History of the Day for:
January 17
- 1706: Benjamin Franklin, U.S. statesman and scientist, was born.
- 1773: Captain James Cook became the first to cross the Antarctic Circle.
- 1871: The first cable car was patented by Andrew S. Hallidie.
- 1893: Hawaii's monarchy was overthrown as a group of white businessmen and sugar planters forced Queen Liliuokalani to abdicate. The Kingdom of Hawaii became a republic.
- 1899: Notorious gangster Al Capone was born in Italy; The United States took possession of Wake Island in Pacific.
- 1916: The PGA had its beginning at a luncheon in New York City attended by many top golfers. An organizing committee established the association and drew up bylaws.
- 1917: The U.S. purchase of the West Indies from Denmark for $25 million, making it a U.S. territory, was ratified.
- 1926: George Burns married Gracie Allen.
- 1928: The first fully automatic photographic film developing machine was patented.
- 1929: E.C. Segar introduced Popeye The Sailor Man in his "Thimble Theater" comic strip.
- 1945: Soviet and Polish forces liberated Warsaw from Nazi forces during World War II. The same day, Swedish diplomat Raoul Wallenberg, credited with saving tens of thousands of Jews, disappeared in Hungary while in Soviet custody.
- 1946: The United Nations Security Council held its first meeting.
- 1969: The debut album for Led Zeppelin was released in the U.S.
- 1972: A section of Memphis' Highway 51 South was renamed Elvis Presley Boulevard.
- 1977: Gary Gilmore, a convicted murderer in Utah, became the first person in to be executed in the U.S. since the re-introduction of the death penalty when he was shot by a firing squad.
- 1983: Alabama Gov. George C. Wallace, capping a political comeback, took the oath of office for a record fourth term as he succeeded Governor Fob James.
- 1990: The Who, Simon and Garfunkel, The Four Seasons, The Four Tops, Hank Ballard, The Platters and The Kinks were inducted into Cleveland's Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
- 1991: In the Gulf War, U.S. led allied forces launched "Operation Desert Storm," an air and missile offensive against Iraqi positions.
- 1995: More than 6,400 people were killed after an earthquake measuring 7.2 on the Richter scale ripped through Kobe, Japan.
- 1996: The Czech Republic applies for membership of the European Union.
- 1997: A Delta 2 carrying a GPS2R satellite explodes 13 seconds after launch, dropping 250 tons of burning rocket remains around the launch pad.
- 1998: Paula Jones accuses President Bill Clinton of sexual harassment.
- 2001: President Bill Clinton posthumously raises Meriwether Lewis' rank from Lieutenant to Captain.
- 2002: Mount Nyiragongo erupts in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, displacing an estimated 400,000 people.
- 2007: The Doomsday Clock is set to five minutes to midnight in response to North Korea nuclear testing.