On October 17, 1977, President Jimmy Carter signed a bill retroactively restoring the US citizenship of Jefferson Davis, former President of the Confederate States of America, US Senator from Mississippi and US Secretary of War in the administration of President Franklin Pierce.

On October 17, 1973, the Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries (OAPEC) launched an oil embargo against Western countries in an attempt to end support for Israel during the Yom Kippur War. Read a personal account of the 1973 oil embargo by Saudi Arabia's former oil minister.