San Francisco Earthquake of 1989

October 17, 1989

The opening of the World Series in San Francisco is interrupted by an earthquake measuring 7.1 on the Richter scale. An Oakland freeway collapsed killing 42 people. In all, the damage was $10 billion with 67 people killed.

Arab Oil Embargo

October 17, 1973

OAPEC (Arab members of OPEC plus Egypt and Syria) declare an oil embargo on the U.S., Canada, Japan, the Netherlands, and the U.K. for supporting Israel during the Yom Kippur War. The embargo targeted the U.S. for resupplying the Israeli military during the war. By the time the embargo was lifted in March, the price of oil had risen nearly 400%, from US$3 per barrel to nearly $12.
U.S. President Richard Nixon would declare a national energy crisis the following month.

Hair

October 17, 1967

The musical Hair: The American Tribal Love-Rock Musical opens off-Broadway at the Public Theater in New York. It would open on Broadway at the Biltmore Theatre the following April, where it ran for four years and 1,750 performances.

Hollywood Squares

October 17, 1966

The NBC game show Hollywood Squares debuts, with its host Peter Marshall.

Quiz Show Scandal

October 17, 1960

Charles Van Doren, a contestant from the TV quiz show Twenty-One, is arrested on accusations of perjury for having told a grand jury that he had not been given answers prior to the show.
In order to boost ratings, the producers of the show began scripting the contestants responses to the questions. Van Doren became champion after the previous champion Herb Stempel was instructed by the producers to intentionally give incorrect answers. Van Doren's winning streak earned him $129,000 ($1,150,759 in today's dollars). His success on the show also earned him a spot on the cover of Time Magazine and a job on The Today Show, eventually becoming a host. A year after his loss, Stempel blew the whistle and the scandal broke. After the scandal, Van Doren was fired by NBC.
The 1994 movie Quiz Show was based on these events.

Al Capone Convicted of Tax Evasion

October 17, 1931

Al Capone, the public enemy #1, is convicted of tax evasion. He was sentenced to 11 years in federal prison, fined $50,000 and charged $7,692 for court costs, in addition to $215,000 plus interest due on back taxes.
He was released from Alcatraz in 1939 after having served seven years, six months and fifteen days.

First Sex-Shocker Movie

October 17, 1916

A Daughter of the Gods opens in New York City. It contained what is considered the first complete nude scene by a major star. It was also the first U.S. film to cost $1 million to produce.
The character Anitia, played by Australian swimming star Annette Kellerman, is shown nude in a waterfall; however, her body is mostly covered by her hair.
Although a few stills remain, the film has been lost.
In 1907, Kellerman had been arrested for wearing a one-piece bathing suit at a Boston beach. She was one of the first to wear the scandalous one-piece swim suit, as opposed the traditional pantaloons. Her life was portrayed in the movie Million Dollar Mermaid (1952).

Killer Beer Flood

October 17, 1814

"Drowning in your beer" took on a whole new meaning when a beer vat at the Meux and Company Brewery ruptured causing other vats to rupture. In all, 1,470,000 liters (388,000 U.S. gallons) of beer spilled into the streets destroying homes and killing eight people.

First Black Woman in Space

Mae Jemison

Born October 17, 1956

American astronaut. First black woman in space (1992, aboard the space shuttle Endeavor). She also appeared in an episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation.

Evel Knievel (Robert Craig Knievel)

Born October 17, 1938 d. 2007

American motorcycle stunt rider. He broke 37 bones during his stunt career. He also won the Northern Rocky Mountain Ski Association Class A Men's ski jumping championship (1957).

Irene Ryan (Jessie Irene Noblitt)

Born October 17, 1902 d. 1973

American actress. TV: The Beverly Hillbillies (1962-71, Daisy May "Granny" Moses).
Trivia: What was Granny's relationship to Jed?
Answer: Mother-in-law.

Conducted First Air Raid from an Airplane

Giulio Gavotti

Born October 17, 1882 d. 1939

Italian pilot. In 1911, Giulio Gavotti conducted the first air raid from an airplane. He used his Etrich Taube monoplane to drop 4 4½-pound (2 kg) grenades on the Ottoman military in Libya from an altitude of about 600 feet (183 meters). There were no casualties from the attack. The Ottoman Empire issued a protest against these types of raids as the dropping of bombs from balloons had been outlawed by the Hague Convention of 1899, but Italy argued that this ban did not extend to heavier-than-air craft.
The following year, Gavotti performed the first night mission of a heavier-than-air aircraft.

Richard Mentor Johnson

Born October 17, 1780 d. 1850

American politician. 9th U.S. Vice-President (1837-41, under President Martin Van Buren), U.S. House of Representatives (1807-19, 1829-37, Kentucky), U.S. Senator (1819-29, Kentucky). He is the only vice president elected by the U.S. Senate under the provisions of the Twelfth Amendment.
Johnson claimed he personally killed the Shawnee chief Tecumseh during the Battle of the Thames.
When Johnson's father died, he inherited a mixed-race slave (1/8 black, 7/8 European) Julia Chinn, whom he later took as his common-law wife, and with whom he had two daughters. They were prohibited by law from marrying because she was a slave. After Chinn died in the 1833 cholera epidemic, Johnson began a relationship with another family slave. When she left him for another man, he had her sold at auction and began an affair with her sister, who was also a slave.

First Published Black Poet in the Americas

Jupiter Hammon

Born October 17, 1711 d. circa 1806

America poet. Jupiter Hammon composed An Evening Thought: Salvation by Christ, with Penitential Cries on December 25, 1760. He then published it the following year, making him the first black published poet in the Americas. Hammon published eight pieces of work, four poems and four prose, all consisting of religious content. An Address to the Negroes in the State of New-York (1786) was Hammon's last literary work and considered his most influential - "If we should ever get to Heaven, we shall find nobody to reproach us for being black, or for being slaves."
Hammon was born a slave and served his owners his entire life. He was also a preacher and a commercial clerk on Long Island, New York.