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At the beginning of World War I, President Wilson led the United States in its declaration of neutrality. However, after German U-boat attacks began killing innocent Americans, the stance of neutrality was tested, and America did end up joining the war. Wilson served for two terms and his presidency ended on March 4th, 1921.
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Known at the Tim as the “Great War”, the very first global war started following the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria. After Austria-Hungary declared war against Serbia after the incident, the Central Powers fought against the Allied Powers in the deadliest war at the time, with over 16 million deaths. The Allied Powers became victorious on November 11th, 1918.
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The British passenger ship Lusitania (also known as Hispania Lusitania) was sunk by a German U-boat torpedo, and caused many deaths of innocent people. This ship had American passengers on it among the others, and this tragic event spurred turning the public against Germany in the USA and other places.
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Jeanette Rankin, a Montana Republican, was the very first woman elected to Congress in the year 1916. She ran as a progressive and supported suffrage, social welfare, and prohibition.
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The Great Migration was the relocation of African Americans across America. These people moved away to other parts of the United States due to the lack of good jobs and unbearable segregation laws. Most black people headed north, where there were many new industrial jobs due to World War I, with hopes of building better lives there. This period lasted until around 1970.
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Lenin who was the leader of the radical socialist Bolshevik Party lead a coup of people to fight in a civil war in Russia. The Bolshevik Party won after 3 years of fighting, and Lenin took place as the head of the government from 1917 to 1924.
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Congress passed the Selective Service Act which was signed into law by Wilson on May 18th, 1917, and the act stated that all men from the ages of 21 to 30 had to register for the military. A few months after the act was passed, around 10 million men had registered for the military draft.
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This act prohibited any possession of information that related to the national defense with the intent of using it against the United States. Since this act was passed, it was amended several times.
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The Influenza Epidemic following World War I took the lives of more people than the war itself. It spread all over the world and spiked in four separate waves. The epidemic lasted until about April of 1920, a little over two years.
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The Sedition Act of 1918 was a violation of the free-speech rights of Americans by making it criminal to speak of or write about anything about the Government that was false or made it look bad. Breaking this law could result in deportation, a fine, or imprisonment.
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His vision for concluding World War I in 1918 was outlined by a list of Fourteen Points. These Fourteen Points included the League of Nations, which later developed into what we know as the United Nations.
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Schneck versus the United States was a court case that concerned the infringement of free-speech due to the Espionage Act of 1917. The Supreme Court ruled that the act did not infringe on this particular man’s rights because speech that creates a “clear and present danger” is not protected under the First Amendment.
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The 19th Amendment gave women the right to vote in the United States. This amendment was passed on May 21st of 1919.
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The Treaty of Versailles, which formally ended World War I, was rejected by the Senate due to President Wilson’s stubbornness and his unwillingness to consider the senators’ objections. The Senate did not want to accept the treaty because the French treaty was subject to the authority of the League.
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Within President Warren Harding’s administration, the Secretary of the Interior, Albert Fall was exposed for accepting bribes from oil companies and gave those companies special (and illegal) permission to drill for oil on federal land. This scandal is known as the “Teapot Dome” due to one of the sites for drilling having an outcrop that had a shape that resembled a teapot. This scandal lasted until 1923.
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During the year 1921, Albert Einstein received his first Nobel Prize in Physics for his work on Solar Power.
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In Boston, Massachusetts, the very first Radio Shack opened. Radio Shack was started by two brothers named Theodore and Milton Deutschmann who wanted to provide the general public with technology.
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In May of 1922 the Lincoln Memorial was dedicated to former United States President and Chief Justice of the Supreme Court Willaim Taft.
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The Warner brothers Albert, Samuel, Jack, and Harry used a loan in order to purchase a studio on Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood. This purchase formally established Warner Brothers Pictures, Inc.
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During 1924, the U.S. Army planned the very first worldwide flight. Four planes were used for this journey including the Seattle, Boston, New Orleans, and Chicago, with a total of eight crew members.
