1973,Also in Washington, a U.S. Senate committee begins public hearings to investigate the Watergate scandal. Senator Sam Ervin, Democrat from North Carolina, is in the committee chair. “If the many allegations made to this date are true, then the burglars who broke into the headquarters of the Democratic National Committee at the Watergate were in effect breaking into the home of every citizen of the United States” The following year, the scandal forces Richard Nixon to become the first President to resign from office.

1792,Birth of the New York Stock Exchange as a group of brokers meets under a tree located on what is now Wall Street.

And 1875,The horse Aristides wins the First Kentucky Derby, held at the track in Louisville, Kentucky that eventually becomes known as Churchill Downs.

Today in History, May 17th, Ross Simpson, the Associated Press