1920 in the United States

Events from the year 1920 in the United States.

Incumbents

Federal government">Federal government of the United States">Federal government

Events

January

January 2 – First Red Scare: The second of the Palmer Raids takes place with another 4,025 suspected communists and anarchists arrested and held without trial in several 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.
January 7 – The New York State Assembly refuses to seat five duly elected Socialist assemblymen.
January 9 – Thousands of onlookers watch as "The Human Fly" George Polley climbs New York City's Woolworth Building. He reaches 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.
January 16 – Zeta Phi Beta sorority, is founded on the campus of Howard University in Washington, D.C.
January 17 – 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.
* The American Civil Liberties Union is founded.
* Oahu sugar strike of 1920 begins.
January 30 – A professional wrestling match in which Joe Stecher defeats Earl Caddock at New York City's Madison Square Garden is filmed by Pioneer Film Corporation for later viewing by cinema audiences; this is the oldest surviving movie of a pro wrestling match.

February

February 14 – The League of Women Voters is founded in Chicago.

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.
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

April 28 – Monongahela National Forest is established.

May

May 1 – 1920 Major League Baseball season: The Brooklyn Robins and the Boston Braves play to a 1–1 tie in 26 innings, recording the longest single game in MLB history.
May 2 – The first game of the Negro National League baseball is played in Indianapolis, Indiana.

June

June 11 – During the 1920 Republican National Convention in Chicago, party leaders gather in a "smoke-filled room" of The Blackstone Hotel to decide their presidential candidate.
June 13 – The U.S. Post Office rules that children may not be sent via parcel post.
June 14 – Cherokee National Forest is established.
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 Inglewood earthquake shakes the Los Angeles Area with a maximum Mercalli intensity of VIII, causing more than $100,000 in damage.
June 28 – Sigma Tau Gamma Fraternity, Incorporated is founded in Warrensburg, Missouri.

July

July 1 – The Oahu sugar strike of 1920 ends.
July 6 – Lynching of Irving and Herman Arthur in Paris, Texas.
July 29 – The United States Bureau of Reclamation begins construction of the Link River Dam as part of the Klamath Reclamation Project.

August

August 1–6 – Denver streetcar strike of 1920
August 20
* The first commercial radio station in the U.S., 8MK, owned by the Detroit News, begins operations in Detroit, Michigan.
* The National Football League is founded as the American Professional Football Conference.
August 26 – Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution is passed, guaranteeing women's suffrage.

September

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 29 – First domestic radio sets come to stores in the U.S. – Westinghouse radio costs $10.

October–November

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 starts broadcasting as a commercial radio station. The first broadcast is the results of the presidential election.
November 2–3 – Ocoee massacre occurs.

December

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

Undated

Black Cross Nurses founded.
Van Wyck Brooks publishes The Ordeal of Mark Twain, arguing that Twain's genius was twisted by the conditions and culture of late 19th-century America. This begins a reassessment of Twain, who has been seen hitherto mainly as a humorous entertainer, and his contemporaries.

Ongoing

Sport

January 1 – Harvard Crimson win their First Rose Bowl by defeating the Oregon Webfoots 7 to 6 in the 1920 Rose Bowl.
October 12 – Cleveland Indians win their first World Series by defeating the Brooklyn Robins 5 games to 2; the deciding game 7 is played at League Park in Cleveland.
December 19 – Akron Pros are awarded the First American Professional Football Association Championship.

