On This Day in History, January 17
The 2024 History Channel 365 Day Calendar
1893: Americans overthrow Hawaiian monarchy
On January 17, 1893, a group of American sugar planters led by Sanford Ballard Dole overthrew the Hawaiian monarch, Queen Liliuokalani, and established a new provincial government. The coup was supported by John L. Stevens, the U.S. minister to Hawaii, and U.S. Marines from the warship USS Boston.
Stevens recognized the new government and proclaimed Hawaii a U.S. protectorate without permission from the U.S. government.
President Grover Cleveland demanded restoration of Oueen Liliuokalani to the throne, but Dole refused to step aside and instead proclaimed himself president of the independent Republic of Hawaii.In 1897, President William McKinley negotiated a treaty of annexation with the Republic of Hawaii.
In 1898, the Spanish-American War broke out, and the strategic use of the naval base at Pearl Harbor during the war convinced Congress to approve formal annexation. Two years later, Hawaii was organized into a formal U.S. territory and, in 1959, entered the United States as the fiftieth state.
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Repeat of the above
The 2024 History Channel Military History 365 Day Calendar
1966: Palomares Incident puts a dent in public opinion of nuclear weaponsx
On January 17, 1966, during the peak of the Cold War, an American B-52 bomber collided in midair with its refueling tanker off the coast of Spain.
The B-52 was carrying four hydrogen bombs, all of which fell to the earth near the Spanish fishing village of Palomares. All four crew members aboard the tanker died in the collision, and three of the seven men aboard the B-52 perished. Three of the four warheads landed in the ground, and two of them detonated, causing radioactive contamination for several kilometers around the crash sites.
Thousands of tons of earth were excavated and shipped to the United States, where officials were responsible for safe and costly disposal. The bomb that dropped into the sea was lost for several weeks; an extensive search by the U.S. military took place, as they were fearful the Soviets may try to recover the weapon.The event, which became known as the Palomares Incident, rocked the steady waters the U.S. government had built regarding public opinion of nuclear weapons.
NB: While not called out as such, the salvage or find and rescue effort of the atomic weapon was depicted in the film Men of Honor, a biopic of Carl Brashear.
Encyclopedia Britanica
Featured Event
1893 - Hawaiian monarchy overthrown
Other Events
1734 - Augustus III was crowned king of Poland.
1917 - The United States purchased three of the Virgin Islands—St. Thomas, St. John, and St. Croix—from Denmark for $25 million.
1929 - The cartoon character Popeye, a sailor known for his love of spinach, made his debut, appearing in the newspaper comic strip Thimble Theatre.
1943 - British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt met at Casablanca, Morocco.
1961 - In his Farewell Address U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower warned that the United States must “guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence…by the military-industrial complex”; he felt that if left unchecked, it could undermine American democracy.
1977 - American murderer Gary Gilmore was executed in Utah, ending a de facto nationwide moratorium on capital punishment that had lasted nearly 10 years.
Born on this Day
1706 - Benjamin Franklin
1863 - David Lloyd George
1820 - Anne Brontë
1899 - Al Capone
1922 - Betty White
1931 - James Earl Jones
1942 - Muhammad Ali
1962 - Jim Carrey
1964 - Michelle Obama
Died on this Day
1961 - Patrice Lumumba
2008 - Bobby Fischer
Events
1377 – Gregory XI, the last Avignon pope, entered Rome after a four-month journey from Avignon, returning the papacy to its original city.
1945 – World War II: Australian troops advanced along the northern part of Bougainville Island (in present-day Papua New Guinea) and began fighting Japanese forces in the Battle of Tsimba Ridge.
1999 – In Little Saigon, California, a series of protests began when the owner of a video rental store displayed an image of Ho Chi Minh.
The Book of This Day in History
1377 - Pope Gregory XI moves the Vatican back to Rome
The Papal court had resided in Avignon, France for nearly 70 years.
After Gregory's death the following year, the Papal Schism occurred which three different men all chimed to be the true pope. The Schism was ended by the Council of Constance when they elected Martin V to the papacy.
1562 - The Edict of St. Germain grants limited recognition to the Huguenots, an ethno-religious minority group of French Protestants.
The Huguenots followed the teachings of the Protestant Reformer John Calvin, and were heavily persecuted for their beliefs in the largely Roman Catholic realm.
The Edict, which was decreed by Catherine de Medici, the regent of France, was intended to appease the growing Huguenot minority without upsetting the Catholic Church. The Edict was ineffective, however, and a massacre of Huguenots by the Duke of Guise later that year provoked the French Wars of Religion.
Huguenots continued to be persecuted for centuries and launched numerous unsuccessful rebellions. In 1789 the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen finally granted equal rights to the group as full citizens.
1912 - Captain Robert Falcon Scott reaches the South Pole
Scott and his companions had set out on their journey from Cardiff, Wales, on the ship Terra Nova two years before.
While making their way to Antarctica, Scott's party received a telegram from Amundsen in which the Norwegian explorer informed them he was "proceeding South, alerting them to the fact that they were in a race to be the first to reach the South Pole.
Scott's party traveled overland, and waited out the winter of 1911 in a permanent settlement of huts at Cape Adare. When they finally arrived at the South Pole, they found a flag planted by Amundsen's party and a note stating Amundsen had already arrived there more than a month earlier.
Turning home, they traveled for more than two months to a rendezvous point where teams on dogsleds were scheduled to pick them up. They never made it back. Trapped by a fierce blizzard, the party was unable to advance. Scott's final diary entry was dated March 29, 1912.
His body was found on November 12.
1946 - The U.N. Security Council holds its first meeting
The World War II Allies–the United States, France, Britain, the Soviet Union and the Republic of China–became permanent members of the Security Council, with veto powers. Ten other seats are rotated through non-permanent member states.
1995 - An earthquake hits Kobe, Japan.
The 6.9 magnitude earthquake was Japan's worst in the previous sixty years: more than 6,000 people were killed and over $200 billion in damage was caused to the city of Kobe and area around it.