December 17

December 17 is the 352nd day of the year, and the American record for it runs from 1777 to 2014 — a span of 237 years. The entry that anchors it: American Civil War, 1862.

The revolutionary generation left its own mark on the date. In 1777, American Revolution — France formally recognizes the United States.

The antebellum decades brought the date closer to the country’s central argument. In 1862, American Civil War — Union General Ulysses S. Grant issued General Order No. 11, expelling Jews from Tennessee, Mississippi, and Kentucky.

The early twentieth century brought industry, air travel and war to the date. In 1933, the first NFL Championship Game is played at Wrigley Field in Chicago between the New York Giants and Chicago Bears. The Bears win 23–21. Ten years on, in 1943, all Chinese are again permitted to become citizens of the United States upon the repeal of the Act of 1882 and the introduction of the Magnuson Act.

After 1945 the date reflects a country operating at global scale. In 1951, the Civil Rights Congress presented a document to the United Nations Genocide Convention charging the United States government with genocide against African Americans. Six years on, in 1957, the United States successfully launches the first Atlas intercontinental ballistic missile at Cape Canaveral, Florida. Then, in 1969, Project Blue Book — the United States Air Force closes its study of UFOs.

The most recent entries fall within living memory. In 2014, the United States and Cuba re-establish diplomatic relations after severing them in 1961.

The date is also a birthday. Among the Americans born on December 17: Joseph Henry (1797), American physicist and engineer; John Greenleaf Whittier (1807), American poet and activist; Alexander Emanuel Agassiz (1835), Swiss-American ichthyologist and engineer; Sam Barry (1892), American basketball player and coach; and Arthur Fiedler (1894), American conductor.

December 17 is also a date of endings. Among the Americans who died on it: Frank Rinehart (1928), American photographer; Lizette Woodworth Reese (1935), American poet; Eddie Acuff (1956), American actor; and Thomas Mitchell (1962), American actor.

The date carries formal observance as well — International Day to End Violence Against Sex Workers; National Day (Bhutan); Pan American Aviation Day (United States); and Wright Brothers Day, a United States federal observance by Presidential proclamation. The record for December 17 runs 237 years deep across 8 entries. Read in sequence, the date stops being a coincidence and starts being a through-line.