1917

Events from the year **1917 in the United States**. United States joins World War I.

## Incumbents

### Federal Government

* President: Woodrow Wilson (D-NJ)
* Vice President: Thomas R. Marshall (D-IN)
* Chief Justice: Edward Douglass White (LA)
* Speaker of the House of Representatives: Champ Clark (D-MO)
* Congress: 64th (until March 4), 65th (starting March 4)

Governors
* Governor of Alabama: Charles Henderson (Democratic)
* Governor of Arizona:
	+ until January 1: George W. P. Hunt (Democratic)
	+ January 1-December 25: Thomas Edward Campbell (Republican)
	+ starting December 25: George W. P. Hunt (Democratic)
* Governor of Arkansas: George Washington Hays (Democratic) (until January 10), Charles Hillman Brough (Democratic) (starting January 10)
* Governor of California: Hiram Johnson (Republican) (until March 15), William Stephens (Republican) (starting March 15)
* Governor of Colorado: George Alfred Carlson (Republican) (until January 9), Julius Caldeen Gunter (Democratic) (starting January 9)
* Governor of Connecticut: Marcus H. Holcomb (Republican)
* Governor of Delaware: Charles R. Miller (Republican) (until January 16), John G. Townsend Jr. (Republican) (starting January 16)
* Governor of Florida: Park Trammell (Democratic) (until January 2), Sidney Johnston Catts (Prohibition) (starting January 2)
* Governor of Georgia: Nathaniel E. Harris (Democratic) (until June 30), Hugh M. Dorsey (Democratic) (starting June 30)
* Governor of Idaho: Moses Alexander (Democratic)
* Governor of Illinois: Edward F. Dunne (Democratic) (until January 8), Frank O. Lowden (Republican) (starting January 8)
* Governor of Indiana: Samuel M. Ralston (Democratic) (until January 8), James P. Goodrich (Republican) (starting January 8)
* Governor of Iowa: George W. Clarke (Republican) (until January 11), William L. Harding (Republican) (starting January 11)
* Governor of Kansas: Arthur Capper (Republican)
* Governor of Kentucky: Augustus O. Stanley (Democratic)
* Governor of Louisiana: Ruffin G. Pleasant (Democratic)
* Governor of Maine: Oakley C. Curtis (Democratic) (until January 3), Carl E. Milliken (Republican) (starting January 3)
* Governor of Maryland: Emerson C. Harrington (Democratic)
* Governor of Massachusetts: Samuel W. McCall (Republican)
* Governor of Michigan: Woodbridge N. Ferris (Democratic) (until January 1), Albert Sleeper (Republican) (starting January 1)
* Governor of Minnesota: J. A. A. Burnquist (Republican)
* Governor of Mississippi: Theodore G. Bilbo (Democratic)
* Governor of Missouri: Elliot Woolfolk Major (Democratic) (until January 8), Frederick D. Gardner (Democratic) (starting January 8)
* Governor of Montana: Sam V. Stewart (Democratic)
* Governor of Nebraska: John H. Morehead (Democratic) (until January 4), Keith Neville (Democratic) (starting January 4)
* Governor of Nevada: Emmet D. Boyle (Democratic)
* Governor of New Hampshire: Rolland H. Spaulding (Republican) (until January 2), Henry W. Keyes (Republican) (starting January 2)
* Governor of New Jersey: James Fairman Fielder (Democratic) (until January 16), Walter Evans Edge (Republican) (starting January 16)
* Governor of New Mexico:
	+ until January 1: William C. McDonald (Democratic)
	+ January 1-February 18: Ezequiel C. de Baca (Democratic)
	+ starting February 18: Washington Ellsworth Lindsey (Republican)
* Governor of New York: Charles S. Whitman (Republican)
* Governor of North Carolina: Locke Craig (Democratic) (until January 11), Thomas Walter Bickett (Democratic) (starting January 11)
* Governor of North Dakota: L. B. Hanna (Republican) (until January 3), Lynn Frazier (Republican) (starting January 3)
* Governor of Ohio: Frank B. Willis (Democratic) (until January 8), James M. Cox (Democratic) (starting January 8)
* Governor of Oklahoma: Robert L. Williams (Democratic)
* Governor of Oregon: James Withycombe (Republican)
* Governor of Pennsylvania: Martin Grove Brumbaugh (Republican)
* Governor of Rhode Island: R. Livingston Beeckman (Republican)
* Governor of South Carolina: Richard Irvine Manning III (Democratic)
* Governor of South Dakota: Frank M. Byrne (Republican) (until January 2), Peter Norbeck (Republican) (starting January 2)
* Governor of Tennessee: Tom C. Rye (Democratic)
* Governor of Texas: James E. Ferguson (Democratic) (until August 25), William P. Hobby (Democratic) (starting August 25)
* Governor of Utah: William Spry (Republican) (until January 1), Simon Bamberger (Democratic) (starting January 1)
* Governor of Vermont: Charles W. Gates (Republican) (until January 4), Horace F. Graham (Republican) (starting January 4)
* Governor of Virginia: Henry Carter Stuart (Democratic)
* Governor of Washington: Ernest Lister (Democratic)
* Governor of West Virginia: Henry D. Hatfield (Republican) (until March 5), John J. Cornwell (Democratic) (starting March 5)
* Governor of Wisconsin: Emanuel L. Philipp (Republican)
* Governor of Wyoming: John B. Kendrick (Democratic) (until February 26), Frank L. Houx (Democratic) (starting February 26)

