Portal:United States/Anniversaries/January/January 17

1706 – Benjamin Franklin (pictured), who would become a leading author and printer, political theorist, politician, postmaster, scientist, inventor, satirist, civic activist, statesman, diplomat, and Founding Father of the United States, is born.
1899 – The United States takes possession of Wake Island in the Pacific Ocean.
1903 – El Yunque National Forest in Puerto Rico becomes part of the United States National Forest System as the Luquillo Forest Reserve.
1917 – The United States pays Denmark $25 million for the Virgin Islands.
1961 – U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower delivers a televised farewell address to the nation three days before leaving office, in which he warns against the accumulation of power by the "military–industrial complex".
1899 – Infamous American gangster Al Capone is born.

On this day for the United States