June 17 is the 168th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (169th in leap years), with 197 days remaining.

Events

• 1497 - Battle of Deptford Bridge - Forces under King Henry VII soundly defeat troops led by Michael An Gof.
• 1565 - Matsunaga Hisahide assasinates the 13th Ashikaga Shogun, Ashikaga Yoshiteru.
• 1579 - Sir Francis Drake claims a land he calls Nova Albion (modern California) for England.
• 1631 - Mumtaz Mahal died during childbirth. Her husband, Mughal emperor Shah Jahan I, then spent more than 20 years to build her tomb, the Taj Mahal.
• 1775 - American Revolutionary War: Battle of Bunker Hill - The British forces take Bunker Hill outside of Boston.
• 1789 - In France, the Third Estate declares itself as a national assembly.
• 1876 - Indian Wars: Battle of the Rosebud - 1,500 Sioux and Cheyenne led by Crazy Horse beat back General George Crook forces at Rosebud Creek in Montana Territory. [1] (http://ne.essortment.com/battlerosebud_rfks.htm)
• 1885 - The Statue of Liberty arrives in New York Harbor.
• 1898 - The Navy Hospital Corps is established.
• 1928 - Aviator Amelia Earhart starts her attempt to become the first woman to fly in an aircraft across the Atlantic Ocean She was a passenger; Wilmer Stutz was pilot and Lou Gordon, mechanic.
• 1930 - U.S. President Herbert Hoover signs the Smoot-Hawley Tariff into law.
• 1930 - Bonus Army: Around a thousand World War I veterans mass at the United States Capitol as the U.S. Senate considers a bill that would give them certain benefits.
• 1940 - World War II: Operation Ariel begins - Allied troops start to evacuate France, following Germany's takeover of Paris and most of the nation.
• 1940 - World War II: Sinking of the RMS Lancastria by the Luftwaffe near Saint-Nazaire, France.
• 1940 - The three Baltic states of Latvia and Soviet Union.
• 1944 - Iceland becomes independent from Denmark and forms a republic.
• 1948 - A Douglas DC-6 carrying United Air Lines Flight 624 crashes near Mount Carmel, Pennsylvania, killing all 43 people on board.
• 1953 - Workers Uprising: In East Germany, the Soviet Union orders a division of troops into East Berlin to quell a rebellion.
• 1961 - The New Democratic Party of Canada is founded with the merger of the Cooperative Commonwealth Federation (CCF) and the Canadian Labour Congress.
• 1963 - The United States Supreme Court ruled 8 to 1 in Abington School District v. Schempp against allowing the reciting of Bible verses and the Lord's Prayer in public schools.
• 1971 - Representatives of Japan and the United States sign the Okinawa Reversion Agreement, setting out a plan where the U.S. would return control of Okinawa.
• 1972 - Watergate scandal: Five White House operatives are arrested for burglarizing the offices of the Democratic National Committee, in an attempt by the Republican party to illegally wiretap the opposition.
• 1982 - The body of "God's Banker", Roberto Calvi is found hanging beneath Blackfriars Bridge in London.
• 1991 - Apartheid: The South African Parliament repeals the Population Registration Act, which had required all racial classification of all South Africans at birth.
• 1992 - A 'Joint Understanding' agreement on arms reduction is signed by U.S. President George H.W. Bush and Russian President Boris Yeltsin (this would be later codified in START II).
• 1994 - Following a televised highway chase and a failed attempt at suicide, O. J. Simpson is arrested for the murders of his wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend Ronald Goldman.
• 1995 - The Los Angeles radio station KROQ opens the third annual of their live concert Weenie Roast with Better Than Ezra, Bush, Elastica, Hole, Rage Against the Machine, The Ramones, Rancid, Soul Asylum, Sponge, Sublime, Matthew Sweet, Throwing Muses and White Zombie.
• 2000 - The Los Angeles radio station KROQ opens the third annual of their live concert Weenie Roast with Creed, Cypress Hill, Everclear, Godsmack, Incubus, Korn, Limp Bizkit, Lit, Moby, No Doubt, The Offspring, Ozzy Osbourne, Stone Temple Pilots and Third Eye Blind.

Births

• 1239 - King Edward I of England (d. 1307)
• 1682 - King Charles XII of Sweden (d. 1718)
• 1703 - John Wesley, theologian, founder of Methodists (d. 1791)
• 1808 - Henrik Wergeland, Norwegian author
• 1810 - Ferdinand Freiligrath (d. 1876)
• 1818 - Charles Gounod, composer (d. 1893)
• 1832 - Sir William Crookes, physicist, chemist (d. 1919)
• 1881 - Tommy Burns, World Heavyweight Boxing Champion (d. 1955)
• 1882 - Igor Stravinsky, composer (d. 1971)
• 1898 - M. C. Escher, artist (d. 1972)
• 1900 - Martin Bormann, Nazi official (d. 1945)
• 1904 - Ralph Bellamy, actor (d. 1991)
• 1907 - Charles Eames, American designer and architect (d. 1978)
• 1909 - Elmer Lee Andersen, American politician and governor of Minnesota
• 1910 - Red Foley, country musician (d. 1968)
• 1914 - John Hersey, author (d. 1993)
• 1915 - Karl Targownik, psychiatrist and Holocaust survivor (d. 1996)
• 1917 - Lena Horne, singer
• 1917 - Dean Martin, singer (d. 1995)
• 1917 - Atle Selberg, Norwegian mathematician
• 1923 - Elroy 'Crazylegs' Hirsch, American football star
• 1929 - Tigran Petrosian, World chess champion
• 1943 - Newt Gingrich, American politician
• 1943 - Barry Manilow, musician
• 1945 - Ken Livingstone, Mayor of London
• 1945 - Eddy Merckx, Belgian cycling champion
• 1945 - Anupam Kher, actor, India
• 1946 - Peter Rosei, writer
• 1958 - Jello Biafra, musician, politician
• 1963 - Greg Kinnear, actor
• 1964 - Michael Gross, swimmer
• 1966 - Jason Patric, actor
• 1979 - Nick Rimando, D.C. United goalkeeper
• 1980 - Venus Williams, tennis player

Deaths

• 1565 - Ashikaga Yoshiteru, Ashikaga shogun (b. 1536)
• 1696 - John III Sobieski, king of Poland (b. 1629)
• 1719 - Joseph Addison, politician and writer (b. 1672)
• 1898 - Edward Burne-Jones, English artist (b. 1833)
• 1939 - Eugen Weidmann, last public guillotine France
• Dorothy Richardson - Dorothy Richardson, writer (b. 1873)
• 1961 - Jeff Chandler, actor (b. 1918)
• 1979 - Duffy Lewis, Major League Baseball player (b. 1888)
• 1982 - Roberto Calvi, banker
• 1986 - Kate Smith, singer
• 1996 - Thomas Kuhn, philosopher
• 2002 - Willie Davenport, athlete
• 2002 - Fritz Walter, football player
• 2004 - Gerry McNeil, Stanley Cup-winning NHL goalie (b. 1926)
• 2004 - Sara Lidman, Swedish writer (b. 1923)

Holidays and observances

• 1944 - Icelandic Independence Day, from West Germany until 1990, see Workers' Uprising of 1953 in East Germany

June 16 - June 18 - May 17 - July 17 -- listing of all days