Lieutenant Governors
* Lieutenant Governor of Alabama: Thomas E. Kilby (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of California: William Stephens (Republican) (until March 16), vacant (starting March 16)
* Lieutenant Governor of Colorado: Moses E. Lewis (Republican) (until January 12), James A. Pulliam (Democratic) (starting January 12)
* Lieutenant Governor of Connecticut: Clifford B. Wilson (Republican)
* Lieutenant Governor of Delaware: Colen Ferguson (Democratic) (until January 16), Lewis E. Eliason (Democratic) (starting January 16)
* Lieutenant Governor of Idaho: Herman H. Taylor (Republican) (until January 1), Ernest L. Parker (Democratic) (starting January 1)
* Lieutenant Governor of Illinois: Barratt O'Hara (Democratic) (until January 8), John G. Oglesby (Republican) (starting January 8)
* Lieutenant Governor of Indiana: William P. O'Neill (Democratic) (until January 8), Edgar D. Bush (Republican) (starting January 8)
* Lieutenant Governor of Iowa: William L. Harding (Republican) (until January 11), Ernest Robert Moore (Republican) (starting January 11)
* Lieutenant Governor of Kansas: William Yoast Morgan (Republican)
* Lieutenant Governor of Kentucky: James D. Black (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of Louisiana: Fernand Mouton (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts: Calvin Coolidge (Republican)
* Lieutenant Governor of Michigan: Luren D. Dickinson (Republican)
* Lieutenant Governor of Minnesota: George H. Sullivan (Republican) (until January 2), Thomas Frankson (Republican) (starting January 2)
* Lieutenant Governor of Mississippi: Theodore G. Bilbo (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of Missouri: William Rock Painter (Democratic) (until January 8), Wallace Crossley (Democratic) (starting January 8)
* Lieutenant Governor of Montana: W. W. McDowell (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of Nebraska: James Pearson (Democratic) (until January 4), Edgar Howard (Democratic) (starting January 4)
* Lieutenant Governor of Nevada: Maurice J. Sullivan (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of New Mexico:
	+ until January 1: Ezequiel Cabeza De Baca (Democratic)
	+ January 1-February 18: Washington Ellsworth Lindsey (Republican)
	+ starting February 18: vacant
* Lieutenant Governor of New York: Edward Schoeneck (Republican)
* Lieutenant Governor of North Carolina: Elijah L. Daughtridge (Democratic) (until January 11), Oliver Max Gardner (Democratic) (starting January 11)
* Lieutenant Governor of North Dakota: John H. Fraine (Republican) (until January 3), Anton T. Kraabel (Republican) (starting January 3)
* Lieutenant Governor of Ohio: John H. Arnold (Republican) (until January 8), Earl D. Bloom (Democratic) (starting January 8)
* Lieutenant Governor of Oklahoma: Martin E. Trapp (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of Pennsylvania: Frank B. McClain (Republican)
* Lieutenant Governor of Rhode Island: Emery J. San Souci (Republican)
* Lieutenant Governor of South Carolina: Andrew Bethea (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of South Dakota: Peter Norbeck (Republican) (until January 2), William H. McMaster (Republican) (starting January 2)
* Lieutenant Governor of Tennessee: Albert E. Hill (Democratic) (until month and day unknown), W. R. Crabtree (Democratic) (starting month and day unknown)
* Lieutenant Governor of Texas: William P. Hobby (Democratic) (until August 25), vacant (starting August 25)
* Lieutenant Governor of Vermont: Hale K. Darling (Republican) (until January 4), Roger W. Hulburd (Republican) (starting January 4)
* Lieutenant Governor of Virginia: James Taylor Ellyson (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of Washington: Louis Folwell Hart (Republican)
* Lieutenant Governor of Wisconsin: Edward F. Dithmar (Republican)

