April 17 - What happened today?

Home What happened today in history? Blamepro's Almanac for April 17
In the headlines today:

2003	Atkins Diet creator Dr. Robert Atkins dies at age 72 of head injuries he suffered on April 8.
2003	Billionaire philanthropist John Paul Getty II dies at a London hospital, at age 70.
1996	Brothers Erik and Lyle Menendez receive life prison sentences for the murder of their rich parents.
1991	One day after 235,000 US railroad workers walk the picket line, Congress votes to end the nationwide strike.
1990	US clergyman and civil rights activist Ralph Abernathy dies at age 64.
1975	The capital of Cambodia, Phnom Penh, falls to the Communists.
1971	Astronauts aboard the ill-fated Apollo 13 splash down in the Pacific.
1969	Sirhan Sirhan is convicted of the assassination of Senator Robert F. Kennedy.
1964	The Ford Mustang automobile is introduced. More info
1961	The Bay of Pigs invasion fails: 1500 Cuban exiles are thwarted in their efforts to overthrow Fidel Castro's government.
1960	Rock 'n roll singer-guitarist Eddie Cochran dies at age 21 from injuries sustained in a car crash the day before.
1941	Yugoslavia surrenders to Germany during WWII.
1861	Virginia secedes from the Union, during the US Civil War.
1790	US statesman Ben Franklin dies in Philadelphia at age 84.
1711	Joseph I, King of Austria and Germany, dies of smallpox.
1702	East and West New Jersey consolidate into one colony.
1610	Henry Hudson begins the voyage that would ultimately lead to his discovery of Hudson's Bay.