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The Palmer Raids arrest and deport over 6,000 suspected "radicals"
raids conducted by the U.S. Department of Justice in 1919 and 1920 in an attempt to arrest foreign anarchists, communists, and radical leftists, many of whom were subsequently deported. -
The League of Nations is founded
an organization for international cooperation established on January 10, 1920, at the initiative of the victorious Allied Powers at the end of World War I. It was founded by Woodrow Wilson -
The 18th Amendment goes into effect
Congress ratified the 18th Amendment, prohibiting the manufacture, transportation and sale of intoxicating liquors. Prohibition proved difficult to enforce and failed to have the intended effect of eliminating crime and other social problems–to the contrary, it led to a rise in organized crime, as the bootlegging of alcohol became an ever-more lucrative operation. -
19th Amendment is ratified by Congress
the 19th Amendment, which stated that “the rights of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex,” passed both houses of Congress and was sent to the states for ratification. -
Radio station KDKA airs the first commercially broadcast program
Westinghouse Radio Station KDKA, 1920. Westinghouse Radio Station KDKA was a world pioneer of commercial radio broadcasting. Transmitting with a power of 100 watts on a wavelength of 360 meters, KDKA began scheduled programming with the Harding-Cox Presidential election. -
Warren G. Harding is elected president
Warren Gamaliel Harding (November 2, 1865 – August 2, 1923) was the 29th President of the United States from 1921 until his death in 1923, a member of the Republican Party. -
Sacco and Vanzetti Trial concludes
The authorities concluded that the behavior of Sacco and Vanzetti meant that the men were guilty of something—presumably the payroll murders. The trial of Sacco and Vanzetti for the South Braintree murders was held in Dedham, Massachusetts. -
Readers Digest is founded
Reader's Digest was founded in 1922 through the joint efforts of DeWitt Wallace and Lila Bell Acheson Wallace. DeWitt Wallace was born on November 12, 1889, in St. Paul, Minnesota, to a father who was a college professor and who later became president of Macalester College. -
The Teapot Dome Scandal is uncovered
Warren G. Harding transferred supervision of the naval oil-reserve lands from the navy to the Department of the Interior in 1921, Fall secretly granted to Harry F. Sinclair of the Mammoth Oil Company exclusive rights to the Teapot Dome (Wyoming) reserves -
First game in the newly built Yankee Stadium is played
Yankee Stadium was a stadium located in the Bronx, a borough of New York City. It was the home ballpark of the New York Yankees, one of the city's Major League Baseball (MLB) franchises, from 1923 to 1973 and then from 1976 to 2008. The stadium hosted 6,581 Yankees regular season home games during its 85-year history. -
President Warren G. Harding dies
On the evening of August 2, 1923, President Warren Harding died in a San Francisco hotel room. He was 57 when he died from a heart attack. -
Adolf Hitler leads a failed attempt to overthrow
Adolph Hitler led his Nazi followers in an abortive attempt to seize power in Munich in what became known as the "Beer Hall Putsch". Although the plan failed, and Hitler imprisoned, the notoriety the Nazi leader gained laid the groundwork for his rise to the dictatorship of Germany. While in prison, Hitler wrote Mein Kamp, the book that described his political philosophy and planned conquest of Europe. -
Ellis Island closes as an immigration point to the United States
Actually, the death knell for Ellis Island, as a major entry point for new immigrants, began to toll in 1921. It reached a crescendo between 1921 with the passage of the Quota Laws and 1924 with the passage of the National Origins Act. These restrictions were based upon a percentage system according to the number of ethnic groups already living in the United States as per the 1890 and 1910 Census. -
The first Winter Olympics are held
The 1924 Winter Olympics, officially known as the I Olympic Winter Games, were a winter multi-sport event which was held in 1924 in Chamonix, France -
George Gershwin releases "Rhapsody in Blue."
