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Today in History: June 17

0362 Emperor Julian issues an edict banning Christians from teaching in Syria.

1579 Sir Francis Drake claims San Francisco Bay for England.

1856 The Republican Party opens its first national convention in Philadelphia.

1876 General George Crook's command is attacked and bested on the Rosebud River by 1,500 Sioux and Cheyenne under the leadership of Crazy Horse.

1913 U.S. Marines set sail from San Diego to protect American interests in Mexico.

1932 The U.S. Senate defeats the Bonus Bill as 10,000 veterans mass around the Capitol.

1942 Yank a weekly magazine for the U.S. armed services, begins publication.

1963 The U.S. Supreme Court bans the required reading of the Lord's prayer and Bible in public schools.

1965 27 B-52s hit Viet Cong outposts, but lose two planes in South Vietnam.

1972 Five men are arrested for burglarizing Democratic Party headquarters at the Watergate complex in Washington, D.C.

1994 Millions of Americans watch former football player O.J. Simpson--facing murder charges--drive his Ford Bronco through Los Angeles, followed by police.


Born on June 17

1914 John Hersey, novelist and journalist (Men on Bataan, Hiroshima).


JOTD

You've all heard of the Air Force's ultra-high-security, super-secret base in Nevada, known simply as "Area 51?"

Well, late one afternoon, the Air Force folks out at Area 51 were very surprised to see a Cessna landing at their "secret" base. They immediately impounded the aircraft and hauled the pilot into an interrogation room. The pilot's story was that he took off from Vegas, got lost, and spotted the Base just as he was about to run out of fuel. The Air Force started a full FBI background check on the pilot and held him overnight during the investigation. By the next day, they were finally convinced that the pilot really was lost and wasn't a spy. They gassed up his airplane, gave him a terrifying "you-did-not-see-a-base" briefing, complete with threats of spending the rest of his life in prison, told him Vegas was that-a-way on such-and-such a heading, and sent him on his way. The day after that though, to the total disbelief of the Air Force, the same Cessna showed up again. Once again, the MP's surrounded the plane... Only this time there were two people in the plane. The same pilot jumped out and said, "Do anything you want to me, but my wife is in the plane and you have to tell her where I was last night!"