Births

January

January 1 – Pete Turnham, American politician
January 4 – Cris Alexander, actor, singer, dancer, designer and photographer
January 6 – Early Wynn, baseball player
January 8
*Richard Benedict, actor and director
*Gordon Kahl, tax protester and cop-killer
January 10 – Max Patkin, baseball player and clown
January 12 – James Farmer, civil rights leader
January 15
* Bob Davies, basketball player and coach
* Joseph Mendenhall, ambassador
* John O'Connor, Catholic cardinal
January 16
* Al Morgan, novelist and television producer
* Elliott Reid, actor
* Walter Frederick Morrison, entrepreneur and inventor
January 19 – Buddy O'Grady, basketball player, coach
January 20
*DeForest Kelley, screen actor
*Lewis Wilson, actor
January 24 – Jerry Maren, actor
January 30 – Delbert Mann, television and film director
January 31 – James Yimm Lee, martial arts pioneer, teacher, author and publisher

February

February 3
*Russell Arms, American actor and singer
*Henry Heimlich, thoracic surgeon
*George Armitage Miller, psychologist
February 8 – George W. George, theater, Broadway and film producer
February 11 – Billy Halop, actor
February 12
*William Roscoe Estep, Baptist historian
*Bill Pitman, musician
February 17 – Annie Glenn, disability, communication disorder activist
February 18
*Bill Cullen, game show host
*Eddie Slovik, U.S. Army private
February 20 – Kathleen Cavendish, Marchioness of Hartington, socialite
February 22 – Burt L. Talcott, American politician
February 26 – Tony Randall, actor
February 29 – Howard Nemerov, poet

March

March 4 – George W. Landau, diplomat
March 5 – Del Latta, politician
March 10 – Thomas J. White, construction company executive and philanthropist
March 14 – Hank Ketcham, cartoonist
March 15
*Lawrence Sanders, novelist
*E. Donnall Thomas, physician, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
March 20 – Pamela Harriman, English-born U.S. Ambassador to France
March 27 – William Moncrief, oil executive

April

April 1 – Harry Lewis, actor and businessman
April 2 – Jack Webb, television actor, director and producer
April 5 – Arthur Hailey, writer
April 6 – Edmond H. Fischer, Swiss American biochemist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
April 12 – Buck Young, actor
April 13 – Jack Lambert, actor
April 19
* Gene Leis, guitarist, composer, and producer
* Marvin Mandel, lawyer and politician, 56th Governor of Maryland
* John O'Neil, baseball player and manager
* Marian Winters, actress
April 20 – Ronald Speirs, colonel
April 29 – Harold Shapero, composer

May

May 7 - James B. Pearson, U.S. Senator from Kansas from 1962 to 1978
May 8
*Saul Bass, graphic designer
*Sloan Wilson, author and poet
May 10 - Jeff Cooper, soldier and journalist
May 11
*Gene Hermanski, baseball player
*Denver Pyle, actor
May 23 - Helen O'Connell, singer
May 26 - Peggy Lee, singer
May 28 - Gene Levitt, television writer, producer and director
May 30 - Franklin Schaffner, film and television director

June

June 2 – Tex Schramm, American football executive
June 11
*Irving Howe, literary and social critic
*Robert Hutton, actor
*Shelly Manne, American drummer, composer, and bandleader
June 12
*Dave Berg, cartoonist
*Jim Siedow, actor
*William Woodward, Jr., banker and racehorse owner
June 22
* Paul Frees, voice actor
* Jack Karwales, American football player
* Walt Masterson, baseball pitcher
* Lester Wunderman, executive
June 25 – Ozan Marsh, pianist
June 29 – Ray Harryhausen, animator

July

July 4
*Norm Drucker, basketball player and referee
*Leona Helmsley, born Lena Rosenthal, businesswoman and tax evader
July 5 – Viola Harris, American actress
July 7
* Sandy Tatum, golfer
* William Thaddeus Coleman Jr., attorney, politician
* Henry Williams Hise, U.S. General
July 9 – Robert H. B. Baldwin, banker and Under Secretary of the Navy
July 10 – Owen Chamberlain, physicist, Nobel Prize laureate
July 11 – Yul Brynner, Russian-born actor
July 15 – Theresa Kobuszewski, underhand baseball pitcher
July 16
*Henry Williams Hise, Marine Corps Brigadier General
*Larry Jansen, baseball pitcher, coach
*Phillip Pine, screen actor
*Ulysses S. Washington, American college football player and coach
July 19 – Robert Mann, violinist
July 24 – Bella Abzug, politician

