1920 time line

  • Sacco and Vanzetti arrested for armed robbery and murder

    Yes, Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti were arrested on May 5, 1920, for the armed robbery and murder of a paymaster and a guard at a shoe factory in South Braintree, Massachusetts, on April 15, 1920. Despite controversial circumstances surrounding their trial, including claims of judicial prejudice and anti-immigrant sentiment, they were found guilty and executed in 1927
  • KDKA goes on the air from Pittsburgh

    KDKA, from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, officially went on the air on November 2, 1920, making its broadcast the world's first commercial radio transmission. The station aired the returns of the Harding-Cox presidential election to prove the new technology's capabilities, which inspired a national radio boom and marked the beginning of commercial broadcasting.
  • 1st Miss American Pageant

    The first Miss American Pageant was held on September 7–8, 1921, in Atlantic City, New Jersey, where Margaret Gorman of Washington, D.C. was crowned the winner, initially called "America's Most Beautiful Bathing Girl". The event was created to attract tourists to Atlantic City after the Labor Day holiday and featured a variety of festivities, including parades and a bathing review. Gorman, at 16 years old, received a "Golden Mermaid" trophy and a $100 win
  • Teapot Dome Scandal

    The Teapot Dome scandal was a political corruption scandal in the United States involving the administration of President Warren G. Harding
  • 1st Winter Olympics Held

    The first Winter Olympics were held in Chamonix, France, from January 25 to February 5, 1924, initially called the "International Winter Sports Week". The event featured 16 nations and 250 athletes competing in 16 events across six sports
  • The Great Gatsby published by F. Scott Fitzgerald

    On March 19, 1925, Fitzgerald expressed enthusiasm for the title Under the Red, White, and Blue, but it was too late to change it at that stage. The novel was published as The Great Gatsby on April 10, 1925
  • Scopes Monkey Trial

    The State of Tennessee v. John Thomas Scopes, commonly known as the Scopes trial or Scopes Monkey Trial, was an American legal case from July 10 to July 21, 1925, in which a high school teacher, John
  • Charles Lindberg completes solo flight across the Atlantic

    Yes, Charles Lindbergh completed the first solo, nonstop flight across the Atlantic Ocean on May 20–21, 1927, flying his custom monoplane, the Spirit of St. Louis, from Roosevelt Field in New York to Le Bourget Field in Paris. The historic flight took approximately 33 and a half hours and covered about 3,610 miles, making Lindbergh an international hero and significantly boosting interest in commercial aviation
  • The Jazz Singer debuts (1st movie with sound)

    The Jazz Singer premiered on October 6, 1927, and is recognized as the first feature-length "talkie" due to its use of synchronized sound for a musical score, sound effects, and short spoken dialogue sequences, which marked the beginning of the end for the silent film era. While it wasn't the first sound film, its massive commercial success and the revolutionary way it combined sound with visuals demonstrated the potential of sound in cinema and accelerated the transition to the "talkie"
  • St. Valentine's Day Massacre

    The Saint Valentine's Day Massacre was the murder of seven members and associates of Chicago's North Side Gang on Saint Valentine's Day 1929. The men were gathered at a Lincoln Park, Chicago, garage when between four and six men entered, two of whom were disguised as police officers.
  • Black Tuesday (Stock Market Crash)

    On October 29, 1929, "Black Tuesday" hit Wall Street as investors traded some 16 million shares on the New York Stock Exchange in a single day. Around $14 billion of stock value was lost, wiping out thousands of investors. The panic selling reached its peak with some stocks having no buyers at any price.