May 1917 in History

Events in History

May 2 Cin Fred Tooney & Chic's Hippo Vaughn pitch duel no-hitter, Vaughn gives up 2 hits & a run in 10th, so Cin wins 1-0
May 4 A flotilla of US destroyer ships arrive in Queenstown, Ireland, to aid in convoying ships to England

May 5 Eugene Bullard gains his pilot's license from Aéro-Club de France and becomes the 1st African-American military pilot (French Air Service)

May 11 King George V grants Royal Letters Patent to New Zealand

May 13 1st appearance of Mary to 3 shepherd children in Fatima, Portugal
May 15 The first officer's training camp is opened in the US, as the country prepares for war
May 18 Erik Satie, Leonide Massine and Pablo Picasso's ballet "Parade" premieres in Paris
May 18 US Congress passes Selective Service Act, authorizing the federal government to raise a national army for the American entry into World War I through compulsory enlistment

May 18 First units of the American Expeditionary Force, commanded by General John J. Pershing, is ordered to France

May 20 Turkish government authorizes Jews to return to Tel Aviv & Jaffa
May 21 Leo Pinckney, 1st American drafted during WWI
May 21 The Great Fire of Atlanta: at least 10,000 people were displaced, but there was only one fatality
May 23 Dutch 2nd Chamber approves 1908 conscription draft
May 27 Race riot in East St Louis Illinois, 1 black killed

May 1 Ahron Soloveichik, Orthodox Jewish rabbi, born in Khislavichi, Russia (d. 2001)
May 3 Kiro Gligorov, 1st President of the Republic of Macedonia (1991-99), born in Štip, Kingdom of Serbia (d. 2012)
May 7 William Geoffrey Biddle, English bomb disposal expert, born in Bromley, Kent, England (d. 1997)
May 11 Hon Montague Woodhouse, Greek resistance organiser
May 13 Wilhelmus Wijen [Broeder Pius], social worker (Curacao)
May 14 Herta Ryder, literary agent
May 18 Charles Wintour, English journalist (The Evening Standard), born in Dorset, England (d. 1999)
May 20 Richard Cobb, British historian, born in Frinton-on-Sea (d. 1996)
May 20 Guy Favreau, French Canadian lawyer, politician and judge , born in Montréal, Quebec (d. 1967)
May 20 Bergur Sigurbjörnsson, Icelandic politician (d. 2005)
May 21 Ronald Colville, Scottish businessman and Governor of the Bank of Scotland, born in Glasgow, Scotland (d. 1996)

May 22 Jean-Louis Curtis [Albert Laffitte], French novelist (The Forests of the Night), born in Orthez, Pyrénées-Atlantiques, France (d. 1995)
May 23 Edward Norton Lorenz, American mathematician and meteorologist, born in West Hartford, Connecticut (d. 2008)
May 24 Derek Hodgson, British high court judge, born in Whitefield, Manchester (d. 2002)
May 24 Alan Campbell, Baron Campbell of Alloway, British judge (d. 2013)
May 24 Theodore Hesburgh, president (University of Notre Dame), born in Syracuse, New York (d. 2015)
May 24 Florence Knoll Bassett, American furniture designer (Knoll), born in Saginaw, Michigan (d. 2019)
May 28 Barry Commoner, biologist (Science & Survival), born in Brooklyn, New York
May 28 Gerald Cash, Governor-General of the Bahamas, born in Nassau, Bahamas (d. 2003)

May 29 John F. Kennedy, 35th US President (1961-1963) and Senator (D-Mass), born in Brookline, Massachusetts (d. 1963)

May 24 Writer Walter Lippmann (27) weds Faye Albertson

May 17 Charles Brooke, 2nd White Rajah of Sarawak (1868-1917), dies at 87

May 17 Belva Ann Lockwood, American attorney (1st lady to argue in Supreme Court), dies at 86
May 20 Philipp von Ferrary, Italian philatelist (b. 1850)
May 20 Valentine Fleming, Scottish politician (b. 1887)
May 23 Ranavalona III, Queen of Madagascar (1883-1897) last sovereign of Madagascar, dies in exile in Algeria at 55
May 25 Maksim Bahdanovič, Belarusian poet, dies at 25