1917

1917 (MCMXVII) was a common year starting on Monday (dominical letter G) of the Gregorian calendar and a common year starting on Sunday (dominical letter A) of the Julian calendar, the 1917th year of the Common Era (CE) and Anno Domini (AD) designations, the 917th year of the 2nd millennium, the 17th year of the 20th century, and the 8th year of the 1910s decade. As of the start of 1917, the Gregorian calendar was 13 days ahead of the Julian calendar, which remained in localized use until 1918.

Events

Below, events of World War I have the "WWI" prefix.

January

• January – J. R. R. Tolkien, on medical leave from the British Army, begins writing The Book of Lost Tales (the first version of The Silmarillion), starting with the "Fall of Gondolin"; thus Tolkien's mythopoeic Middle-earth legendarium is first chronicled in prose.^[1][2]
• January 1 – The University of Oregon defeats the University of Pennsylvania 14–0 in U.S. college football's 3rd Annual Rose Bowl Game.
• January 2 – The Royal Bank of Canada takes over Quebec Bank.
• January 3 – The Ratho rail crash in which NBR H class locomotive 874 Dunedin in charge of the Edinburgh to Glasgow express train was in collision with a light engine at Queensferry Junction, leaving 12 people dead and 46 seriously injured. The cause was found to be inadequate signalling procedures.^[3]
• January 9 – WWI: The last substantial Ottoman Army garrison on the Sinai Peninsula is captured by the Egyptian Expeditionary Force's Desert Column at the Battle of Rafa.
• January 11 – Unknown saboteurs set off the Kingsland Explosion at Kingsland (modern-day Lyndhurst, New Jersey), one of the events leading to United States involvement in WWI.
• January 16 – The Danish West Indies is sold to the United States for $25 million.
• January 19 – Silvertown explosion: A blast at a munitions factory in London kills 73 and injures over 400. The resulting fire causes over £2,000,000 worth of damage.
• January 22 – WWI: President of the United States Woodrow Wilson calls for "peace without victory" in Germany.
• January 25
  • WWI: British armed merchantman SS Laurentic is sunk by mines off Lough Swilly (Ireland) with the loss of 354 of the 475 aboard.
  • An anti-prostitution drive in San Francisco occurs and police close about 200 prostitution houses.
• January 26 – The sea defences at the English village of Hallsands are breached, leading to all but one of the houses becoming uninhabitable.
• 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

• February 1 – WWI: Atlantic U-boat Campaign: Germany announces its U-boats will resume unrestricted submarine warfare, rescinding the 'Sussex pledge'.
• February 3 – WWI: The United States severs diplomatic relations with Germany.
• February 5 – The new constitution of Mexico is adopted.
• February 13
  • Mata Hari is arrested in Paris for spying.
  • WWI: Beginning of the Raid on Nekhl by units of the Egyptian Expeditionary Force, to complete reoccupation of the Egyptian Sinai Peninsula.
• February 21 – British troopship SS Mendi is accidentally rammed and sunk off the Isle of Wight, killing 646, mainly members of the South African Native Labour Corps.
• February 24 – WWI: United States ambassador to the United Kingdom, Walter Hines Page, is shown the intercepted Zimmermann Telegram, in which Germany offers to give the American Southwest back to Mexico if Mexico declares war on the United States.

March

• March 1
  • The U.S. government releases the text of the Zimmermann Telegram to the public.
  • Japanese city of Ōmuta is founded by Hiroushi Miruku.
• March 2 – The enactment of the Jones Act grants Puerto Ricans United States citizenship.
• March 4
  • U.S. President Woodrow Wilson begins his second term.
  • 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 Jass Band in the United States, becomes the first jazz recording commercially released. On August 17 the band records "Tiger Rag".
• March 8
  • (N.S.) (February 23, O.S.) – The February Revolution begins in Russia: Women calling for bread in Petrograd start riots, which spontaneously spread throughout the city.
  • The United States Senate adopts the cloture rule in order to limit filibusters.
• March 10 – The Province of Batangas is formally founded as one of the Philippines' first encomiendas.
• March 11 – Mexican Revolution: Venustiano Carranza is elected president of Mexico; the United States gives de jure recognition of his government.
• March 12 – The Duma declares a Provisional Government.
• March 14 – Republic of China terminates diplomatic relations with Germany.
• March 15 (N.S.) (March 2, O.S.) – Emperor Nicholas II of Russia abdicates his throne and his son's claims. This is considered to be the end of the Russian Empire after 196 years.
• March 17 (N.S.) (March 4, O.S.) – Grand Duke Michael Alexandrovich of Russia refuses the throne, and power passes to the newly formed Provisional Government under Prince Georgy Lvov.
• March 25 – The Georgian Orthodox Church restores the autocephaly abolished by Imperial Russia in 1811.
• March 26 – WWI: First Battle of Gaza: British Egyptian Expeditionary Force troops virtually encircle the Gaza garrison but are then ordered to withdraw, leaving the city to the Ottoman defenders.
• March 30 – Hjalmar Hammarskjöld steps down as Prime Minister of Sweden. He is replaced by the right-wing businessman and politician Carl Swartz .
• 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

• April 2 – WWI: U.S. President Woodrow Wilson asks the United States Congress for a declaration of war on Germany.
• April 6 – WWI: The United States declares war on Germany.
• April 8 (N.S.) (March 26, O.S.) – In Petrograd, 40,000 ethnic Estonians demand national autonomy within Russia.
• April 9–12 – WWI: Canadian troops win the Battle of Vimy Ridge.
• April 10 – An ammunition factory explosion in Chester, Pennsylvania kills 133.
• April 11 – WWI: Brazil severs diplomatic relations with Germany.
• April 12 (N.S.) (March 30 O.S.) – The Autonomous Governorate of Estonia is formed within Russia from the Governorate of Estonia and the Northern part of the Governorate of Livonia.
• April 16
  • (N.S.) (April 3, O.S.) – Vladimir Lenin arrives at the Finland Station in Petrograd.
  • WWI: The Nivelle Offensive commences.

