-
More Urban than Rural
The United States Census reports for the first time that more Americans live in urban areas than in rural areas. However, "urban" is defined as any town with more than 2,500 people. -
Palmer Raids
The Palmer Raids begin, launching a period of intense government persecution of radical political dissidents in response to the postwar Red Scare sweeping the nation. -
Steel Strike ends
The Great Steel Strike of 1919 ends with capitulation by the steelworkers. -
Senate Reject League
The Senate refuses to ratify the Versailles Treaty or authorize United States participation in the League of Nations. -
Too Much Cotton
Cotton prices at New Orleans peak at 42 cents a pound, prompting Southern farmers to plant the largest crop in history. The resulting overproduction causes a collapse in prices, with cotton falling to less than 10 cents a pound by early 1921. Cotton farmers will toil in near-depression conditions throughout most of the 1920s and 30s. -
Garvey Conference
Charismatic Black nationalist leader Marcus Garvey, a Jamaican immigrant, convenes the first International Convention of the Negro Peoples of the World in New York's Madison Square Garden. -
19th Amendment
The 19th Amendment is ratified, granting women the right to vote. -
Harding Wins Presidential Election by a Landslide
Republican Warren G. Harding is elected to the presidency by a landslide. Harding wins 60% of the popular vote and 75% of the electoral vote. Democrat James Cox wins only a handful of states in the South. Socialist Eugene Debs garners more than 900,000 votes despite campaigning from prison, where he's incarcerated for violating the wartime Espionage Act by giving an antiwar speech in 1918. -
Immigration Quota Established
Congress passes immigration restrictions, for the first time creating a quota for European immigration to the United States. Targeted at "undesirable" immigrants from Southern and Eastern Europe, the act sharply curtails the quota for those areas while retaining a generous allowance for migrants from Northern and Western Europe. -
Sacco-Vanzetti Trial
The Sacco-Vanzetti trial begins. Immigrant Italian radicals Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti will eventually be convicted of murder and executed. -
World Series Broadcast on the Radio
Baseball's World Series is broadcast on radio for the first time. The New York Giants defeat the New York Yankees, five games to three. -
Tariffs Up
Congress passes the Fordney-McCumber Tariff, sharply raising tariff duties to protect the American market for American manufactures. The tariff boosts the domestic economy of the Roaring '20s, but it also worsens the crisis for struggling European economies like Germany's, helping to enable Adolf Hitler's rise to power there on a platform of economic grievance. -
German Reparations
Germany, burdened by reparations payments imposed by Treaty of Versailles, suffers hyperinflation. One American dollar is now worth 7,000 German marks. -
Yankee Stadium
Yankee Stadium, the "House that Ruth Built," is constructed in the Bronx, New York. -
Harding Dies
President Warren G. Harding dies of stroke in a San Francisco hotel room. Vice President Calvin Coolidge ascends to presidency. -
Ford
The market capitalization of Ford Motor Company exceeds $1 billion. -
Scopes Violates Ban on Teaching Evolution
Tennessee schoolteacher John Scopes is arrested for teaching evolution, in violation of new state law banning the teaching of Darwin. The ensuing "Scopes Monkey Trial," pitting defense attorney Clarence Darrow against three-time presidential candidate William Jennings Bryan in a proxy debate of modernity versus fundamentalism, captivates the nation. Scopes is eventually found guilty. -
Great Gatsby
F. Scott Fitzgerald publishes The Great Gatsby. -
Klansmen
40,000 Ku Klux Klansmen march on Washington, their white-hooded procession filling Pennsylvania Avenue. -
Gold Rush Premier
Charlie Chaplin's popular silent comedy The Gold Rush premieres before enthusiastic audiences.