Today in history: May 17
A unanimous U.S. Supreme Court handed down its Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka decision which held that racially segregated public schools were inherently unequal, and therefore unconstitutional, and more events that happened on this day in history.
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1792: The New York Stock Exchange
In 1792, the New York Stock Exchange had its beginnings as a group of brokers met under a tree on Wall Street and signed the Buttonwood Agreement.
1946: Harry S. Truman
In 1946, President Harry S. Truman seized control of the nation’s railroads, delaying — but not preventing — a threatened strike by engineers and trainmen.
1954: Brown v. Board of Education
In 1954, a unanimous U.S. Supreme Court handed down its Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka decision which held that racially segregated public schools were inherently unequal, and therefore unconstitutional.
1973: Watergate
In 1973, a special committee convened by the U.S. Senate began its televised hearings into the Watergate scandal.
1987: USS Stark
In 1987, 37 American sailors were killed when an Iraqi warplane attacked the U.S. Navy frigate Stark in the Persian Gulf. (Iraq apologized for the attack, calling it a mistake, and paid more than $27 million in compensation.)
1996: Bill Clinton
In 1996, President Bill Clinton signed a measure requiring neighborhood notification when sex offenders move in. (“Megan’s Law,” as it’s known, was named for Megan Kanka, a 7-year-old New Jersey girl who was raped and murdered in 1994.)
2002: Jimmy Carter
In 2002, former President Jimmy Carter ended a historic visit to Cuba sharply at odds with the Bush administration over how to deal with Fidel Castro, saying limits on tourism and trade often hurt Americans more than Cubans.
2004: Massachusetts
In 2004, Massachusetts became the first state to allow same-sex marriages.
2011: Arnold Schwarzenegger
Ten years ago: Former California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger confirmed a Los Angeles Times report that he had fathered a child with a woman on his household staff more than a decade earlier. (Schwarzenegger and his wife, Maria Shriver, had announced their separation on May 9, 2011.)
2011: Harmon Killebrew
Ten years ago: Baseball Hall of Famer Harmon Killebrew, 74, died in Scottsdale, Arizona.
2011: Queen Elizabeth II
Ten years ago: Queen Elizabeth II began the first visit by a British monarch to the Republic of Ireland, a four-day trip to highlight strong Anglo-Irish relations and the success of Northern Ireland peacemaking.
2015: Waco, Texas
In 2015, a shootout erupted between bikers and police outside a restaurant in Waco, Texas, leaving nine of the bikers dead and 20 people injured.
2016: Amtrak
Five years ago: Federal investigators concluded that a speeding Amtrak train that crashed in Philadelphia in May 2015, killing eight people, most likely ran off the rails because the engineer was distracted by word of a nearby commuter train getting hit by a rock.
2016: Democratic Presidential Primary
Five years ago: Bernie Sanders won Oregon’s Democratic presidential primary while Hillary Clinton eked out a razor-thin victory in Kentucky.
2016: Guy Clark
Five years ago: Guy Clark, the Grammy-winning musician who mentored a generation of songwriters, died in Nashville at age 74.
2017: Robert Mueller
In 2017, the Justice Department appointed former FBI Director Robert Mueller as a special counsel to oversee a federal investigation into potential coordination between Russia and the 2016 Donald Trump campaign.
2020: Afghanistan
One year ago: A spokesman for Afghan President Ashraf Ghani said Ghani and his political rival Abdullah Abdullah had signed a power-sharing agreement, two months after both men declared themselves the winner of the country’s presidential election.
2020: Jerome Powell
One year ago: Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell expressed optimism that the U.S. economy could begin to recover in the second half of the year, assuming that there would not be a second wave, but he suggested in a CBS “60 Minutes” interview that a full recovery would likely not be possible before the arrival of a vaccine.