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IBM Corporation is founded
The Computing-Tabulating-Recording Company, the precursor to IBM, was founded on June 16, 1911. At its beginning, it was a merger of three manufacturing businesses, a product of the times orchestrated by the financier, Charles Flint. From these humble beginnings sprang the company that Thomas Watson Sr. would mold into a global force in technology, management and culture. -
18th amendment goes into effect
On January 29, 1919, Congress ratified the 18th Amendment, which prohibited the manufacturing, transportation and sale of alcohol within the United States; it would go into effect the following January. -
19th amendment ratified
In 1919, the 19th Amendment, which stated that “the rights of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex,” passed both houses of Congress and was sent to the states for ratification. -
Palmer Raids arrest and deport over 6,000 suspected "radicals"
This was an attempts by the United States Department of Justice to arrest and deport radical leftists, especially anarchists, from the United States. ... Ambitious assistant of Palmer, he helped orchestrate a series of raids on alleged radical centers throughout the country and arrested 6,000 people. -
League of Nations is founded
The League of Nations was an intergovernmental organisation founded on 10 January 1920 as a result of the Paris Peace Conference. -
Radio station KDKA airs first broadcast program
First commercial radio station was KDKA in Pittsburgh, which went on the air in the evening of Nov. 2, 1920, with a broadcast of the returns of the Harding-Cox presidential election. -
Warren G Harding is elected president
Warren Gamaliel Harding (November 2, 1865 – August 2, 1923) was the 29th President of the United States from 1921 until his death in 1923, a member of the Republican Party. -
Sacco and Vanzetti trial concludes
The authorities concluded that the behavior of Sacco and Vanzetti meant that the men were guilty of something—presumably the payroll murders. The trial of Sacco and Vanzetti for the South Braintree murders was held in Dedham, Massachusetts, from May 31 to July 14, 1921. -
Readers Digest is founded
Reader's Digest is an American general-interest family magazine, published ten times a year. Formerly based in Chappaqua, New York, it is now headquartered in Midtown Manhattan. The magazine was founded in 1922, by DeWitt Wallace and Lila Bell Wallace. For many years, Reader's Digest was the best-selling consumer magazine in the United States -
Teapot dome scandal is uncovered
Warren G. Harding transferred supervision of the naval oil-reserve lands from the navy to the Department of the Interior in 1921, Fall secretly granted to Harry F. Sinclair of the Mammoth Oil Company exclusive rights to the Teapot Dome (Wyoming) reserves (April 7, 1922). -
First game is played in the newly built Yankee Stadium
It was 50 years ago on April 18, 1923 that Yankee Stadium was opened for major league baseball. In the historic first game, the Yankees defeated the Boston Red Sox 4-1. -
Calvin Coolidge is elected president
Elected U.S. vice president in 1920, he became president following the death of Warren G. Harding in 1923. Coolidge, also known as "Silent Cal," chose not to seek a second term. He died in Northampton, Massachusetts, on January 5, 1933. -
President Warren G Harding dies
The Unexpected Death of President Harding, 90 Years Ago. President Warren G. Harding died of apparent heart failure 90 years ago today while in the midst of a cross-country tour. President Warren G. Harding died of apparent heart failure 90 years ago today while in the midst of a cross-country tour. -
Hitler leads a failed attempt to overthrow Germn Gov
The Beer Hall Putsch of 1923, also known as the Munich Putsch, and, in German, as the Hitlerputsch, Hitler-Ludendorff-Putsch, Bürgerbräu-Putsch or Marsch auf die Feldherrnhalle ("March on the Feldherrnhalle"), was a failed coup d'état by the National Socialist German Workers' Party. -
First Winter Olympics are held
The 1924 Winter Olympics, officially known as the I Olympic Winter Games (French: Les Iers Jeux olympiques d'hiver), were a winter multi-sport event which was held in 1924 in Chamonix, France. -
George Gerschwin releases "Rhapsody in Blue"
Rhapsody in Blue is a 1924 musical composition by American composer George Gershwin for solo piano and jazz band, which combines elements of classical music with jazz-influenced effects. The composition was commissioned by bandleader Paul Whiteman. -
The National Origins Act is passed limiting immigration
The Immigration Act of 1924 (The Johnson-Reed Act) The Immigration Act of 1924 limited the number of immigrants allowed entry into the United States through a national origins quota. ... In 1917, the U.S. Congress enacted the first widely restrictive immigration law. -
The Great Gatsby is published by F. Scott Fitzgerald
The Great Gatsby is a 1925 novel written by American author F. Scott Fitzgerald that follows a cast of characters living in the fictional towns of West Egg and East Egg on prosperous Long Island in the summer of 1922. -
