1920 in the United States
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| 1920 in the United States |
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| History of the United States (1918–45) |
Events from the year 1920 in the United States.
Incumbents[edit]
Federal Government[edit]
- President: Woodrow Wilson (D-New Jersey)
- Vice President: Thomas R. Marshall (D-Indiana)
- Chief Justice: Edward Douglass White (Louisiana)
- Speaker of the House of Representatives: Frederick H. Gillett (R-Massachusetts)
- Senate Majority Leader: Henry Cabot Lodge (R-Massachusetts) (starting March 4)
- Congress: 66th
Events[edit]
January[edit]
January 16: Prohibition in the United States begins.
- January 2 – The second of the Palmer Raids takes place with another 4,000 suspected communists and anarchists arrested and held without trial. These raids take place in several U.S. cities.
- January 5 – 1920 United States Census count begins. This becomes the first census to record a population exceeding 100 million, at 106,021,537. Because there are so many mixed-race persons and because so many Americans with some black ancestry appear white, the Census Bureau stops counting mixed-race peoples and the one-drop rule becomes the national legal standard.
- January 6 – Babe Ruth's December 26 trade to the New York Yankees is made public.[1] (See 1919 in the United States.)
- January 9 – Thousands of onlookers watch as "The Human Fly" George Polley, climbs the New York Woolworth Building. He reached the 30th floor when a policeman arrests him for climbing without a permit
- January 13 – The New York Times ridicules the American rocket scientist Robert H. Goddard. The newspaper prints a correction to this editorial on July 17, 1969, while the Apollo 11 crew headed to the Moon.[2]
- January 16
- Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Incorporated, is founded on the campus of Howard University in Washington, D.C.
- Prohibition in the United States begins with the Eighteenth Amendment to the Constitution coming into effect.
- January 19 – The United States Senate votes against joining the League of Nations.
- January 30 – The oldest surviving pro wrestling match on film happens, with Joe Stecher defeating Earl Caddock.
February[edit]
- February 14 – The League of Women Voters is founded in Chicago.
- February 18 – In fiction, the League of Scrolls is brought to the museum of natural history in Orlando, Florida.
March[edit]
- March 1 – The United States Railroad Administration returns control of American railroads to its constituent railroad companies.
- March 10 – The Baylor Business Men's Club changes its name to the Baylor University Chamber of Commerce.
- March 19 – United States Congress refuses to ratify the Treaty of Versailles.
- March 28 – The 1920 Palm Sunday tornado outbreak hits the Great Lakes region and Deep South states.
April–May[edit]
- May 2 – The first game of the Negro National League baseball is played in Indianapolis, Indiana.
June–July[edit]
- June 11 – During the 1920 Republican National Convention in Chicago, party leaders gather in a "smoke-filled room" of The Blackstone Hotel to descide their presidential candidate.
- June 13 – The U.S. Post Office rules that children may not be sent via parcel post.
- June 15 – 1920 Duluth lynchings: Three African Americans are sprung from jail and lynched by a white mob in Duluth, Minnesota.
- June 21 – The 4.9 ML Inglewood earthquake shakes the Los Angeles Area with a maximum Mercalli intensity of VIII (Severe), causing more than $100,000 in damage.
- July 29 – The United States Bureau of Reclamation begins construction of the Link River Dam as part of the Klamath Reclamation Project.
August–September[edit]
- August 20 – The first commercial radio station in the U.S., 8MK (WWJ), begins operations in Detroit, Michigan.
- August 26 – 19th Amendment to US Constitution is passed, guaranteeing women's suffrage.
- September 16 – The Wall Street bombing: a bomb in a horse wagon explodes in front of the J. P. Morgan building in New York City – 38 dead, 400 injured
- September 17 – The National Football League is founded.
- September 29 – First domestic radio sets come to stores in the U.S. – Westinghouse radio costs $10.
October–November[edit]
- November 2
- Republican U. S. Senator Warren G. Harding defeats Democratic Governor of Ohio James M. Cox in the U.S. presidential election, the first national U.S. election in which women have the right to vote.
- KDKA (AM) of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (owned by Westinghouse) starts broadcasting as a commercial radio station. The first broadcast is the results of the presidential election.
December[edit]
- December 25 – Foundation of the Rosicrucian Fellowship's Spiritual Healing Temple "The Ecclesia" at Mount Ecclesia, Oceanside, California.
Undated[edit]
- Black Cross Nurses founded.
