What Happened in December 1917

Historical Events

US's 42nd Rainbow Division

Dec 7 The USA's 42nd 'Rainbow' Division arrives in France (with Colonel Douglas MacArthur among its ranks)

Dec 7 US becomes 13th country to declare war on Austria during World War I
Dec 9 British forces under General Allenby capture Jerusalem
Dec 11 13 black soldiers hanged for participation in Houston riot
Dec 11 German-occupied Lithuania proclaims independence from Russia
Dec 12 French troop train derails in French Alps killing 543
Dec 12 Rev Edward Flanagan forms Boys Town outside Omaha, Nebraska
Dec 14 UFA, Universal Film AG, forms in Germany
Dec 15 Moldavian Republic declares independence from Russia
Dec 15 World War I: An armistice is reached between the new Russian Bolshevik government and the Central Powers

Prohibition Passes

Dec 18 The 18th Amendment to the US Constitution, authorizing prohibition of alcohol, is approved by the US congress and sent to the states for ratification [1]

The Eighteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, which established prohibition

Finnish Independence Recognized

Dec 18 The Soviet government issues a decree recognizing Finland's newly-declared independence [N.S. December 31]

Marxist Revolutionary and Soviet Leader Vladimir Lenin

Dec 19 1st NHL game played on artificial ice in Toronto
Dec 19 Quebec Bulldogs play their 1st professional hockey game
Dec 20 A second nationwide referendum on military conscription is rejected by the Australian public
Dec 20 Soviet state security force and forerunner to the KGB, the Cheka forms, under Felix Dzerzhinsky after decree by Vladimir Lenin
Dec 22 Flanders declares its independence, under Pieter Tack
Dec 22 In the NHL's first official week of play, 3 players score hat tricks in the same game, for the same team; Corb Denneny, Reg Noble, & Harry Meeking each score 3 for the Toronto Arenas in an 11-4 win over the Ottawa Senators
Dec 23 3 British warships come close to Holland
Dec 25 "Why Marry" 1st drama to win Pulitzer Prize, premieres in NYC
Dec 25 Louis Hirsch and Otto Harbach's musical "Going Up" premieres in New York City
Dec 26 1st NHL defensemen to score a goal: Toronto Maple Leaf Harry Cameron
Dec 26 US Federal government took over operation of American railroads for duration of WW I
Dec 30 -32°F (-36°C) in Mountain City, Tennessee (state record)
Dec 30 -37°F (-38°C) in Lewisburg, WV (state record)
Dec 31 Dutch Social-democratic trade union NVV counts 159,450 members

Events in 1917

Famous Birthdays

Dec 1 Geraldine McCullough, American painter and sculptor (Phoenix), born in Maywood, Illinois (d. 2008)
Dec 1 Marty Marion, American baseball shortstop and manager (MLB All-Star 1943–50; NL MVP 1944; St. Louis Cardinals), born in Richburg, South Carolina (d. 2011)
Dec 1 William Tracy, American character actor (To the Shores of Tripoli; The Shop Around the Corner), born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (d. 1967)
Dec 2 Ezra Stone [Chaim Feinstone], American director, actor and producer (My Living Doll, Henry Aldrich), born in New Bedford, Massachusetts (d. 1994)
Dec 2 Sylvia Syms, American jazz singer (Hello Dolly; Dream Girl; Them There Eyes), born in Brooklyn, New York (d. 1992)
Dec 4 Don "Pixie" Roberts, Australian jazz clarinetist, saxophone player, and record label executive (Swaggle), born in Melbourne, Australia (d. 1992)
Dec 5 Simone Gallimard, French editor and publisher (d. 1995)
Dec 6 Irv Robbins, Canadian-American entrepreneur (co-founded the Baskin-Robbins ice cream parlor chain), born in Winnipeg, Manitoba (d. 2008)
Dec 6 Kamal Jumblatt, Lebanese politician and founder of the Progressive Socialist Party, born in Moukhtara, Chouf, Mutasarrifate of Mount Lebanon, Ottoman Empire (d. 1977)
Dec 8 Ian Johnson, Australian cricket spin bowler and captain (45 Tests; 109 wickets), born in North Melbourne, Victoria (d. 1998)
Dec 8 Rufo I Wever, Aruban pianist and composer (Ca'i Organ), born in Oranjestad, Aruba (d. 1977)
Dec 9 James Angleton, Head of counterintelligence for the CIA (1954-75), born in Boise, Idaho (d. 1987)
Dec 9 James Rainwater, American physicist (Nobel 1975-determining the asymmetrical shapes of certain atomic nuclei), born in Council, Idaho (d. 1986)
Dec 10 Sultan Yahya Petra, 6th Yang di-Pertuan Agong of Malaysia (1975-79), born in Kota Bharu, Kelantan (d. 1979)
Dec 11 [Dámaso] Pérez Prado, Cuban bandleader and musician, born in Matanzas, Cuba (d. 1989)
Dec 12 Edward Firth Henderson, British diplomat and arabist, born in Bristol (d. 1995)