• April 17
  • (N.S.) (April 4, O.S.) – Vladimir Lenin's April Theses are published.^[4] They become very influential in the following July Days and Bolshevik Revolution.
  • WWI: The Egyptian Expeditionary Force begins the Second Battle of Gaza. This unsuccessful frontal attack on strong Ottoman defences along with the first battle, resulted in 10,000 casualties, the dismissal of the force commander General Archibald Murray and the beginning of the Stalemate in Southern Palestine.
  • The Times and the Daily Mail (London newspapers both owned by Lord Northcliffe) print atrocity propaganda of the supposed existence of a German Corpse Factory.
• April 26 – WWI: Agreement of Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne between France, Italy and the United Kingdom to settle interests in the Middle Eastern signed.

May

• May 9 – WWI: The Nivelle Offensive is abandoned.
• May 13 – The nuncio Eugenio Pacelli, the future Pope Pius XII, is consecrated Archbishop by Pope Benedict XV.^[5]
• May 13–October 13 (at monthly intervals) – 10-year-old Lúcia Santos and her cousins Francisco and Jacinta Marto report experiencing a series of Marian apparitions near Fátima, Portugal, which becomes known as Our Lady of Fátima.
• May 15 – Robert Nivelle is replaced as Commander-in-Chief of the French Army by Philippe Pétain.
• May 18 – WWI: The Selective Service Act passes the United States Congress, giving the President the power of conscription.
• May 21 – Over 300 acres (73 blocks) are destroyed in the Great Atlanta fire of 1917.
• May 22 – Commissioned Officer Corps of the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey.
• May 23
  • A month of civil violence in Milan, Italy, ends after the Italian army forcibly takes over the city from anarchists and anti-war revolutionaries. Fifty people are killed and 800 arrested.^[6]
  • WWI: During the Stalemate in Southern Palestine the Raid on the Beersheba to Hafir el Auja railway by Desert Column of British Empire troops, destroys large sections of the railway line linking Beersheba to the main Ottoman desert base.
• May 26 – A tornado strikes Mattoon, Illinois, causing devastation and killing 101 people.
• May 27 – WWI: Over 30,000 French troops refuse to go to the trenches at Missy-aux-Bois.
• May 27 – Pope Benedict XV promulgates the 1917 Code of Canon Law

June

• June 1 – French Army Mutinies: A French infantry regiment seizes Missy-aux-Bois and declares an anti-war military government. Other French army troops soon apprehend them.
• June 4 – The 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 – WWI: Conscription begins in the United States.
• June 7 – WWI: Battle of Messines opens with the British Army detonating 19 ammonal mines under the German lines, killing 10,000 in the deadliest deliberate non-nuclear man-made explosion in history.
• June 8 – Speculator Mine disaster: A fire at the Granite Mountain and Speculator ore mine outside Butte, Montana kills at least 168 workers.
• June 11 – King Constantine I of Greece abdicates for the first time, being succeeded by his son Alexander.
• June 13 – WWI: The first major German bombing raid on London by fixed-wing aircraft leaves 162 dead and 432 injured.
• June 15 – The United States enacts the Espionage Act.

July

• July – First Cottingley Fairies photographs taken in Yorkshire, England, apparently depicting fairies; a hoax not admitted by the child creators until 1981.
• July 1
  • East St. Louis riot: A labor dispute ignites a race riot in East St. Louis, Illinois, which leaves 250 dead.
  • Russian General Brusilov begins the major Kerensky Offensive in Galicia, initially advancing towards Lemberg.
• July 2 – WWI: Greece joins the war on the side of the Allies.^[7][8]
• July 6 – WWI:
  • Battle of Aqaba: Arabian troops led by T. E. Lawrence capture Aqaba from the Ottoman Empire.
  • Conscription Crisis of 1917 in Canada leads to passage of the Military Service Act.
• July 7 – The Lions Clubs International is formed in the United States.
• July 8–13 – WWI: First Battle of Ramadi: British troops fail to take Ramadi from the Ottoman Empire; a majority of British casualties are due to extreme heat.
• July 12 – Bisbee Deportation: The Phelps Dodge Corporation deports over 1,000 suspected IWW members from Bisbee, Arizona.
• July 16–July 17 – Russian troops mutiny, abandon the Austrian front, and retreat to the Ukraine; hundreds are shot by their commanding officers during the retreat.
• July 16–July 18 – Serious clashes in Petrograd in July Days; Lenin escapes to Finland; Trotsky is arrested.
• July 17 – King George V of the United Kingdom issues a proclamation, stating that thenceforth the male line descendants of the British Royal Family will bear the surname Windsor, vice the Germanic bloodline of House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, which is an offshoot of the historic (800+ years) House of Wettin.
• July 20
  • The Parliament of Finland, with a Social Democratic majority, passes a "Sovereignty Act", declaring itself, as the representative of the Finnish people, sovereign over the Grand Principality of Finland. The Russian Provisional Government does not recognize the act, as it would have devolved Russian sovereignty over Finland, formerly exercised by the Russian Emperor as Grand Prince of Finland and alter the relationship between Finland and Russia into a real union with Russia solely responsible for the defence and foreign relations of an independent Finland.
  • (July 7, O.S.) – Alexander Kerensky becomes premier of the Russian Provisional Government, replacing Prince Georgy Lvov.
  • The Russian Provisional Government enacts women's suffrage.
  • The Corfu Declaration, which enables the establishment of the post-war Kingdom of Yugoslavia, is signed by the Yugoslav Committee and the Kingdom of Serbia.
• July 20–July 28 – WWI: Austrian and German forces repulse the Russian advance into Galicia.
• July 25 – Sir William Thomas White introduces Canada's first income tax as a "temporary" measure (lowest bracket is 4% and highest is 25%).
• July 28 – The Silent Parade is organized by the NAACP in New York City to protest the East St. Louis riot of July 2, as well as lynchings in Tennessee and Texas.
• July 30 – The Parliament of Finland is dissolved by the Russian Provisional Government. New elections are held in the autumn, resulting in a bourgeois majority.
• July 31 – WWI: Battle of Passchendaele: Allied offensive operations commence in Flanders.

