Young-Man-Afraid-of-His-Horses (Tashun-Kakokipa), an Oglala Sioux; standing in front of his lodge, Pine Ridge, South Dakota

January 17, 1891

Image via Wikimedia Commons, public domain

A Tomahawk land-attack missile is fired toward an Iraqi target from the battleship USS MISSOURI (BB-63) at the start of Operation Desert Storm.

January 17, 1991

Benjamin Franklin was born on Milk Street in Boston, Massachusetts on January 17, 1706.

“My elder Brothers were all put Apprentices to different Trades. I was put to the Grammar School at Eight Years of Age, my Father intending to devote me as the Tithe of his Sons to the Service of the Church. My early Readiness in learning to read (which must have been very early, as I do not remember when I could not read) and the Opinion of all his Friends that I should certainly make a good Scholar, encourag’d him in this Purpose of his. My Uncle Benjamin too approv’d of it, and propos’d to give me all his Shorthand Volumes of Sermons, I suppose as a Stock to set up with, if I would learn his Character. I continu’d however at the Grammar School not quite one Year, tho’ in that time I had risen gradually from the Middle of the Class of that Year to be the Head of it, and farther was remov’d into the next Class above it, in order to go with that into the third at the End of the Year. But my Father in the mean time, from a View of the Expense of a College Education which, having so large a Family, he could not well afford, and the mean Living many so educated were afterwards able to obtain, Reasons that he gave to his Friends in my Hearing, altered his first Intention, took me from the Grammar School, and sent me to a School for Writing & Arithmetic kept by a then famous Man, Mr Geo. Brownell, very successful in his Profession generally, and that by mild encouraging Methods. Under him I acquired fair Writing pretty soon, but I fail’d in the Arithmetic, & made no Progress in it. At Ten Years old, I was taken home to assist my Father in his Business, which was that of a Tallow Chandler and Soap Boiler. A Business he was not bred to, but had assumed on his Arrival in New England & on finding his Dying Trade would not maintain his Family, being in little Request. Accordingly I was employed in cutting Wick for the Candles, filling the Dipping Mold, & the Molds for cast Candles, attending the Shop, going of Errands, &c.”

From: The works of the late Dr. Benjamin Franklin: consisting of his life
https://archive.org/details/worksoflatedrben01fran/page/16/
source says no known restrictions

Image of Benjamin Franklin via LOC, no known restrictions

January 17, 1779

“Mrs. Sarah Bache wrote to her father Benjamin Franklin in Paris, that at a party given on his birthday (Jan. 6th, O.S.) by Mr. Samuel Powel of Philadelphia, she had danced with General Washington, who said it was also his anniversary, as he and Mrs. Washington had been married twenty years that day (N.S.).”

From: George Washington day by day by Elizabeth Bryant Johnston, published in 1895 source says not in copyright

Image of Sarah Bache via NYPL Digital Collections, no known restrictions

On January 17, 1955, Commander Eugene Wilkinson signaled “Underway on Nuclear Power” from
the U.S.S. Nautilus, the first nuclear submarine. Decommissioned after 25 years of service, the Nautilus is open to the public at the Submarine Force Library and Museum in Groton, Connecticut.

Image: NARA via Wikimedia Commons, public domain in the US

Cassius Marcellus Clay Jr. was born on January 17, 1942 in Louisville, Kentucky.

Image: Cassius Clay (later Muhammad Ali) and his trainer Joe E. Martin in January 1960 via Wikimedia Commons, public domain

On January 17, 1781, Americans led by General Daniel Morgan, with a fighting force of less than two thousand, rout the British at the Battle of Cowpens in South Carolina.

Image: The Battle of Cowpens by Don Troiani for the states of South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia, Maryland and Delaware, 1781 via Wikimedia Commons, public domain

On January 17, 1886, aviation pioneer Glenn L. Martin was born. This 1912 photograph shows him about to take off on a flight from Fresno to Madera, California. The newspapers are promotional items to help fund his aircraft business. From this humble start grew aerospace giant Lockheed-Martin.

Image via SDASM at Flickr Commons via Wikimedia Commons, no known restrictions

On January 17, 1821, Moses Austin, the father of Stephen Austin, was granted permission by the Spanish Governor, Antonio Martinez, to receive a land grant for the settlement of three hundred families.
News of this land grant reached Moses a few months later but he passed away in June of that year.

Stephen continued his father’s mission after receiving a letter of encouragement from his mother. In late 1821 the first US settlers arrived in Texas.

On January 17, 1961, Dwight Eisenhower went on television to deliver his final speech as President. Ike spoke on numerous topics in the 15-minute address but his warnings about the influence and costs of the “military-industrial complex” are best remembered.

Image: a draft of Eisenhower’s farewell address with the phrase “military-industrial complex” that he delivered on January 17, 1961 via Wikimedia Commons, public domain

Image of the opening of a new transcontinental telephone line on January 17, 1927

On this day a third transcontinental telephone line was opened along a northern route.

Photo via LOC, no known restrictions

On Friday, January 17, 1969, the U.S. Department of Justice accused IBM of monopolizing the computer industry by selling computers bundled with software and tech support. This antitrust lawsuit lasted for thirteen years until the DOJ dropped the case in 1982.

By the late 1980s, personal computers sold with built-in operating systems and bundled software became the norm.

Image: 1969 photo of a Brown University Hypertext Editing System (HES) console, IBM 2250 Model IV Graphics Display Unit with keyboard, light pen and function keys. By Greg Lloyd via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0

On January 17, 1806, Martha Jefferson Randolph, the daughter of Thomas Jefferson, gave birth to her child who she named James Madison Randolph after James Madison who was Secretary of State at the time.

James Madison Randolph, the grandson of Thomas Jefferson, was the first child born at The President’s House now known as The White House.

American singer and actress Eartha Kitt was born on January 17, 1927 in the town of North in South Carolina.

During her life Eartha began and was active in organizations that provided positive activities for inner city youth.

Image of Eartha Kitt when she was a member of the Katherine Dunham Company in the 1940s via NYPL Digital Collections, no known restrictions

Eight years after she became the first female Governor of Texas in 1925, Miriam A. Ferguson was re-elected to a second non-consecutive term as Governor of Texas on January 17, 1933.

Raising of Old Glory on Wake Island on January 17, 1899.

On this day Commander E. D. Taussig, USN claimed Wake Island as a possession of The United States.

“Looking for the guidance of that Divine Hand by which the destinies of nations and individuals are shaped, I call upon you, Senators, Representatives, judges, fellow-citizens, here and everywhere, to unite with me in an earnest effort to secure to our country the blessings, not only of material prosperity, but of justice, peace, and union—a union depending not upon the constraint of force, but upon the loving devotion of a free people.”

Rutherford B. Hayes during his Inaugural Address in 1877.

On January 17, 1893 Rutherford B. Hayes passed away at the age of 70.

Image c. 1882 via National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution, no known restrictions