Summary of the Day ✨ 17 June (17/06)
On this day, President Joe Biden established Juneteenth as a federal holiday while Portugal mourned 64 fatalities from devastating wildfires. The date also witnessed a tragic church shooting in Charleston, O.J. Simpson’s arrest after a famous police chase, and a pivotal arms reduction agreement between the U.S. and Russia.
Historical Events 📜
- 2021: Juneteenth National Independence Day, was signed into law by President Joe Biden, to become the first federal holiday established since Martin Luther King Jr. Day in 1983.
- 2017: A series of wildfires in central Portugal kill at least 64 people and injure 204 others.
- 2015: Nine people are killed in a mass shooting at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina.
- 1994: Following a televised low-speed highway chase, O. J. Simpson is arrested for the murders of his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend Ronald Goldman.
- 1992: A “joint understanding” agreement on arms reduction is signed by U.S. president George Bush and Russian president Boris Yeltsin (this would be later codified in START II).
- 1991: Apartheid: The South African Parliament repeals the Population Registration Act which required racial classification of all South Africans at birth.
- 1989: Interflug Flight 102 crashes during a rejected takeoff from Berlin Schönefeld Airport, killing 21 people.
- 1987: With the death of the last individual of the species, the dusky seaside sparrow becomes extinct.
- 1985: Space Shuttle program: STS-51-G mission: Space Shuttle Discovery launches carrying Sultan bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, the first Arab and first Muslim in space, as a payload specialist.
- 1972: Watergate scandal: Five White House operatives are arrested for burgling the offices of the Democratic National Committee during an attempt by members of the administration of President Richard M. Nixon to illegally wiretap the political opposition as part of a broader campaign to subvert the democratic process.
- 1971: U.S. president Richard Nixon in a televised press conference called drug abuse “America’s public enemy number one”, starting the war on drugs.
- 1967: Nuclear weapons testing: China announces a successful test of its first thermonuclear weapon.
- 1963: The United States Supreme Court rules 8–1 in Abington School District v. Schempp against requiring the reciting of Bible verses and the Lord’s Prayer in public schools.
- 1963: A day after South Vietnamese president Ngô Đình Diệm announced the Joint Communiqué to end the Buddhist crisis, a riot involving around 2,000 people breaks out. One person is killed.
- 1960: The Nez Perce tribe is awarded $4 million for 7 million acres (28,000 km2) of land undervalued at four cents/acre in the 1863 treaty.
Famous Births 👶
- 2003: Rizki Juniansyah, Indonesian weightlifter
- 2000: Odessa A’zion, American actress
- 1999: Henri Jokiharju, Finnish ice hockey player
- 1999: Elena Rybakina, Kazakhstani tennis player
- 1997: KJ Apa, New Zealand actor
- 1997: Raluca Șerban, Romanian-Cypriot tennis player
- 1995: Clément Lenglet, French footballer
- 1995: Aoi Morikawa, Japanese actress and model
- 1995: Michel-Friedrich Schiefler, German politician
- 1994: Amari Cooper, American football player
- 1993: Nikita Kucherov, Russian ice hockey player
- 1991: Daniel Tupou, Australian-Tongan rugby league player
- 1990: Jordan Henderson, English footballer
- 1990: Josh Mansour, Australian rugby league player
- 1989: Georgios Tofas, Cypriot footballer
Notable Deaths 🕊️
- 2021: Kenneth Kaunda, Zambian educator and politician, first president of Zambia (born 1924)
- 2020: Jean Kennedy Smith, American activist, humanitarian, author and diplomat (United States Ambassador to Ireland, 1993–1998) (born 1928)
- 2019: Gloria Vanderbilt, American artist, author actress, fashion designer, heiress and socialite (born 1924)
- 2019: Mohamed Morsi, Egyptian professor and politician, first elected president of Egypt after Egyptian revolution (born 1951)
- 2017: Baldwin Lonsdale, president of Vanuatu (born 1948)
- 2015: Ron Clarke, Australian runner and politician, Mayor of the Gold Coast (born 1937)
- 2015: John David Crow, American football player and coach (born 1935)
- 2015: Süleyman Demirel, Turkish engineer and politician, 9th President of Turkey (born 1924)
- 2015: Roberto M. Levingston, Argentinian general and politician, 36th President of Argentina (born 1920)
- 2015: Clementa C. Pinckney, American minister and politician (born 1973)
- 2014: Patsy Byrne, English actress (born 1933)
- 2014: Éric Dewailly, Canadian epidemiologist and academic (born 1954)
- 2014: Stanley Marsh 3, American businessman and philanthropist (born 1938)
- 2014: Arnold S. Relman, American physician and academic (born 1923)
- 2014: Larry Zeidel, Canadian-American ice hockey player and sportscaster (born 1928)
Holidays & Observances 🎉
- Christian feast day:
Albert Chmielowski - Christian feast day:
Botolph (England and Scandinavia) - Christian feast day:
Gondulphus of Berry - Christian feast day:
Hervé - Christian feast day:
Hypatius of Bithynia (Eastern Orthodox and Byzantine Catholic Churches) - Christian feast day:
Rainerius - Christian feast day:
Samuel and Henrietta Barnett (Church of England) - Christian feast day:
June 17 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics) - Father’s Day (El Salvador, Guatemala)
- Icelandic National Day, celebrates the independence of Iceland from Kingdom of Denmark in 1944.
- National Day of Remembrance for the Victims of Forest Fires (Portugal)
- Occupation of the Latvian Republic Day (Latvia)
- World Day to Combat Desertification and Drought (international)
- Zemla Intifada Day (Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic)