Oct. 17 history: OPEC cuts off US

 Oct. 17 in history 

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

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, Rhode Island at age 91.

In 1931, mobster Al Capone was convicted in Chicago of income tax evasion.

In 1967, Puyi, 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 Jimmy 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 2018, residents of the Florida Panhandle community of Mexico Beach who had fled Hurricane Michael a week earlier returned home to find houses, 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. 

In 1777, British general and playwright John Burgoyne surrenders 5,000 British and Hessian troops to American Gen. Horatio Gates at Saratoga, New York, on October 17. Americans win more than a battle at Saratoga | October 17, 1777 | HISTORY 

In 1931, gangster Al Capone is convicted of tax evasion, signaling the downfall of one of the most notorious criminals of the 1920s and 1930s. He was later sentenced to eleven years in federal prison.

In 1961, after several Black players on the Boston Celtics were refused service at a coffee shop in Lexington, Ky., where they were to play the St. Louis Hawks. The Celtics’ five Black players - Bill Russell, Sam Jones, Satch Sanders, K.C. Jones and Al Butler - sat the game out in protest. They were joined by the Hawks’ Black players. When Russell returned to Boston, he said that he would refuse to play anywhere else where this happened. 

In 1974, President Gerald Ford explains to Congress why he had chosen to pardon his predecessor, Richard Nixon, rather than allow Congress to pursue legal action against the former president. 

In 1989, a magnitude 6.9 earthquake rocks northern California during Game 3 of the World Series between the San Francisco Giants and Oakland Athletics at Candlestick Park, forcing postponement of the matchup. The series resumes 10 days after the earthquake, which kills 67, injures more than 3,700 and causes an estimated $5 billion in property damage. (The AP 10/17/23)