1920s

  • Sacco and Vanzetti arrested for armed robbery and murder

    Sacco and Vanzetti arrested for armed robbery and murder
    Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti were arrested for the armed robbery and murder of Alessandro Berardelli and Frederick Parmenter in South Braintree, Massachusetts on April 15, 1920. The two Italian anarchists were convicted and executed in 1927.
  • Teapot Dome Scandal

    Teapot Dome Scandal
    It centered on Interior Secretary Albert Bacon Fall, who had leased Navy petroleum reserves at Teapot Dome in Wyoming, as well as two locations in California, to private oil companies at low rates without competitive bidding. The leases were the subject of an investigation by Senator Thomas J. Walsh.
  • KDKA goes on the air from Pittsburgh

    KDKA goes on the air from Pittsburgh
    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. The success of the KDKA broadcast and of the musical programs that were initiated thereafter motivated others to install radios.
  • 1st Miss American Pageant

    1st Miss American Pageant
    The pageant was originally called the Inter-City Beauty Contest. It was designed to attract tourists to Atlantic City after Labor Day. The first contestants wore bathing suits and were judged solely on their appearance. The first prize was a Golden Mermaid statue and cash
  • 1st Winter Olympics Held

    1st Winter Olympics Held
    The 1st winter Olympics were held in Chamonix, France, in 1924. The event included ski jumping, bobsled, curling, ice hockey, skiing, and skating
    The French Olympic Committee organized the event
    The event was a success, leading the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to establish the Winter Games in 1925.
  • The Great Gatsby published by F. Scott Fitzgerald

    The Great Gatsby published by F. Scott Fitzgerald
    On March 19, 1925, Fitzgerald expressed enthusiasm for the title Under the Red, White, and Blue, but it was too late to change it at that stage. The novel was published as The Great Gatsby on April 10, 1925
  • Scopes Monkey Trial

    Scopes Monkey Trial
    The Scopes Monkey Trial was the 1925 prosecution of a high school teacher for teaching evolution in defiance of Tennessee's Butler Act. The trial was a clash between science and religion, and a test of the constitutionality of the Butler Act.
  • Charles Lindberg completes solo flight across the Atlantic

    Charles Lindberg completes solo flight across the Atlantic
    Lindbergh's flight lasted 33.5 hours and covered nearly 3,600 miles.
    He left Roosevelt Field on Long Island, New York and landed at Le Bourget Airdrome in Paris.
    Lindbergh didn't sleep for the entire flight and became delirious from exhaustion.
    He won the Orteig Prize for his flight.
  • The Jazz Singer debuts (1st movie with sound)

    The Jazz Singer debuts (1st movie with sound)
    The Jazz Singer was produced by Warner Bros. and starred Al Jolson. The film was based on a 1925 play by Samuel Raphaelson and was said to be inspired by Jolson's life. The film's sound sequences were limited, with the rest of the dialogue using the sound cards of traditional silent films. However, the film's commercial success marked the beginning of the "talkies" and the end of the silent film era.
  • Black Tuesday (Stock Market Crash)

    Black Tuesday (Stock Market Crash)
    Black Tuesday was the stock market crash on October 29, 1929, when the New York Stock Exchange experienced a panic sell-off. It was the culmination of a series of events that led to the Great Depression, the worst economic collapse in modern history.
  • St. Valentine's Day Massacre

    St. Valentine's Day Massacre
    The St. Valentine’s Day Massacre shocked the world on February 14, 1929, when Chicago’s North Side erupted in gang violence. Gang warfare ruled the streets of Chicago during the late 1920s, as chief gangster Al Capone sought to consolidate control by eliminating his rivals in the illegal trades of bootlegging, gambling and prostitution