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Emergency Quota Act
A national quota system on the amount of incoming immigrants is established by the United States Congress in the Emergency Quota Act, curbing legal immigration. -
World War I Congressional Peace Resolution
A Congressional resolution by both houses is signed by President Warren G. Harding, declaring peace in World War I hostilities with Germany, Austria, and Hungary. The treaties would be executed one month later. -
First Edition Reader's Digest Published
Reader's Digest is founded and the first issue published by Dewitt and Lila Wallace. -
The Armaments Congress ends
The Armaments Congress ends. It would lead to an agreement, the Five Power Disarmament Treaty, between the major world powers of the United Kingdom, France, Italy, Japan, and the United States, to limit naval construction, outlaw poison gas, restrict submarine attacks on merchant fleets and respect China's sovereignty. -
Lincoln Memorial Dedicated
The Lincoln Memorial, located on the opposite end of the National Mall from the Capitol building, is dedicated in Washington, D.C. -
Time Magazine Published
Time Magazine is published for the first time. -
Warner Brothers Pictures Incorporated
Warner Brothers Pictures is incorporated. -
President Warren G. Harding Dies
President Warren G. Harding dies in office after becoming ill following a trip to Alaska, and is succeeded by his Vice President, Calvin Coolidge. Coolidge would oppose the League of Nations, but approved of the World Court. -
U.S. Participates In First Winter Olympic Games
The first Winter Olympic Games are held in the French Alps in Chamonix, France with sixteen nations sending athletes to participate, including the United States, which won four medals. Norway, with four gold and eighteen medals total had the most in both categories. The Winter Olympic Games have been held since this year, except during World War II. -
Indian Citizenship Act Granted
All Indians are designated citizens by legislation passed in the U.S. Congress and signed by President Calvin Coolidge. The Indian Citizenship Act granted this right to all Native Americans that had been born within the territory of the United States. -
Calvin Coolidge Elected As 30th U.S. President
Calvin Coolidge wins his first election as President, retaining the White House for the Republican Party over his Democratic foe, John W. Davis, and Progressive Party candidate Robert M. La Follette. The Electoral margin was 382 to 136 (Davis) to 13 (La Follette). -
Nellie Tayloe Ross Inaugurated As First U.S. Woman Governor
Nellie Tayloe Ross is inaugurated as the first woman governor of the United States in Wyoming. Miriam Ferguson is installed two weeks later as the second during a ceremony in Texas. -
Radiovision Is Born
Radiovision is born. The precursor to television is demonstrated by Charles Francis Jenkins when he transmits a 10 minute film of synchronized pictures and sound for five miles from Anacostia to Washington, D.C. to representatives of the United States government. -
Grand Ole Opry Transmits First Radio Broadcast
The Grand Ole Opry transmits its first radio broadcast. -
First North Pole Flight
The first flight to the North Pole and back occurs when pilot Floyd Bennett, with Richard Evelyn Byrd as his navigator, guided a three-engine monoplane. They were awarded the Medal of Honor for their achievement. -
Air Commerce Act Passed
Air Commerce Act is passed, providing aid and assistance to the airline industry, plus federal oversight under the Department of Commerce for civil air safety. -
China Civil War
The civil war in China prompts one thousand United States marines to land in order to protect property of United States interests. -
History's First Non-Stop Transatlantic Flight
Charles Lindbergh leaves Roosevelt Field, New York on the first non-stop transatlantic flight in history. He would reach Paris thirty-three and one-half hours later in the Spirit of St. Louis, his aircraft. A ticker tape parade would be held in New York City after his return on June 13. -
Mount Rushmore Construction Begins
Work on the gigantic sculpture at Mount Rushmore begins. Sculptor Gutzon Borglum would complete the task of chiseling the busts of four presidents; George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, and Theodore Roosevelt, fourteen years later -
Tennessee National Military Park Created
The Tennessee national military park known as Fort Donelson National Battlefield, site of the first major Union victory in the Civil War and known for the unconditional surrender of Confederate troops to Brigadier General Ulysses S. Grant, is created by legislation signed into law by President Calvin Coolidge. -
Amelia Earhart becomes the first woman to fly over the Atlantic Ocean.
Amelia Earhart becomes the first woman to fly over the Atlantic Ocean. -
Herbert Hoover Elected As 31st President of the United States
Herbert Hoover wins election as President of the United States with an Electoral College victory, 444 to 87 over Democratic candidate Alfred E. Smith, the Catholic governor of New York. -
Martin Luther King is born
Future Civil Rights leader Martin Luther King is born in his grandfather's house in Atlanta, Georgia. -
Stock Market Crash
Postwar prosperity ends in the 1929 Stock Market crash. The plummeting stock prices led to losses between 1929 and 1931 of an estimated $50 billion and started the worst American depression in the nation's history. -
1930 Census
The population counted in the 1930 census reaches 123,202,624, a 16.2% increase over the past decade. The geographic center of the United States population had reached three miles northeast of Linton in Greene County, Indiana. -
Clarence Birdseye Invents Frozen Food
Technology moves forward. Clarence Birdseye invents frozen food with his quick-freezing process and patents the concept. Also in 1930, the analog computer, or differential analyzer, is invented at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Boston by Vannevar Bush. Bush is also considered a pioneer in the development of the concept for the World Wide Web, with his idea for the memex. -
The Star-Spangled Banner Approved As The National Anthem
The Star-Spangled Banner, by Francis Scott Key, is approved by President Hoover and Congress as the national anthem. The lyrics of the anthem were inspired during the bombing of Fort McHenry by British ships at the head of Baltimore harbor in September of 1814. -
Empire State Building Opens
Construction is completed on the Empire State Building in New York City and it opens for business. On the same day in Aniakchak Caldera, Alaska, a major eruption of Half Cone occurred, blackening the skies in southwestern Alaska for the next several weeks. -
Franklin D. Roosevelt Elected 32nd President Of U.S.