Ongoing[edit]
- Progressive Era (1890s–1920s)
- Lochner era (c. 1897–c. 1937)
- U.S. occupation of Haiti (1915–1934)
- First Red Scare (1917–1920)
- Prohibition (1919–1933)
- Depression of 1920–21 (1920–1921)
- Roaring Twenties (1920–1929)
Sport[edit]
- January 1 - Harvard Crimson won their First Rose Bowl by defeating the Oregon Webfoots 7 to 6 in the 1920 Rose Bowl
- October 12 - Cleveland Indians won their First(and last until 1948) World Series by defeating the Brooklyn Robins 5 games to 2. The deciding game 7 was played League Park in Cleveland
- December 19 - Akron Pros are awarded the First American Professional Football Association Championship
Births[edit]
January[edit]
- January 4 – Cris Alexander, actor, singer, dancer, designer, and photographer (died 2012)
- January 6 – Early Wynn, baseball player (died 1999)
- January 15 – John O'Connor, American Catholic cardinal (died 2000)
- January 20
- DeForest Kelley, American actor (died 1999)
- Lewis Wilson, actor (died 2000)
- January 30 – Delbert Mann, American television and film director (died 2007)
February[edit]
- February 3 – Henry Heimlich, thoracic surgeon (died 2016)
- George Armitage Miller, psychologist(died 2012)
- February 8 – George W. George, theater, Broadway, and film producer (died 2007)
- February 11 – Billy Halop, actor (died 1976)
- February 12 – William Roscoe Estep, Baptist historian (died 2000)
- February 18
- Bill Cullen, game show host (died 1990)
- Eddie Slovik, U.S. Army private (died 1945)
- February 26 – Tony Randall, actor (died 2004)
- February 29 – Howard Nemerov, poet (died 1991)
March[edit]
- March 14 – Hank Ketcham, American cartoonist (died 2001)
- March 15
- Lawrence Sanders, American novelist (died 1998)
- E. Donnall Thomas, American physician, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (died 2012)
- March 20 – Pamela Harriman, English-born U.S. Ambassador to France (died 1997)
April[edit]
- April 1 – Harry Lewis, actor and businessman (died 2013)
- April 2 – Jack Webb, actor, director, and producer (died 1982)
- April 5 – Arthur Hailey, writer (died 2004)
- April 6 – Edmond H. Fischer, Swiss American biochemist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
- April 29 – Harold Shapero, composer (died 2013)
May[edit]
- May 7 – James B. Pearson, United States Senator from Kansas from 1962 till 1978. (died 2009)
- May 8 – Saul Bass, American graphic designer (died 1996)
- May 10 – Jeff Cooper, American soldier and journalist (died 2006)
- May 11 – Denver Pyle, American actor (died 1997)
- May 23 – Helen O'Connell, American singer (died 1993)
- May 26 – Peggy Lee, American singer (died 2002)
- May 28 – Gene Levitt, American television writer, producer, and director (died 1999)
- May 30 – Franklin Schaffner, American film and television director (died 1989)
June[edit]
- June 2 – Tex Schramm, American football executive (died 2003)
- June 11
- Irving Howe, literary and social critic (died 1993)
- Robert Hutton, actor (died 1994)
- June 12
- Dave Berg, cartoonist (died 2002)
- Jim Siedow, actor (died 2003)
- William Woodward, Jr., banker and racehorse owner (mariticide 1955)
- June 25 – Ozan Marsh, pianist (died 1992)
- June 29 – Ray Harryhausen, animator (died 2013)
July[edit]
- July 4
- Norm Drucker, basketball player and referee (died 2015)
- Leona Helmsley, born Lena Rosenthal, businesswoman and tax evader (died 2007)
- July 9 – Robert H. B. Baldwin, banker and Under Secretary of the Navy (died 2016)
- July 10 – Owen Chamberlain, physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (died 2006)
- July 11 – Yul Brynner, Russian-born actor (died 1985)
- July 19 – Robert Mann, violinist (died 2018)
- July 24 – Bella Abzug, politician (died 1998)
August[edit]
- August 8 – Jimmy Witherspoon, American singer (died 1997)
- August 16 – Charles Bukowski, American writer (died 1994)
- August 18
- Bob Kennedy, baseball player and manager (died 2005)
- Shelley Winters, American actress (died 2006)
- August 22 – Ray Bradbury, American writer (died 2012)
- August 29 – Charlie Parker, American saxophonist and composer (died 1955)
September[edit]
- September 14 – Lawrence Klein, American economist, Nobel Prize laureate (died 2013)