Dec 13 Dave Street [Patrick Devlin], American actor and singer (Moonrise; I Surrender Dear; Broadway Open House), born in Los Angeles, California (d. 1971)
Dec 13 John Hart, American actor (The Lone Ranger, The Adventures of Captain Africa), born in Los Angeles, California (d. 2009)
Dec 14 Elyse Knox, American actress (Hit the Ice, Black Gold), born in Hartford, Connecticut (d. 2012)
Dec 14 June Taylor, American choreographer, born in Chicago, Illinois (d. 2004)
Dec 14 Wilf Ferguson, West Indian cricket leg-spinner (West Indian of post-WWII years), born in Longdenville, Trinidad (d. 1961)
Dec 15 Shan-ul-Haq Haqqee, Pakistani Urdu linguist and writer, born in Delhi, British India (d. 2005)

Arthur C. Clarke (1917-2008)

Dec 16 English sci-fi author (2001: A Space Odyssey, Childhood's End), born in Minehead, England

Dec 16 Nabi Bux Khan Baloch, Pakistani Sindhi scholar (compiled first Sindhi-English dictionary), born in Jaffer Khan Laghari, Sinjhoro, British India (d. 2011) [1]
Dec 17 Louis Palange, American arranger, classical music and film score composer (Hollywood Panorama; King Dinosaur), and conductor, born in Oakland, California (d. 1979)
Dec 18 Eddie "Cleanhead" Vinson, American blues, jazz, and R&B alto saxophonist, born in Houston, Texas (d. 1988)
Dec 18 Raiford "Ossie" Davis, American actor, director, author, and civil rights activist (Purlie Victorious, Do the Right Thing, Hot Stuff, Man Called Adam), born in Cogdell, Clinch County, Georgia (d. 2005)
Dec 19 Graham Sharp, British figure skater (World C'ship, European C'ship 1939), born in London, England (d. 1995)
Dec 20 Audrey Totter, American actress (Carpetbaggers, Set-Up, The Unsuspected), born in Joliet, Illinois (d. 2013)
Dec 20 David Bohm, American physicist, philosopher, and neuropsychologist, born in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania (d. 1992)
Dec 21 Andre Eglevsky, Russian-born ballet dancer & teacher (Limelight), born in Moscow, Russia (d. 1977)
Dec 21 Diana Athill, English writer and editor (Stet), born in London, England (d. 2019)
Dec 21 Ivor Dean, British stage and screen actor (Treasure Island; The Saint - "Inspector Teal"), born in London, England (d. 1974)
Dec 21 Sophie Masloff, American politician, born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (d. 2014)
Dec 22 Andrew Fielding Huxley, English physiologist (Nobel 1963), born in London, England (d. 2012)
Dec 22 Gene Rayburn [Jeljenić], American radio performer and TV game show host (Match Game), born in Christopher, Illinois (d. 1999)
Dec 22 Piet De Somer, Belgian physician and biologist (U of Leuven), born in Belgium (d. 1985)
Dec 24 Kim Jong-suk, Wife of Kim Il-sung, mother of Kim Jung-Il, "The Heroine of the Anti-Japanese Revolution", born in Osan-dong, Japanese Korea (d. 1949)
Dec 26 Rose Mary Woods, American secretary to Richard Nixon (claimed to have erased part of Watergate tapes by accident), born in Sebring, Ohio (d. 2005)
Dec 27 Dardanelle (Breckenbridge), American jazz pianist, vibraphonist, and singer, born in Avalon, Mississippi (d. 1997)
Dec 27 Onni Palaste, Finnish writer, born in Kiuruvesi, Finland (d. 2009)
Dec 28 Ellis Clarke, First President of Trinidad & Tobago (1976-87), born in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago (d. 2010)

Tom Bradley (1917-1998)

Dec 29 American politician and Mayor of Los Angeles (Democrat: 1973-93), born in Calvert, Texas

Dec 30 Seymour Melman, American industrial engineer (d. 2004)
Dec 31 Joan McCracken, American actress, dancer and comedian (Claudie Story of a Marriage), born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (d. 1961)

Born in 1917

Famous Weddings

Dec 1 American silent film actress Myrtle Gonzalez (27) weds American film actor/director Allen Watt (33) in Los Angeles, California

Jimmy Doolittle

Dec 24 Famous pilot James Doolittle (21) weds high school sweetheart Josephine E. Daniels

Famous Deaths

Dec 7 [Aloysius] Ludwig Minkus, Austrian violinist, and ballet composer (St. Petersburg Imperial Theatres, 1871-86; La Bayadère), dies at 91
Dec 8 Arthur Matthew Weld Downing, British mathematician and astronomer, dies at 67
Dec 8 Mendele Moykher Sforim [Sholem Abramovich], Lithuanian-Jewish writer (Dos Vinshfingeril (The Wishing Ring)), dies at 81

Mackenzie Bowell (1823-1917)

Dec 10 5th Prime Minister of Canada (1894-96), dies of pneumonia at 93

Dec 17 Elizabeth Garrett Anderson, 1st qualified woman physician in Britain, first woman mayor (Aldeburgh), dies at 81
Dec 17 Frank Gotch, American professional wrestler, dies at 40
Dec 20 Lucien Petit-Breton, French road cyclist (Tour de France 1907-8), dies in a road accident at 35
Dec 22 Frances Xavier Cabrini, Italian-American saint (1st American saint, founded Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart), dies at 67
Dec 26 Judith Gautier, French poetess, novelist (Le Dragon Impérial) and daughter of Theophile Gautier, dies at 71
Dec 28 Alfred Edwin McKay, Canadian Royal Flying Corps WWI flying ace, shot down and killed over Belgium at 25

On This Day