http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history
Oct 17, 1931: Capone goes to prison
On this day in 1931, gangster Al Capone is sentenced to 11 years in prison for tax evasion and fined $80,000, signaling the downfall of one of the most notorious criminals of the 1920s and 1930s.
Alphonse Gabriel Capone was born in Brooklyn, New York, in 1899 to Italian immigrants. He was expelled from school at 14, joined a gang and earned his nickname "Scarface" after being sliced across the cheek during a fight. By 1920, Capone had moved to Chicago, where he was soon helping to run crime boss Johnny Torrio's illegal enterprises, which included alcohol-smuggling, gambling and prostitution. Torrio retired in 1925 after an attempt on his life and Capone, known for his cunning and brutality, was put in charge of the organization.
Prohibition, which outlawed the brewing and distribution of alcohol and lasted from 1920 to 1933, proved extremely lucrative for bootleggers and gangsters like Capone, who raked in millions from his underworld activities. Capone was at the top of the F.B.I.'s "Most Wanted" list by 1930, but he avoided long stints in jail until 1931 by bribing city officials, intimidating witnesses and maintaining various hideouts. He became Chicago's crime kingpin by wiping out his competitors through a series of gangland battles and slayings, including the infamous St. Valentine's Day Massacre in 1929, when Capone's men gunned down seven rivals. This event helped raise Capone's notoriety to a national level.
Among Capone's enemies was federal agent Elliot Ness, who led a team of officers known as "The Untouchables" because they couldn't be corrupted. Ness and his men routinely broke up Capone's bootlegging businesses, but it was tax-evasion charges that finally stuck and landed Capone in prison in 1931. Capone began serving his time at the U.S. Penitentiary in Atlanta, but amid accusations that he was manipulating the system and receiving cushy treatment, he was transferred to the maximum-security lockup at Alcatraz Island, in California's San Francisco Bay. He got out early in 1939 for good behavior, after spending his final year in prison in a hospital, suffering from syphilis.
Plagued by health problems for the rest of his life, Capone died in 1947 at age 48 at his home in Palm Island, Florida.
Oct 17, 1777: Americans win more than a battle at Saratoga
British general and playwright John Burgoyne surrenders 5,000 British and Hessian troops to American General Horatio Gates at Saratoga, New York, on this day in 1777.
In the summer of 1777, General Burgoyne led an army of 8,000 men south through New York in an effort to join forces with British General Sir William Howe's troops along the Hudson River. After capturing several forts, Burgoyne's force camped near Saratoga while a larger Patriot army under General Gates gathered just four miles away. On September 19, a British advance column marched out and engaged the Patriot force at the Battle of Freeman's Farm, or the First Battle of Saratoga. Failing to break through the American lines, Burgoyne's force retreated. On October 7, another British reconnaissance force was repulsed by an American force under General Benedict Arnold in the Battle of Bemis Heights, also known as the Second Battle of Saratoga.
Gates retreated north to the village of Saratoga with his 5,000 surviving troops. By October 13, some 20,000 Americans had surrounded the British, and four days later Burgoyne was forced to agree to the first large-scale surrender of British forces in the Revolutionary War.
Burgoyne successfully negotiated that his surviving men would be returned to Britain by pledging that they would never again serve in North America. The nearly 6,000-man army was kept in captivity at great expense to the Continental Congress until the end of the war.
Soon after word of the Patriot victory at Saratoga reached France, King Louis XVI agreed to recognize the independence of the United States and French Foreign Minister Charles Gravier, Count de Vergennes, made arrangements with U.S. Ambassador Benjamin Franklin to begin providing formal French aid to the Patriot cause. This assistance was crucial to the eventual American victory in the Revolutionary War.
Oct 17, 1973: OPEC states declare oil embargo
The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) implements what it calls "oil diplomacy" on this day in 1973: It prohibits any nation that had supported Israel in its "Yom Kippur War" with Egypt, Syria and Jordan from buying any of the oil it sells. The ensuing energy crisis marked the end of the era of cheap gasoline and caused the share value of the New York Stock Exchange to drop by $97 billion. This, in turn, ushered in one of the worst recessions the United States had ever seen.
