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Woodrow Wilson served as President of the United States from March 4, 1913 – March 4, 1921.
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World War 1 aka the Great War began on July 28, 1914 and ended on November 11, 1918.
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Over a thousand people died on the RMS Lusitania, a British ship that was sunk by a German U-boat during WW1. Some say this is the event that triggered America’s entrance in the war, considering over 100 Americans died on that ship.
Location: Celtic Sea
Number of deaths: 1,197 -
Representative Jeannette Rankin of Montana, a suffrage leader and pacifist, was the first woman elected to Congress. She campaigned as a progressive in 1916 and pledged to work for a constitutional woman suffrage amendment. She was the only Member of Congress to vote against the entrance into World War I and World War II.
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The Great Migration aka the Black Migration occurred from about 1916 until 1970.
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The Russian Revolution was a violent revolution that marked the end of the Romanov dynasty and centuries of Russian Imperial rule. The Bolsheviks, led by Vladimir Lenin, seized power, destroyed the tradition of csarist rule, and would later become the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. The Russian Revolution as a whole would become one of the most explosive political events of the twentieth century.
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About six weeks after the US formally entered the war, Congress passed the Selective Service Act giving Wilson (and any president) the power to draft soldiers. If you were between the ages of 21 and 30, you were required to register to serve.
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The Espionage Act was a law passed that prohibited getting any information, pictures, or descriptions relating to the national defense for the belief that it could be used to hurt the US or help any foreign nation. It was passed only a short time after we entered the war, and it has been amended multiple times since.
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The Influenza Epidemic aka Spanish Flu was caused by an H1N1 virus that spread worldwide during 1918-1919. About 500 million people got infected, and at least 50 million worldwide, 675,000 in the US, died.
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The Fourteen Points was a proposal in a speech made by President at the time Woodrow Wilson that outlined his vision for ending World War I in hopes that nothing like it would ever happen again.
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The Sedition Act of 1918 was an act that extended the Espionage Act of 1917, making it a crime to write any disloyal or abusive language that showed the war effort in a negative light or interfered with the sale of government bonds.
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In the Schneck vs. US case, Schenck was charged with violating the Espionage Act. The government alleged that he violated the act by conspiring "to cause insubordination ... in the military and naval forces of the United States." In response, he said that the Act violated the First Amendment. However, he was found guilty on all charges.
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The Senate rejected President Wilson's Treaty of Versailles, which formally ended WW1, because “Senators feared that U.S. involvement in the League of Nations would mean that American troops might be sent into Europe and settle European disputes, and they felt that America should maintain a neutral role in the conflict”.
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The Ku Klux Klan, a genocidal domestic terrorist organization founded during Reconstruction, was revitalized in 1920, as a result of new Klan leadership with an eye for publicity. The KKK terrorized the nation.
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“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.”
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Diplomats adopted Wilson’s Fourteen Points, and they became a framework for the League of Nations. On January 16, 1920, the League held its first Executive Council meeting. Despite two votes, the Senate refused to ratify the Treaty of Versailles, and the United States never ended up joining the League of Nations.
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The 19th Amendment, ratified in August of 1920, allowed women the right to vote.
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In November 1920, the first commercially-licensed radio station began broadcasting live results of the presidential election. The breaking news was so unprecedented that the “talking box” exploded in popularity and no more than two years later Americans bought over 100,000 radios. “No other event of 1920 would have more of an effect on the future than the birth of radio, with was in turn the birth of American mass media.”
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Secretary Interior Albert Fall accepted large amounts of money from private oil companies in exchange for the companies’ control of government oil reserves. Lasted from roughly 1921 to 1923.
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President Warren Harding dies of stroke in a San Francisco hotel room. Vice President Calvin Coolidge then becomes President of the United States.
