Today in History: October 17, Einstein arrives in the U.S.

Oct 16, 2022, 9:00 AM | Updated: 9:06 pm

Today in History

Today is Monday, Oct. 17, the 290th day of 2022. There are 75 days left in the year.

Today’s Highlight in History:

On Oct. 17, 1933, Albert Einstein arrived in the United States as a refugee from Nazi Germany.

On this date:

In 1610, French King Louis XIII, age nine, was crowned at Reims, five months after the assassination of his father, Henry IV.

In 1777, British forces under Gen. John Burgoyne surrendered to American troops in Saratoga, New York, in a turning point of the Revolutionary War.

In 1807, Britain declared it would continue to reclaim British-born sailors from American ships and ports regardless of whether they held U.S. citizenship.

In 1910, social reformer and poet Julia Ward Howe, author of “The Battle Hymn of the Republic,” died in Portsmouth, R.I. at age 91.

In 1931, mobster Al Capone was convicted in Chicago of income tax evasion. (Sentenced to 11 years in prison, Capone was released in 1939.)

In 1966, 12 New York City firefighters were killed while battling a blaze in lower Manhattan. The TV game show “The Hollywood Squares” premiered on NBC.

In 1967, Puyi (poo-yee), the last emperor of China, died in Beijing at age 61.

In 1973, Arab oil-producing nations announced they would begin cutting back oil exports to Western nations and Japan; the result was a total embargo that lasted until March 1974.

In 1978, President Carter signed a bill restoring U.S. citizenship to Confederate President Jefferson Davis.

In 1979, Mother Teresa of India was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

In 1989, an earthquake measuring 6.9 in magnitude struck northern California, killing 63 people and causing $6 billion worth of damage.

In 2018, residents of the Florida Panhandle community of Mexico Beach who had fled Hurricane Michael a week earlier returned home to find homes, businesses and campers ripped to shreds; the storm had killed at least 59 people and caused more than $25 billion in damage in Florida, Georgia, the Carolinas and Virginia.

Ten years ago: Federal authorities in New York said a Bangladeshi student had been arrested in an FBI sting after he tried to detonate a phony 1,000-pound truck bomb outside the Federal Reserve building in Manhattan. (Quazi Mohammad Rezwanul Ahsan Nafis was sentenced to 30 years in prison.)

Five years ago: Just hours before President Donald Trump’s latest travel ban was due to take effect, a federal judge in Hawaii blocked most of the ban, saying it suffered from the same flaws as the previous version. U.S.-backed Syrian forces gained control of the northern Syrian city of Raqqa, which was once the heart of the Islamic State group’s self-styled caliphate.

One year ago: Police in Haiti said a notorious gang known for brazen kidnappings and killings was believed responsible for abducting 17 missionaries from a U.S.-based organization, including five children. (Two of the missionaries were released in November; the others would go free in December.) Russia reported its largest daily number of new coronavirus infections to date, more than 70% higher than the number a month earlier. Allie Quigley scored 26 points and Candace Parker added 16 points, 13 rebounds and five assists to help the Chicago Sky win its first WNBA championship with a 80-74 Game 4 victory over the Phoenix Mercury.

Today’s Birthdays: Singer Gary Puckett is 80. Actor Michael McKean is 75. Actor George Wendt is 74. Actor-singer Bill Hudson is 73. Atlanta Braves manager Brian Snitker is 67. Astronaut Mae Jemison is 66. Country singer Alan Jackson is 64. Movie critic Richard Roeper is 63. Movie director Rob Marshall is 62. Actor Grant Shaud is 62. Animator Mike Judge is 60. Rock singer-musician Fred LeBlanc (Cowboy Mouth) is 59. Singer Rene’ Dif is 55. Reggae singer Ziggy Marley is 54. Actor Wood Harris is 53. Singer Wyclef Jean (zhahn) is 53. World Golf Hall of Famer Ernie Els is 53. Singer Chris Kirkpatrick (‘N Sync) is 51. Rapper Eminem is 50. Actor Sharon Leal is 50. Actor Matthew Macfadyen is 48. Actor Felicity Jones is 39. Actor Chris Lowell is 38.