Adolph Hitler publishes Mein Kampf
Mein Kampf (German: [maɪ̯n kampf], My Struggle) is a 1925 autobiographical book by Nazi Party leader Adolf Hitler. The work describes the process by which Hitler became antisemitic and outlines his political ideology and future plans for Germany. Volume 1 of Mein Kampf was published in 1925 and Volume 2 in 1926. -
Scopes Monkey Trial begins in Dayton, TN
Begins with John Thomas Scopes, a young high school science teacher, accused of teaching evolution in violation of a Tennessee state law. -
Langston Hughes publishes The Weary Blues
After its publication, the book won several awards, and the prize money allowed Hughes to complete his college education in Lincoln, Pennsylvania. The Weary Blues went on to become an American classic. -
Gertrude Elderle is the first woman to swim the English Channel
Gertrude Ederle. Gertrude Caroline Ederle (October 23, 1905 – November 30, 2003) was an American competition swimmer, Olympic champion, and former world record-holder in five events. On August 6, 1926, she became the first woman to swim across the English Channel. -
The Ford Motor company announces creation of 40 hour work week
The Ford Motor Company advanced the idea in 1914, when it scaled back from a 48-hour to a 40-hour workweek after founder Henry Ford believed that too many hours were bad for workers' productivity. The formation of unions helped to strengthen the idea of working five days a week as well. -
The Great Mississippi Flood displaces 700,00 people
The Great Flood of 1927 was one of the most powerful natural disasters of the 1900s. ... After the failure of a levee at Mounds Landing, Mississippi, the flooding river flowed ... Over 130,000 homes were lost and 700,000 people were displaced. -
Charles Lindbergh makes the first non-stop Trans Atlantic flight
Eventually in 1927, Charles Lindbergh would make his historic flight between New York and Paris to win the Orteig Prize. It was the first solo nonstop flight across the Atlantic and the first to link the two major cities. Lindbergh was, however, the 19th person to cross the Atlantic in an airplane. -
Babe Ruth hits 60 home runs
On September 30, 1927, Babe Ruth hits his 60th home run of the 1927 season and with it sets a record that would stand for 34 years. -
The Holland Tunnel opens
About 20,000 people walked the entire length of the Holland Tunnel before it was closed to pedestrians at 7 p.m. The Holland Tunnel officially opened to vehicular traffic at 12:01 a.m. on November 13, the next day; over a thousand vehicles had gathered on the New Jersey side, ready to pay a toll. -
The first film with sound "The Jazz Singer" debuts
On December 30, 1927, The Jazz Singer, the first commercially successful full-length feature film with sound, debuts at the Blue Mouse Theater at 1421 5th Avenue in Seattle. The movie uses Warner Brothers' Vitaphone sound-on-disc technology to reproduce the musical score and sporadic episodes of synchronized speech. -
Alexander Fleming discovers Penicillin
In 1928 Alexander Fleming discovered penicillin, though he did not realize the full significance of his discovery for at least another decade. He eventually received the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1945. -
Mickey Mouse first appearance in steam boat willy
Walt Disney, Ub Iwerks Steamboat Willie 1928. Disney's Steamboat Willie is a landmark in the history of animation. It was the first Mickey Mouse film released and the first cartoon with synchronized sound. It threw silent animation into obsolescence, and launched an empire. -
Chicago's St. Valentine's Day Massacre
Valentine's Day murder of seven members and associates of Chicago's North Side Gang. The men were gathered at a Lincoln Park garage on the morning of Valentine's Day, where they were made to line up against a wall and shot by four unknown assailants. The incident resulted from the struggle between the Irish North Siders and their Italian South Side rivals, led by Al Capone, to control organized crime in the city during Prohibition. -
Herbert Hoover is elected president
Herbert Clark Hoover (August 10, 1874 – October 20, 1964) was an American engineer, businessman and politician who served as the 31st President of the United States from 1929 to 1933 during the Great Depression. -
Stock Market Crashes on Black Tuesday
Stock market crash that occurred in late October, 1929. It started on October 24 ("Black Thursday") and continued until October 29, 1929 ("Black Tuesday"), when share prices on the New York Stock Exchange collapsed. -
Amelia Earhart attempts to fly around the world
Amelia Earhart is about to attempt to fly around the world. ... Amelia Rose Earhart plans to take off from Oakland, Calif., sometime between June 23 and 26, and return two and a half weeks later. If successful, she would become the youngest woman ever to circumnavigate the globe in a single-engine airplane. -
Ellis Island closes an immigration point to the US
On this day in 1954, Ellis Island, the gateway to America, shuts it doors after processing more than 12 million immigrants since opening in 1892. ... Only two percent of all immigrants were denied entrance into the U.S.