- September 18 – Jack Warden, American actor (died 2006)
- September 22 – William H. Riker, American political scientist (died 1993)
- September 23 – Mickey Rooney, American film actor (died 2014)
October[edit]
- October 1 – Walter Matthau, American actor (died 2000)
- October 8 – Frank Herbert, American author (died 1986)
- October 15 – Mario Puzo, American author (died 1999)
- October 20 – Janet Jagan, President of Guyana (1997–1999), abdominal aortic aneurysm (died 2009)
- October 22 – Timothy Leary, American psychologist and author (died 1996)
- October 25 – Guy M. Townsend, American Air Force brigadier general and test pilot (died 2011)
November[edit]
- November 13 – Edward Hughes, bishop (died 2012)
- November 30 – Virginia Mayo, American actress (died 2005)
December[edit]
- December 6 – Dave Brubeck, American jazz pianist and composer (died 2012)
- December 21 – J. Roderick MacArthur, American businessman and philanthropist (died 1984)
- December 30 – Jack Lord, American actor (died 1998)
Deaths[edit]
- January 16 – Reginald De Koven, American composer, conductor and critic (born 1859)
- January 14 – John Francis Dodge, American automobile manufacturer (born 1864)
- February 2 – Field Eugene Kindley, American World War I aviator (born 1896)
- February 3 – Frank Brown, 42nd Governor of Maryland from 1892 till 1896. (born 1846)
- February 15 – Joseph Burton Sumner, founder of Sumner, Mississippi (born 1837)
- February 20
- Joseph J. Fern, Mayor of Honolulu from 1909 till 1915 and from 1917 till 1920 (born 1872)
- Robert Peary, American Arctic explorer (born 1856)
- February 27 – William Sherman Jennings, 18th Governor of Florida from 1901 till 1905 (born 1863)
- March 1
- John H. Bankhead, United States Senator from Alabama from 1907 till 1920. (born 1842)
- William A. Stone, 22nd Governor of Pennsylvania from 1899 till 1903. (born 1846)
- March 4 – Roswell P. Bishop, U.S. Representative from Michigan from 1895 till 1907. (born 1843)
- March 14 – Henry W. Blair, United States Senator from New Hampshire from 1879 till 1891. (born 1834)
- March 26 – William Chester Minor, American surgeon (born 1834)
- March 31 – Edwin Warfield, 45th Governor of Maryland from 1904 till 1908. (born 1848)
- April 8
- John Brashear, American astronomer (born 1840)
- Charles Griffes, American composer (born 1884)
- April 21 – Maria L. Sanford, educator (born 1836)
- May 11 – William Dean Howells, writer (born 1837)
- May 16 – Levi P. Morton, 22nd Vice President of the United States from 1889 till 1893. (born 1824)
- May 21 – Eleanor H. Porter, novelist (born 1868)
- June 5 – Julia A. Moore, poet (born 1847)
- June 18 – Jewett W. Adams, 4th Governor of Nevada from 1883 till 1887. (born 1835)
- July 2 – William Louis Marshall, general and engineer (born 1846)
- July 22 – William Kissam Vanderbilt, heir (born 1849)
- August 1 – Frank Hanly, 26th Governor of Indiana from 1905 till 1909. (born 1863)
- August 2 – Ormer Locklear, pilot (born 1891)
- August 17 – Ray Chapman, baseball player (born 1891)
- August 26 – James Wilson, Scottish-born American politician (born 1835)
- September 5 – Robert Harron, actor (born 1893)
- September 10 – Olive Thomas, actress (born 1894)
- October 2 – Winthrop M. Crane, 40th Governor of Massachusetts from 1900 till 1903 and United States Senator from Massachusetts from 1904 till 1913. (born 1853)
- October 17 – John Reed, journalist (born 1887)
- November 30 – Eugene W. Chafin, politician (born 1852)
- December 14 – George Gipp, American football player (born 1895)
- December 24 – Stephen Mosher Wood, American Politician (born 1832)
See also[edit]
References[edit]
- ^ "Ruth Bought By New York Americans For $125,000, Highest Price In Baseball Annals" (PDF). The New York Times. January 6, 1920. Retrieved October 27, 2009.
- ^ "FAQs about Robert H. Goddard". Clark University. Archived from the original on November 3, 2009. Retrieved October 27, 2009. "When was the famous New York Times editorial about Dr. Goddard?"
Further reading[edit]
- Burns, Eric. (2015). 1920: The Year That Made the Decade Roar. New York: Pegasus Books. IMDB 978-1-605-98772-9.
External links[edit]
Media related to 1920 in the United States at Wikimedia Commons
