http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history
Jan 17, 1945: Soviets capture Warsaw
Warsaw was a battleground since the opening day of fighting in the European theater. Germany declared war by launching an air raid on September 1, 1939, and followed up with a siege that killed tens of thousands of Polish civilians and wreaked havoc on historic monuments. Deprived of electricity, water, and food, and with 25 percent of the city's homes destroyed, Warsaw surrendered to the Germans on September 27.
The USSR had snatched a part of eastern Poland as part of the "fine print" of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact (also known as the Hitler-Stalin Pact) signed in August 1939, but soon after found itself at war with its "ally." In August 1944, the Soviets began pushing the Germans west, advancing on Warsaw. The Polish Home Army, fearful that the Soviets would march on Warsaw to battle the Germans and never leave the capital, led an uprising against the German occupiers. The Polish residents hoped that if they could defeat the Germans themselves, the Allies would help install the Polish anticommunist government-in-exile after the war. Unfortunately, the Soviets, rather than aiding the Polish uprising, which they encouraged in the name of beating back their common enemy, stood idly by and watched as the Germans slaughtered the Poles and sent survivors to concentration camps. This destroyed any native Polish resistance to a pro-Soviet communist government, an essential part of Stalin's postwar territorial designs.
After Stalin mobilized 180 divisions against the Germans in Poland and East Prussia, Gen. Georgi Zhukov's troops crossed the Vistula north and south of the Polish capital, liberating the city from Germans—and grabbing it for the USSR. By that time, Warsaw's prewar population of approximately 1.3 million had been reduced to a mere 153,000.
Jan 17, 1966: H-bomb lost in Spain
On this day, a B-52 bomber collides with a KC-135 jet tanker over Spain's Mediterranean coast, dropping three 70-kiloton hydrogen bombs near the town of Palomares and one in the sea. It was not the first or last accident involving American nuclear bombs.
As a means of maintaining first-strike capability during the Cold War, U.S. bombers laden with nuclear weapons circled the earth ceaselessly for decades. In a military operation of this magnitude, it was inevitable that accidents would occur. The Pentagon admits to more than three-dozen accidents in which bombers either crashed or caught fire on the runway, resulting in nuclear contamination from a damaged or destroyed bomb and/or the loss of a nuclear weapon. One of the only "Broken Arrows" to receive widespread publicity occurred on January 17, 1966, when a B-52 bomber crashed into a KC-135 jet tanker over Spain.
The bomber was returning to its North Carolina base following a routine airborne alert mission along the southern route of the Strategic Air Command when it attempted to refuel with a jet tanker. The B-52 collided with the fueling boom of the tanker, ripping the bomber open and igniting the fuel. The KC-135 exploded, killing all four of its crew members, but four members of the seven-man B-52 crew managed to parachute to safety. None of the bombs were armed, but explosive material in two of the bombs that fell to earth exploded upon impact, forming craters and scattering radioactive plutonium over the fields of Palomares. A third bomb landed in a dry riverbed and was recovered relatively intact. The fourth bomb fell into the sea at an unknown location.
Palomares, a remote fishing and farming community, was soon filled with nearly 2,000 U.S. military personnel and Spanish civil guards who rushed to clean up the debris and decontaminate the area. The U.S. personnel took precautions to prevent overexposure to the radiation, but the Spanish workers, who lived in a country that lacked experience with nuclear technology, did not. Eventually some 1,400 tons of radioactive soil and vegetation were shipped to the United States for disposal.
Meanwhile, at sea, 33 U.S. Navy vessels were involved in the search for the lost hydrogen bomb. Using an IBM computer, experts tried to calculate where the bomb might have landed, but the impact area was still too large for an effective search. Finally, an eyewitness account by a Spanish fisherman led the investigators to a one-mile area. On March 15, a submarine spotted the bomb, and on April 7 it was recovered. It was damaged but intact.