August

• August – The Green Corn Rebellion, an uprising by several hundred farmers against the WWI draft, takes place in central Oklahoma.
• August 2 – Squadron Commander E.H. Dunning lands his aircraft on the ship HMS Furious in Scapa Flow, Orkney. He is killed 5 days later during another landing on the ship.
• August 3 – The New York Guard is founded.
• August 10 – A general strike begins in Spain; it is smashed after 3 days with 70 left dead, hundreds of wounded and 2,000 arrests.
• August 14 – Republic of China declares war on Germany and Austria-Hungary.
• August 17 – One of English literature's important meetings takes place when Wilfred Owen introduces himself to Siegfried Sassoon at the Craiglockhart War Hospital in Edinburgh.
• August 18 – The Great Thessaloniki Fire of 1917 in Greece destroys 32% of the city, leaving 70,000 individuals homeless.
• August 29 – WWI: The Military Service Act is passed in the Canadian House of Commons, giving the Government of Canada the right to conscript men into the army.

September

• September 14 – Russia is declared a republic by the Provisional Government.
• September 23 – Leon Trotsky is elected Chairman of the Petrograd Soviet.
• September 25 – The Mossovet (Moscow Soviet of People's Deputies) votes to side with the Bolsheviks.
• September 26–October 3 – WWI: Battle of Polygon Wood (part of the Battle of Passchendaele) near Ypres in Belgium: British and Australian troops capture positions from the Germans.
• September 28–29 – WWI: Second Battle of Ramadi: British troops take Ramadi from the Ottoman Empire.

October

• October 4 – WWI: Battle of Broodseinde near Ypres: British Imperial forces overpower the German 4th Army's defences.
• October 12 – WWI: First Battle of Passchendaele: Allies fail to take a German defensive position with the biggest loss of life in a single day for New Zealand, over 800 of whose men and 45 officers are killed, roughly 1 in 1000 of the nation's population at this time.
• October 12-19 – WWI: Operation Albion: German forces land on and capture the West Estonian archipelago.
• October 13 – Miracle of the Sun at Fátima, Portugal.
• October 15 – WWI: At Vincennes outside Paris, Dutch dancer Mata Hari is executed by firing squad for spying for Germany.
• October 19
  • Dallas Love Field airport is opened.
  • Carl Swartz leaves office as Prime Minister of Sweden after dismal election results for the right-wing in the Riksdag elections in September. He is replaced by liberal leader and history professor Nils Edén.
• October 23 – A Brazilian ship is destroyed by a German U-Boat, encouraging Brazil to enter World War I.
• October 25 (O.S.) (November 7, N.S.) – Traditional beginning date of the October Revolution and Russian Civil War.
• October 26 – WWI: Brazil declares war against the Central Powers.

• October 27 – WWI: Ottoman force attacks Desert Mounted Corps units garrisoning el Buqqar ridge during the Battle of Buqqar Ridge fought in the last days of the Stalemate in Southern Palestine.
• October 31 – WWI: Battle of Beersheba: The British XX Corps and Desert Mounted Corps (Egyptian Expeditionary Force) attack and capture Beersheba ending the Stalemate in Southern Palestine.

