patch was approved.
1943 – Attacks by the forces under von Arnim and Rommel make good progress. In the north, Axis forces are approaching Sheitla, having destroyed two thirds of the US 1st Armored Division. To the south, Rommel’s forces enter Feriana. Von Arnim, with limited aims in mind, diverts 10th Panzer Division toward Foundouk, which has been abandoned by its American defenders, rather than pushing toward Sbeitla. Rommel, has proposed a more ambitious plan to the Italian and German High Commands but no decision is made.
1944 – Operation Catchpole is launched as American troops devastate the Japanese defenders of Eniwetok and take control of the atoll in the northwestern part of the Marshall Islands. The U.S. Central Pacific Campaign was formulated during the August 1943 Quebec Conference. President Franklin D. Roosevelt and Prime Minister Winston Churchill agreed on, among other things, a new blueprint for fighting in the Pacific: an island-hopping strategy; the establishment of bases from which to launch B-29s for a final assault on Japan; and a new Southeast Asia command for British Adm. Louis Mountbatten. The success of the island-hopping strategy brought Guadalcanal and New Guinea under Allied control. Though those areas were important, the Allies also still needed to capture the Mariana Islands, the Marshall Islands, and the Gilbert Islands, which had comprised an inner defensive perimeter for the Japanese. Each was a group of atolls, with between 20 to 50 islets, islands, and coral reefs surrounding a lagoon. The Allies planned an amphibious landing on the islands–all the more difficult because of this unusual terrain. On February 17, a combined U.S. Marine and Army force under Adm. Richmond Kelly Turner made its move against Eniwetok. Air strikes, artillery and naval gunfire, and battleship fire 1,500 yards from the beach gave cover to the troops moving ashore and did serious damage to the Japanese defenses. Six days after the American landing, the atoll was secured. The loss for the Japanese was significant: only 64 of the 2,677 defenders who met the Marine and Army force survived the fighting. The Americans lost only 195. The position on Eniwetok gave U.S. forces a base of operations to finally capture the entirety of the Marianas. Eniwetok was also useful to the United States after the war–in 1952 it became the testing ground for the first hydrogen bomb.
1944 – During the night (February 17-18), US destroyers bombard Japanese bases at Rabaul and Kavieng.
1944 – American forces attack the Japanese base at Truk and nearby shipping. Three groups of Task Force 58 (Admiral Mitscher) and one group of Task Forces 50 (Admiral Spruance) engage. The operation is under the command of Spruance. In total 9 carriers and 6 battleships as well as cruisers, destroyers and submarines are involved.
1944 – German forces continue attacks on the Anzio beachhead. The US 45th Division barely contains the German attack. Heavy losses are sustained by both sides. Offshore, the British cruiser Penelope is damaged by a torpedo attack. To the south, near Cassino, German forces recover Point 593 after losing possession briefly to the British 4th Indian Division (part of the US 5th Army).
1945 – There are new attacks by US 12th and 20th Corps, of US 3rd Army, from Luxembourg and around Saarlouis. US 7th Army units are attacking near Saarbrucken while US Task Force 58 conducts a second day of air raids. On this day the aircraft strike Tokyo and Yokohama. In two days of operations, the American planes have conducted over 2700 sorties, losing 88 aircraft. It is reported that twice as many Japanese planes are shot down. After completing the attacks, TF58 moves toward Iwo Jima in the Volcano Islands.
1945 – US Task Force 54 and TF52 continue the preliminary bombardment of Iwo Jima. The battleship Tennessee and a cruiser as well as several smaller ships are damaged by Japanese return fire. Meanwhile, a USAAF raid by B-24 bombers is also conducted.
1947 – With the words, “Hello! This is New York calling,” the U.S. Voice of America (VOA) begins its first radio broadcasts to the Soviet Union. The VOA effort was an important part of America’s propaganda campaign against the Soviet Union during the Cold War. The VOA began in 1942 as a radio program designed to explain America’s policies during World War II and to bolster the morale of its allies throughout Europe, Asia, the Middle East, and Africa. After the war, VOA continued as part of America’s Cold War propaganda arsenal and was primarily directed toward the western European audience. In February 1947, VOA began its first Russian-language broadcasts into the Soviet Union. The initial broadcast explained that VOA was going to “give listeners in the USSR a picture of life in America.” News stories, human-interest features, and music comprised the bulk of the programming. The purpose was to give the Russian audience the “pure and unadulterated truth” about life outside the USSR. Voice of America hoped that this would “broaden the bases of understanding and friendship between the Russian and American people.” By and large, the first program was a fairly dry affair. Much of it dealt with brief summaries of current events, discussions of how the U.S. budget and political system worked, and a rousing analysis of a “new synthetic chemical substance called pyribenzamine.” Music on the program was eclectic, ranging from “Turkey in the Straw” to Cole Porter’s “Night and Day.” In addition, due to bad weather and technical difficulties, the sound quality for the Russian audience was generally poor. According to U.S. officials in the Soviet Union, Russians rated the program “fair.” VOA broadcasts into Russia did improve somewhat over the years, primarily because music played an increasingly prominent role. U.S. observers had discovered that the Soviet people’s appetite for American music, particularly jazz, was nearly insatiable. How many Russians actually ever heard the broadcasts is uncertain, but reports from behind the Iron Curtain indicated that many VOA programs, specifically the music segments, were eagerly awaited each night. By the 1960s, VOA was broadcasting to every continent in several dozen languages. Today, VOA continues to operate, bringing “Life in America” to the world. And with “Radio Marti,” which is aimed at communist Cuba, it continues its Cold War tradition.
