Sunday, Jan. 17: This day in history The Associated Press Today is Sunday, Jan. 17, the 17th day of 2021. There are 348 days left in the year. Sheik Omar Abdel-Rahman and nine followers were handed long prison sentences for plotting to blow up New York-area landmarks. Thomas Jefferson's daughter, Martha, gave birth to James Madison Randolph, the first child born in the White House. In 1944, during World War II, Allied forces launched the first of four battles for Monte Cassino in Italy; the Allies were ultimately successful. In 1953, a prototype of the Chevrolet Corvette was unveiled during the General Motors Motorama at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York.