Studies on the effects of the nuclear accident on the people of Palomares were limited, but the United States eventually settled some 500 claims by residents whose health was adversely affected. Because the accident happened in a foreign country, it received far more publicity than did the dozen or so similar crashes that occurred within U.S. borders. As a security measure, U.S. authorities do not announce nuclear weapons accidents, and some American citizens may have unknowingly been exposed to radiation that resulted from aircraft crashes and emergency bomb jettisons. Today, two hydrogen bombs and a uranium core lie in yet undetermined locations in the Wassaw Sound off Georgia, in the Puget Sound off Washington, and in swamplands near Goldsboro, North Carolina.
Jan 17, 1950: Boston thieves pull off historic robbery
On this day in 1950, 11 men steal more than $2 million from the Brinks Armored Car depot in Boston, Massachusetts. It was the perfect crime--almost--as the culprits weren't caught until January 1956, just days before the statute of limitations for the theft expired.
The robbery's mastermind was Anthony "Fats" Pino, a career criminal who recruited a group of 10 other men to stake out the depot for 18 months to figure out when it held the most money. Pino's men then managed to steal plans for the depot's alarm system, returning them before anyone noticed they were gone.
Wearing navy blue coats and chauffeur's caps--similar to the Brinks employee uniforms--with rubber Halloween masks, the thieves entered the depot with copied keys, surprising and tying up several employees inside the company's counting room. Filling 14 canvas bags with cash, coins, checks and money orders--for a total weight of more than half a ton--the men were out and in their getaway car in about 30 minutes. Their haul? More than $2.7 million--the largest robbery in U.S. history up until that time.
No one was hurt in the robbery, and the thieves left virtually no clues, aside from the rope used to tie the employees and one of the chauffeur's caps. The gang promised to stay out of trouble and not touch the money for six years in order for the statute of limitations to run out. They might have made it, but for the fact that one man, Joseph "Specs" O'Keefe, left his share with another member in order to serve a prison sentence for another burglary. While in jail, O'Keefe wrote bitterly to his cohorts demanding money and hinting he might talk. The group sent a hit man to kill O'Keefe, but he was caught before completing his task. The wounded O'Keefe made a deal with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to testify against his fellow robbers.
Eight of the Brinks robbers were caught, convicted and given life sentences. Two more died before they could go to trial. Only a small part of the money was ever recovered; the rest is fabled to be hidden in the hills north of Grand Rapids, Minnesota. In 1978, the famous robbery was immortalized on film in The Brinks Job, starring Peter Falk.
Jan 17, 1961: Eisenhower warns of military-industrial complex
On this day in 1961, Dwight D. Eisenhower ends his presidential term by warning the nation about the increasing power of the military-industrial complex.
His remarks, issued during a televised farewell address to the American people, were particularly significant since Ike had famously served the nation as military commander of the Allied forces during WWII. Eisenhower urged his successors to strike a balance between a strong national defense and diplomacy in dealing with the Soviet Union. He did not suggest arms reduction and in fact acknowledged that the bomb was an effective deterrent to nuclear war. However, cognizant that America's peacetime defense policy had changed drastically since his military career, Eisenhower expressed concerns about the growing influence of what he termed the military-industrial complex.
Before and during the Second World War, American industries had successfully converted to defense production as the crisis demanded, but out of the war, what Eisenhower called a permanent armaments industry of vast proportions emerged. This conjunction of an immense military establishment and a large arms industry is new in the American experience Eisenhower warned, [while] we recognize the imperative need for this development.we must not fail to comprehend its grave implicationswe must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence...The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist. Eisenhower cautioned that the federal government's collaboration with an alliance of military and industrial leaders, though necessary, was vulnerable to abuse of power. Ike then counseled American citizens to be vigilant in monitoring the military-industrial complex. Only an alert and knowledgeable citizenry can compel the proper meshing of the huge industrial and military machinery of defense with our peaceful methods and goals, so that security and liberty may prosper together. Ike also recommended restraint in consumer habits, particularly with regard to the environment. As we peer into society's future, we--you and I, and our government--must avoid the impulse to live only for today, plundering, for our own ease and convenience, the precious resources of tomorrow. We cannot mortgage the material assets of our grandchildren without asking the loss also of their political and spiritual heritage.
