Events from the year 1917 in the United States
Governors and lieutenant governors
Governor of Alabama : Charles Henderson (Democratic )Governor of Arizona :
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 :
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
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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 : Lee Maurice Russell (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 :
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 )
President Wilson before Congress, announcing the break in the official relations with Germany February 24: The Zimmermann Telegram is shown to the U.S. government. 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.[ 1]
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
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
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. October 12 – The first regiment is stationed at the newly commissioned Naval Operating Base in Norfolk, VA.[ 8]
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.[ 9]
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 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 1–31 – 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.[ 10]
December 6 – U.S. Navy destroyer USS Jacob Jones is torpedoed and sunk in the Atlantic Ocean by German submarine U-53 [ 11]
December 7 – World War I : The United States declares war on Austria-Hungary .
December 20 – Shepherdsville train wreck kills 49 and injuries 52 people. It becomes the deadliest train wreck in Kentucky history.
December 25 – Why Marry? 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. George Drumm writes the concert march "Hail, America " in New York City.The calendar year is the coolest averaged over the contiguous United States in mean temperature (average of 50.06 °F or 10.03 °C against a long-term average of 51.86 °F or 11.03 °C)[ 12] [ 13] [ 14]
John F. Kennedy January 1
January 3
January 5
January 10 – Jerry Wexler , record producer (died 2008 )
January 11 – Henry Morgenthau III , author and television producer (died 2018 )
January 12 – Jimmy Skinner , ice hockey coach (Detroit Red Wings ) (died 2007)
January 16 – Carl Karcher , businessman, founder of the Carl's Jr. hamburger chain (died 2008)
January 24 – Ernest Borgnine , film actor (died 2012 )
January 26
January 29
February 6 – Arnold Spielberg , electrical engineer and father of Steven Spielberg (died 2020 )
February 11 – Sidney Sheldon , author and television writer (died 2007)
February 12 – Dom DiMaggio , baseball player (died 2009 )
February 14 – Herbert A. Hauptman , mathematician, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1985 (died 2011 )
February 15 – Meg Wyllie , actress (died 2002 )
February 19 – Carson McCullers , author (died 1967 )
February 20
February 22 – Reed Crandall , illustrator (died 1982 )
February 25 – Brenda Joyce , film actress (died 2009)
February 26 – Robert Taft Jr. , American politician (died 1993 )
February 27 – John Connally , Governor of Texas from 1963 to 1969 (died 1993 )
February 28 – Bentley Kassal , attorney (died 2019) March 1 – Robert Lowell , poet (died 1997 )
March 4 – Clyde McCullough , baseball catcher (died 1982 )
March 8 – George H. Gay Jr. , United States Navy officer (died 1994 )
March 10 – Edith Iglauer , writer (died 2019)
March 11 – James Megellas , United States Army officer (died 2020 )
March 12 – Milton Resnick , painter (died 2004)
March 19 – Peggy Ahern , actress (died 2012 )
March 21 – Anton Coppola , orchestra conductor and composer (died 2020)
March 23 – Kenneth Tobey , actor (died 2002 )
March 26 – Rufus Thomas , African American R&B singer (died 2001 )
March 27 – Cyrus Vance , U.S. Secretary of State from 1977 to 1980 (died 2002 )
March 29 – Man o' War , racehorse (died 1947 )
April 1
April 2 – Dabbs Greer , actor (died 2007 )
April 5 – Robert Bloch , author (died 1994 )
April 7 – R. G. Armstrong , Western film character actor (died 2012)
April 8 – John Whitney , animator, composer, and pioneer in computer animation (died 1995 )
April 10 – Robert B. Woodward , organic chemist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1965 (died 1979 )
April 12 – Helen Forrest , big band singer (died 1999 )
April 13
Robert O. Anderson , businessman, founder of Atlantic Richfield Oil Co. (died 2007)Bill Clements , Governor of Texas from 1979 to 1983 and 1987 to 1991 (died 2011)
