1920 in the United States

1920 in the United States
Decades:	1900s 1910s – 1920s – 1930s 1940s
Years:	1917 1918 1919 – 1920 – 1921 1922 1923
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48 stars (1912 – 1959)
Timeline of United States history History of the United States (1918–1945)

Events from the year 1920 in the United States.

Incumbents

• President - Woodrow Wilson
• Vice President - Thomas R. Marshall

Events

January

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 6 – Babe Ruth's December 26 trade to the New York Yankees is made public. (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 arrested him for climbing without a permit
• January 13 – The New York Times ridicules the American rocket scientist Robert H. Goddard. The newspaper printed a correction to this editorial on 17 July 1969 while the Apollo crew rocketed to the Moon.
• January 16 – Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Incorporated, is founded on the campus of Howard University in Washington, D.C.
• January 16 - 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

• February 14 - The League of Women Voters is founded in Chicago.
• February 22 – In Emeryville, California, the first dog racing track to employ an imitation rabbit opens.

March

• 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. It has operated under this name since the change.
• March 19 - United States Congress refuses to ratify Treaty of Versailles.
• March 28 – The 1920 Palm Sunday tornado outbreak hits the Great Lakes region and Deep South states.

April–May

• May 2 - The first game of the Negro National League baseball is played in Indianapolis, Indiana.

June–July

• June 13 - The United States Postal Service rules that children may not be sent via parcel post.
• July 29 - The United States Bureau of Reclamation begins construction of the Link River Dam as part of the Klamath Reclamation Project.

August–September

• August 20 - The first commercial radio station in the United States, 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 USA – Westinghouse radio costs $10.

October–November

• November 2 - Warren G. Harding defeats James M. Cox in the U.S. presidential election, the first national U.S. election in which women have the right to vote.
• November 2 - In the United States, KDKA (AM) of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (owned by Westinghouse) starts broadcasting as a commercial radio station. The first broadcast was the results of the presidential election.

December

• December 25 - Foundation of the Rosicrucian Fellowship's Spiritual Healing Temple "The Ecclesia" at Mount Ecclesia, Oceanside, California.

Undated

• Because there are so many mixed-race persons and because so many Americans with some black ancestry appear white, the United States Census stops counting mixed-race peoples and the one-drop rule becomes the national legal standard.

Births

January

• January 6 - Early Wynn, baseball player (died 1999)
• January 15 - John O'Connor, American Catholic cardinal
• January 20 - DeForest Kelley, American actor (died 1999)
• January 30 - Delbert Mann, American television and film director

February

• February 11 - Billy Halop, American actor (died 1976)
• February 12 - William Roscoe Estep, American Baptist historian (died 2000)
• February 18 - Bill Cullen, American game show host (died 1990)
• February 18 - Eddie Slovik, U.S. Army private (died 1945)
• February 26 - Tony Randall, American actor (died 2004)
• February 29 - Howard Nemerov, American poet (died 1991)

March

• March 14 - Hank Ketcham, American cartoonist (died 2001)
• March 15 - Lawrence Sanders, American novelist (died 1998)
• March 15 - E. Donnall Thomas, American physician, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
• March 20 - Pamela Harriman, English-born U.S. Ambassador to France (died 1997)

April

• April 2 - Jack Webb, American actor, director, and producer (died 1982)
• April 5 - Arthur Hailey, American writer (died 2004)
• April 6 - Edmond H. Fischer, Swiss American biochemist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
• April 29 - Harold Shapero, American composer

May

• May 8 - Saul Bass, American graphic designer (died 1996)
• 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

• June 2 - Tex Schramm, American football executive (died 2003)
• June 12 - Dave Berg, American cartoonist (died 2002)
• June 12 - Jim Siedow, American actor (died 2003)
• June 25 - Ozan Marsh, American pianist
• June 29 - Ray Harryhausen, American animator

July

• July 10 - Owen Chamberlain, American physicist, Nobel Prize laureate
• July 11 - Yul Brynner, Russian-born actor (died 1985)
• July 24 - Bella Abzug, American politician (died 1998)

August

• 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)
• August 18 - Shelley Winters, American actress (died 2006)
• August 22 - Ray Bradbury, American writer
• August 29 - Charlie Parker, American saxophonist and composer (died 1955)

September

• September 14 - Lawrence Klein, American economist, Nobel Prize laureate
• 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
• September 27 - Jayne Meadows, American actress

October

• October 1 - Walter Matthau, American actor (died 2000)
• October 8 - Frank Herbert, American author (died 1986)
• October 15 - Mario Puzo, American author of Science fiction (died 1999)
• Octpber 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

• November 30 - Virginia Mayo, American actress (died 2005)

December

• December 6 - Dave Brubeck, American jazz pianist and composer
• December 21 - J. Roderick MacArthur, American businessman and philanthropist (died 1984)
• December 30 - Jack Lord, American actor (died 1998)

Deaths

• February 2 - Field Eugene Kindley, American World War I aviator (born 1896)
• February 3 - Frank Brown, Governor of Maryland (born 1846)
• February 15 - Joseph Burton Sumner, founder of Sumner, Mississippi (born 1837)
• February 20 - Joseph J. Fern, Mayor of Honolulu (born 1872)
• February 20 - Robert Peary, American Arctic explorer (born 1856)
• February 27 - William Sherman Jennings, Governor of Florida (born 1863)
• March 1 - John H. Bankhead, U.S. Senator from Alabama (born 1842)
• March 1 - William A. Stone, Governor of Pennsylvania (born 1846)
• March 4 - Roswell P. Bishop, U.S. Congressman from Michigan (born 1843)
• March 26 - William Chester Minor, American surgeon (born 1834)
• March 31 - Edwin Warfield, Governor of Maryland (born 1848)
• April 8 - John Brashear, American astronomer (born 1840)
• April 8 - Charles Griffes, American composer (born 1884)
• April 21 - Maria L. Sanford, American educator (born 1836)
• May 11 - William Dean Howells, American writer (born 1837)
• May 16 - Levi P. Morton, Vice President of the United States (born 1824)
• May 21 - Eleanor H. Porter, American novelist (born 1868)
• June 5 - Julia A. Moore, American poet (born 1847)
• June 18 - Jewett W. Adams, Governor of Nevada (born 1835)
• July 2 - William Louis Marshall, American general and engineer (born 1846)
• July 22 - William Kissam Vanderbilt, American heir (born 1849)
• August 1 - Frank Hanly, Governor of Indiana (born 1863)
• August 2 - Ormer Locklear, American pilot (born 1891)
• August 17 - Ray Chapman, baseball player (born 1891)
• August 26 - James Wilson, Scottish-born American politician (born 1835)
• September 10 - Olive Thomas, American actress (born 1894)
• October 2 - Winthrop M. Crane, Governor of Massachusetts and Senator (born 1853)
• October 17 - John Reed, American journalist (born 1887)
• November 30 - Eugene W. Chafin, American politician (born 1852)
• December 14 - George Gipp, American football player (born 1895)

External links

Media related to 1920 in the United States at Wikimedia Commons