In the middle of 1973, even before the OPEC embargo, an American oil crisis was on the horizon: Domestic reserves were low (about 52 billion barrels, a 10-year supply); the United States was importing about 27 percent of the crude petroleum it needed every year; and gasoline prices were rising. The 1973 war with Israel made things even worse. OPEC announced that it would punish Israel's allies by implementing production cuts of 5 percent a month until that nation withdrew from the occupied territories and restored the rights of the Palestinians. It also declared that the true "enemies" of the Arab cause (in practice, this turned out to mean the United States and the Netherlands) would be subject to an indefinite "total embargo." Traditionally, per-barrel prices had been set by the oil companies themselves, but in December, OPEC announced that from then on, its members would set their own prices on the petroleum they exported. As a result, the price of a barrel of oil went up to $11.65, 130 percent higher than it had been in October and 387 percent higher than it had been the year before.
Domestic oil prices increased too, but shortages persisted. People waited for hours in long lines at gas stations—at some New Jersey pumps, lines were four miles long!--and by the time the embargo ended in March 1974, the average retail price of gas had climbed to 84 cents per gallon from 38 cents per gallon. Sales of smaller, more fuel-efficient cars skyrocketed. At the same time, declining demand for the big, heavy gas-guzzlers that most American car companies were producing spelled disaster for the domestic auto industry.
Oct 17, 1912: Serbia and Greece declare war on Ottoman Empire in First Balkan War
On October 17, 1912, following the example of Montenegro, their smaller ally in the tumultuous Balkan region of Europe, Serbia and Greece declare war on the Ottoman Empire, beginning the First Balkan War in earnest.
Four years earlier, a rebellion in Ottoman-held Macedonia by the nationalist society known as the Young Turks had shaken the stability of the sultan’s rule in Europe. Austria-Hungary had acted quickly to capitalize on this weakness, annexing the dual Balkan provinces of Bosnia and Herzegovina and urging Bulgaria, also under Turkish rule, to proclaim its independence. These actions quickly upset the delicate balance of power on the Balkan Peninsula: Ambitious Serbia was outraged, considering Bosnia-Herzegovina to be part of its own rightful territory due to their shared Slavic heritage. Czarist Russia, the other great power with influence in the region—and a strong supporter of Serbia—also felt threatened by Austria’s actions.
By the spring of 1912, Russia had encouraged the cluster of Balkan nations—Serbia, Bulgaria, Montenegro and Greece—to form an alliance aimed at taking control of some or all of the European territory still occupied by the Ottoman Empire. Though often at odds with one another, the disparate Balkan peoples were able to join forces when driven by the singular goal of striking at a distracted Turkey, by then ensnared in a war with Italy over territory in Libya. Montenegro declared war on October 8, 1912; Serbia, Bulgaria and Greece followed suit nine days later.
The outcome of the First Balkan War surprised many, as the combined Balkan forces quickly and decisively defeated the Ottoman army, driving the Turks from almost all of their territory in southeastern Europe within a month. In the wake of Turkey’s withdrawal, the great European powers—Britain, France, Germany, Austria-Hungary and Russia—scrambled to exert control over the region, convening a congress with the belligerent nations in London in December 1912 to draw up post-war boundaries in the Balkans. The resulting agreement—which partitioned Macedonia between the four victorious Balkan powers—led to a peace concluded on May 30, 1913, which nonetheless left Bulgaria feeling cheated out of its rightful share by Serbia and Greece. This led to a Second Balkan War just one month later, in which Bulgaria turned against its two former allies in a surprise attack ordered by King Ferdinand I without consultation with his own government.