Rhapsody in Blue is a 1924 musical composition by American composer George Gershwin for solo piano and jazz band, which combines elements of classical music with jazz-influenced effects. The composition was commissioned by bandleader Paul Whiteman. -
The National Origins Act is passed limiting immigration
a United States federal law that set quotas on the number of immigrants from certain countries while providing funding and an enforcement mechanism to carry out the longstanding (but hitherto unenforced) ban on other non-white immigrants. The law was primarily aimed at further decreasing immigration of specifically Italians and Eastern European Jews, though it also targeted to a lesser extent other Southern and Eastern Europeans, including Greeks, Poles, and Slavs in general. -
The IBM Corporation is founded
IBM is Founded. 1924. In 1924 Thomas J. Watson, president of CTR (Computer Tabulating Recording Corporation), of Endicott, New York, changed the name of the company to International Business Machines Corporation (IBM). -
President Calvin Coolidge is elected president
Coolidge ran for president in 1923 and won decisively over the Democratic candidate, U.S. Representative John W. Davis (1873-1955) of West Virginia, and the Progressive Party candidate, U.S. Senator Robert M. La Follette (1855-1925) of Wisconsin. -
The Great Gatsby is published by F. Scott Fitzgerald
First published by Scribner's in April 1925, The Great Gatsby received mixed reviews and sold poorly; in its first year, the book sold only 20,000 copies. Fitzgerald died in 1940, believing himself to be a failure and his work forgotten. -
Adolf Hitler publishes Mein Kampf
Mein Kampf is a 1925 autobiographical book by Nazi Party leader Adolf Hitler. The work describes the process by which Hitler became antisemitic and outlines his political ideology and future plans for Germany. Volume 1 of Mein Kampf was published in 1925 and Volume 2 in 1926. -
Scopes Monkey Trial begins in Dayton, TN
begins with John Thomas Scopes, a young high school science teacher, accused of teaching evolution in violation of a Tennessee state law. The law, which had been passed in March, made it a misdemeanor punishable by fine to “teach any theory that denies the story of the Divine Creation of man as taught in the Bible, and to teach instead that man has descended from a lower order of animals.” -
Langston Hughes publishes his first set of poems in his The Weary Blues
Langston Hughes was just twenty-four years old when his debut poetry collectionThe Weary Blues was published in 1926. The book is split into seven thematic sections: The Weary Blues, Dream Variations, The Negro Speaks of Rivers, A Black Pierrot, Water Front Streets, Shadows in the Sun, and Our Land. -
The Ford Motor Company announces the creation of a 40 hour work week
Ford Motor Company becomes one of the first companies in America to adopt a five-day, 40-hour week for workers in its automotive factories. The policy would be extended to Ford’s office workers the following August. -
Gertrude Ederle is the first woman to swim the English Channel
Gertrude Caroline Ederle was an American competition swimmer, Olympic champion, and former world record-holder in five events. On August 6, 1926, she became the first woman to swim across the English Channel. Among other nicknames, the press sometimes called her "Queen of the Waves." -
The Great Mississippi Flood displaces 700,000 people.
the most destructive river flood in the history of the ... Ninety-four percent of the more than 630,000 people affected by the flood lived in the states of Mississippi. More than 200,000 African Americans were displaced from their homes along the Lower Mississippi River. -
Charles Lindbergh makes the first non-stop Trans-Atlantic Flight.
Charles Lindbergh would make his historic flight between New York and Paris to win the Orteig Prize. It was the first solo nonstop flight across the Atlantic and the first to link the two major cities. Lindbergh was, however, the 19th person to cross the Atlantic in an airplane. -
Babe Ruth hits hits 60 home runs
Babe Ruth hits his 60th home run of the 1927 season and with it sets a record that would stand for 34 years. He was called the Home Run King. -
The Holland Tunnel connecting NYC and NJ opens
At the time of its opening, the Holland Tunnel was the longest continuous underwater vehicular tunnel in the world. The Holland Tunnel is one of three vehicular crossings between Manhattan and New Jersey, the others being the Lincoln Tunnel and the George Washington Bridge. -
The first film with sound "The Jazz Singer" debuts
The Jazz Singer, the first commercially successful full-length feature film with sound, debuts at the Blue Mouse Theater at 1421 5th Avenue in Seattle. The movie uses Warner Brothers' Vitaphone sound-on-disc technology to reproduce the musical score and sporadic episodes of synchronized speech. -
Amelia Earhart attempts to fly around the world
an American aviation pioneer and author. By making the trip in August 1928, Earhart became the first woman to fly. Earhart subsequently made her first attempt at competitive air. In 1931, she set a world altitude record of 18,415 feet (5,613 m), -
Alexander Fleming discovers Penicillin
Alexander Fleming discovered penicillin, though he did not realize the full significance of his discovery for at least another decade. He eventually received the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1945. -
Mickey Mouse makes his first appearance in the short film "Steamboat Willie"
Mickey Mouse made his movie debut in Steamboat Willie, one of the earliest animated cartoons. This seven-minute film, directed by Walt Disney, was the first to combine animation technology with synchronized sound. -
Chicago's St. Valentine's Day Massacre
Valentine's Day murder of seven members and associates of Chicago's North Side Gang. The men were gathered at a Lincoln Park garage on the morning of Valentine's Day, where they were made to line up against a wall and shot by four unknown assailants. -
Herbert Hoover is elected president
was an American engineer, businessman and politician who served as the 31st President of the United States from 1929 to 1933 during the Great Depression. -
Stock Market crashes on 'Black Tuesday'
the Great Crash, is the stock market crash that occurred in late October, 1929. It started on October 24 ("Black Thursday") and continued until October 29, 1929 ("Black Tuesday"), when share prices on the New York Stock Exchange collapsed.