August

August 1
* Thomas McGuire, World War II fighter ace
* Jack Briggs, actor
August 2 – Bill Scott, voice actor and writer
August 3 – Earl Killian, college sports coach and athletic director
August 4
* Warren Plunkett, American football player
* Helen Thomas, American author, news service reporter, member of the White House press corps and columnist
August 6 – Ella Raines, screen actress
August 8 – Jimmy Witherspoon, singer
August 10
*Ann Harnett, baseball player
*Red Holzman, basketball coach
August 11 – Clifford E. Dorr, Wisconsin politician
August 13 – Neville Brand, actor and combat soldier
August 14 – Gorham Getchell, basketball and baseball player
August 16 – Charles Bukowski, writer
August 18
*Bob Kennedy, baseball player and manager
*Shelley Winters, actress
August 22 – Ray Bradbury, science-fiction writer
August 23 - Jim Leavelle, American detective
August 24
* Herbert Haft, owner of Dart Drugs Chain
* J. Paul Taylor, politician
August 26 – Richard E. Bellman, mathematician
August 29
*Charlie Parker, saxophonist and composer
* Herb Simpson, baseball player

September

September 1 – Richard Farnsworth, actor, stuntman
September 3 – Sterling Lord, literary agent and editor
September 5 – Apolonia Muñoz Abarca, health professional and reproductive rights advocate
September 7 – Al Caiola, guitarist and composer
September 8 – Lawrence LeShan, psychologist
September 13 – Alan Sagner, politician and public servant
September 14
*Don Johnson, American football player
*Lawrence Klein, economist, recipient of the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences in 1980
September 15 – Dave Garcia, baseball coach, manager
September 17 – Marjorie Holt, politician
September 18 – Jack Warden, actor
September 19 – Roger Angell, journalist, author, and editor
September 20 - Jay Ward, television animator, writer and producer
September 22 – William H. Riker, political scientist
September 23 – Mickey Rooney, film actor
September 24
*Richard Bong, fighter ace
*Harber H. Hall, politician
September 27 – William Conrad, actor
September 30 – Milton P. Rice, politician

October

October 1 – Walter Matthau, film actor
October 8 – Frank Herbert, science-fiction writer
October 10 – Gail Halvorsen, US Air Force officer
October 15
* Chris Economaki, sportscaster and actor
* Mario Puzo, novelist
October 17 – Montgomery Clift, film actor
October 20 – Janet Jagan, President of Guyana from 1997 to 1999
October 22 – Timothy Leary, psychologist and author
October 25 – Guy M. Townsend, American Air Force brigadier general and test pilot
October 29 – Benjamin F. McAdoo, architect

November

November 4 – Val Heim, baseball player
November 5
* John H. Land, politician, long-serving mayor of Apopka, Florida
*Douglass North, economist, recipient of the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences in 1993
November 8
*Esther Rolle, African-American television actress
*Wally Westlake, baseball player
November 11 – Paul Ignatius, govrrnment officia; and businessman
November 13
*Jack Elam, screen Western actor
*Edward Hughes, Catholic bishop
*Georg Olden, African-American graphic designer
November 19 – Gene Tierney, actress
November 21
*Ralph Meeker, actor
*Stan Musial, baseball player
November 29 – Bob Wolff, sportscaster
November 30 – Virginia Mayo, film actress