November

• November 1 – WWI:
  • The British XXI Corps of the Egyptian Expeditionary Force begins the Third Battle of Gaza.
  • The British Desert Mounted Corps begins the Battle of Tel el Khuweilfe in the direction of Hebron and Jerusalem.
• November 2 – Zionism: The British Foreign Secretary Arthur Balfour makes the Balfour Declaration proclaiming British support for the "establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people" with the clear understanding "that nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities".
• November 5 (N.S.) (October 23, O.S.) – Estonian and Russian Bolsheviks seize power in Tallinn, Autonomous Governorate of Estonia, two days before the October Revolution in Petrograd.
• November 6
  • WWI: Battle of Passchendaele: After 3 months of fierce fighting, Canadian forces take Passchendaele in Belgium.
  • WWI: Battle of Hareira and Sheria launched by the British XX Corps and Desert Mounted Corps against the central Ottoman defences protecting the Gaza to Beersheba road.
  • Militants from Trotsky's committee join with trusty Bolshevik soldiers to seize government buildings and pounce on members of the provisional government.
• November 7
  • (N.S.) (October 25, O.S.) – October Revolution in Russia: The workers of the Petrograd Soviet in Russia, led by the Bolshevik Party and leader Vladimir Lenin, storm the Winter Palace and successfully destroy the Kerensky Provisional Government after less than eight months of rule.
  • Iran (which has provided weapons for Russia) refuses to support the Allied Forces after the October Revolution.
  • WWI: Third Battle of Gaza: XXI Corps occupies Gaza after the Ottoman garrison withdraws.
  • WWI: Battle of Hareira and Sheria continues when the XX Corps and Desert Mounted Corps capture Hareira and Sheria, marking the end of the Ottoman Gaza to Beersheba line.
• November 13 – WWI:
  • Egyptian Expeditionary Force attack retreating Yildirim Army Group forces during the Battle of Mughar Ridge results in the capture of 10,000 Ottoman prisoners, 100 guns and 50 miles (80 km) of Palestine territory.
  • ANZAC Mounted Division (Desert Mounted Corps) successfully fights the Battle of Ayun Kara in the aftermath of the Battle of Mughar Ridge against strong German rearguards.
• November 15
  • In a "Night of Terror" in the United States, influential suffragettes from the Silent Sentinels are deliberately subjected to physical assaults by guards while imprisoned.
  • The Parliament of Finland passes another "Sovereignty Act", dissolving Russian sovereignty over Finland and effectively declaring Finland independent.
  • (N.S.) (November 28, O.S.) – The Provincial Assembly of the Autonomous Governorate of Estonia declares itself the highest legal body in Estonia.
• November 16
  • WWI: ANZAC Mounted Division occupies Jaffa following their victory at the Battle of Ayun Kara.
  • Georges Clemenceau becomes prime minister of France.
• November 17
  • WWI: 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).
  • WWI: Battle of Jerusalem (1917) begins with the Egyptian Expeditionary Force launching attacks against Ottoman forces in the Judean Hills.
  • The People's Dispensary for Sick Animals is founded in the United Kingdom.
• November 20
  • WWI: Battle of Cambrai: British forces, using tanks, make early progress in an attack on German positions but are soon beaten back.
  • The Ukraine is declared a republic.
• November 22 – In Montreal, Canada, the National Hockey Association breaks up.
• November 23 – The Bolsheviks release the full text of the previously secret Sykes–Picot Agreement of 1916 in Izvestia and Pravda; it is printed in the Manchester Guardian on November 26.
• November 24 – Nine members of the Milwaukee Police Department are killed by a bomb, the most deaths in a single event in U.S. police history until the September 11 attacks in 2001.
• November 25 – WWI: German forces defeat Portuguese army of about 1200 at Negomano on the border of modern-day Mozambique and Tanzania.
• November 26 – The National Hockey League is formed in Montreal as a replacement for the recently disbanded National Hockey Association.
• November 28 – WWI: The Bolsheviks offer peace terms to the Germans.

December

• December – Annie Besant becomes president of the Indian National Congress.
• December 3 – After nearly 20 years of planning and construction, the Quebec Bridge opens to traffic (the bridge partially collapsed on August 29, 1907 and September 11, 1916).
• December 6
  • The Senate of Finland officially declares the country's independence from Russia.
  • Halifax Explosion: Two freighters collide in Halifax Harbour at Halifax, Nova Scotia and cause a huge explosion that kills at least 1,963 people, injures 9,000 and destroys part of the city (the biggest man-made explosion in recorded history until the Trinity nuclear test in 1945).
• December 9 – WWI: The British Egyptian Expeditionary Force accepts the surrender of Jerusalem by the mayor, Hussein al-Husayni, following effective defeat of the Ottoman Empire's Yildirim Army Group during the Battle of Jerusalem.
• December 11 – WWI: General Edmund Allenby leads units of the British Egyptian Expeditionary Force into Jerusalem on foot through the Jaffa Gate.
• December 17 – The Raad van Vlaanderen proclaims the independence of Flanders.
• December 20 – The Cheka, a predecessor to the KGB is established in Russia.
• December 23 (N.S.) (February 23, O.S.) – A local plebiscite supports transferring Narva and Ivangorod (Jaanilinn) from Petrograd Governorate to the Autonomous Governorate of Estonia.
• December 25 – Jesse Lynch Williams' Why Marry?, the first dramatic play to win a Pulitzer Prize, opens at the Astor Theatre in New York.
• 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, hoping to transport troops and materials for the war effort more efficiently.
• December 30 – WWI: Egyptian Expeditionary Force secures the victory at the Battle of Jerusalem by successfully defending Jerusalem from numerous Yildirim Army Group counterattacks.

Date unknown

• Following the October Revolution, Alexandra Kollontai is appointed People's Commissar for Social Welfare in the Council of People's Commissars of the Government of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, the first woman cabinet minister in Europe.
• Women are permitted to stand in national elections in the Netherlands.
• The True Jesus Church is established in Beijing.

Births

January

• January 1 – Shannon Bolin, American actress and singer (d. 2016)
• January 2 – Vera Zorina, German dancer and actress (d. 2003)
• January 3
  • Roger W. Straus, Jr., American publisher (d. 2004)
  • Jesse White, American actor (d. 1997)
• January 5
  • Adolfo Consolini, Italian discus thrower (d. 1969)
  • Lucienne Day, British textile designer (d. 2010)
  • Francis L. Kellogg, U.S. diplomat and prominent socialite (d. 2006)
  • Jane Wyman, American actress, philanthropist, and first wife of Ronald Reagan (d. 2007)
• January 6 – Koo Chen-fu, Nationalist Chinese negotiator (d. 2005)
• January 10 – Jerry Wexler, American record producer (d. 2008)
• January 12 – Jimmy Skinner, Detroit Red Wings head coach (d. 2007)
• January 15 – K. A. Thangavelu, Indian film actor and comedian (d. 1994
• January 16 – Carl Karcher, American founder of the Carl's Jr. hamburger chain (d. 2008)
• January 17 – M. G. Ramachandran, Tamil Nadu chief minister and actor (d. 1987)
• January 19 – Graham Higman, British mathematician (d. 2008)
• January 21 – Erling Persson, Swedish businessman and founder of H&M (d. 2002)
• January 24 – Ernest Borgnine, American actor (d. 2012)
• January 25 – Ilya Prigogine, Russian-born physicist and chemist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry (d. 2003)
• January 26
  • Louis Zamperini, American prisoner of war (World War II), Olympic distance athlete (1936), and Christian evangelist (d. 2014)
  • William Verity Jr., American politician (d. 2007)
• January 29 – John Raitt, American actor and singer (d. 2005)