1951 – FBI director J. Edgar Hoover initiated a secret nationwide program intended to remove politically suspect employees from their jobs. Congress never authorized the “Responsibilities Program” and over 4 years it provided governors of nearly every state verbal reports on the political backgrounds of 908 employees.
1951 – B-26s flew the first night bombing mission using SHORAN, a short-range navigation system employing an airborne radar device and two ground beacon stations for precision bombing.
1953 – The 1,000th helicopter landing was recorded aboard the hospital ship USS Repose. The destroyers USS Mansfield, De Haven, Collet, and Swensen joined TF 90 for the third time.
1956 – The USCGC Casco saved 21 persons from a US Navy seaplane that was forced to ditch 100 miles south of Bermuda and delivered both the survivors and the disabled aircraft to the Naval Air Station at St. Georgia Harbor, Bermuda.
1957 – Suez Canal reopened.
1959 – The U.S. launched its first weather station in space, Vanguard II weighing 9.8 kg. The satellite was designed to measure cloud-cover distribution over the daylight portion of its orbit, for a period of 19 days, and to provide information on the density of the atmosphere for the lifetime of its orbit (~300 years).
1965 – The Ranger 8 probe launches on its mission to photograph the Mare Tranquillitatis region of the Moon in preparation for the manned Apollo missions. Mare Tranquillitatis or the “Sea of Tranquility” would become the site chosen for the Apollo 11 lunar landing. During its mission, it transmitted 7,137 lunar surface photographs before it crashed into the Moon as planned. This was the second successful mission in the Ranger series, following Ranger 7’s. Ranger 8’s design and purpose was very similar to its predecessor, Ranger 7. It also had six television vidicon cameras, two full-scan cameras, and four partial scan cameras. Its sole purpose was to document the Moon’s surface.
1966 – In testimony before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Gen. Maxwell Taylor states that a major U.S. objective in Vietnam is to demonstrate that “wars of liberation” are “costly, dangerous and doomed to failure.” Discussing the American air campaign against North Vietnam, Taylor declared that its primary purpose was “to change the will of the enemy leadership.” The decision to launch a bombing campaign against North Vietnam was controversial. President Lyndon B. Johnson deliberated for a year before deciding to undertake the sustained bombing of North Vietnam. Earlier in the month, he had ordered Operation Flaming Dart in response to communist attacks on U.S. installations in South Vietnam. It was hoped that these retaliatory raids would cause the North Vietnamese to cease support of Viet Cong forces in South Vietnam, but they did not have the desired effect. Out of frustration, Johnson initiated Operation Rolling Thunder. The new bombing campaign was designed to interdict North Vietnamese transportation routes in the southern part of North Vietnam and thereby slow infiltration of personnel and supplies into South Vietnam. The first Rolling Thunder mission took place on March 2, 1965, when 100 U.S. Air Force and Republic of Vietnam Air Force (VNAF) planes struck the Xom Bang ammunition dump 100 miles southeast of Hanoi. Rolling Thunder continued, with occasional suspensions, until President Johnson, under intense domestic political pressure, halted it on October 31, 1968. Operation Rolling Thunder was closely controlled by the White House and at times targets were personally selected by President Johnson. From 1965 to 1968, an estimated 643,000 tons of bombs were dropped on North Vietnam. A total of nearly 900 U.S. aircraft would be lost during Operation Rolling Thunder.
1967 – The first full day of Operation DECKHOUSE VI, which lasted until 3 March, was conducted near Quang Ngai city. The Special Landing Force (BLT Y4 and HMM-363) accounted for 280 enemy killed.
1968 – American officials in Saigon report an all-time high weekly rate of U.S. casualties–543 killed in action and 2,547 wounded in the previous seven days. These losses were a result of the heavy fighting during the communist Tet Offensive.1972 – President Nixon departed on his historic 10-day trip to China.
1973 – President Gerald Ford announces sweeping changes in the US Intelligence Community. This includes the establishment of PFIAB, the President’s Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board.
