United States 1/16/1917 US Acquires The Danish West Indies The Danish West Indies were sold to the United States by Denmark for $25 million. They become known as the Virgin Islands of the United States.
United States 3/4/1917 Jeannette Rankin Elected to the House Jeannette Rankin of Montana became the first woman member of the US House of Representatives.
United States 4/6/1917 US Declares War on Germany The United States declared war on Germany at the urging of Woodrow Wilson.
United States 5/21/1917 Great Atlanta Fire Over 73 city blocks were destroyed in the Great Atlanta Fire. The fire burned for ten hours and destroyed 300 acres and 1900 buildings. Over 10,000 people were left without homes.
United States 6/4/1917 First Pulitzer Prizes Awarded The first Pulitzer Prizes were awarded.
Winners were Laura E Richards, Maud Howe Elliott and Florence Hall for biography; Jean Jules Jusserand for history; Herbert Bayard Swope for journalism.
United States 6/5/1917 Conscription Begins After only 73,000 volunteers enlisted out of the 1 million targeted in the first weeks of the first world war, Woodrow Wilson restarted the draft with The Selective Service Act of 1917.
Great Britain 7/17/1917 King George V Changed His Name King George V changed his surname from Saxe-Coburg-Gotha to Windsor. He changed it because of the prevalent anti-German sentiment during World War I.
United States 11/17/1917 U-Boat Taken The US Navy destroyers USS Fanning and USS Nicholson captured the German U-boat SM U-58 off the coast of Ireland. This was the first time that US ships had captured a submarine.