Jan 17, 1916: Winston Churchill hears speech on the tragedy of war
Winston Churchill, beginning his service as a battalion commander on the Western Front, attends a lecture on the Battle of Loos given by his friend, Colonel Tom Holland, in the Belgian town of Hazebrouck.
The Battle of Loos, which took place in September 1915, resulted in devastating casualties for the Allies and was taken by the British as a sign of the need to change their conduct of the war. In one major consequence, Sir John French was replaced by Sir Douglas Haig as British commander in the wake of that battle.
Tom spoke very well, Churchill wrote to his wife, Clementine, but his tale was one of hopeless failure, of sublime heroism utterly wasted and of splendid Scottish soldiers shorn away in vainwith never the ghost of a chance of success.Afterwards they asked me what was the lesson of the lecture. I restrained an impulse to reply Don't do it again'. But they will--I have no doubt.
Churchill had been demoted from First Lord of the Admiralty after the British plan to attempt a naval capture of the Turkish-controlled Dardanelle Straits met with resounding failure in mid-to-late-1915. Reduced to a minor ministerial position, Churchill resigned from the government in November 1915 and rejoined the army, heading to the Western Front with the rank of lieutenant colonel.
During his six months in Belgium, the young Churchill—who would later lead his country to victory in the Second World War and be celebrated as the greatest political leader in British history—saw first-hand the hardships of war and the sacrifices that unknown, unheralded soldiers made for their country. More than once, he himself narrowly escaped death by an enemy shell. As he wrote to Clementine, Twenty yards more to the left and no more tangles to unravel, no more anxieties to face, no more hatreds and injustices to encountera good ending to a chequered life, a final gift--unvalued--to an ungrateful country.
Jan 17, 1944: Allies make their move on Cassino, Italy
On this day, Operation Panther, the Allied invasion of Cassino, in central Italy, is launched.
The Italian Campaign had been underway for more than six months. Beginning with the invasion of Sicily, the Allies had been fighting their way up the Italian peninsula against German resistance--the Italians had already surrendered and signed an armistice with the Allies in September 1943. The ancient town of Cassino, near the Rapido River, was a strategic point in the German Gustav Line, a defensive front across central Italy and based at the Rapido, Garigliano, and Sangro rivers. Taking Cassino would mean a breach in the German line and their inevitable retreat farther north.
Although the campaign to take Cassino commenced in January, the town was not safely in Allied hands until May. The campaign caused considerable destruction, including the bombing of the ancient Benedictine abbey Monte Cassino, which took the lives of a bishop and several monks.
Here's a more detailed look at events that transpired on this date throughout history:
1287 - King Alfonso III of Aragon invades Minorca.
1377 - Pope Gregory XI moves the Papacy back to Rome from
Avignon.
1501 - Cesare Borgia returns in triumph to Rome from Romagna
1524 - Beginning of Giovanni da Verrazzano's voyage to find
a passage to China.
1536 - Francois Rabelais absolved of apostasy by Pope Paul
III
1562 - Edict of St Germain recognizes Huguenots in France
1584 - Bohemia adopts Gregorian calendar
1595 - French King Henri IV declares war on Spain
1601 - France gains Bresse, Bugey, Valromey & Gex in
treaty with Spain
1605 - First publication of Don Quixote.
1656 - Brandenburg & Sweden sign Treaty of Königsberg
1718 - Avalanche destroys every building in Leukerbad,
Switz; kills 53
1746 - Battle of Falkirk Muir, the Jacobites under Charles
Stuart defeat Hanoverian forces.
1757 - German Diet declares war on Prussia
1773 - Capt James Cook becomes 1st to cross Antarctic Circle
(66° 33' S)
1775 - 9 old women burnt as witches for causing bad harvests,
Kalisk, Pol
1775 - R B Sheridan's "Rivals," premieres in
London
1779 - Capt Cooks last notation in ship's log Discovery
1799 - Maltese patriot Dun Mikiel Xerri, along with a number
of other patriots, was executed.