February

• February 1 – Squadron Leader James "Ginger" Lacey, the top scoring RAF fighter pilot during the Battle of Britain (d. 1989)
• February 2 – Đỗ Mười, Vietnamese leader
• February 3 – Shlomo Goren, Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi of Israel (d. 1994)
• February 4 – Yahya Khan, President of Pakistan (d. 1980)
• February 5 – Isuzu Yamada, Japanese actress (d. 2012)
• February 6
  • John Franzese, Italian-born American prisoner
  • Zsa Zsa Gabor, Hungarian-born actress
• February 9 – Joseph Conombo, Prime Minister of Upper Volta (d. 2008)
• February 11
  • T. Nagi Reddy, Indian revolutionary (d. 1976)
  • Sidney Sheldon, American author and television writer (d. 2007)
• February 12 – Dom DiMaggio, American baseball player (d. 2009)
• February 14 – Herbert A. Hauptman, American mathematician, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry (d. 2011)
• February 17 – Abdel Rahman Badawi, Egyptian existentialist philosopher (d. 2002)
• February 18 – Tuulikki Pietilä, Finnish artist (d. 2009)
• February 19 – Carson McCullers, American author (d. 1967)
• February 25
  • Anthony Burgess, English author (d. 1993)
  • Brenda Joyce, American actress (d. 2009)
• February 27 – John Connally, Governor of Texas (d. 1993)
• February 28 – Ernesto Alonso, Mexican actor, director, cinematographer, and producer (d. 2007)

March

• March 1 – Robert Lowell, American poet (d. 1977)
• March 2
  • Desi Arnaz, Cuban-born actor, bandleader, and musician (d. 1986)
  • Laurie Baker, English architect (d. 2007)
• March 3 – Sameera Moussa, Egyptian nuclear scientist (d. 1952)
• March 4 – Clyde McCullough, American baseball catcher (d. 1982)
• March 5 – Raymond P. Shafer, Governor of Pennsylvania (d. 2006)
• March 6 – Samael Aun Weor, Columbian writer (d. 1977)
• March 10 – James Buchanan Barnes, 107th Infantry Regiment (United States), Buyer of Plums
• March 12 – Googie Withers, British actress (d. 2011)
• March 19 – Dinu Lipatti, Romanian pianist (d. 1950)
• March 20 – Vera Lynn, English actress and singer
• March 21 – Yigael Yadin, Israeli archeologist, politician, and Military Chief of Staff (d. 1984)
• March 24
  • Constantine Andreou, Brazilian-Greek artist (d. 2007)
  • John Kendrew, British molecular biologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry (d. 1997)
• March 26 – Rufus Thomas, American singer (d. 2001)
• March 27 – Cyrus Vance, American politician (d. 2002)
• March 29 – Man o' War, champion thoroughbred racehorse (d. 1947)

April

• April 1 – Sydney Newman, Canadian-born television producer (d. 1997)
• April 2 – Dabbs Greer, American actor (d. 2007)
• April 5 – Robert Bloch, American writer (d. 1994)
• April 7 – R. G. Armstrong, American actor (d. 2012)
• April 10 – Robert B. Woodward, American chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1979)
• April 13
  • Robert O. Anderson, American businessman, founder of Atlantic Richfield Oil Co. (d. 2007)
  • Bill Clements, Governor of Texas (d. 2011)
• April 14 – Marvin Miller, American baseball executive (d. 2012)
• April 16 – Barry Nelson, American actor (d. 2007)
• April 22 – Yvette Chauviré, French ballerina
• April 23 – Dorian Leigh, American model (d. 2008)
• April 25 – Ella Fitzgerald, American jazz singer (d. 1996)
• April 26
  • I. M. Pei, Chinese-born architect
  • Virgil Trucks, American baseball player (d. 2013)
• April 28
  • Minoru Chiaki, Japanese actor (d. 1999)
  • Robert Cornthwaite, American actor (d. 2006)
• April 29 – Celeste Holm, American actress (d. 2012)
• April 30 – Bea Wain, American singer

May

• May 1
  • John Beradino, American baseball player and actor (General Hospital) (d. 1996)
  • Ulric Cross, Trinidadian judge, diplomat and war hero (d. 2013)
  • Danielle Darrieux, French singer and actress
  • Fyodor Khitruk, Russian animator (d. 2012)
• May 3
  • José Del Vecchio, Venezuelan physician and youth baseball promoter (d. 1990)
  • Kiro Gligorov, President of the Republic of Macedonia (d. 2012)
• May 8 – John Anderson, Jr., American politician (d. 2014)
• May 12 – Frank Clair, Canadian football coach (d. 2005)
• May 14 – Lou Harrison, American composer (d. 2003)
• May 16
  • George Gaynes, Finnish-born American actor (d. 2016)
  • Juan Rulfo, Mexican writer and photographer (d. 1986)
• May 20 – Bergur Sigurbjörnsson, Icelandic politician (d. 2005)
• May 21 – Raymond Burr, Canadian actor (Perry Mason) (d. 1993)
• May 22
  • Sid Melton, American actor (d. 2011)
  • Georg Tintner, Austrian conductor (d. 1999)
• May 25 – Theodore Hesburgh, American priest and educator (d. 2015)
• May 28
  • Papa John Creach, African-American fiddler (d. 1994)
  • Marshall Reed, American film and television actor (d. 1980)
• May 29 – John F. Kennedy, 35th President of the United States (d. 1963)