## Events

### January - March

* January 1 – The University of Oregon defeats the University of Pennsylvania 14–0 in college football's 3rd Annual Rose Bowl.
* January 10 – The Silent Sentinels begin their protest in favor of women's suffrage in front of the White House.
* January 11 – German saboteurs set off the Kingsland Explosion at Kingsland, New Jersey (modern-day Lyndhurst), one of the events leading to U.S. involvement in World War I.
* January 22 – World War I: President Woodrow Wilson calls for "peace without victory" in Europe.
* January 25
	+ The Danish West Indies is sold to the United States for $25 million.
	+ An anti-prostitution drive in San Francisco attracts huge crowds to public meetings. At one meeting attended by 7,000 people, 20,000 are kept out for lack of room. In a conference with Rev. Paul Smith, an outspoken foe of prostitution, 300 prostitutes make a plea for toleration, explaining they had been forced into the practice by poverty. When Smith asks if they will take other work at $8 to $10 a week, the ladies laugh derisively, which loses them public sympathy. The police close about 200 houses of prostitution shortly thereafter.
* January 28 – The United States ends its search for Pancho Villa.
* January 30 – Pershing's troops in Mexico begin withdrawing back to the United States. They reach Columbus, New Mexico February 5.
* February 3 – World War I: The United States breaks off diplomatic relations with Germany.
* February 5
	+ Congress and Senate override a veto by President Woodrow Wilson to reinstate the Immigration Act of 1917, which allows more restrictions on immigration to the U.S., including the wholesale ban of people from much of Asia.
	+ The U.S. Army force under command of John J. Pershing reached Columbus, New Mexico, ending the Pancho Villa Expedition.
* February 17 – New York City Food Riot of 1917
* February 24 – World War I: United States ambassador to the United Kingdom, Walter H. Page, is shown the intercepted Zimmermann Telegram, in which Germany offers to give Texas, Arizona, and New Mexico back to Mexico if Mexico declares war on the United States.
* March 1 – The U.S. government releases the plaintext of the Zimmermann Telegram to the public.
* March 2 – The enactment of the Jones Act grants Puerto Ricans United States citizenship.
* March 4
	+ President Woodrow Wilson and Vice President Thomas R. Marshall begin their second terms.
	+ Jeannette Rankin of Montana becomes the first woman member of the United States House of Representatives.
* March 7 – "Livery Stable Blues", recorded with "Dixie Jazz Band One Step" on February 26 by the Original Dixieland Jazz Band, becomes the first jazz recording commercially released. On August 17 the band records "Tiger Rag".
* March 8 – The United States Senate adopts the cloture rule in order to limit filibusters.
* March 26 – The Seattle Metropolitans become the first team based in the United States to win the Stanley Cup.
* March 31 – The United States takes possession of the Danish West Indies, which become the US Virgin Islands, after paying $25 million to Denmark.

### April - June

* April 6 – United States joins World War I.
* April 9 – World War I: President Woodrow Wilson asks the U.S. Congress for a declaration of war on Germany.
* April 10 – Eddystone explosion: an explosion at an ammunition plant near Chester, Pennsylvania, kills 139, mostly female workers.
* April 19 – World War I: Army transport SS *Mongolia* fires the U.S.'s first shots in anger in the war when her gun crew drives off a German U-boat in the English Channel.
* April 27 – Hastings mine explosion: an explosion in a coal mine in Colorado kills 121.
* May 18 – World War I: The Selective Service Act passes the U.S. Congress, giving the President the power of conscription.
* May 21 – The Great Atlanta fire of 1917 destroyers over 300 acres (73 blocks).
* May 26 – A tornado strikes Mattoon, Illinois, causing devastation and killing 101 people.
* June 4 – The very first Pulitzer Prizes are awarded: Laura E. Richards, Maud Howe Elliott, and Florence Hall receive the first Pulitzer for a biography (for *Julia Ward Howe*). Jean Jules Jusserand receives the first Pulitzer for history for his work *With Americans of Past and Present Days*. Herbert Bayard Swope receives the first Pulitzer for journalism for his work for the *New York World*.
* June 5 – World War I: Conscription in the United States begins.
* June 8 – Speculator Mine disaster: a fire at the Granite Mountain and Speculator ore mine outside Butte, Montana kills 168 workers.
* June 13 – Phillips Petroleum Company incorporated in Oklahoma.
* June 15 – The U.S. enacts the Espionage Act.

### July - September

* July 1 – A labor dispute ignites a race riot in East St. Louis, Illinois, which leaves 250 dead.
* July 12 – The Phelps Dodge Corporation deports over 1,000 suspected IWW members from Bisbee, Arizona.
* July 28 – The *Silent Protest* is organized by the NAACP in New York to protest the East St. Louis Riot of July 2, as well as lynchings in Texas and Tennessee.
* August 1
	+ The Green Corn Rebellion, an uprising by several hundred farmers against the World War I draft, takes place in central Oklahoma.
	+ *The Messenger*, a political and literary magazine by and for African-Americans, begins publication in New York City.
* August 3 – The New York Guard is founded.
* August 23 – Following the detention of an African American soldier, 150 soldiers of the 24th Infantry Regiment march on Houston in what would be called the Houston Riot; four soldiers and 15 civilians die and, following courts-martial, 19 soldiers are hanged.