Founder of Texas Stephen F. AustinFounder of Texas Stephen
F. Austin 1821 - Mexico permits Moses Austin & 300 US families to settle in
Texas, after his death leaves to son Stephen
1827 - Duke of Wellington appointed British supreme
commander
1832 - Johannes van den Bosch appointed gov-gen of Dutch-Indies
1852 - British recognize independence of Transvaal (in South
Africa)
1861 - Flush toilet patented by Mr Thomas Crapper (Honest!)
1862 - -Jan 22nd) BBT Ft Henry, TN by USS Lexington
1863 - Civil War skirmish near Newtown, Virginia
1864 - General Longstreet's command ends heavy fighting at
Dandridgem TN
1871 - 1st cable car patented, by Andrew S Hallidie (begins
service in 1873)
1873 - A group of Modoc warriors defeat the United States
Army in the First Battle of the Stronghold, a part of the Modoc War.
1874 - Armed Democrats seize Texas government ending Radical
Reconstruction
1882 - 1st Dutch female physician Aletta Jacobs opens office
1885 - Brits beat Mahdists at Battle of Abu Klea in Sudan
1893 - -17°F (-27°C), Millsboro, Delaware (state record)
1893 - Queen Liliuokalani deposed, Kingdom of Hawaii becomes
a republic
Confederate General James LongstreetConfederate General
James Longstreet 1895 - French president Casimir-Perier resigns
1895 - Félix Faure installed as president of France
1899 - US takes possession of Wake Island in Pacific
1904 - Anton Chekhov's "Cherry Orchard" opens at
Moscow Art Theater
1905 - Punchboards patented by Charles Brewer & C G
Scannell, Chicago
1911 - Failed assassination attempt on premier Briand in
French Assembly
1911 - Percy Mackaye's "Scarecrow," premieres in
NYC
1912 - Robert Scott expedition arrives at South Pole, 1
month after Amundsen
1913 - Raymond Poincaré elected president of France
1914 - Gerhart Hauptmann's "Der Bogen des
Odysseus," premieres in Berlin
1915 - Antoni van Leeuwenhoek's Hospital in Amsterdam opens
1915 - Russia occupies Bukovina & Western Ukraine
1916 - 1st PGA Championship: Jim Barnes at Siwanoy CC
Bronxville NY
1916 - Professional Golfer Association (PGA) forms in NYC
1917 - US pays Denmark $25 million for Virgin Islands (or
3/21)
Author and Nobel Laureate Gerhart HauptmannAuthor and Nobel
Laureate Gerhart Hauptmann 1920 - Paul Deschanel elected president of France
1923 - Belgian Working people Party protest against occupied
Ruhrgebied
1923 - Origin of Brown lunation numbers
1928 - 1st fully automatic photographic film developing
machine patented
1929 - Popeye makes 1st appearance, in comic strip
"Thimble Theater"
1933 - Bradman takes second Test wicket, Hammond, bowled
1934 - Carl Hubbell, NL MVP winner, gets $18,000 contract by
the NY Giants
1934 - Electric Home & Farm Authority incorporated
1934 - NY Giants reward MVP pitcher Carl Hubbell with
$18,000 contract
1938 - Supreme Soviet elects Michail Kalinin as presidium
chairman
1939 - Ed Barrow is elected Yankee president succeeding
deceased J Ruppert
1941 - Kuomintang forces under orders from Chiang Kai-Shek
open fire at communist forces, resuming the Chinese Civil War after World War
II.
1943 - Tin Can Drive Day
1944 - Korvet Violet sinks U-641 in Atlantic Ocean
1945 - Auschwitz concentration camp begins evacuation
1945 - Gilbert Dodds, record miler (4:05.3), retires to do
gospel work
1945 - Liberation of Warsaw by Soviet troops (end of Nazi
occupation)
1945 - Swedish diplomat Raoul Wallenberg, credited with
saving tens of thousands of Jews from the Nazis, arrested by secret police in
Hungary
1946 - United Nations Security Council holds its 1st meeting
1947 - Muiden Neth ammunition factory explodes, 16 die
1948 - Netherlands & Indonesia agree to a cease fire
1948 - Trial of 11 US Communist party members begins in NYC
1949 - The Goldbergs, the first sitcom on American
television, first airs.