In the ensuing conflict, Bulgaria was quickly defeated by forces from Serbia, Greece, Turkey and Romania. By the terms of the Treaty of Bucharest, signed August 10, Bulgaria lost a considerable amount of territory, and Serbia and Greece received control of most of Macedonia. In the wake of the two Balkan wars, tensions in the region only increased, simmering just beneath the surface and threatening to explode at any point. Austria-Hungary—which had expected first Turkey and then Bulgaria to triumph and had badly wanted to see Serbia crushed—became increasingly wary of growing Slavic influence in the Balkans, in the form of the upstart Serbia and its sponsor, Russia. Significantly, the Dual Monarchy’s own powerful ally, Germany, shared this concern. In a letter to the Austro-Hungarian foreign minister in October 1913 that foreshadowed the devastating global conflict to come, Kaiser Wilhelm II characterized the outcome of the Balkan wars as "a historic process to be classed in the same category as the great migrations of people, the present case was a powerful forward surge of the Slavs. War between East and West was in the long run inevitable…The Slavs are born not to rule but to obey."
Oct 17, 1941: Konoye government falls
On this day in 1941, the government of Prince Fumimaro Konoye, prime minister of Japan, collapses, leaving little hope for peace in the Pacific.
Konoye, a lawyer by training and well studied in Western philosophy, literature, and economics, entered the Japanese Parliament's upper house by virtue of his princely status and immediately pursued a program of reform. High on his agenda was a reform of the army general staff in order to prevent its direct interference in foreign policy decisions. He also sought an increase in parliamentary power. An antifascist, Konoye championed an end to the militarism of Japanese political structures, especially in light of the war in Manchuria, which began in 1931.
Appointed prime minister in 1933, Konoye's first cabinet fell after full-blown war broke out between Japan and China. In 1940, Konoye was asked to form a second cabinet. But as he sought to contain the war with China, relations with the United States deteriorated, to the point where Japan was virtually surrounded by a U.S. military presence and threats of sanctions. On August 27, 1941, Konoye requested a summit with President Roosevelt in order to diminish heightening tensions. Envoys were exchanged, but no direct meeting with the president took place. (The U.S. government believed it could send the wrong message to China-and that Japan was on the losing end of that war anyway.)
In October, Konoye resigned because of increasing tension with his army minister, Tojo Hideki. Tojo succeeded Konoye as prime minister, holding on to his offices of army minister and war minister. Imperial Japan's foreign policy was now formally controlled by the military. After the bombing of Pearl Harbor, Konoye was put under military surveillance, his political career all but over until 1945, when the emperor considered sending him to Moscow to negotiate peace terms. That meeting never came off.
When Saipan fell to the U.S. Marines and Army, Tojo's government collapsed. Upon Japan's surrender, Tojo shot himself to prevent being taken prisoner by the United States. He lived and was tried by an international war-crimes tribunal—and hanged on December 22, 1948. As for Konoye, the grand irony of his career came when he was served with an arrest warrant by the U.S. occupying force for suspicion of war crimes. Rather than submit to arrest, he committed suicide by drinking poison.
Here's a more detailed look at events that transpired on this date throughout history:
539 BC - King Cyrus The Great of Persia marches into the
city of Babylon, releasing the Jews from almost 70 years of exile and making
the first Human Rights Declaration.
532 - Boniface II ends his reign as Catholic Pope
733 - Battle at Poitiers: Charles Martel beats Abd
al-Rachmans Omajjaden
1346 - Battle of Neville's Cross: King David II of Scotland
is captured by Edward III of England at Calais, and imprisoned in the Tower of
London for eleven years.
1387 - Swells convent Windesheim initiated
1404 - Cosma de' Migliorati elected Pope Innocentius VII
1415 - Jewish autonomy in Palestine ends, as Raban Gamliel
leaves office
1448 - Second Battle of Kosovo, where the mainly Hungarian
army led by John Hunyadi were defeated by an Ottoman army led by Sultan Murad
II.
1456 - The University of Greifswald is established, making
it the second oldest university in northern continental Europe (also for a
period the oldest in Sweden, and Prussia)
1483 - Tomas de Torquemada appointed inquisitor-general of
Spain
1556 - Ex-emperor Karel departs Netherland for Spain
1651 - Future King Charles II flees from England
1660 - Nine Regicides, the men who signed the death warrant
of Charles I, are hanged, drawn and quartered, another is hanged.
