This page offers a "time capsule" featuring lots of information about events that occurred:
on August 17, 1968 -- Helen's date of birth,
in 1968 -- the year of Helen's birth,
and
on August 17 throughout history -- on the anniversary of Helen's birthday.

Events in history which took place on August 17:

• 1227 - Death of the Mongol conqueror Genghis Khan
• 1787 - Jews are granted permission in Budapest Hungary to pray in groups
• 1807 - Robert Fulton's steamboat Clermont begins 1st trip up Hudson River
• 1812 - Frigate President captures British schooner L'Adeline in North Atlantic
• 1846 - US takes Los Angeles
• 1850 - Jose de San Martin, liberator of Chile, dies
• 1859 - Circus acrobat Blondin crosses Niagara Falls on a tightrope
• 1863 - Federal batteries and ships bombard Fort Sumter, Charleston
• 1869 - The first international boat race, Thames River (Oxford beats Harvard)
• 1870 - Mrs. Esther Morris becomes 1st woman magistrate (South Pass, Wyoming)
• 1870 - The first ascent of Mt. Rainier, Washington
• 1870 - Western Australia is granted representative government
• 1877 - Asaph Hall discovers Mars' moon Phobos
• 1896 - Gold is discovered on Klondike River
• 1908 - Bank of Italy opens new headquarters at Clay & Montgomery
• 1914 - The Belgian government moves its offices from Brussels to Antwerp
• 1915 - Mob lynches Jewish businessman Leo Frank in Cobb County, GA, after death sentence for murder of 13-year-old girl commuted to life
• 1915 - The Ropner ship SS Glenby is sunk by gunfire from a U-boat in St. George's Channel; the Germans then machine-gun the survivors in the life boats, killing two and seriously wounding two others
• 1918 - Samuel Riddle buys Man o'War for $5,000
• 1938 - Henry Armstrong wins his third concurrent boxing championship
• 1940 - FDR and Canadian PM William M. King agree to joint defense commission
• 1942 - Submarines USS Nautilus and USS Argonaut land 222 Marines on Makin Island, first amphibious attack made from submarines
• 1942 - US bombers stage first independent raid on Europe in Rouen, France
• 1945 - Indonesia declares independence from the Netherlands (National Day)
• 1948 - Alger Hiss denies ever being a Communist agent
• 1950 - Indonesia gains independence from the Netherlands
• 1951 - Hurricane winds drive 6 ships ashore in Kingston, Jamaica
• 1955 - Hurricane Diane, following hurricane Connie, floods Connecticut River killing 190 and doing $1.8 billion in damage
• 1958 - World's first Moon probe, US's Thor-Able, explodes at T +77 sec
• 1959 - 7.1 quake strikes Yellowstone National Park
• 1959 - ADM Arleigh Burke reappointed CNO for third two-year term, serving longest term as CNO
• 1960 - Francis Gary Powers's U-2 spy trial opens in Moscow
• 1960 - Gabon gains independence from France (National Day)
• 1961 - Building of the Berlin Wall begins
• 1961 - Kennedy administration establishes Alliance for Progress
• 1962 - The Beatles replace Pete Best with Ringo Starr
• 1962 - East German border guards shoot and kill Peter Fechter, 18, attempting to cross Berlin Wall into western sector
• 1962 - Navy's first hydrofoil patrol craft, USS High Point (PCH-1) is launched at Seattle, WA
• 1966 - Pioneer 7 is launched into solar orbit
• 1969 - Hurricane Camille claims more than 250 lives
• 1970 - Venera 7 is launched by USSR for soft landing on Venus
• 1972 - 7.1 earthquake causes a two-foot tsunami at Pomino on southeast New Britain
• 1972 - Phillies Steve Carlton wins his 15th straight game
• 1973 - Lee Trevino's first hole-in-one
• 1973 - US archaeologists in Greece uncover evidence that people went to sea as early as 7500 BC
• 1978 - The first manned balloon crossing of Atlantic Ocean (Eagle II)
• 1979 - Vivian Vance, actress (I Love Lucy), dies at 72
• 1980 - Midway relieves Constellation to begin another Indian Ocean deployment and complement Eisenhower task group still on contingency duty in the Arabian Sea
• 1982 - Barney Phillips, actor (Dragnet, Felony Squad), dies at 68
• 1982 - South Bend, Indiana, jury acquits self-avowed racist Joseph Paul Franklin
• 1983 - In Luzon, Philippine Islands a 6.5 quake kills 16, injures 47 and causes extensive damage in the Pasuquin-Laoag-Batac and Serrat areas
• 1983 - Ira Gershwin, lyricist, dies in Beverly Hills, CA, at 86
• 1985 - Dave Kingman hits his 400th home run
• 1985 - Rajiv Gandhi announces Punjab state elections in India
• 1986 - Bronze pig statue is unveiled at Seattle's Pike Place Market
• 1987 - Dow Jones Industrial Average closes above 2,700 for first time (2,700.57)
• 1987 - Rudolph Hess, Nazi, dies at 93, after 46 years in Spandau Prison
• 1988 - Franklin D. Roosevelt, Jr. (Rep-D-NY, 1949-55), dies on 74th birthday
• 1988 - Long Island Railroad says Penn station will get air conditioning in 1991
• 1988 - Mohammad Zia Ul-Haq, President of Pakistan (1978-88), dies at 63 in plane crash
• 1988 - New York City's first case of Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever (9 year old Bronx boy)
• 1990 - Pearl Bailey, broadway actress/singer, dies at 72 from a heart attack
• 1990 - Phyllis Polander sues Mike Tyson for sexual harassment
• 1991 - Wade Frankum runs amok with automatic rifle and knife at Strathfield in Sydney, killing seven people and himself
• 1998 - U.S. President Bill Clinton admits in a televised address to having had inappropriate relations with ex-White House intern Monica Lewinsky

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Top news headlines during the week of August 11-17, 1968:

• Aug 11 - Beatles launch "Apple Records" label
• Aug 11 - Satchel Paige, 62, and needing 158 days on a major league payroll to qualify for a pension, is signed by Braves
• Aug 14 - Jimmy Ellis beats Floyd Patterson in 15 for heavyweight boxing title
• Aug 14 - Montreal Expos officially become a member of National League
• Aug 15 - Pirate Radio Free London begins transmitting
• Aug 15 - Romanian president Ceausescu visits Prague
• Aug 15 - USSR performs nuclear test at Sary Shagan USSR
• Aug 17 - Dick Beyers (Dr X) beats Verne Gagne to become NWA champ

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Academy Award winners in 1968:

• Best Picture: Oliver! produced By John Wolf
• Best Actor: Cliff Robertson in Charly
• Best Actress: Katherine Hepburn in Lion In Winter / Barbra Streisand in Funny Girl

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On television in 1968 (USA):

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Top songs for 1968 (USA):

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Top books in 1968 (USA):

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Hot new toys in 1968 (USA):

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Prices in 1968 (USA):

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Noteworthy people (in addition to Helen, of course!) born on August 17:

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Noteworthy people (in addition to Helen, of course!) born in 1968:

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Sources:

• www.dmarie.com/timecap
• www.who2.com/birthday/1968.html
• www.datesinhistory.com/cgi-bin/bigphp.phtml?v1=aug17

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