1950 - "Alive & Kicking" opens at Winter
Garden Theater NYC for 46 perfs
1950 - The Great Brinks Robbery - 11 men rob $1.2M cash
& $1.5M securities from armored car company Brink's offices in Boston,
Massachusetts
1951 - China refuses ceases-fire in Korea
Oceanographer, Explorer and Scientist Jacques
CousteauOceanographer, Explorer and Scientist Jacques Cousteau 1954 - Jacques
Cousteau's 1st network telecast airs on "Omnibus" (CBS)
1954 - NFL Pro Bowl: East beats West 20-9
1954 - Suggs Louise wins LPGA Sea Island Golf Open
(Cloister)
1955 - Submarine Nautilus begins 1st nuclear-powered test
voyage
1957 - 9-county commission recommends creation of BART
1959 - "Say, Darling" closes at ANTA Theater NYC
after 332 performances
1960 - Mickey Wright wins LPGA Sea Island Women's Golf
Invitational
1960 - NFL Pro Bowl: West beats East 38-21
1961 - Eisenhower allegedly orders assassination of Congo's
Lumumba
1961 - President Dwight D. Eisenhower delivers a televised
farewell address to the nation three days before leaving office, in which he
warns against the accumulation of power by the "military-industrial
complex".
1962 - A NASA civilian pilot Neil A Armstrong takes X-15 to
40,690 m
1962 - Roy Harris' 8th Symphony, premieres in SF
1963 - Joe Walker takes X-15 to altitude of 82 km
1963 - Wilt Chamberlain of NBA SF Warriors scores 67 points
vs LA
1966 - B-52/KC-135 tankers crash near Spanish coast at
Palomares, 7 die
Clergyman and Civil Rights Activist Martin Luther King
Jr.Clergyman and Civil Rights Activist Martin Luther King Jr. 1966 - Martin
Luther King Jr opens campaign in Chicago
1969 - Beatles release Yellow Submarine album in UK
1969 - Debut album of Led Zeppelin released in US
1969 - Soyuz 5 lands
1970 - 357 baseball players are available in the free-agent
draft
1970 - AFL Pro Bowl: West beats East 26-3
1970 - John M Burgess installed as bishop of Protestant
Episcopals (Mass)
1970 - Sporting News names Willie Mays as Player of the
Decade for the 1960s
1971 - Super Bowl V: Balt Colts-16, Dallas Cowboys-13 in
Miami Superbowl MVP: Chuck Howley, Dallas, LB
1972 - Section of Memphis' Highway 51 South renamed Elvis
Presley Blvd
1973 - City of Amsterdam decides to support Hanoi
1973 - New Philippine constitution names Marcos president
for life
1974 - Styne, Comdem & Green's musical
"Lorelei," premieres in NYC
1976 - "I Write the Songs" by Barry Manilow hits
#1
1976 - Hermes rocket launched by European Space Agency
Musician Barry ManilowMusician Barry Manilow 1977 - KC
releases Tommy Davis, ends an 18-year career with 10 teams
1977 - NFL Pro Bowl: AFC beats NFC 24-14
1977 - Zaire president Mobutu visits Belgium
1979 - NY Islanders didn't get a shot off in 1 period
against NY Rangers
1979 - Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi flees Iran
1979 - USSR performs underground nuclear test
1980 - NASA launches Fltsatcom-3
1981 - Philippino president Marcos ends state of siege
1982 - "Cold Sunday" in the United States would
see temperatures fall to their lowest levels in over 100 years in numerous
cities.
