On April 17th...

links will open in a new window

1397 Geoffrey Chaucer told the Canterbury Tales for the first time at the court of Richard II.

1524 Giovanni Verrazano discovered New York Bay.

1704 The first successful newspaper in America was published in Boston, Massachusetts, by John Campbell.

1741 Jurist Samuel Chase was born.

1790 Benjamin Franklin, American statesman and inventor, died.

1817 The first school for the deaf in the United States opened in Hartford, Connecticut.

1818 Tsar Alexander II of Russia was born.

1820 Alexander Cartwright, the "Father of Baseball," was born.

1824 Russia abandoned all North American claims south of 54°40'N.

1837 Financier J. P. Morgan was born.

1839 Guatemala formed a republic.

1861 Virginia seceded from the Union.

1875 Snooker was invented by Sir Neville Chamberlain.

1894 Nikita Khrushchev, Premier of the Soviet Union, was born.

1896 Ventriloquist Señor Wences was born.

1897 Novelist Thornton Wilder was born.

1916 Sirimavo Ratwatte Dias Bandaranaike, Prime Minister of Ceylon/Sri Lanka, was born.

1918 Actor William Holden was born.

1920 The American Professional Football Association was formed.

1923 Television journalist Harry Reasoner was born.

1924 Metro Pictures, Goldwyn Pictures, and Louis B. Mayer Co. merged to from Metro Goldwyn Mayer (MGM).

1930 DuPont scientist Elmer K. Bolston invented neoprene.

1934 The Boston Red Sox lost to the Washington Senators 6-5 in their first game at Fenway Park.
1934 Music publisher and producer Don Kirshner was born.

1937 Cartoon characters Daffy Duck, Elmer J Fudd, and Petunia Pig debuted.

1941 The Kingdom of Yugoslavia surrendered to Germany.
1941 The U.S. Office of Price Administration was formed.

1945 U. S. troops landed on Mindanao, Philippines.

1946 Syria gained independence from a League of Nations mandate.

1947 Jackie Robinson bunted for his first Major League hit.

1954 Wrestler Roddy Piper was born.

1958 The government of French Premier Félix Gaillard was defeated by the French National Assembly.
1958 The Brussels World's Fair opened.

1960 American Samoa established a constitutional government.

1961 Anti-Castro exiles invaded Cuba.
1961 Football player Boomer Esiason was born.

1964 A Middle Eastern Airlines Caravelle crashed into the Persian Gulf just off Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, killing all 49 persons aboard.
1964 The Ford Mustang was formally introduced to the public.
1964 The New York Mets lost to the Pittsburgh Pirates in their first game at Shea Stadium.

1967 Surveyor III was launched from Cape Kennedy, Florida.
1967 Nino Benvenuti won the World Middleweight Boxing Title, by decision, from Emile Griffith.

1968 The Oakland A's lost to the Baltimore Orioles 4-1 in their first game at Oakland-Alameda Stadium.

1969 Sirhan Sirhan was convicted of assassinating Senator Robert F. Kennedy.
1969 Alexander Dubcek was removed as First Secretary of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia.
1969 Sirhan Sirhan was found guilty of first degree murder in the assassination of Senator Robert Kennedy.
1969 Nicaraguan forces seized two U. S. fishing boats within the nation's self-proclaimed 200-mile-wide territorial limit.

1970 Apollo 13 returned to Earth.

1972 Actress Jennifer Garner was born.

1975 The Khmer Rouge captured Phnom Penh, Cambodia.

1977 Sandra Palmer won the LPGA Women's International Golf Tournament.

1982 Canada gained formal control of its own Constitution.

1983 India launched its first SLV-3 rocket.

1990 A gas explosion on a passenger train in Kumrahar, India, killed 80 persons.
1990 Ralph David Abernathy, American civil rights activist, died.

1991 U. S. railroad workers went on strike.

1994 Lee Trevino won the PGA Seniors Tournament.

1998 Musician Linda McCartney died.

2002 Four Canadian Forces soldiers were killed in Afghanistan by friendly fire from two U. S. Air Force F-16's.

2011 "Game of Thrones" premiered on HBO.

2013 A U. S. drone attack killed 5 persons in Wana, Pakistan.
2013 A fertilizer plant in West, Texas, exploded, killing 15 persons and injuring 100.
2013 New Zealand legalized same-sex marriage.

2016 Actress Doris Roberts died.

Questions or comments about this page?

This page was last updated on April 16, 2018.