1691 - New royal charter for Massachusetts, now including
Maine, Plymouth
1720 - Pierre de Marivaux' "Arlequin Poli Par
l'Amour," premieres in Paris
1740 - Ivan VI becomes Czar of Russia
1777 - British General John Burgoyne surrenders at Saratoga
NY
1781 - Cornwallis defeated at Yorktown
1787 - Boston blacks, petition legislature for equal school
facilities
King of England Edward IIIKing of England Edward III 1797 -
Peace of Campo Formio: Austrian Dutch possessions & France
1800 - Dutch colony Curacao transfered to England
1806 - Former leader of the Haitian Revolution, Emperor
Jacques I of Haiti was assassinated after an oppressive rule.
1808 - Political rights of Jews suspended in Duchy of Warsaw
1814 - London Beer Flood occurs in London killing nine.
1815 - Napoleon arrives in St Helena
1825 - 1st French Liszts operette Don Sanche premieres in
Paris
1829 - Delaware River & Chesapeake Bay Canal formally
opens
1829 - 1st supposed attack on abandoned German teenager
Kaspar Hauser
1831 - Felix Mendelssohn's 1st Piano concert in G, premieres
1850 - Knickerbocker Engine Co Number 5 organized
1855 - Bessemer steelmaking process patented
1860 - 1st British Golf Open: Willie Park Snr shoots a 164
at Prestwick Club, Scotland
1862 - Battle of Leetown & Thoroughfare Gap, VA
1868 - Constitution of Grand Duchy of Luxembourg comes into
effect
1871 - Great Britain annexes Griqualand South Africa
1871 - President Grant suspends writ of habeas corpus
1876 - Henry Morton Stanley's reaches Lualaba River
1877 - Henry Morton Stanley reaches Boma during trip cross
Africa
1885 - Baseball sets all players salaries at $1,000-$2,000
for 1885 season
Inventor Thomas EdisonInventor Thomas Edison 1888 - Thomas
Edison files a patent for the Optical Phonograph (the first movie).
1894 - Ohio national guard kills 3 lynchers while rescuing a
black man
1896 - Anton Tsjechovs "Chayka," premieres in St
Petersburg
1899 - Sutro railroad sold to Robert F Morrow for $215,000
1904 - Bank of Italy (Bank of America) opens its doors
1907 - Guglielmo Marconi's company begins the first
commercial transatlantic wireless service between Glace Bay, Nova Scotia,
Canada and Clifden, Ireland.
1912 - Bulgaria, Greece & Serbia declares war on Turkey
1916 - Dutch women demonstrate for female suffrage
1917 - 1st British bombing of Germany
1918 - De Kooy airport in Netherlands opens
1918 - Yugoslavia proclaims itself a republic
1919 - Radio Corporation of America (RCA) created
1920 - Chicago Bears (as Decatur Staleys) play 1st NFL game,
win 7-0
1921 - Belgium's public library law goes into force
1922 - Scottish worker begins hunger march from Glasgow on
London
Inventor and Nobel Laureate Guglielmo MarconiInventor and
Nobel Laureate Guglielmo Marconi 1923 - Catholic University of Nijmegen Neth
opens
1927 - Ban Johnson, in failing health, retires as AL
president
1931 - Al Capone convicted of tax evasion, sentenced to 11
years in prison
1933 - Albert Einstein arrives in US, a refugee from Nazi
Germany
1934 - "The Aldrich Family" premieres on radio
1935 - Pacific Association of AAU votes not to participate
in Berlin Olympics
1940 - German occupiers issue identity cards
1941 - 1st US destroyer (Kearney) torpedoed in WW II, off
Iceland
1943 - Liberators sink U-540 & U-631
1945 - Juan Peron becomes dictator of Argentina
1951 - Egyptian army fires on British troops
1954 - Phila Eagle Adrian Burk passes for 7 touchdowns vs
Wash (49-21)
1955 - Lee Merriwether joins Today Show panel
1956 - England's 1st large scale nuclear power station opens
1956 - Pakistan defeat Australia by nine wickets at 1st