1983 - 10th American Music Award: John Cougar & Rick
Springfield, Olivia Newton-John
1983 - Alabama Gov George C Wallace, becomes governor for
record 4th time
1983 - Nigeria expels 2 million illegal aliens, mostly
Ghanaians
1984 - Supreme Court rules (5-4) oks private use of home
VCRs to tape TV programs for later viewing does not violate federal copyright
laws
1985 - Azharuddin scores second Test century in second Test
(v England)
1986 - Tim Witherspoon beats Tony Tubbs in 15 for
heavyweight boxing title
US President & Actor Ronald ReaganUS President &
Actor Ronald Reagan 1987 - US President Reagan signs secret order permitting
covert sale of arms to Iran
1988 - "Teddy & Alice" closes at Minskoff
Theater NYC after 77 performances
1988 - Leslie Manigay elected president of Haiti
1989 - Al Arbour wins his 600th NHL game as coach
1989 - Gunman opens fire in California schoolyard; 5
students slain, 30 wounded
1989 - Murden & Metz are 1st women to reach South Pole
overland (on skis)
1989 - Phoenix Suns cancel game at Miami Heat, due to racial
unrest in Miami
1990 - 5th Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Awards: Bobby Darin
1990 - Dave Stewart signs record $3,500,000 per year Oak A's
contract
1990 - Who, Simon & Garfunkel, 4 Seasons, 4 Tops, Hank
Ballard, Platters &
1990 - Kinks inducted into Cleveland's Rock & Roll Hall
of Fame
1991 - Iraq fires 8 Scud missiles on Israel
1991 - Mountie Jacques Rougeau beats Hart for WWF intercontinental
title
1991 - Operation Desert Storm begins-US led allies vs Iraq
1991 - Operation Desert Storm: 1st US pilot shot down
(Jeffrey Zahn)
Country Singer Kenny RogersCountry Singer Kenny Rogers 1991
- Harald V becomes King of Norway on the death of his father, Olav V.
1992 - Sarah Ferguson attends dinner of Everglades club
(club excludes Jews)
1993 - 14th ACE Cable Awards: HBO wins 32 awards
1993 - Russian Irina Privalova cycles world record 300m
indoor (35.45")
1994 - 6.6 Earthquake hits Los Angeles killing 60, $30B in
damage
1994 - Liz Taylor released from the hospital after hip
treatment
1995 - "Carousel" closes at Beaumont Theater NYC
after 322 performances
1995 - 7.2 earthquake destroys Kobe Japan (5,372 die)
1995 - Australia beat Australia A 2-0 to win the World
Series Cup
1995 - LA Rams announce that they are moving to St Louis
1996 - The Czech Republic applies for membership of the
European Union.
1997 - NBA suspends Dennis Rodman indefinitely for kicking
cameraman
1998 - President Clinton faces sexual harrament charges from
Paula Jones
2000 - 27th American Music Award: Shania Twain & Will
Smith win
2001 - President Bill Clinton posthumously raises Meriwether
Lewis' rank from Lieutenant to Captain.
42nd US President Bill Clinton42nd US President Bill Clinton
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.
2010 - 2010 &ndash: 2010 Penang dragon boat accident
occurs in Penang, Malaysia
2013 - 106 people are massacred by Syrian army forces in
Homs
2013 - 33 people are killed by a series of bombs across Iraq
2013 - 4 people are killed and over 2,000 are evacuated
after a massive flood hits Jakarta, Indonesia
2013 - 8 people are killed in a plane crash in Chiapas,
Mexico
2013 - Japan unveils plans to build the world’s largest wind
farm near the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant
1377 - The Papal See was transferred from Avignon in France back to Rome. 1562 - French Protestants were recognized under the Edict of St. Germain. 1773 - Captain Cook's Resolution became the first ship to cross the Antarctic Circle. 1795 - The Dudingston Curling Society was organized in Edinburgh, Scotland. 1806 - James Madison Randolph, grandson of U.S. President Thomas Jefferson, was the first child born in the White House. 1852 - The independence of the Transvaal Boers was recognized by Britain. 1871 - Andrew S. Hallidie received a patent for a cable car system. 1882 - Thomas Edison's exhibit opened the Crystal Palace Exhibition in London. 1893 - Hawaii's monarchy was overthrown when a group of businessmen and sugar planters forced Queen Liliuokalani to abdicate. 1900 - The U.S. took Wake Island where there was in important cable link between Hawaii and Manila. 1900 - Yaqui Indians in Texas proclaimed their independence from Mexico. 1900 - Mormon Brigham Roberts was denied a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives for his practicing of polygamy. 