What are the important events that happened on June 17? Here are historical events, facts, and some myths about this day.

June 17: Facts & Myths About This Day

June 17 is the 168^th day of the year 2025 in the Gregorian calendar. There are 197 days remaining until the end of this year. The day of the week is Tuesday.

Under the Julian calendar, this day is June 4, 2025 – a Tuesday. Both day of the week are the same but did you notice the difference with the Gregorian calendar?

When this day started, 1,750,118,400 seconds has elapsed since midnight of January 1, 1970 – the Unix epoch.

Strange as it may, if we name this day after a polygon then it will be called ‘hectahexacontaoctagon’ day.

Gemini is the zodiac sign of a person born on this day. Pearl is the modern birthstone for this month. Moonstone is the mystical birthstone from Tibetan origin that dates back over a thousand years.

According to the lunisolar Chinese calendar, there are 245 days remaining before the start of the next Chinese New Year.

The ancient Maya civilization believes that the end of the world will happen on December 21, 2012. There are now 4,561 days since this fabled cataclysmic event.

June 17 Historical Events

• 1565 –
  Matsunaga Hisahide assassinates the 13th Ashikaga shogun, Ashikaga Yoshiteru.
• 1775 –
  American Revolutionary War: Colonists inflict heavy casualties on British forces while losing the Battle of Bunker Hill.
• 1861 –
  Battle of Vienna, Virginia in the American Civil War.
• 1876 –
  Indian Wars: Battle of the Rosebud – 1,500 Sioux and Cheyenne led by Crazy Horse beat back General George Crook’s forces at Rosebud Creek in Montana Territory.
• 1885 –
  The Statue of Liberty arrives in New York Harbor.
• 1933 –
  Union Station Massacre: in Kansas City, Missouri, four FBI agents and captured fugitive Frank Nash are gunned down by gangsters attempting to free Nash.
• 1940 –
  World War II: sinking of the RMS Lancastria by the Luftwaffe near Saint-Nazaire, France.
• 1963 –
  The United States Supreme Court rules 8 to 1 in Abington School District v. Schempp against allowing the reciting of Bible verses and the Lord’s Prayer in public schools.
• 1981 –
  Hyatt Regency walkway collapse: In the Hyatt Regency Hotel the 2nd and 4th floor walkways collapse crushing 144 people to death, this was the worst structural failure in the United States.
• 1992 –
  A “joint understanding” agreement on arms reduction is signed by U.S. President George Bush and Russian President Boris Yeltsin (this would be later codified in START II).

Who were born on June 17?

• 1714 –
  César-François Cassini de Thury, French astronomer (d. 1784)
• 1888 –
  Heinz Guderian, German general (d. 1954)
• 1914 –
  John Hersey, American writer and journalist (d. 1993)
• 1932 –
  Peter Lupus, American actor
• 1948 –
  Dave Concepción, Venezuelan baseball player
• 1957 –
  Jon Gries, American actor
• 1959 –
  Nikos Stavropoulos, Greek basketball player
• 1964 –
  Michael Groß, German swimmer
• 1967 –
  Dorothea Röschmann, German operatic soprano
• 1972 –
  Sebastian White, English drummer (Oasis)

Who died on June 17?

• 900 –
  Fulk the Venerable, Archbishop of Rheims (birth year unknown)
• 1696 –
  King John III Sobieski of Poland (b. 1629)
• 1719 –
  Joseph Addison, English politician and writer (b. 1672)
• 1839 –
  Lord William Bentinck, British soldier, Governor-General of India (b. 1774)
• 1858 –
  Queen Rani Lakshmibai of Jhansi (b. 1828)
• 1940 –
  Arthur Harden, English chemist, Nobel laureate (b. 1865)
• 1981 –
  Richard O'Connor, British general (b. 1889)
• 1982 –
  Roberto Calvi, Italian banker (b. 1920)
• 1999 –
  Basil Hume, English Roman Catholic Cardinal, Archbishop of Westminster (b. 1923)
• 2004 –
  Gerry McNeil, Canadian ice hockey player (b. 1926)