June

• June 1 – William S. Knowles, American chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2012)
• June 2 – Casey Adams, American actor (d. 2000)
• June 4
  • Robert Merrill, American baritone (d. 2004)
  • Howard Metzenbaum, American Jewish Senator from Ohio (d. 2008)
• June 6 – Kirk Kerkorian, Armenian-American businessman and billionaire (d. 2015)
• June 7
  • Gwendolyn Brooks, African American writer (d. 2000)
  • Dean Martin, American actor and singer (d. 1995)
• June 8 – Byron White, American athlete and Supreme Court Justice (d. 2002)
• June 9 – Eric Hobsbawm, British historian (d. 2012)
• June 10
  • Ruari McLean, British typographer (d. 2006)
  • Al Schwimmer, American-Israeli businessman (d. 2011)
• June 14
  • Lise Nørgaard, Danish journalist and writer
  • Atle Selberg, Norwegian mathematician (d. 2007)
• June 15
  • John Fenn, American chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2010)
  • Lash LaRue, American cowboy actor (d. 1996)
• June 16
  • Katharine Graham, American publisher (d. 2001)
  • Irving Penn, American photographer (d. 2009)
• June 17 – Ben Bubar, American presidential candidate (d. 1995)
• June 18
  • Ross Elliott, American actor (d. 1999)
  • Erik Ortvad, Danish artist (d. 2008)
• June 19 – Robert Karnes, American actor (d. 1979)
• June 24 – Lucy Jarvis, American television producer
• June 30
  • Susan Hayward, American actress (d. 1975)
  • Lena Horne, American singer and actress (d. 2010)

July

• July 1 – Humphry Osmond, British psychiatrist (d. 2004)
• July 4 – Manolete, Spanish bullfighter (d. 1947)
• July 7
  • Larry O'Brien, American politician and former NBA commissioner (d. 1990)
  • Fidel Sánchez Hernández, President of El Salvador (d. 2003)
• July 9 – Frank Wayne, American television game show producer (d. 1988)
• July 10
  • Don Herbert, American television personality (Mr. Wizard) (d. 2007)
  • Reg Smythe, English cartoonist (d. 1998)
• July 12 – Andrew Wyeth, American painter (d. 2009)
• July 15 – Robert Conquest, British historian (d. 2015)
• July 16 – William Woodson, American voice actor
• July 17
  • Phyllis Diller, American comedian (d. 2012)
  • Kenan Evren, former President of Turkey (d. 2015)
• July 18 – Henri Salvador, French singer (d. 2008)
• July 19 – William Scranton, American politician (d. 2013)
• July 22
  • Larry Hooper, American singer and musician (d. 1983)
  • Adam Malik, 3rd Vice President of Indonesia (d. 1984)
• July 24 – Henri Betti, French composer and pianist (d. 2005)
• July 26 – Lorna Gray, American actress

August

• August 6 – Robert Mitchum, American actor (d. 1997)
• August 11
  • Vasiľ Biľak, former Slovak Communist leader (d. 2014)
  • Dik Browne, American cartoonist (Hagar the Horrible) (d. 1989)
• August 14 – Marty Glickman, American sports announcer (d. 2001)
• August 15
  • Jack Lynch, Prime Minister of Ireland (d. 1999)
  • Óscar Romero, El Salvador Roman Catholic Archbishop (d. 1980)
• August 17 – Zvi Keren, American-born Israeli pianist, musicologist and composer (d. 2008)
• August 18 – Caspar Weinberger, United States Secretary of Defense (d. 2006)
• August 22 – John Lee Hooker, African-American musician (d. 2001)
• August 25
  • Lou van Burg Dutch television personality and game show host (d. 1986)
  • Mel Ferrer, Cuban-American actor, film director and film producer (d. 2008)
  • Lisbeth Movin, Danish actress (d. 2011)
• August 28 – Jack Kirby, American comic book artist (d. 1994)
• August 29 – Isabel Sanford, African-American actress (The Jeffersons) (d. 2004)
• August 30 – Denis Healey, English politician and author (d. 2015)

September

• September 6 – Philipp von Boeselager, German Wehrmacht officer, failed assassin of Adolf Hitler (d. 2008)
• September 7
  • Leonard Cheshire, British war hero (d. 1992)
  • John Cornforth, Australian chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2013)
  • Tetsuo Hamuro, Japanese swimmer (d. 2005)
• September 10 – Miguel Serrano, Chilean diplomat, explorer, and journalist (d. 2009)
• September 11
  • Donald Blakeslee, American aviator (d. 2008)
  • Herbert Lom, Czech-born British actor (d. 2012)
  • Ferdinand Marcos, President of the Philippines (d. 1989)
  • Jessica Mitford, Anglo-American writer (d. 1996)
  • Daniel Wildenstein, French art dealer and racehorse owner (d. 2001)
• September 13 – Robert Ward, American composer (d. 2013)
• September 15 – Buddy Jeannette, American basketball player and coach (d. 1998)
• September 18 – June Foray, American voice actress
• September 20
  • Red Auerbach, American basketball coach and official (d. 2006)
  • Fernando Rey, Spanish actor (d. 1994)
• September 23 – Rodolfo Guzmán Huerta, Mexican wrestler, better known as El Santo (d. 1984)
• September 25 – Johnny Sain, American baseball player (d. 2006)
• September 27 – Louis Auchincloss, American novelist (d. 2010)

