Today in News History

On June 17, several notable moments in the history of News stand out. In 1242, Following the Disputation of Paris, twenty-four carriage loads of Jewish religious manuscripts were burnt in Paris. In 1930, U.S. President Herbert Hoover signs the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act into law. In 1952, Estelle Morris, Baroness Morris of Yardley, English educator and politician, Secretary of State for Education was born. In 1957, Philip Chevron, Irish singer-songwriter and guitarist (died 2013) was born. In 1967, Nuclear weapons testing: China announces a successful test of its first thermonuclear weapon. In 1971, U.S. President Richard Nixon in a televised press conference called drug abuse "America's public enemy number one", starting the War on drugs. In 1972, Watergate scandal: Five White House operatives are arrested for burgling the offices of the Democratic National Committee during an attempt by members of the administration of President Richard M. Nixon to illegally wiretap the political opposition as part of a broader campaign to subvert the democratic process. In 1974, Refik Koraltan, Turkish lawyer and politician, 8th Speaker of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey (born 1889) passed away. In 1992, A "joint understanding" agreement on arms reduction is signed by U.S. President George Bush and Russian President Boris Yeltsin (this would be later codified in START II). In 2021, Juneteenth National Independence Day, was signed into law by President Joe Biden, to become the first federal holiday established since Martin Luther King Jr. Day in 1983. Together, these milestones provide historical context for today's news news and ongoing narratives.