Today in History: March 17, white South Africans vote to end apartheid
South African President F.W. de Klerk poses outside his office in Cape Town, South Africa March 18, 1992, while displaying a copy of a local newspaper with banner headlines declaring a “Yes” result in a referendum vote to end apartheid and share power with the black majority for the first time. (AP Photo, File)
Today in history:
On March 17, 1992, white South Africans voted 68.7%-31.3% to end over 40 years of apartheid in a national referendum. (Voters of all races were allowed to vote two years later in the general election that resulted in Nelson Mandela becoming president.)
Also on this date:
In 1762, New York held its first St. Patrick’s Day parade.
In 1776, the Revolutionary War Siege of Boston ended as British forces evacuated the city.
In 1950, scientists at the University of California at Berkeley announced they had created a new radioactive element they named “californium.”
In 1969, Golda Meir took power in Israel, beginning a term as prime minister that would last through five crucial years in the nation’s history.
In 2003, edging to the brink of war, President George W. Bush gave Saddam Hussein 48 hours to leave his country. Iraq rejected Bush’s ultimatum, saying that a U.S. attack to force Saddam from power would be “a grave mistake.”
In 2010, Michael Jordan became the first ex-player to become a majority owner in the NBA as the league’s Board of Governors unanimously approved Jordan’s $275 million bid to buy the Charlotte Bobcats from Bob Johnson.
In 2016, finally bowing to years of public pressure, SeaWorld Entertainment said it would stop breeding killer whales and making them perform crowd-pleasing tricks.
In 2023, the International Criminal Court said it issued an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin for war crimes because of his alleged involvement in abductions of children from Ukraine.