1974 - Private First Class Robert K. Preston, US Army, a helicopter pilot who had washed out of training, crept across the tarmac at Fort Meade, Maryland, and boarded a UH-1 Iroquois helicopter. The aircraft was unarmed and, as was usual, was kept fueled on the flight line. With the practiced hand of his training, he quickly went through the start up sequence. Without clearance, he pushed in the power, pulled up on the controls and took off into the night. For a time, he orbited the base at night, enjoying the view and hovering over base housing. Finally, bored with this, he set out for a new destination — the White House. When PFC Preston arrived in Washington, he took a flight down the Anacostia River, turned north at the Capitol Street Bridge and then flew directly to the White House. It was about 1:00 am. At first the Secret Service was somewhat miffed. He buzzed the White House itself and then hovered overhead for six long minutes. At the time, policy was that they would not fire on a helicopter or other aerial intruder if it might endanger innocent bystanders, and so they waited. Finally, he flew down the South Lawn and landed about 100 yards toward the south fence. The Washington Monument towered in the background and he remained there on the ground for a minute. Two Maryland Police helicopters that had flown down from around Baltimore hovered nearby. Suddenly, PFC Preston took back off into the night skies and the police gave close pursuit. An extended tail chase ensued at low level. In fact, it turned out that PFC Preston was indeed quite an expert pilot after all, as he managed to not only outmaneuver the two helicopters at ever turn but even managed to drive one down in the process. The second helicopter broke off but stayed nearby after what officials called, “a modern day dogfight”. PFC Preston returned to the White House once more. It was nearly 2:00 am and he had led the officials on a prolonged chase — certainly, his fuel was running low. This time he flew up to the Washington Monument, hovering at seven feet of altitude along the base for a bit before flying back straight north onto the White House’s South Lawn. There too he hovered just a few feet over the grass and it seemed to officials that this time he might be preparing to make a dash to crash into the building. The second Maryland Police helicopter set down quickly between him and the White House as Secret Service agents moved toward the helicopter. Then, without warning, they opened fire with handguns and shotguns hoping to cripple the helicopter. They also fired and hit PFC Preston with a shotgun blast, injuring slightly. He landed the damaged helicopter at once — though it seemed also that the damage from the gunfire had knocked the aircraft out of the sky, leaving the Secret Service to conclude that it had downed the helicopter. Once on the ground, the Secret Service and Maryland Police rushed in. PFC Preston jumped clear and fought them hand to hand, though he was badly outnumbered. It wasn’t long before he was subdued, however. Handcuffed, he was taken into the White House for questioning before being transferred to Walter Reed hospital for treatment for his light injuries — mainly shotgun pellets. The following day, when being escorted into a police car, he was smiling. When asked why he had flown back to the White House a second time, he said that he knew it was wrong to fly over the White House so he had flown back “to turn himself in”. The Secret Service ordered psychological testing. Ultimately, all civil charges were dropped and he was left to the military court system. In the end, PFC Preston had proven two things — first, he was a pretty darn good helicopter pilot after all; and second, that he was certainly not up to the moral and ethical standards of the US Army. He was sentenced to a year in prison.
1988 – Marine Lt. Col. William Higgins, an American officer, and veteran of Vietnam, serving with a United Nations truce monitoring group, was kidnapped in southern Lebanon by pro-Iranian terrorists. He was later slain by his captors. His remains were recovers and interred at Arlington National Cemetery. In 1999, the Navy named an Arleigh-Burke class destroyer for him.
1990 – Former President Reagan spent a second day in a Los Angeles courtroom, giving videotaped testimony about the Iran-Contra affair for the trial of his former national security adviser, John Poindexter.
1996 – The NEAR-Shoemaker space craft was launched. The Near Earth Asteroid Rendezvous craft was scheduled to reach the Eros asteroid in 4 years. NASA planned to land the craft on Eros, a 22 by 8 mile rock, in Feb 2001.
1997 – The Middle East Economic Survey reports that Iraq’s State Oil Marketing Organization is increasing crude oil sales to reach its targeted $1.0 billion in sales for the first 90 day period under the United Nations’ oil for food plan. The total value of contracts for the first 90 days is reported to be $800-$850 million, lower than expected due to lower oil prices (14% less than when the sale was announced in mid-December1996) and the failure of Russian companies to lift contracted volumes.
1998 – President Clinton, preparing Americans for possible air strikes against Iraq, said military force is never the first answer “but sometimes it’s the only answer.”
1998 – A barge carrying about 200,000 gallons of diesel fuel sinks in rough seas off the coast of the United Arab Emirates. The barge is suspected of transporting smuggled fuel from Iraq.
1998 – UN Sec. Gen’l. Kofi Annan announced that he would travel to Baghdad to try to resolve the ongoing crises over Saddam Hussein’s refusal to allow unconditional weapons inspections.
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