April 17 in history — What Happened Today in History

The Provisional Government of Bangladesh is formed.

Apollo program: The damaged Apollo 13 spacecraft returns to Earth safely.

Sirhan Sirhan is convicted of assassinating Robert F. Kennedy.

Communist Party of Czechoslovakia chairman Alexander Dubček is deposed.

Jerrie Mock completes the first around-the-world airplane flight by a woman. Her solo flight in the Spirit of Columbus, which took 29+1⁄2 days, took off and landed at the Port Columbus International Airport in Ohio.

Bay of Pigs Invasion: A group of Cuban exiles financed and trained by the CIA lands at the Bay of Pigs in Cuba with the aim of ousting Fidel Castro.

The Peak District becomes the United Kingdom's first National Park.

The last French troops are withdrawn from Syria.

World War II: Montese, Italy, is liberated from Nazi forces.

Historian Tran Trong Kim is appointed the Prime Minister of the Empire of Vietnam.

Forces of the Communist-controlled Greek People's Liberation Army attack the smaller National and Social Liberation resistance group, which surrenders. Its leader Dimitrios Psarros is murdered.

World War II: French prisoner of war General Henri Giraud escapes from his castle prison in Königstein Fortress.

World War II: The Axis powers invasion of Yugoslavia is completed when it signs an armistice with Germany and Italy.

After negotiations between Catalan and Spanish provisional governments, the Catalan Republic proclaimed in April 14 becomes the Generalitat de Catalunya, the autonomous government of Catalonia within the Spanish Republic.

The Communist Party of Korea (CPK) was founded in Japanese-ruled Korea (Chōsen) in Keijō (now Seoul) by Kim Yong-bom and Pak Hon-yong.

Russian troops open fire on striking goldfield workers in northeast Siberia, killing at least 150.

The Ellis Island immigration center processes 11,747 people, more than on any other day.

The Supreme Court of the United States decides Lochner v. New York, which holds that the "right to free contract" is implicit in the due process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution.

The Treaty of Shimonoseki between China and Japan is signed. This marks the end of the First Sino-Japanese War, and the defeated Qing Empire is forced to renounce its claims on Korea and to concede the southern portion of the Fengtian province, Taiwan and the Penghu to Japan.

Catalpa rescue: The rescue of six Fenian prisoners from Fremantle Prison in Western Australia.

Morelos is admitted as the 27th state of Mexico.

American Civil War: The Battle of Plymouth begins: Confederate forces attack Plymouth, North Carolina.

American Civil War: Grierson's Raid begins: Troops under Union Army Colonel Benjamin Grierson attack central Mississippi.

The state of Virginia's secession convention votes to secede from the United States; Virginia later becomes the eighth state to join the Confederate States of America.

Sir Ralph Abercromby attacks San Juan, Puerto Rico, in what would be one of the largest invasions of the Spanish territories in the Americas.

Citizens of Verona begin an unsuccessful eight-day rebellion against the French occupying forces.

American Revolutionary War: Colbert's Raid: A Spanish garrison under Captain Jacobo du Breuil defeat British irregulars at Arkansas Post.

Giovanni da Verrazzano reaches New York harbor.

Jo Jinho, South Korean singer

Jonathan Brown, Welsh footballer

Paraskevi Papachristou, Greek triple jumper

Avi Kaplan, singer and songwriter

Takahiro Moriuchi, Japanese singer-songwriter

Romain Grosjean, French race car driver

Rooney Mara, American actress

Luke Mitchell, Australian actor and model

Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, French tennis player

Pablo Sebastián Álvarez, Argentinian footballer

Jed Lowrie, American baseball player

Raffaele Palladino, Italian footballer

Stanislav Chistov, Russian ice hockey player

Bernat Klein, Serbian-Scottish fashion designer and painter (born 1922)

Wojciech Leśnikowski, Polish–American architect and academic (born 1938)

Karpal Singh, Malaysian lawyer and politician (born 1940)

Carlos Graça, São Toméan politician, Prime Minister of São Tomé and Príncipe (born 1931)

Bi Kidude, Tanzanian Taarab singer (born ≈1910)

Yngve Moe, Norwegian bass player and songwriter (born 1957)

V. S. Ramadevi, Indian politician, 13th Governor of Karnataka (born 1934)

Leila Berg, English journalist and author (born 1917)

J. Quinn Brisben, American educator and politician (born 1934)

Dimitris Mitropanos, Greek singer (born 1948)

Nityananda Mohapatra, Indian journalist, poet, and politician (born 1912)

Jonathan V. Plaut, American rabbi and author (born 1942)

Stanley Rogers Resor, American soldier, lawyer, and politician, 9th United States Secretary of the Army (born 1917)