December

December 5 – Poldine Carlo, author
December 6 – Dave Brubeck, jazz pianist and composer
December 14
*Frank T. Cary, businessman
*Clark Terry, swing and bebop trumpeter and composer
December 15
*Bernice Falk Haydu, aviator
*Eddie Robinson, baseball player
December 19
*Little Jimmy Dickens, country music singer-songwriter
*David Susskind, producer and talk show host
December 21
*Iris Cummings, Olympic swimmer and aviator
*Adele Goldstine, mathematician
*Harold Lang, dancer and actor
*J. Roderick MacArthur, businessman and philanthropist
December 30 – Jack Lord, actor
December 31 – Rex Allen, screen actor, singer and songwriter, "the Arizona Cowboy"

Deaths

January 8 – Maud Powell, violinist
January 14 – John Francis Dodge, automobile manufacturer
January 16 – Reginald De Koven, composer, conductor and critic
February 2 – Field Eugene Kindley, World War I aviator
February 3 – Frank Brown, 42nd Governor of Maryland from 1892 to 1896
February 15 – Joseph Burton Sumner, founder of Sumner, Mississippi
February 20
*Joseph J. Fern, Mayor of Honolulu from 1909 to 1915 and from 1917 to 1920
*Robert Peary, Arctic explorer
February 27 – William Sherman Jennings, 18th Governor of Florida from 1901 to 1905
March 1
*John H. Bankhead, U.S. Senator from Alabama from 1907 to 1920
*William A. Stone, 22nd Governor of Pennsylvania from 1899 to 1903
March 4 – Roswell P. Bishop, U.S. Representative from Michigan from 1895 to 1907
March 13 – Mary Devens, photographer
March 14 – Henry W. Blair, U.S. Senator from New Hampshire from 1879 to 1891
March 26
*Samuel Colman, painter and designer
*William Chester Minor, surgeon
March 31 – Edwin Warfield, 45th Governor of Maryland from 1904 to 1908
April 3 – Mary Katharine Brandegee, botanist
April 6 – Mary Evelyn Hitchcock, author and explorer
April 8
*John Brashear, astronomer
*Charles Griffes, composer
April 12 – Walter Edwards, film director
April 21 – Maria L. Sanford, educator
April 25 – Clarine Seymour, actress
May 11 – William Dean Howells, novelist
May 10 – John Wesley Hyatt, inventor
May 16 – Levi P. Morton, 22nd vice president of the United States from 1889 to 1893
May 21 – Eleanor H. Porter, novelist
June 5 – Julia A. Moore, poet
June 11 – Esther G. Frame, Quaker minister and evangelist
June 18 – Jewett W. Adams, 4th Governor of Nevada from 1883 to 1887
July 2 – William Louis Marshall, general and engineer
July 6 – Andrew Traynor, soldier
July 17 – Charles E. Courtney, rower and coach
July 22 – William Kissam Vanderbilt, heir
August 1 – Frank Hanly, 26th Governor of Indiana from 1905 to 1909
August 2 – Ormer Locklear, pilot
August 6 – Edward Francis Searles, interior designer
August 9 – Melvin O. Adams, attorney and railroad executive
August 10 – James O'Neill, actor
August 12 – Walter W. Winans, sculptor, painter, marksman and horse-breeder
August 17 – Ray Chapman, baseball player
August 26 – James Wilson, politician
September 5 – Robert Harron, actor
September 10 – Olive Thomas, silent film actress
October 2 – Winthrop M. Crane, 40th Governor of Massachusetts from 1900 to 1903 and U.S. Senator from Massachusetts from 1904 to 1913
October 17 – John Reed, journalist, in Moscow
November 2 – Louise Imogen Guiney, poet and essayist
November 3 – Warren Terhune, United States Navy Commander and 13th Governor of American Samoa
November 7 – Amelie Veiller Van Norman, educator and civic reformer
November 25 – Madeline McDowell Breckinridge, women's suffrage campaigner
November 30 – Eugene W. Chafin, politician
December 9 – Mollie McConnell, actress
December 14
*George J. Gaskin, "silver-voiced Irish tenor"
*George Gipp, American football player
December 18 – Casimiro Barela, politician, member of the Colorado Senate
December 24 – Stephen Mosher Wood, politician