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Woodrow Wilson
The 28th president -
Ford creates assimbly line
The Ford Motor Company institutes the first automobile assembly line to produce the Model T. Company founder Henry Ford breaks precedence and pays his line workers $5 a day, believing that higher wages would lead to greater worker productivity and loyalty. -
Rockefeller foundation
In one of the largest philanthropic acts in American history, John D. Rockefeller donates $100,000,000 to begin the Rockefeller Foundation. -
Establishing Mothers Day
Congress establishes Mother's Day as the second Sunday in May. -
Panama Canal
The Panama Canal officially opens after decades of toil, controversy, and diplomatic maneuvering. -
US declares war on Germany
The United States declared war on Germany. Although President Woodrow Wilson had campaigned for reelection in 1916 emphasizing how he had kept the United States out of the war, he soon realized that the United States could not stand by and remain neutral in the Great War. -
Warren G. Harding
Is the 29th President -
Thompson-Urruita Treaty
The Thompson-Urrutia Treaty with Colombia is ratified. The treaty grants Colombia $25 million as compensation for the loss of Panama, which had gained its independence in 1903 with the help of the United States. -
William Taft
Harding appoints former President William Howard Taft as chief justice of the Supreme Court. -
19th amendment
The Supreme Court unanimously finds the Nineteenth Amendment, providing for women's suffrage, constitutional. -
The Cable Act
The Cable Act, which allows an American woman to maintain her citizenship following marriage to an alien, is signed by Harding. -
Calvin Coolidge
The 30th US president -
Harding dies
President Warren Harding died in San Francisco, California, while on a speaking tour. His death was most likely due to a heart attack. -
Martial law
Governor J. C. Walton places Oklahoma under martial law in order to suppress the increasing terrorism of the Ku Klux Klan, which has reemerged in the South and Midwest in response to worsening economic conditions. -
France and US
France and the United States sign an agreement that eventually cancels sixty percent of the French debt from the Great War. -
US marines
The U.S. Marines land in Nicaragua to quiet a revolt. America military forces will maintain a presence in Nicaragua until 1933. -
First talkie
The first “talkie,” The Jazz Singer, starring Al Jolson, is released. -
KMT
The United States recognizes Chiang Kai-shek's Kuomintang (KMT) nationalist government of China and signs a tariff treaty with the Chinese. -
Herbert Hoover
The 31 US president -
Black thursday
On “Black Thursday,” the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) experiences a collapse in stock prices as 13 million shares are sold. Even wealthy investors J. P. Morgan and John D. Rockefeller, in an effort to save the market by furiously buying stock, cannot check the fall. -
Black tuesday
On “Black Tuesday,” a record 16.4 million shares of stock are traded on the NYSE as large blocks of equities are sold at extremely low prices. The trading continues the sharp downward trend of the previous week. It is an abrupt change from the over-speculation of the previous months. By December 1, NYSE stocks will have lost $26 billion in value. -
Bootlegging
A major bootlegging operation in Chicago is shut down with the arrest of 158 people from 31 organizations. Together, these groups were estimated to have distributed more than seven million gallons of whiskey nationwide with an estimated worth of around $50 million. -
London Naval Treaty
The London Naval Treaty is signed by the United States, Britain, and Japan. France and Italy refuse to sign major provisions of the treaty, which remains in effect until 1937. -
Amelia Earnhart
Amelia Earhart becomes the first woman to complete a solo flight across the Atlantic Ocean. -
Franklin D. Roosevelt
The 32nd US president -
Federal Securities Act
Congress passes the Federal Securities Act, requiring all issues of stocks and bonds to be registered and approved by the federal government. -
Revenue Act
Congress passes the Revenue Act, increasing taxes on inheritances and gifts, as well as on higher incomes and corporations. The bill reverses long-standing revenue laws that had favored America's wealthiest elite. -
Bankhead-Jones Farm Tenanc Act
Congress passes the Bankhead-Jones Farm Tenancy Act, establishing the Farm Securities Administration (FSA), which provides low-interest loans to struggling farmers. -
World war 2 starts
Germany launches a major invasion of Poland, starting the Second World War. -
US is neutral
France and Britain declare war on Germany. With limited domestic support for war, FDR declares U.S. neutrality.
