1762: BRITISH NORTH AMERICA: The first St. Patrick's Day Parade is held in New York City. (HAPPY ST. PATRICK'S DAY!!!)
1933: GERMANY: France and the U.K. do not take action against Chancellor Adolf Hitler's decree yesterday establishing a peacetime army of 500,000 men in violation of the Treaty of Versailles. The Treaty is considered dead by Germany's appraisal.
March 17th, 1939 (FRIDAY)
UNITED KINGDOM: Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain awakens to Parliament's and the presses' violent reaction to Germany's Czechoslovakia coup. Chamberlain finally realizes his own political future is at risk. He apologizes to Britain for "the very restrained and cautious" stance so far.
FRANCE: Daladier announces that France is to increase defence spending.
The battleship Clemenceau is laid down. A Richelieu Class ship, she is designed to weigh 40,900 tons and be armed with 8 x 380mm guns.
CZECHOSLOVAKIA: Hitler visits the occupied territory of Bruenn.
U.S.A.: The radio series Beau Geste is broadcast for the first time today from Hollywood. It stars Laurence Olivier and Orson Welles in the tale of three brothers who join the French Foreign Legion.