October

• October 2
  • Christian de Duve, English-born biologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (d. 2013)
  • Francis Jackson, English organist and composer
• October 7 – June Allyson, American actress (d. 2006)
• October 8
  • Danny Murtaugh, American baseball player and manager (d. 1976)
  • Rodney Robert Porter, English biochemist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (d. 1985)
• October 10 – Thelonious Monk, American jazz pianist (d. 1982)
• October 11 – J. Edward McKinley, American actor (d. 2004)
• October 13 – George Virl Osmond, Osmond family patriarch (d. 2007)
• October 15
  • Adele Stimmel Chase, American artist (d. 2000)
  • Jan Miner, American actress (d. 2004)
  • Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr., American historian and political commentator (d. 2007)
• October 17
  • Martin Donnelly, New Zealand cricketer (d. 1999)
  • Marsha Hunt, American actress
• October 19 – Walter Munk, Austrian-born American oceanographer
• October 20 – X. M. Sellathambu, Sri Lankan Tamil politician
• October 21 – Dizzy Gillespie, African-American musician (d. 1993)
• October 22 – Joan Fontaine, British-born actress (d. 2013)
• October 30 – Maurice Trintignant, French race car driver (d. 2005)

November

• November 1 – Erich Rudorffer, German fighter ace (d. 2016)
• November 2 – Ann Rutherford, Canadian actress (d. 2012)
• November 6 – Harlan Warde, American actor (d. 1980)
• November 11
  • Madeleine Damerment, French WWII heroine (d. 1944)
  • Tony F. Schneider, American naval officer (d. 2010)
• November 12 – Jo Stafford, American traditional pop singer (d. 2008)
• November 14 – Park Chung-hee, former president of South Korea, (d. 1979)
• November 18 – Pedro Infante, Mexican actor and singer (d. 1957)
• November 19 – Indira Gandhi, Prime Minister of India (d. 1984)
• November 20 – Robert Byrd, U.S. senator from West Virginia and President pro tempore of the United States Senate (d. 2010)
• November 22 – Andrew Huxley, English scientist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (d. 2012)
• November 24 – Shabtai Rosenne, British-born Israeli diplomat and jurist (d. 2010)
• November 25 – Stanley Wilson, American musician (d. 1970)

December

• December 5 – Wenche Foss, Norwegian actress (d. 2011)
• December 6
  • Kamal Jumblatt, leader of the Lebanese Druze (d. 1977)
  • Irv Robbins, Canadian-American entrepreneur (d. 2008)
• December 9 – James Rainwater, American physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1986)
• December 10 – Sultan Yahya Petra of Kelantan, King of Malaysia (d. 1979)
• December 15 – Shan-ul-Haq Haqqee, Pakistani poet, author, lexicographer (d. 2005)
• December 16 – Arthur C. Clarke, British/Sri Lankan science-fiction author (2001: A Space Odyssey) (d. 2008)
• December 18 – Ossie Davis, American actor and activist (d. 2005)
• December 20
  • David Bohm, American-born physicist, philosopher, and neuropsychologist (d. 1992)
  • Juan Vicente Torrealba, Venezuelan harpist and composer
  • Audrey Totter, American actress (d. 2013)
• December 21 – Heinrich Böll, German writer, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1985)
• December 22 – Gene Rayburn, American television personality (Match Game) (d. 1999)
• December 25 – Lincoln Verduga Loor, Ecuadorian journalist and politician (d. 2009)
• December 27 – Onni Palaste, Finnish writer (d. 2009)
• December 28 – Ellis Clarke, President of Trinidad and Tobago (d. 2010)
• December 29 – Ramanand Sagar, Indian film director (d. 2005)
• December 30 – Seymour Melman, American industrial engineer (d. 2004)

Date unknown

• Guillermo Sánchez Boix, Spanish cartoonist (d. 1960)
• Huang Yao, Chinese artist (d. 1987)

Deaths

January–March

• January 2 – Edward Burnett Tylor, English anthropologist (b. 1832)
• January 4 – Frederick Selous, British explorer (b. 1851)
• January 6
  • Frederick William Borden, Canadian politician (b. 1847)
  • Hendrick Peter Godfried Quack, Dutch economist and historian (b. 1834)
• January 8 – Sir George Warrender, 7th Baronet, British admiral (b. 1860)
• January 10 – William F. "Buffalo Bill" Cody, American frontiersman (b. 1846)
• January 16 – George Dewey, U.S. admiral (b. 1837)
• February 5 – Jaber II Al-Sabah, Emir of Kuwait (b. 1860)
• February 8 – Anton Haus, Austro-Hungarian admiral (b. 1851)
• February 10 – John William Waterhouse, Italian-born artist (b. 1849)
• February 21 – Fred Mace, American actor (b. 1878)
• March 5 – Manuel de Arriaga, first president of Portugal (b. 1840)
• March 6 – Jules Vandenpeereboom, former Prime Minister of Belgium (b. 1843)
• March 8 – Ferdinand von Zeppelin, German inventor (b. 1838)
• March 17 – Franz Brentano, German philosopher and psychologist (b. 1838)
• March 31 – Emil Adolf von Behring, German winner of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1854)

