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Wilson's Presidency Term
Woodrow Wilson (1856-1924), the 28th U.S. president, served in office from 1913 to 1921 and led America through World War I (1914-1918).Wilson tried to keep the United States neutral during World War I, but ultimately called on Congress to declare war on Germany in 1917. After the war, he helped negotiate a peace treaty that included a plan for the League of Nations. Although the Senate rejected U.S. membership in the League, Wilson received the Nobel Prize for his peacemaking efforts. -
WW1 timeframe
World War I, also known as the Great War, began in 1914 after the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria. During the the war, the countries who were involved were Germany, Austria-Hungary, Bulgaria and the Ottoman Empire (the Central Powers) fought against Great Britain, France, Russia, Italy, Romania, Japan and the United States (the Allied Powers). Ended on November 11, 1918 -
Lusitania
Lusitania was launched in 1906 to carry passengers on transatlantic voyages and after World War I began, it remained a passenger ship, although it was secretly modified for war. On May 7, 1915, a German U-boat torpedoed the British-owned luxury steamship Lusitania, killing 1,195 people including 128 Americans -
Great Migration Timeframe
The Great Migration was the relocation of more than 6 million African Americans from the rural South to the cities of the North, Midwest and West from about 1916 to 1970. By the end of 1919, some 1 million Black people had left the South, usually traveling by train, boat or bus; a smaller number had automobiles or even horse-drawn carts. -
Lenin led a Russian Revolution
The Russian Revolution of 1917 was one of the most explosive political events of the twentieth century and the Bolsheviks was led by leftist revolutionary Vladimir Lenin, seized power and destroyed the tradition of csarist rule. It later become the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. Also called Russian Revolution of 1917, 2 revolutions in 1917, the first in February (March, New Style), overthrew the imperial government and the 2nd was in Oct (Nov), placed the Bolsheviks in power. -
Year of First Women elected to Congress (Rankin)
Jeannette Rankin of Montana, the first woman elected to the House of Representatives in 1916 and sworn into Congress in 1917. -
Selective Service Act
Around 6 weeks after the U.S formally entered WW1, the U.S Congress passes the Selective Service Act on May 18, 1917, giving the U.S. president the power to draft soldiers. When he went before Congress on April 2, 1917, to deliver his war message, President Woodrow Wilson had pledged all of his nation’s considerable material resources to help the Allies—France, Britain, Russia and Italy—defeat the Central Powers. -
Espionage Act
Congress enacted the Espionage Act of 1917 on June 15, two months after the United States entered World War I. The Espionage Act of 1917 prohibited obtaining information, recording pictures, or copying descriptions of any information relating to the national defense with intent or reason to believe that the information may be used for the injury of the United States or to the advantage of any foreign nation. -
Wilson's 14 points
Fourteen Points, (January 8, 1918), declaration by U.S. Pres. Woodrow Wilson during World War I outlining his proposals for a postwar peace settlement. In his address to a joint session of the United States Congress, formulated under 14 separate heads his ideas of the essential nature of a post-World War I settlement. -
Influenza (flu) Epidemic
The 1918 influenza pandemic was the most severe pandemic in recent history and it was caused by an H1N1 virus with genes of avian origin. Although there is not universal consensus regarding where the virus originated, it spread worldwide during 1918-1919. It is estimated that about 500 million people or one-third of the world’s population became infected with this virus and the number of deaths was estimated to be at least 50 million worldwide with about 675,000 occurring in the U.S. -
Sedition Act
On May 16, 1918, in one of the first tests of freedom of speech, the U.S Congress passes the Sedition Act, a piece of legislation designed to protect America’s participation in World War I. It permits the deportation, fine, or imprisonment of anyone deemed a threat or publishing “false, scandalous, or malicious writing” against the government of the United States. -
Schenck vs. US
Schenck v. United States, a legal case that U.S. Supreme Court ruled on Mar 3, 1919, was a freedom of speech protection afforded in the U.S. Constitution’s 1st Amendment could be restricted if the words spoken or printed represented to society a “clear and present danger.” Oral arguments in Supreme Court were heard on Jan 9, 1919, with Schenck’s counsel argued the Espionage Act was unconstitutional and that his client was simply exercising his freedom of speech guaranteed by the First Amendment. -
US rejects Treaty Of Versailles
The Treaty of Versailles was a formal peace treaty between the World War I Allies and Germany and the U.S. Senate refused to ratify Wilson's Treaty of Versailles because they feared that U.S. involvement in the League of Nations would mean that American troops might be sent into Europe and settle European disputes. On Mar 19, 1920, the U.S Senate rejected for the second time the Treaty of Versailles, by a vote of 49-35, falling seven votes short of a 2/3 majority needed for approval. -
19th Amendment
The 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution granted American women the right to vote, a right known as women’s suffrage, and was ratified on August 18, 1920, ending almost a century of protest. Black men and women also faced intimidation and often violent opposition at the polls or when attempting to register to vote. It would take more than 40 years for all women to achieve voting equality. -
Teapot Dome Scandal
Teapot Dome Scandal, also called Oil Reserves Scandal or Elk Hills Scandal, involved secretary Interior, Albert Fall who accepted valuable gifts & large sums of money from private oil companies. Fall secretly granted to Harry F. Sinclair of the Mammoth Oil Company exclusive rights to the Teapot Dome (Wyoming) reserves (April 7, 1922). The bribery scandal involving the administration of United States President Warren G. Harding from 1921 to 1923. -
Time Magazine is published for the first time
Over the last 100 years, Time Magazine was one of the most influencial magazine publications in the U.S, and around the world. On Mar 3, 1923, it hit the newsstand with its iconic one person cover, now an obscure politician, former Speaker of the House Joseph G. Cannon. Only 2/3 pages In the first edition, published in NYC by its 2 co-founders, Henry Robinson Luce and Briton Hadden and Hadden serve as its 1st editor. Original intent, to provide straight news with no particular bias. -
The first sound on film motion picture Phonofilm
April 15, 1923 - The first sound on film motion picture Phonofilm is show in the Rivoli Theatre in New York City by Lee de Forest. DeForest Phonofilm would record sound on film in parallel lines and the process of sound on film had been worked on previously by German inventors, Eric Tigerstedt, Josef Engl, Hans Vogt, and Joseph Massole, some of which de Forest knew. -
Nellie Tayloe Ross
January 5, 1925 - Nellie Tayloe Ross is inaugurated as the first woman governor of the United States in Wyoming and Miriam Ferguson is installed two weeks later as the second during a ceremony in Texas. Nellie Tayloe Ross was forty-seven years old when she ran for governor in 1924 and was sworn into office on January 5, 192 after winning election by eight thousand votes from the total of seventy-nine thousand. -
1926 SesquiCentennial International Exposition
In 1926, Philadelphia hosted the Sesquicentennial International Exposition, a world’s fair, to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. Although it opened to great fanfare, the exposition failed to attract enough visitors to cover its costs. The Sesquicentennial International Exposition, Philadelphia - June first to December first 1926 and the fair organization went into receivership in 1927 and its assets were sold at auction. -
JC Penney opens its Store #1252
October 11, 1929 - JC Penney opens its Store #1252 in Milford, Delaware, the last state in the Union to have one of their stores. The growth of the nationwide chain indicated the prosperity of the decade only two weeks before the stock market crash of 1929 would ensue. The revenue in 1928 reached $190 million dollars (today that's $2.71 billion) and when Store #1252 opened on October 11, 1929, it allowed J.C. Penney to boast that they had a store in all forty-eight states.