attempt
Theoretical Physicist Albert EinsteinTheoretical Physicist
Albert Einstein 1957 - "Copper & Brass" opens at Martin Beck
Theater NYC for 36 performances
1957 - Britain's Queen Elizabeth & Prince Philip visit
the White House
1957 - Dike Marken-Dutch mainland closed
1957 - French author Albert Camus awarded Nobel Prize in
Literature
1957 - II Tsjoendrigar becomes premier of Pakistan
1959 - "Billy Barnes Revue" closes at John Golden
Theater NYC after 87 perfs
1959 - Queen Elizabeth is fined $140 for withdrawing her
race horse
1959 - Stinchcomb Memorial in Cleveland Metroparks'
dedicated
1960 - "Tenderloin" opens at 46th St Theater NYC
for 216 performances
1960 - US & Britain sign accord for nuclear sub bases
1961 - 22nd congress of CPSU opens in Moscow
1961 - Battle of Paris-police kill 210 Algerians
1961 - NASA civilian pilot Joseph A Walker takes X-15 to
33,100 m
1961 - NY Museum of Modern Art hangs Henri Matisse's
"Le Bateau" upside-down It wasn't corrected until December 3rd
1962 - Yanks beat Giants for 20th world championship
Impressionist Painter Henri MatisseImpressionist Painter
Henri Matisse 1963 - "Jennie" opens at Majestic Theater NYC for 82
performances
1964 - Yanks fire Manager Yogi Berra
1965 - "On A Clear Day You Can See Forever" opens
in NYC for 280 perfs
1965 - WBMG TV channel 42 in Birmingham, AL (CBS) begins
broadcasting
1967 - "Hair" premieres on Broadway
1967 - Barbra Streisand stars on "Belle of 14th
Street" special on CBS
1967 - Memorial service for Brian Epstein at New London
Synagogue
1967 - Pete Knight in X-15 reaches 85 km
1967 - USSR performs nuclear test at Eastern
Kazakh/Semipalitinsk USSR
1969 - NY Nets move from Comack to Island Garden, Hempstead
NY
1969 - Plastic Ono Band's "Cold Turkey" is
released in UK
1969 - Soyuz 7 returns to Earth
1970 - Anwar Sadat sworn in as president of Egypt
1971 - Cleveland Metroparks' Rocky River Nature Center opens
1971 - Judy Rankin wins LPGA Quality-First Golf Classic
Singer-songwriter & Actress Barbra
StreisandSinger-songwriter & Actress Barbra Streisand 1971 - Pittsburgh
Pirates beat Balt Orioles, 4 games to 3 in 68th World Series
1972 - 1st time Islanders shut-out-5-0 vs Penguins
1972 - Bob Randall's "6 Rooms Riv Vu," premieres
in NYC
1972 - Chuck Berry's "My Ding-a-ling," is #1
1973 - 5-mo oil embargo by Arab states against US &
Netherlands begins
1973 - Arabs decrease oil production
1974 - "Don't Bother Me, I Can't Cope" closes at
Playhouse NYC after 1065 per
1974 - NBA New Orleans Jazz begin a 28 game road losing
streak
1974 - Washington Capitals 1st NHL home victory, beating
Chicago 4-3
1974 - Oakland A's beat LA Dodgers, 4 games to 1 in 71st
World Series makes A's only team other than Yanks to win 3 straight series
1975 - 1st Space Shuttle main engine test at Natl Space Tech
Labs, Miss
1975 - UN passes resolution saying "Zionism is a form
of racism"
1976 - China PR performs nuclear test at Lop Nor PRC
1976 - Coldest World Series game Yankees vs Cincinnati, 39
degrees F (until 1997)
1977 - Canada begins regular live TV coverage of Parliament
1977 - West German commandos storm hijacked Lufthansa in
Mogadishu, Somalia freeing all 86 hostages & killing 3 of 4 hijackers
1978 - NY Islanders start a streak of 23 undefeated games at
home (15-0-8)
1978 - NY Yankees beat Dodgers, 4 games to 2 in 75th World
Series
1978 - Pres Carter signs bill restoring Jefferson Davis
citizenship
1978 - USSR performs underground nuclear test
1978 - Yanks win 22nd World Championship capping their great
comeback year
1979 - "Beatlemania" closes at Winter Garden
Theater NYC after 920 perfs