April–June

• April 1 – Scott Joplin, African-American composer and pianist (b. 1867–1868)
• April 8 – Richard Olney, American politician (b. 1835)
• April 13 – Diamond Jim Brady, American businessman (b. 1856)
• April 14 – L. L. Zamenhof, Polish creator of Esperanto (b. 1859)
• April 15 – János Murkovics, Slovene teacher and writer in Hungary (b. 1839)
• May 7 – Albert Ball, British World War I fighter ace, Victoria Cross recipient (b. 1896)
• May 17
  • Charles Brooke, Rajah of Sarawak (b. 1829)
  • Radomir Putnik, Serbian field marshal (b. 1847)
• May 20 – Philipp von Ferrary, Italian stamp collector (b. 1850)
• May 24 – Les Darcy, Australian boxer (b. 1895)
• May 25
  • Maksim Bahdanovič, Belarusian poet (b. 1891)
  • René Dorme, French World War I fighter ace (b. 1894)
• May 29 – Kate Harrington, American teacher, writer, and poet (b. 1831)
• June 5 – Karl Emil Schäfer, German World War I fighter ace (killed in action) (b. 1891)
• June 14 – Thomas W. Benoist, American aviator, aircraft designer and manufacturer, and founder of the world's first scheduled airline (b. 1874)
• June 17 – José Manuel Pando, 25th President of Bolivia (b. 1849)
• June 18 – Titu Maiorescu, Romanian politician, Prime Minister of Romania (b. 1840)
• June 26 – John Dunville, British Army officer (killed in action) (b. 1896)
• June 27 – Karl Allmenröder, German World War I fighter ace (killed in action) (b. 1896)
• June 29 – Frans Schollaert, 19th Prime Minister of Belgium (b. 1851)
• June 30 – Antonio de La Gándara, French painter (b. 1861)

July–September

• July 2 – Herbert Beerbohm Tree, British actor (b. 1852)
• July 8 – Tom Thomson, Canadian painter (b. 1877)
• July 12 – Donald Cunnell, British World War I fighter ace (killed in action) (b. 1893)
• July 16 – Philipp Scharwenka, Polish-German composer (b. 1847)
• July 27 – Emil Kocher, Swiss medical researcher, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1841)
• July 28 – Stephen Luce, American admiral (b. 1827)
• July 31
  • Francis Ledwidge, Irish poet (killed in action) (b. 1887)
  • Hedd Wyn, Welsh poet (killed in action) (b. 1887)
• August 3 – Stéphane Javelle, French astronomer (b. 1864)
• August 3 – Ferdinand Georg Frobenius, German mathematician (b. 1849)
• August 7 – Edwin Harris Dunning, British aviator (b. 1892)
• August 13 – Eduard Buchner, German chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1860)

• August 20 – Adolf von Baeyer, German chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1835)
• August 30 – Alan Leo, British astrologer (b. 1860)
• September 9
  • Boris Stürmer, Russian statesman, former Prime Minister (b. 1848)
  • Madge Syers, British figure skater (b. 1881)
• September 11 – Georges Guynemer, French World War I fighter ace (missing in action) (b. 1894)
• September 15 – Kurt Wolff, German World War I fighter ace (killed in action) (b. 1895)
• September 23 – Werner Voss, German World War I fighter ace (killed in action) (b. 1897)

• September 27 – Edgar Degas, French painter (b. 1834)
• September 30 – Patricio Montojo y Pasarón, Spanish admiral (b. 1839)

October–December

• October 13 – Florence La Badie, American actress (accident) (b. 1888)
• October 15 – Mata Hari, Dutch dancer and spy (executed) (b. 1876)
• October 17 – Bobby Atherton, Welsh footballer (b. 1876)
• October 22 – Bob Fitzsimmons, British boxer, World Heavyweight Champion (b. 1863)
• October 23 – Eugène Grasset, Swiss artist (b. 1845)

• October 27 – Arthur Rhys-Davids, British fighter ace (killed in action) (b. 1897)
• October 28 – Prince Christian of Schleswig-Holstein (b. 1831)
• October 30 or 31 – Heinrich Gontermann, German fighter ace (flying accident) (b. 1896)
• November 3 – Frederick Rodgers, American admiral (b. 1842)
• November 8 – Colin Blythe, English cricketer (b. 1879)
• November 11 – Queen Liliuokalani, last monarch of the Kingdom of Hawaii (b. 1838)
• November 15 – Émile Durkheim, French sociologist (b. 1858)
• November 17
  • Neil Primrose, British Liberal MP (killed in action) (b. 1882)
  • Auguste Rodin, French sculptor (b. 1840)
• December 8 – Mendele Mocher Sforim, Russian Yiddish and Hebrew writer (b. 1836)
• December 10 – Mackenzie Bowell, 5th Prime Minister of Canada (b. 1823)
• December 12 – Andrew Taylor Still, American father of osteopathy (b. 1828)
• December 19 – Richard Maybery, British fighter ace (killed in action) (b. 1895)
• December 20 – Eric Campbell, Scottish actor (accident) (b. 1879)
• December 22 – Frances Xavier Cabrini, first American canonized as a saint (b. 1850)
• December 24 – Ivan Goremykin, Russian statesman, former Prime Minister (b. 1839)
• December 28 – Alfred Edwin McKay, Canadian fighter ace (killed in action) (b. 1892)

Nobel Prizes

• Physics – Charles Glover Barkla
• Chemistry – not awarded
• Medicine – not awarded
• Literature – Karl Adolph Gjellerup, Henrik Pontoppidan
• Peace – International Committee of the Red Cross

References

• American Year Book: 1917 (1918), large compendium of facts about the U.S. online complete edition
• 1917 Coin Pictures