Today in History.....November 17

On this day in …

* 1800, Congress held its first session in Washington in the partially completed Capitol building

* 1869, the Suez Canal opened in Egypt

* 1962, Washington's Dulles International Airport was dedicated by President Kennedy

* 1970, the Soviet Union landed an unmanned, remote-controlled vehicle on the moon, the Lunokhod 1

* 1973, President Nixon told Associated Press managing editors meeting in Orlando, Fla.:
"People have got to know whether or not their president is a crook. Well, I'm not a crook."

* 1979, Iran's Ayatollah Khomeini ordered the release of 13 female and black American hostages being held at the U.S. Embassy in Tehran