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Sacco and Vanzetti arrested for armed robbery and murder
When four Italian men came for the car on the evening of May 5, 1920, the garage owner's wife called police and warned the four men not to drive the car as it lacked current license plates. Later that evening, police arrested two of the men, Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti, on a streetcar in Brockton. Sacco and Vanzetti were anarchists, believing that social justice would come only through the destruction of governments. -
KDKA goes on air from Pittsburg
first commercial radio station was KDKA in Pittsburgh, with a broadcast of the returns of the Harding-Cox presidential election. They chose that date because it was election day, and the power of radio was proven when people could hear the results of the Harding-Cox presidential race before they read about it in the newspaper. -
Teapot Dome Scandal
The Teapot Dome scandal was a bribery scandal involving the administration of United States President Warren G. Harding from 1921 to 1923. Convicted of accepting bribes from the oil companies, Fall became the first presidential cabinet member to go to prison; no one was convicted of paying the bribes. -
1st Miss American Pageant
Margaret Gorman, winner of the 1921 “Inter-City Beauty” contest and the first Miss America. Miss America, in full Miss America Pageant, competition held annually in which young women representing each of the U.S. states, as well as the District of Columbia, compete by demonstrating a range of skills such as leadership, poise, and artistic talent. -
1st Winter Olympics Held
In 1921, the International Olympic Committee gave its patronage to a Winter Sports Week to take place in 1924 in Chamonix, France. This event was a great success, attracting 10,004 paying spectators. The Olympics increase a host country's global trade and stature. Host countries tend to be invited to prestigious global economic organizations. -
The Great Gatsby published by F. Scott Fitzgerald
The Great Gatsby is a 1925 novel by American writer F. Scott Fitzgerald. Set in the Jazz Age on Long Island, near New York City, the novel depicts first-person narrator Nick Carraway's interactions with mysterious millionaire Jay Gatsby and Gatsby's obsession to reunite with his former lover, Daisy Buchanan. The Great Gatsby is one of the greatest literary documents of this period, in which the American economy soared, bringing unprecedented levels of prosperity to the nation. -
Scopes Monkey Trial
In Dayton, Tennessee, the so-called Scopes Monkey Trial begins with John Thomas Scopes, a young high school science teacher, accused of teaching evolution in violation of a Tennessee state law. The trial was viewed as an opportunity to challenge the constitutionality of the bill, to publicly advocate for the legitimacy of Darwin's theory of evolution, and to enhance the profile of the American Civil Liberties Union -
Charles Lindbergh completes solo flight across the Atlantic
Charles A. Lindbergh completed the first solo, nonstop transatlantic flight in history, flying his Spirit of St. Louis from Long Island, New York, to Paris, France. His solo transatlantic flight aboard the Spirit of St. Louis highlighted the potential of long distance flight, and that as a result of the achievement, aircraft industry stocks rose in value and interest in commercial aviation skyrocketed in the United States. -
The Jazz Singer debuts (1st movie with sound)
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. It is notable as the first feature-length motion picture with both synchronized recorded music score as well as lip-synchronous singing and speech. -
St. Valentine's Day Massacre
The Saint Valentine's Day Massacre was the murder of seven members and associates of Chicago's North Side Gang that occurred on Saint Valentine's Day 1929. -
Black Tuesday (Stock Market Crash)
"Black Tuesday" hit Wall Street as investors traded some 16 million shares on the New York Stock Exchange in a single day. Billions of dollars were lost, wiping out thousands of investors. The next day, the panic selling reached its peak with some stocks having no buyers at any price. The market crash ended the period of economic growth and prosperity and led to the Great Depression.