April 14 – Marvin Miller , baseball executive (died 2012)
April 15 – Curtis Blake , businessman and philanthropist (died 2019)
April 22 – Ambrose Schindler , American football player, actor (died 2018 )
April 23 – Dorian Leigh , model (died 2008)
April 25 – Ella Fitzgerald , African American jazz singer (died 1996 )[ 17]
April 26 – Virgil Trucks , baseball player (died 2013)
April 28 – Robert Cornthwaite , character actor (died 2006)
April 29
April 30 – Bea Wain , big band singer (died 2017) June 1 – William S. Knowles , chemist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2001 (died 2012)[ 18]
June 2 – Max Showalter (Casey Adams), actor (died 2000 )
June 3 – Leo Gorcey , actor (died 1969 )
June 4
June 6 – Kirk Kerkorian , businessman (died 2015)
June 7
June 8 – George D. Wallace , actor (died 2005 )
June 10
June 11 – Joseph B. Wirthlin , businessman and religious leader (died 2008 )
June 15
John Fenn , analytical chemist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2002 (died 2010)Lash LaRue , Western film actor (died 1996)
June 16
June 17 – Ben Bubar , presidential candidate (died 1995)
June 18 – Ross Elliott , character actor (died 1999)
June 19
June 24 – Lucy Jarvis , television producer (died 2020)
June 28 – A. E. Hotchner , writer (died 2020 )
June 30
August 3 – Les Elgart , bandleader (died 1995 )
August 6 – Robert Mitchum , actor (died 1997)
August 10 – Morgan Porteus , clergyman (died 2019)
August 11
August 12
August 14 – Marty Glickman , sports announcer (died 2001)
August 17 – Walter Brown , blues shouter (died 1956 )
August 18
August 21 – Esther Cooper Jackson , African American civil rights activist (died 2022 )[ 21]
August 22
August 23
August 24 – Dennis James , game show host (died 1997 )[ 22]
August 25 – Mel Ferrer , film actor, director and producer (died 2008)
August 28 – Jack Kirby , comic book artist (died 1994 )
August 29 – Isabel Sanford , African American television actress (died 2004)
September 5 – Art Rupe , record producer (died 2022 )[ 23]
September 11 – Donald Blakeslee , aviator (died 2008)
September 13 – Robert Ward , composer (died 2013)
September 15
September 18 – June Foray , voice actress best known for "Rocky and Bullwinkle" (died 2017 )[ 24]
September 20 – Red Auerbach , basketball coach and official (died 2006)
September 25 – Johnny Sain , baseball player (died 2006)
September 27 – Louis Auchincloss , novelist (died 2010 )[ 25]
September 30 – Buddy Rich , jazz drummer (died 1987) October 3 – Les Schwab , businessman (died 2007 )
October 5 – Allen Ludden , game show host (died 1981 )
October 6 – Fannie Lou Hamer , African American civil rights activist (died 1977 )
October 7 – June Allyson , actress (died 2006 )
October 8 – Danny Murtaugh , baseball player and manager (died 1976 )
October 9 – Don Marion Davis , child actor (died 2020)
October 10 – Thelonious Monk , African American jazz pianist and composer considered "one of the giants of American music" (died 1982 )
October 11 – J. Edward McKinley , character actor (died 2004)
October 13 – George Osmond , Osmond family patriarch (died 2007)
October 15
October 16 – Alice Pearce , actress (died 1966 )
October 17 – Marsha Hunt , actress (died 2022 )
October 21 – Dizzy Gillespie , African American jazz trumpet player, bandleader, singer and composer (died 1993 )
November 1 – Clarence E. Miller , politician (died 2011 )
November 4 – Leonardo Cimino , actor (died 2012 )
November 6 – Harlan Warde , character actor (died 1980)
November 11 – Tony F. Schneider , naval officer (died 2010)
November 12 – Jo Stafford , pop singer (died 2008)
November 13 – Robert Sterling , actor (died 2006 )
November 20 – Robert Byrd , U.S. Senator from West Virginia from 1959 to 2010 (died 2010)
November 25 – Stanley Wilson , incidental music composer (died 1970 )
November 27 – Buffalo Bob Smith , children's television host (died 1998 )
November 28 – Orville Rogers , pilot and marathons runner (died 2019)
January 10 – Buffalo Bill (William F. Cody), frontiersman, bison hunter and showman (born 1846 )
January 16 – George Dewey , U.S. Admiral of the Navy (born 1837 )
January 21 – Francesca Alexander , illustrator (born 1837 )
February 21 – Fred Mace , silent film actor (born 1878 )
