July 17
1821 - Spain ceded Florida to the United States.
1862 - During the Civil War, Congress approved the Second Confiscation Act, which declared that all slaves taking refuge behind Union lines were to be set free.
1898 - Spanish troops in Santiago, Cuba, surrendered to U.S. forces during the Spanish-American War.
1917 - The British Royal Family changed its name from the House of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha to Windsor amid anti-German sentiment during World War I.
1936 - The Spanish Civil War began as right-wing army generals launched a coup attempt against the Second Spanish Republic.
1944 - During World War II, 320 men, two-thirds of them African-Americans, were killed when a pair of ammunition ships exploded at the Port Chicago Naval Magazine in California.
1945 - President Harry S. Truman, Soviet leader Joseph Stalin and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill met at the opening of the Potsdam Conference.
1948 - Southern Democrats opposed to the party's position on civil rights met in Birmingham, Ala., to endorse South Carolina Gov. Strom Thurmond for president.
1955 - Disneyland opened in Anaheim, California.
1975 - The American Apollo and Soviet Soyuz spacecraft linked up for the first time.
1981 - A pair of walkways above the lobby of the Kansas City Hyatt Regency Hotel collapsed during a dance, killing 114 people.
1996 - TWA Flight 800, a Boeing 747 bound for Paris, exploded and crashed off Long Island, New York, shortly after leaving John F. Kennedy International Airport. All 230 people aboard were killed.
1998 - Nicholas II, the last Russian czar, was buried 80 years after he and his family were executed by the Bolsheviks.
2000 - Bashar Assad succeeded his late father, Hafez Assad, becoming Syria's 16th head of state.
2009 - Former CBS anchorman Walter Cronkite died at age 92.
2012 - Israel plunged toward a political crisis after the largest party in the government quit, leaving Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in charge of a hard-line coalition opposed to most Mideast peace moves.
2014 - Eric Garner, a Black man accused of selling loose, untaxed cigarettes, died shortly after being wrestled to the ground by New York City police officers; a video of the takedown showed Garner repeatedly saying, “I can’t breathe.” (Garner’s family received $5.9 million from the city in 2015 to settle a wrongful death claim.)
2014 - All 298 passengers and crew aboard Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 were killed when the Boeing 777 was shot down over rebel-held eastern Ukraine; both Ukraine’s government and pro-Russian separatists denied responsibility.
2017 - The latest Republican effort to repeal and replace “Obamacare” was dealt a fatal blow in the Senate when two more Republican senators announced their opposition to the measure.
2020 - Civil rights icon John Lewis, whose bloody beating by Alabama state troopers in 1965 helped galvanize opposition to racial segregation, and who went on to a long and celebrated career in Congress, died at the age of 80.
Birthdays
25 - Leo Howard (actor)
28 - Kali Uchis (singer)
28 - Jessica Amlee (actress)
30 - Billie Lourd (actress)
30 - Amy Hart (reality star)
31 - Lexi Giovagnoli (actress)
34 - Summer Bishil (actress)
36 - Brando Eaton (singer)
37 - Tom Cullen (actor)
39 - Sarah Jones (actress)
40 - Stefania Spampinato (actress)
43 - Mike Vogel (actor)
46 - Eric Winter (actor)
46 - Luke Bryan (singer)
53 - Jason Clarke (actor)
54 - Andre Royo (actor)
58 - Craig Morgan (singer)
59 - Regina Belle (singer)
62 - Nancy Giles (actress)
70 - David Hasselhoff (actor)
71 - Lucie Arnaz (actress)
75 - Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall (wife of Britain's Prince Charles)
82 - Verne Lundquist (sportscaster)
87 - Donald Sutherland (actor)
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Today in Sports History - July 17
1941 - The longest hitting streak in baseball history ended when the Cleveland Indians pitchers held New York Yankee Joe DiMaggio hitless for the first time in 57 games. The streak had begun on May 15, 1941.
1925 - Tris Speaker becomes the fifth player in MLB history with 3,000 career hits.
1954 - The Brooklyn Dodgers made history as the first team with a majority of black players.
1961 - Baseball Hall of Famer Ty Cobb died at age 74.
1974 - Bob Gibson records his 3,000th career strikeout.
1978 - Reggie Jackson of the New York Yankees and his manager, Billy Martin, get into a fight in the dugout after Jackson refuses to bunt, causing Martin to suspend him.
1990 - The Minnesota Twins become the first team in MLB history to turn two triple plays in one game and still lose, falling 1-0 to the Boston Red Sox.
1994 - Brazil won a record fourth World Cup after defeating Italy 3-2 on penalty kicks.
2005 - Tiger Woods wins the British Open, his 10th major.
2011 - Japan defeats the United States 2-2 (3-1 penalty kicks) in the Women's World Cup final in Frankfurt, Germany.
2018 - Bloomberg estimates the NFL made $14 billion in revenue in 2017, distributing a record $8.1 billion to the league's 32 teams, or $255 million each.
2018 - Australian basketball center Liz Cambage scores 53 points as the Dallas Wings defeat the New York Liberty 104-87 to set a new WNBA single-game scoring record.
