June 17
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Featured Event
© Ken Feil—The Washington Post/Getty Images; Photo Illustration Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
The Watergate, an office-apartment-hotel complex in Washington, D.C., that was the headquarters of the Democratic National Committee, was broken into by five men who were later arrested, prompting the Watergate scandal that upended the administration of U.S. President Richard M. Nixon. [Read today’s edition of Today in History > >]
Featured Biography
Featured Biography
Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. (2014712545)
Composer Igor Stravinsky, whose work had a revolutionary impact on the musical world just before and after World War I and whose compositions remain a touchstone of Modernism, was born in Russia this day in 1882.
Famous Birthdays
More on June 17
© Win McNamee/Getty Images
2015
Nine Black parishioners of the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina, were shot and killed by a white gunman, who was later convicted of hate crimes, murder, and other charges.
Myung J. Chun—AFP/Getty Images
1994
O.J. Simpson was charged with the murders of his ex-wife Nicole Simpson and her friend Ronald Goldman, though after a sensational trial he was acquitted the following year.
Collection of the Supreme Court of the United States
1986
U.S. Pres. Ronald Reagan nominated Judge Antonin Scalia to be associate justice of the United States Supreme Court. The U.S. Senate later confirmed his nomination by unanimous vote. [How well do you know the Supreme Court? Take our quiz.]
Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
1944
Iceland declared itself a republic. [Watch a time-lapse video of Iceland.]
© Chris Farina/Getty Images
1943
Singer and songwriter Barry Manilow, who became best known for his elaborately orchestrated romantic ballads, was born in Brooklyn, New York. [Take our quiz about songwriters.]
Image: Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
1940
The Soviet Red Army invaded Latvia, which led to the incorporation of the country into the U.S.S.R. [How much do you know about European history?]
National Photo Company Collection/Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. (neg. no. LC-DIG-npcc-17371)
1930
The United States adopted the protectionist Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act, raising already high average tariff rates by some 20 percent and worsening an already beleaguered world economy. [Explore a timeline of the 1930s.]
Brown Brothers
1871
James Weldon Johnson—a poet, diplomat, and anthologist of Black culture—was born in Jacksonville, Florida. [Take our quiz about African American history.]
Yale University Art Gallery, Trumbull Collection (1832.1)
1775
American colonial revolutionaries clashed with British troops in the Battle of Bunker Hill, the first major battle of the American Revolution. [Find out what happened after the Battle of Bunker Hill.]
Historia/Shutterstock.com
1631
Mumtaz Mahal, wife of Mughal emperor Shah Jahan, died during childbirth. In her memory he built the Taj Mahal, a mausoleum that is the finest example of Mughal architecture. [Sort fact from fiction in our quiz about India.]