March 13 – Samuel Pasco , U.S. Senator from Florida from 1887 to 1899 (born 1834 in the United Kingdom )
March 28 – Albert Pinkham Ryder , painter (born 1847 )
April 1 – Scott Joplin , African American ragtime composer and pianist (born 1867–68)
April 8 – Richard Olney , politician (born 1835 )
April 13 – Diamond Jim Brady , businessman (born 1856 )
April 23 – Robert Koehler , painter (born 1850 in Germany)
May 19 – Alexander Caldwell , U.S. Senator from Kansas from 1871 to 1873 (born 1830 )
May 29 – Kate Harrington , teacher, writer and poet (born 1831 )
June 14 – Thomas W. Benoist , aviation pioneer (born 1874 )
July 28 – Stephen Luce , admiral (born 1827 )
August 15 – Martha Capps Oliver , poet and hymnwriter (born 1845 )[ 26]
August 17 – John W. Kern , U.S. Senator from Indiana from 1911 to 1917 (born 1849 )
October 13 – Florence La Badie , silent film actress (automobile accident; born 1888 )
November 3 – Frederick Rodgers , admiral (born 1842 )
November 15 – John W. Foster , journalist and politician (born 1836 )
November 23 – William Ralph Emerson , architect (born 1833 )
December 9 – Nat M. Wills , vaudeville performer (accidental CO poisoning; born 1873 )
December 12 – Andrew Taylor Still , "father of osteopathy" (born 1828 )
December 22 – Frances Xavier Cabrini , religious sister, first American canonized as a saint (born 1850 in Italy)
December 28 – John Thornton , U.S. Senator from Louisiana from 1910 to 1915 (born 1846)
^ MacLaren, Don (1998). "Prostitute March 1917" . FoundSF . Retrieved 2019-02-05 . ^ Powell, John (2009). Encyclopedia of North American Immigration ISBN 978-1-4381-1012-7 ^ Cyrulik, John M. (2003). A Strategic Examination of the Punitive Expedition Into Mexico, 1916–1917 . US Army Command and General Staff College. pp. 67–68. ^ "U.S. Senate: Declaration of War with Germany, WWI (S.J.Res. 1)" . www.senate.gov . Retrieved 2024-08-19 .^ Staff (April 6, 1917). "U. S. at War with Germany; President Signs Resolution" . Evening Star . Retrieved 6 April 2017 . ^ "Mongolia" . Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships Navy Department , Naval History and Heritage Command . Retrieved 2017-04-25 .^ Venzon, Anne Cipriano, ed. (1995). United States in the First World War: An Encyclopedia ISBN 978-1-135-68453-2 ^ Hampton Roads Naval Historical Foundation (February 2014). Images of America: Naval Station Norfolk . Charleston, SC: Arcadia Publishing. p. 7. ^ "Suffrage Wins by 100,000 in State; Kings by 32,640". Brooklyn Daily Eagle . 1917-11-07. p. 1. ^ Day, Preston C.; ‘Extreme Cold in the Yukon Region’; in ‘The Cold Winter of 1917-18’; Monthly Weather Review
^ Naval History & Heritage Command . "Jacob Jones " . DANFS . Retrieved 2009-04-24 .^ Contiguous U.S. Average Temperature, January to December ^ Contiguous U.S. Minimum Temperature, January to December ^ Contiguous US Precipitation, January to December ^ "The long legacy of the U.S. occupation of Haiti" . Washington Post . Retrieved 19 August 2022 .^ Chawkins, Steve; Thursby, Keith (3 July 2014). "Louis Zamperini dies at 97; Olympic track star and WWII hero" . Obituary. Los Angeles Times . ^ "Ella Fitzgerald | Biography, Music, & Facts" . Encyclopedia Britannica . Retrieved 14 February 2020 .^ "William Knowles, Nobel Winner in Chemistry, Dies at 95" . The New York Times . June 15, 2012.^ Baugess, James S.; DeBolt, Abbe Allen (2012). Encyclopedia of the Sixties: A Decade of Culture and Counterculture Volume 1 . Santa Barbara: Greenwood. p. 259. ISBN 978-0-31332-945-6 ^ "Susan Hayward | Biography & Facts" . Encyclopedia Britannica . Retrieved 20 October 2020 .^ Esther Cooper Jackson, civil rights writer, leader for decades, dies at 105 ^ Thomas, Robert McG. Jr. (1997-06-06). "Dennis James, 79, TV Game Show Host and Announcer, Dies" . The New York Times . Retrieved May 16, 2010 . ^ McArdle, Terence (2022-04-15). "Art Rupe, record mogul who helped launch Little Richard and Sam Cooke, dies at 104" . The Washington Post . Retrieved 2022-04-16 . ^ Carlson, Michael (July 30, 2017). "June Foray obituary" . The Guardian . Retrieved March 19, 2018 . ^ Holcomb B. Noble and Charles McGrath, Louis Auchincloss, Chronicler of New York's Upper Crust, Dies at 92 The New York Times
^ "Martha W. Capps 27 August 1845 – 15 August 1917 • K637-F1B" . ident.familysearch.org . Retrieved 17 July 2022 .
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