March 17 in History

• 1905

  March 17, 1905:

  Franklin D. Roosevelt, future president of the United States, and his distant cousin Eleanor Roosevelt get married.

• 1908

  March 17, 1908:

  American boxer Tommy Burns knocks out Ireland’s Jem Roche in under 1.30s to claim the world heavyweight title.

• 1969

  March 17, 1969:

  Golda Meir is elected as the fourth Prime Minister of Israel.

• 1992

  March 17, 1992:

  Almost 69 percent of White South African eligible voters vote to repeal apartheid.

• 2000

  March 17, 2000:

  The headquarters of the Movement for the Restoration of the Ten Commandments of God, a Ugandan doomsday cult, is gutted by fire leading to the discovery of over 770 bodies of members who were killed by the cult’s leaders.

• March 17, 2000:

  Julia Roberts becomes the first actress to be paid $20 million per film for her role in “Erin Brokovich”.

• 2002

  March 17, 2002:

  Triple H beats Chris Jericho at WrestleMania XVIII to become the undisputed WWF heavyweight champion.

• 2014

  March 17, 2014:

  Australian singer Sia releases her single, “Chandelier”.

• 2017

  March 17, 2017:

  The American musical fantasy film, “Beauty and the Beast” is released in theatres in the United States.

• 2019

  March 17, 2019:

  Facebook reports that it removed 1.5 million video uploads of the Christchurch mosque shootings.