December 1917 calendar

Events

• 01 Dec 1917 Boys Town founded by Father Edward Flanagan, west of Omaha Nebraska.
• 02 Dec 1917 Han Yong-woon, found Zen awakening at Osean Monastery Korea.
• 03 Dec 1917 After nearly 20 years of planning and construction, including two collapses causing 89 deaths, the Quebec Bridge opens to traffic.
• 06 Dec 1917 French munition ship Mont Blanc explodes in Halifax, kills 1,700
• 07 Dec 1917 US becomes 13th country to declare war on Austria during World War I.
• 09 Dec 1917 British forces under General Allenby capture Jerusalem.
• 11 Dec 1917 German-occupied Lithuania proclaims independence from Russia.
• 12 Dec 1917 French troop train derails in French Alps killing 543
• 15 Dec 1917 Moldavian Republic declares independence from Russia.
• 18 Dec 1917 Soviet regiment (Stalin / Lenin) declares Finland Independent
• 20 Dec 1917 Russian secret police in Czechoslovakia forms under Felix Dzerzjinski.
• 26 Dec 1917 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 more efficiently transport troops and materials for the war effort.
• 30 Dec 1917 -37 degrees F (-38 degrees C) in Lewisburg West Virginia (state record).
• 31 Dec 1917 Dutch Social-democratic trade union NVV counts 159,450 members.

Famous Birthday

• Heinrich Böll

  German author of novels, short stories and essays awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1972.

• Arthur C Clarke
• Wroklaw (Poland)
• Suzy Delair

  French singer and actress, director Henri-Georges Clouzot was her companion.

• Ossie Davis

  Cogdell, Georgia -- Actor / playwright (Hot Stuff, Man Called Adam).

• José Maria Gironella
• David Bohm

  American-English physicist neuropsychologist and philosopher (d. 1992).

• James Angleton

  American spy who rose to a powerful position in CIA Counter-Intelligence, where he instigated witch hunts.

• Jean Albany
• Maurice Arreckx

  French politician.

• Gene Rayburn

  American TV personality, host of the long-running and popular game show, "The Match Game" for which he garnered several Emmy nominations.

• Rose Mary Woods

  American Watergate scandal figure (Born 1917).

• John Minton (artist)
• Cyclone Tracy
• Tom Bradley (politician)
• Claude Terrail

  French restaurateur, who ran the Michelin three-star restaurant La Tour d'Argent (The Silver Tower) in Paris until 2003, having inherited it...

• Arthur Clarke

  British science fiction writer, science writer, inventor, undersea explorer, and television series host.

• Nabi Bux Khan Baloch

  Sindhi scholar.

• Movita Castaneda

  American actress.

• Sir Arthur C Clarke

  English writer (d. 2008).

• See more

Famous Deaths

• Mendele Moykher Sforim

  Russian writer (Born 1836).

• Leon Minkus

  German-born Czech composer and violinist (Born 1826).

• Francesca Saveria Cabrini US saint/patron of immigrant

  dies at age 67.

• Elizabeth Garrett Anderson

  English physician (Born 1836).

• Mother Cabrini

  American Catholic saint (Born 1850).

• Alfred Edwin McKay

  Canadian World War One flying ace (Born 1892).

• Lucien Petit-Breton

  French road cyclist racer, who won the Tour de France in 1907 and in 1908, becoming the first rider to win the Tour twice.

• Frank Gotch

  American professional wrestler (Born 1878).

• See more

Top #5 songs in the USA

1. Billy Murray - Over There
2. Ada Jones & M.J. O'Connell - Some Sunday Morning
3. Charles King & Elizabeth Brice - In Lilac Time (When You Stole This Heart of Mine)
4. Nora Bayes - (Goodbye, and Luck Be with You) Laddie Boy
5. Eddie Cantor - That's the Kind of a Baby for Me