1979 - D Bautista of Mexico completes 20,000 m walk in
record 1:20:06.8
Catholic Missionary Mother TeresaCatholic Missionary Mother
Teresa 1979 - Mother Teresa of India, awarded Nobel Peace Prize
1979 - Pittsburgh Pirates beat Balt Orioles, 4 games to 3 in
76th World Series
1979 - Pres Carter signs legislation creating Dept of
Education
1980 - 1st-class debut of Mike Whitney, NSW v Qld (2-52
& 1-39)
1982 - 1st live orch on commerical network since 1954
(National Symphony)
1982 - Emmy News & Documentaries Award presentation
1982 - Robin Yount is 1st to have 2 4-hit games in a World
Series
1982 - Sam Shepard's "True West" premieres in NYC
1982 - USSR performs nuclear test at Novaya Zemlya USSR
1983 - Nobel prize for economy awarded to Gerard Debreu
1983 - STS-9 vehicle moves to Vandenberg AFB due to SRB
nozzle problem
1984 - Nobel prize for chemistry awarded to Bruce Merrifield
1985 - French author Claude Simon won the Nobel Prize in
literature
1985 - Lou Piniella named NY Yankee manager
1986 - US Senate approved immigration bill prohibiting
hiring of illegal aliens & offered amnesty to illegals who entered prior to
1982
1986 - Yitzak Rabin forms Israeli government
1987 - "Late Nite Comic" closes at Ritz Theater
NYC after 4 performances
1987 - 1st indoor World Series game (Minnesota Metrodome)
1987 - 1st Lady Nancy Reagan undergoes a modified radical
mastectomy
1988 - 31 reported dead as Ugandan jetliner crashes in fog
near Rome
1988 - Dallas Green replaces Lou Pinella as manager of NY
Yankees
1988 - Lyndon LaRouche pleads innocent to fraud, conspiracy
indictment
1988 - Phillip Morris announces $11 Billion tender offer for
Kraft
1988 - Rockin Robin beats "Sensational" Sherri
Martel for WWF woman's title
1988 - Traveling Wilbury's 1st release "Handle With
Care"
1989 - Earthquake in SF (6.9) cancels 3rd game of World
Series, kills 67
1990 - "Jackie Mason - Brand New" opens at Neil
Simon NYC for 216 perfs
1990 - "Les Miserables," opens at Imperial
Theatre, NY & His Majesty's Theatre, Perth
1991 - Angel Cordero is 3rd jockey to win 7,000 horse races
1991 - Atlanta Braves beat Pittsburgh Pirates for NL pennant
in 7 games
1991 - News anchor Bree Walker Lampley files an FCC
complaint that LA radio KFI-AM personally attacked her by discuss her having a
disformed baby
1991 - Pitts Penguin Paul Coffey sets NHL defenseman scoring
record with 1,053 career points (309 goals & 744 assists)
1992 - 1st World Series with non-US team, Toronto loses 3-1
to Braves
1993 - Dottie Mochrie wins LPGA World Championship of
Women's Golf
1994 - Beth Daniel wins LPGA World Championships of Women's
Golf
The Pianoman Billy JoelThe Pianoman Billy Joel 1994 - Billy
Joel performs opening concert at Cleveland's Gund Arena
1994 - Kapil Dev's final one-day international (v West
Indies)
1995 - Keith Moore sentenced to 6 years for robbing Sting of
$9,000,000
1996 - "Taking Sides," opens at Atkinson Theater
NYC
1998 - At Jesse, in the Niger Delta, Nigeria, a petroleum
pipeline explodes killing about 1200 villagers, some of whom are scavenging
gasoline.
2000 - Train crash at Hatfield, north of London, leading to
collapse of Railtrack.
2003 - The pinnacle was fitted on the roof of Taipei 101, a
101-floor skyscraper in Taipei, allowing it to surpass the Petronas Twin Towers
in Kuala Lumpur by 50 meters (165 feet) and become the World's tallest
highrise.
2003 - Eunuchs in the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh float
the political party Jiti Jitayi Politics.
2005 - The Colbert Report first airs.
2006 - The United States population reaches 300 million.
