On this day in 1961, approximately 1,400 U.S.-supported Cuban exiles invaded Cuba at the Bay of Pigs in an attempt to overthrow Fidel Castro. It was an unsuccessful attack.
On this day in 1970, Apollo 13 returned to Earth safely after an on- board accident with an oxygen tank.
The crew members of Apollo 13—Fred Haise (left), Jim Lovell (center), and Jack Swigert—step aboard the “USS Iwo Jima” following splashdown and recovery operations in the south Pacific Ocean.
Benjamin Franklin(January 17, 1706 – April 17, 1790)
Franklin suffered from obesity throughout his middle-aged and later years, which resulted in multiple health problems, particularly gout, which became worse as he aged. In poor health during the signing of the US Constitution in 1787, he was rarely seen in public from then until his death. Franklin died from pleuritic attack at his home in Philadelphia on April 17, 1790, at age 84.
An Illustration of Benjamin Franklin on His Death Bed.
John Pierpont Morgan Sr. (April 17, 1837 – March 31, 1913)
The Ford Motor Company unveiled its new Mustang model on this day in 1964 at the New York World’s Fair. Ford anticipated they would sell around 100,000 units a year, and were somewhat unprepared when they received 22,000 orders in the first day alone!