Democratic challenger Franklin D. Roosevelt defeats incumbent President Hoover in the presidential election for his first of an unprecedented four terms. The landslide victory, 472 Electoral College votes to 59 for Hoover began the era of FDR that would lead the nation through the vestiges of the Great Depression and the ravages of World War II. -
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New Deal Programs Passed
The New Deal social and economic programs are passed by the United States Congress in a special one hundred day session to address depression era economics. The gold standard was dropped on April 19 and ratified during the time of this session on June 5. Canada also drops using the gold standard. -
21st Amendment to the U.S. Constitution Passed
The 21st Amendment to the U.S. Constitution is passed, ending prohibition. -
U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Established
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is established with the signing of the Securities Exchange Act into law by President Franklin D. Roosevelt. -
Social Security Act Passed
The Social Security Act is passed by Congress as part of the New Deal legislation and signed into law by President Franklin D. Roosevelt. It would begin payouts to retirees within two years. Workers began contributing into the system during the same year, at a rate of 2% of the first $3,000 in earnings, half paid by the employee and half paid by the employer. -
Summer Olympics Games Open
The Summer Olympics Games open in Berlin, Germany under the watchful eye of German leader Adolph Hitler, whose policies of Arian supremacy had already begun to take shape. The star of the games was Jesse Owens, a black American, who won four gold at the Berlin 1936 Games. -
President Franklin D. Roosevelt Wins Second Term
Franklin D. Roosevelt overwhelms his Republican challenger, Alfred Landon, for a second presidential term. His Electoral College margin, 523 to 8, and 62% of the popular vote insured Roosevelt carte blanche in his goals of the New Deal. -
Wallace H. Carothers Patents The Polymer
Wallace H. Carothers patents the polymer, invented in the Dupont labs. -
First African-American Federal Judge Appointed
William Henry Hastie is appointed to the federal bench, becoming the first African-American to become a federal judge. -
The Golden Gate Bridge Opens
The Golden Gate Bridge opens to pedestrian traffic and one day later, after a ceremonial press of a button from Washington, D.C. by President Roosevelt, receives its first vehicles. It created a vital link between San Francisco and Marin County. -
Appalachian Trail Completed
The Appalachian Trail, extending two thousand miles from Mount Katahdin, Maine to Springer Mountain, Georgia is completed. -
National Minimum Wage is signed into law
The National Minimum Wage is signed into law within the federal legislation known as the Fair Labor Standards Act. It established a minimum wage of $0.25 at the time, as well as time and one half for overtime and the prohibition of most employment for minors. -
Baseball Hall of Fame Opens
The Baseball Hall of Fame opens in Cooperstown, New York, home of one of baseball's founders, Abner Doubleday. The first class of inductees included Ty Cobb, Babe Ruth, Honus Wagner, Christy Mathewson, and Walter Johnson. -
U.S. Declares Its Neutrality In The European War
The United States declares its neutrality in the European war after Germany invaded Poland, effectively beginning World War II after a year of European attempts to appease Hitler and the aims of expansionist Nazi Germany. -
The 1940 Census
The 1940 census indicates a United States population of 132,164,569. This represented an increase of 7.3% since 1930, the lowest rate of increase in the 20th century. The center of the United States population was geographically placed two miles southeast by east of Carlisle, Indiana. -
Naval Expansion Act Signed Into Law
On the same day Paris fell to the German army and Auschwitz received its first Polish prisoners, the Naval Expansion Act is signed into law by President Franklin D. Roosevelt, increasing the capacity of the U.S. Navy by 11%. Four days earlier, Roosevelt had condemned the actions of Italy's declaration of war against France and the United Kingdom. -
Great Smoky Mountains National Park Dedicated
The Great Smoky Mountains National Park, the most visited park in the National Park Service today, is officially dedicated by President Franklin D. Roosevelt. The park, whose land had been acquired in part by John D. Rockefeller, Jr. with a $5 million contribution, straddles the North Carolina and Tennessee state lines. -
Peacetime Conscription Draft Enacted
The U.S. Congress approves and enacts the first peacetime conscription draft. -
President Franklin D. Roosevelt Wins Third Term
President Franklin D. Roosevelt continues his dominance of presidential politics with a 449 to 82 Electoral College victory over Republican candidate Wendell Wilkie, winning his third presidential election. Roosevelt becomes the first man to hold office for three terms. -
George Washington Carver Museum Dedicated
The George Washington Carver Museum is dedicated at the Tuskegee Institute with the participation of such luminaries as Henry Ford. The museum is now part of the Tuskegee Institute National Historic Site. -
Lend-Lease Act Approved
The Lend-Lease Act is approved, which provided $7 billion in military credits for American manufactured war supplies to Great Britain and other allies; in the fall, a similar Lend-Lease pact would be approved for the USSR with a $1 billion loan. -
Atlantic Charter Issued
An eight point declaration of principles called the Atlantic Charter is issued by President Roosevelt and Great Britain Prime Minister Winston Churchill. -
Pearl Harbor Attack
The attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, commences at 7:55 a.m. when Japanese fighter planes launch a surprise attack on United States soil, destroying the U.S. Pacific Fleet docked at the base. This attack, which took the greatest amount of U.S. naval life in history with 1,177 sailor and marines perishing in the attack, as well as the loss or damage to twenty-one naval ships, led to the entry of American troops into World War II.