1905 - Punchboards were patented by a manufacturing firm in Chicago, IL. 1912 - English explorer Robert Falcon Scott reached the South Pole. Norwegian Roald Amundsen had beaten him there by one month. Scott and his party died during the return trip. 1913 - All partner interests in 36 Golden Rule Stores were consolidated and incorporated in Utah into one company. The new corporation was the J.C. Penney Company. 1916 - The Professional Golfers Association was formed in New York City. 1928 - The fully automatic, film-developing machine was patented by A.M. Josepho. 1934 - Ferdinand Porsche submitted a design for a people's car, a "Volkswagen," to the new German Reich government. 1938 - "Stepmother" debuted on CBS radio. 1945 - Soviet and Polish forces liberated Warsaw during World War II. 1945 - Swedish diplomat Raoul Wallenberg disappeared in Hungary while in Soviet custody. Wallenberg was credited with saving tens of thousands of Jews. 1946 - The United Nations Security Council held its first meeting. 1949 - "The Goldbergs" debuted on CBS-TV. The program had been on radio since 1931. The TV version lasted for four years. 1959 - Senegal and the French Sudan joined to form the Federal State of Mali. 1961 - In his farewell address, U.S. President Eisenhower warned against the rise of "the military-industrial complex." 1966 - A B-52 carrying four H-bombs collided with a refuelling tanker. The bombs were released and eight crewmembers were killed. 1977 - Double murderer Gary Gilmore became the first to be executed in the U.S. in a decade. The firing squad took place at Utah State Prison. 1985 - Leonard Nimoy got a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. 1991 - Coalition airstrikes began against Iraq after negotiations failed to get Iraq to retreat from the country of Kuwait. 1992 - An IRA bomb, placed next to a remote country road in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland, killed seven building workers and injured seven others. 1994 - The Northridge earthquake rocked Los Angeles, CA, registering a 6.7 on the Richter Scale. At least 61 people were killed and about $20 billion in damage was caused. 1995 - More than 6,000 people were killed when an earthquake with a magnitude of 7.2 devastated the city of Kobe, Japan. 1997 - A court in Ireland granted the first divorce in the Roman Catholic country's history. 1997 - Israel gave over 80% of Hebron to Palestinian rule, but held the remainder where several hundred Jewish settlers lived among 20,000 Palestinians. 1998 - U.S. President Clinton gave his deposition in the Paula Jones sexual harassment lawsuit against him. He was the first U.S. President to testify as a defendant in a criminal or civil lawsuit. 2000 - British pharmaceutical companies Glaxo Wellcome PLC and SmithKline Beecham PLC agreed to a merger that created the world's largest drugmaker. 2001 - Congo's President Laurent Kabila was shot and killed during a coup attempt. Congolese officials temporarily placed Kabila's son in charge of the government. 2001 - The director of Palestinian TV, Hisham Miki, was killed at a restaurant when three masked gunmen walked up to his table and shot him more than 10 times. 2002 - It was announced that Microsoft had signed a joint venture agreement to produce software with two partners in China. The two partners were Beijin Centergate Technologies (Holding) Co. and the Stone Group.
1706 Benjamin Franklin was born in Boston. 1806 James Madison Randolph, the grandson of Thomas Jefferson, became the first child born in the White House. 1893 Hawaii's Queen Liliuokalani was forced to abdicate by a group of planters and businessmen. 1945 Swedish diplomat Raoul Wallenberg disappeared in Hungary while in Soviet custody. 1977 Gary Gilmore became the first person executed in the U.S. since the death penalty was reintroduced. 1991 Operation Desert Storm was launched against Iraq. 1998 President Clinton became the first sitting U.S. president to testify as a defendant in a criminal or civil suit. 2001 Gov. Gray Davis declared a state of emergency concerning California's electricity crisis.
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/jan17.htm
http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history
http://www.infoplease.com/dayinhistory
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