Events from the year 1920 in the United States.
Incumbents
Federal government 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
State governments Governors and lieutenant governors Governors
Lieutenant governors
Demographics
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. (See 1919 in the United States.) 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. (Decades later, on July 17, 1969, as the Apollo 11 crew head to the Moon, the newspaper will retract this editorial.) "When was the famous New York Times editorial about Dr. 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 (ACLU) 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.Film on YouTube.
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 (Severe), 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 (WWJ), owned by the Detroit News, begins operations in Detroit, Michigan. The National Football League is founded as the American Professional Football Conference (renamed September 17 as 'Association'). 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 1920 United States presidential election: Republican U. S. Senator Warren G. Harding defeats Democratic Governor of Ohio James M. Cox. The 1920 presidential election would be 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. 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 Progressive Era (1890s–1920s) Lochner era (c. 1897–c. 1937) U.S. occupation of Haiti (1915–1934) U.S. occupation of the Dominican Republic (1916-1924) First Red Scare (1917–1920) Prohibition (1920–1933) Depression of 1920–21 (1920–1921) Roaring Twenties (1920–1929)
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 (and last until 1948) 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 (died 2019) January 4 – Cris Alexander, actor, singer, dancer, designer and photographer (died 2012) January 6 – Early Wynn, baseball player (died 1999) January 8 Richard Benedict, actor and director (died 1984) Gordon Kahl, tax protester and cop-killer (died 1983) January 10 – Max Patkin, baseball player and clown (died 1999) January 12 – James Farmer, civil rights leader (died 1999) January 15 Bob Davies, basketball player and coach (died 1990) Joseph Mendenhall, ambassador (died 2013) John O'Connor, Catholic cardinal (died 2000) January 16 Al Morgan, novelist and television producer (died 2011) Elliott Reid, actor (died 2013) Walter Frederick Morrison, entrepreneur and inventor (died 2010) January 19 – Buddy O'Grady, basketball player, coach (died 1992) January 20 DeForest Kelley, screen actor (died 1999) Lewis Wilson, actor (died 2000) January 24 – Jerry Maren, actor (died 2018) January 30 – Delbert Mann, television and film director (died 2007) January 31 – James Yimm Lee, martial arts pioneer, teacher, author and publisher (died 1972)
February February 3 Russell Arms, American actor and singer (died 2012) 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) Bill Pitman, musician (died 2022) February 17 – Annie Glenn, disability, communication disorder activist (died 2020) February 18 Bill Cullen, game show host (died 1990) Eddie Slovik, U.S. Army private (died 1945) February 20 – Kathleen Cavendish, Marchioness of Hartington ("Kick" Kennedy), socialite (killed in aviation accident 1948) February 22 – Burt L. Talcott, American politician (died 2016) February 26 – Tony Randall, actor (died 2004) February 29 – Howard Nemerov, poet (died 1991)
March March 4 – George W. Landau, diplomat (died 2018) March 5 – Del Latta, politician (died 2016) March 10 – Thomas J. White, construction company executive and philanthropist (died 2011) March 14 – Hank Ketcham, cartoonist (died 2001) March 15 Lawrence Sanders, novelist (died 1998) E. Donnall Thomas, 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) March 27 – William Moncrief, oil executive (died 2021)
April April 1 – Harry Lewis, actor and businessman (died 2013) April 2 – Jack Webb, television 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 (died 2021) April 12 – Buck Young, actor (died 2000) April 13 – Jack Lambert, actor (died 2002) April 19 Gene Leis, guitarist, composer, and producer (died 1993) Marvin Mandel, lawyer and politician, 56th Governor of Maryland (died 2015) John O'Neil, baseball player and manager (died 2012) Marian Winters, actress (died 1978) April 20 – Ronald Speirs, colonel (died 2007) April 29 – Harold Shapero, composer (died 2013)
May May 7 – James B. Pearson, U.S. Senator from Kansas from 1962 to 1978 (died 2009) May 8 Saul Bass, graphic designer (died 1996) Sloan Wilson, author and poet (died 2003) May 10 – Jeff Cooper, soldier and journalist (died 2006) May 11 Gene Hermanski, baseball player (died 2010) Denver Pyle, actor (died 1997) May 23 – Helen O'Connell, singer (died 1993) May 26 – Peggy Lee, singer (died 2002) May 28 – Gene Levitt, television writer, producer and director (died 1999) May 30 – Franklin Schaffner, film and television director (died 1989)
June June 2 – Tex Schramm, American football executive (died 2003) June 11 Irving Howe, literary and social critic (died 1993) Robert Hutton, actor (died 1994) Shelly Manne, American drummer, composer, and bandleader (died 1984) June 12 Dave Berg, cartoonist (died 2002) Jim Siedow, actor (died 2003) William Woodward, Jr., banker and racehorse owner (mariticide 1955) June 22 Paul Frees, voice actor (died 1986) Jack Karwales, American football player (died 2004) Walt Masterson, baseball pitcher (died 2008) Lester Wunderman, executive (died 2019) June 25 – Ozan Marsh, pianist (died 1992) June 29 – Ray Harryhausen, animator (died 2013)
July July 4 Norm Drucker, basketball player and referee (died 2015) Leona Helmsley, born Lena Rosenthal, businesswoman and tax evader (died 2007) July 5 – Viola Harris, American actress (d. 2017) July 7 Sandy Tatum, golfer (d. 2017) William Thaddeus Coleman Jr., attorney, politician (d. 2017) Henry Williams Hise, U.S. General (d. 2010) 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 15 – Theresa Kobuszewski, underhand baseball pitcher (died 2005) July 16 Henry Williams Hise, Marine Corps Brigadier General (died 2010) Larry Jansen, baseball pitcher, coach (died 2009) Phillip Pine, screen actor (died 2006) Ulysses S. Washington, American college football player and coach (died 2018) July 19 – Robert Mann, violinist (died 2018) July 24 – Bella Abzug, politician (died 1998)
August August 1