### October - December

* October 12 – The first regiment is stationed at the newly commissioned Naval Operating Base in Norfolk, VA.
* October 19 – Dallas Love Field opens as an airfield in Texas.
* November 7 – Women's suffrage in the United States: Women win the right to vote in New York State.
* November 14 – Night of Terror: The superintendent of the Occoquan Workhouse in Virginia orders the guards to brutalize the suffragist inmates.
* November 17 – Action of 17 November 1917: United States Navy destroyers USS *Fanning* and USS *Nicholson* capture Imperial German Navy U-boat SM *U-58* off the south-west coast of Ireland, the first combat action in which U.S. ships take a submarine (which is then scuttled).
* November 20 – World War I: Battle of Cambrai begins.
* November 24 – In Milwaukee, Wisconsin, 9 members of the Milwaukee Police Department are killed by a bomb, the most fatal single event in U.S. police history until the September 11, 2001 attacks.
* December 1 – A severe cold wave in Interior Alaska produces the coldest recorded mean monthly temperatures in the United States. Fort Yukon averages −48.3 °F or −44.6 °C and Eagle −46 °F or −43.3 °C.
* December 6 – U.S. Navy destroyer USS *Jacob Jones* is torpedoed and sunk in the Atlantic Ocean by German submarine *U-53*, killing 66 crew in the first significant American naval loss of the war.
* December 7
	+ World War I: The United States declares war on Austria-Hungary.
	+ World War I: Battle of Cambrai ends.
* December 20 – Shepherdsville train wreck kills 49 and injuries 52 people. It becomes the deadliest train wreck in Kentucky history.
* December 25 – *Why Marry?*, the first dramatic play to win a Pulitzer Prize, opens at the Astor Theatre in New York City.
* December 26 – United States president Woodrow Wilson uses the Federal Possession and Control Act to place most U.S. railroads under the United States Railroad Administration, with the aim of transporting troops and materials for the war effort more efficiently.

## Memoriam

* January 10 – Buffalo Bill (William F. Cody), frontiersman, bison hunter and showman (aged 70; Denver, CO, USA)
* January 16 – George Dewey, U.S. Admiral of the Navy (aged 79; Washington, DC, USA)
* January 21 – Francesca Alexander, illustrator (aged 79; Florence, Italy)
* February 21 – Fred Mace, silent film actor (aged 38; New York City, NY, USA)
* March 13 – Samuel Pasco, U.S. Senator from Florida from 1887 to 1899 (aged 82; Tampa, FL, USA)
* March 28 – Albert Pinkham Ryder, painter (aged 70; New York City, NY, USA)
* April 1 – Scott Joplin, African American ragtime composer and pianist (aged 48; New York City, NY, USA)
* April 8 – Richard Olney, politician (aged 81; Boston, MA, USA)
* April 13 – Diamond Jim Brady, businessman (aged 60; Atlantic City, NJ, USA)
* April 23 – Robert Koehler, painter (aged 66; Minneapolis, MN, USA)
* May 10 – Joseph B. Foraker, 37th Governor of Ohio, U.S. Senator from Ohio from 1897 to 1909 (aged 70; Cincinnati, OH, USA)
* May 19
	+ Alexander Caldwell, U.S. Senator from Kansas from 1871 to 1873 (aged 87; Kansas City, MO, USA)
	+ Belva Ann Lockwood, attorney, politician, educator, and author (aged 86; Washington, DC, USA)
* May 29 – Kate Harrington, teacher, writer and poet (aged 85; Fort Madison, IA, USA)
* June 14 – Thomas W. Benoist, aviation pioneer (aged 42; Sandusky, OH, USA)
* July 28 – Stephen Luce, admiral (aged 90; Newport, RI, USA)
* August 17 – John W. Kern, U.S. Senator from Indiana from 1911 to 1917 (aged 67; Ashville, NC, USA)
* October 13 – Florence La Badie, silent film actress (aged 29; Ossining, NY, USA)
* November 3 – Frederick Rodgers, admiral (aged 75; St. James, NY, USA)
* November 15 – John W. Foster, journalist and politician (aged 81; Washington, DC, USA)
* November 23 – William Ralph Emerson, architect (aged 84; Milton, MA, USA)
* December 9 – Nat M. Wills, vaudeville performer (aged 44; Woodcliff Lake, NJ, USA)
* December 12 – Andrew Taylor Still, "father of osteopathy" (aged 89; Kirksville, MO, USA)
* December 22 – Frances Xavier Cabrini, religious sister, first American canonized as a saint (aged 67; Chicago, IL, USA)
* December 28 – John Thornton, U.S. Senator from Louisiana from 1910 to 1915 (aged 71; Alexandria, LA, USA)