1821 - Spain ceded Florida to the United States.
1862 - During the Civil War, Congress approved the Second Confiscation Act, which declared that all slaves taking refuge behind Union lines were to be set free.
1898 - Spanish troops in Santiago, Cuba, surrendered to U.S. forces during the Spanish-American War.
1917 - The British Royal Family changed its name from the House of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha to Windsor amid anti-German sentiment during World War I.
1936 - The Spanish Civil War began as right-wing army generals launched a coup attempt against the Second Spanish Republic.
1944 - During World War II, 320 men, two-thirds of them African-Americans, were killed when a pair of ammunition ships exploded at the Port Chicago Naval Magazine in California.
1945 - President Harry S. Truman, Soviet leader Joseph Stalin and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill met at the opening of the Potsdam Conference.
1948 - Southern Democrats opposed to the party's position on civil rights met in Birmingham, Ala., to endorse South Carolina Gov. Strom Thurmond for president.
1955 - Disneyland opened in Anaheim, California.
1975 - The American Apollo and Soviet Soyuz spacecraft linked up for the first time.
1981 - A pair of walkways above the lobby of the Kansas City Hyatt Regency Hotel collapsed during a dance, killing 114 people.
1996 - TWA Flight 800, a Boeing 747 bound for Paris, exploded and crashed off Long Island, New York, shortly after leaving John F. Kennedy International Airport. All 230 people aboard were killed.
1998 - Nicholas II, the last Russian czar, was buried 80 years after he and his family were executed by the Bolsheviks.
2000 - Bashar Assad succeeded his late father, Hafez Assad, becoming Syria's 16th head of state.
2009 - Former CBS anchorman Walter Cronkite died at age 92.
2012 - Israel plunged toward a political crisis after the largest party in the government quit, leaving Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in charge of a hard-line coalition opposed to most Mideast peace moves.
2014 - Eric Garner, a Black man accused of selling loose, untaxed cigarettes, died shortly after being wrestled to the ground by New York City police officers; a video of the takedown showed Garner repeatedly saying, “I can’t breathe.” (Garner’s family received $5.9 million from the city in 2015 to settle a wrongful death claim.)
2014 - All 298 passengers and crew aboard Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 were killed when the Boeing 777 was shot down over rebel-held eastern Ukraine; both Ukraine’s government and pro-Russian separatists denied responsibility.
2017 - The latest Republican effort to repeal and replace “Obamacare” was dealt a fatal blow in the Senate when two more Republican senators announced their opposition to the measure.
2020 - Civil rights icon John Lewis, whose bloody beating by Alabama state troopers in 1965 helped galvanize opposition to racial segregation, and who went on to a long and celebrated career in Congress, died at the age of 80.
Birthdays
25 - Leo Howard (actor)
28 - Kali Uchis (singer)
28 - Jessica Amlee (actress)
30 - Billie Lourd (actress)
30 - Amy Hart (reality star)
31 - Lexi Giovagnoli (actress)
34 - Summer Bishil (actress)
36 - Brando Eaton (singer)
37 - Tom Cullen (actor)
39 - Sarah Jones (actress)
40 - Stefania Spampinato (actress)
43 - Mike Vogel (actor)
46 - Eric Winter (actor)
46 - Luke Bryan (singer)
53 - Jason Clarke (actor)
54 - Andre Royo (actor)
58 - Craig Morgan (singer)
59 - Regina Belle (singer)
62 - Nancy Giles (actress)
70 - David Hasselhoff (actor)
71 - Lucie Arnaz (actress)
75 - Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall (wife of Britain's Prince Charles)
82 - Verne Lundquist (sportscaster)
87 - Donald Sutherland (actor)
===============================
Today in Sports History - July 17
1941 - The longest hitting streak in baseball history ended when the Cleveland Indians pitchers held New York Yankee Joe DiMaggio hitless for the first time in 57 games. The streak had begun on May 15, 1941.
1925 - Tris Speaker becomes the fifth player in MLB history with 3,000 career hits.
1954 - The Brooklyn Dodgers made history as the first team with a majority of black players.
1961 - Baseball Hall of Famer Ty Cobb died at age 74.
1974 - Bob Gibson records his 3,000th career strikeout.
1978 - Reggie Jackson of the New York Yankees and his manager, Billy Martin, get into a fight in the dugout after Jackson refuses to bunt, causing Martin to suspend him.
1990 - The Minnesota Twins become the first team in MLB history to turn two triple plays in one game and still lose, falling 1-0 to the Boston Red Sox.
1994 - Brazil won a record fourth World Cup after defeating Italy 3-2 on penalty kicks.
2005 - Tiger Woods wins the British Open, his 10th major.
2011 - Japan defeats the United States 2-2 (3-1 penalty kicks) in the Women's World Cup final in Frankfurt, Germany.
2018 - Bloomberg estimates the NFL made $14 billion in revenue in 2017, distributing a record $8.1 billion to the league's 32 teams, or $255 million each.
2018 - Australian basketball center Liz Cambage scores 53 points as the Dallas Wings defeat the New York Liberty 104-87 to set a new WNBA single-game scoring record.