2007 - The Dalai Lama receives the United States
Congressional Gold Medal.
2012 - The exoplanet Alpha Centauri Bb is discovered
orbiting Alpha Centauri
2012 - Lance Armstrong loses a host of endorsements in the
wake of his doping scandal
2012 - Tens of thousands protest austerity measures in
Greece
1777 - American troops defeated British forces in Saratoga, NY. It was the turning point in the American Revolutionary War. 1888 - The first issue of "National Geographic Magazine" was released at newsstands. 1931 - Al Capone was convicted on income tax evasion and was sentenced to 11 years in prison. He was released in 1939. 1933 - "News-Week" appeared for the first time at newsstands. The name was later changed to "Newsweek." 1933 - Dr. Albert Einstein moved to Princeton, NJ, after leaving Germany. 1939 - "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington" premiered. 1945 - Ava Gardner and Artie Shaw were married. 1945 - Colonel Juan Peron became the dictator of Argentina after staging a coup in Buenos Aires. 1973 - The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) began an oil-embargo against several countries including the U.S. and Great Britain. The incident stemmed from Western support of Israel when Egypt and Syria attacked the nation on October 6, 1973. The embargo lasted until March of 1974. 1978 - U.S. President Carter signed a bill that restored full U.S. citizenship rights to Confederate President Jefferson Davis. 1979 - Mother Teresa of India was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. 1987 - U.S. First Lady Nancy Reagan underwent a modified radical mastectomy at Bethesda Naval Hospital in Maryland. 1989 - An earthquake measuring 7.1 on the Richter Scale hit the San Francisco Bay area in California. The quake caused about 67 deaths, 3,000 injuries, and damages up to $7 billion. 1994 - Israel and Jordan initialed a draft peace treaty. 1994 - The Angolan government and rebels agreed to a peace treaty that ended their 19 years of civil war. 1997 - The remains of revolutionary Ernesto "Che" Guevara were laid to rest in his adopted Cuba, 30 years after his execution in Bolivia. 2000 - In New York City, Madame Tussaud's Wax Museum opened to the public. The 42nd Street location joined Tussaud's other exhibitions already in London, Hong Kong, Amsterdam and Las Vegas. 2000 - Patrick Roy (Colorado Avalanche) achieved his 448th victory as a goalie in the NHL. Roy passed Terry Sawchuck to become the record holder for career victories. 2001 - Israel's tourism minister was killed. A radical Palestinian faction claimed that it had carried out the assassination to avenge the killing of its leader by Israel 2 months earlier. 2001 - Pakistan placed its armed forces on high alert because of troop movements by India in the disputed territory of Kashmir. India said that the movements were part of a normal troop rotation. 2001 - Italian priest Giuseppe "Beppe" Pierantoni was kidnapped by the terrorist group the "Pentagon." He was released on April 8, 2002. 2003 - In the U.S., the Food and Drug Administration approved a drug, known as memantine, to help people with Alzheimer's symptoms. 2003 - In Taipei, Taiwan, construction crews finished 1,676-foot-tall-building called Taipei 101. The building was planned to open for business in 2004. 2003 - In northwest England, the Carnforth railway station reopened as a heritage center.
1777 British Gen. Burgoyne surrendered in Saratoga, N.Y. during the American Revolution. 1931 Mobster Al Capone was convicted of income tax evasion for which he was sentenced to 11 years in prison. 1933 Albert Einstein arrived in the United States as a refugee from Nazi Germany. 1979 Mother Teresa was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for her work with the poor in Calcutta, India. 1989 An earthquake measuring 7.1 in magnitude killed 67 and injured over 3,000 in San Francisco. 2011 Occupy Wall Street, an organized protest in New York's financial district, expands to other cities across the U.S., including Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, and San Francisco. Occupy Wall Street defines itself as a group of activists who stand against corporate greed, social inequality, and the disproportion between the rich and poor.
The following links are to web sites that were used to complete this blog entry:
http://www.historyorb.com/today/events.php
http://on-this-day.com/onthisday/thedays/alldays/oct17.htm
http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history
http://www.infoplease.com/dayinhistory
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