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| Intro | In-Depth | Did You Know? | Best of the Web | ||||||
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In a Nutshell
Why Should I Care?
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Big Picture Analysis
Analytic Lenses
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Brain Snacks
Key Quotes
Statistics
Acronyms
Glossary
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| Timeline | People | ||||||||
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Timeline of Key Events
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Important People
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The Roaring Twenties TimelineHow It All Went Down
November 11, 1918
Germany Allies End World War IGermany and the Allies sign an armistice to end the fighting in World War I.January 29, 1919
Eighteenth AmendmentCongress ratifies the Eighteenth Amendment, prohibiting the sale of alcohol anywhere in the United States.December 6, 1919
Seattle StrikeIn Seattle, local trade unionists affiliated with both the mainstream American Federation of Labor and the radical Industrial Workers of the World organize a general strike, halting economic activity in the city for five days. The strike ultimately fails when workers, threatened with state violence and undermined by their own cautious labor leaders, return to their jobs. Still, by raising the specter of class-based revolution, the Seattle General Strike terrifies many Americans, leading to new anti-labor sentiment and the postwar Red Scare.June 28, 1919
Treaty Creates ConflictIn Paris, diplomats representing the combatant nations of World War I sign the Treaty of Versailles, which promises to sustain peace through the creation of the League of Nations but also plants the seed of future conflict by imposing mercilessly stiff reparations upon Germany.October 2, 1919
Woodrow Wilson DiesUnder heavy strain while on a speaking tour promoting the League of Nations, President Woodrow Wilson suffers a stroke, leaving him largely incapacitated for the final 18 months of his term.1920
More Urban Than RuralThe United States Census reports, for first time, that more Americans live in urban areas than in rural areas. However, "urban" is defined as any town with more than 2,500 people.January 2, 1920
Palmer RaidsThe Palmer Raids begin, launching a period of intense government persecution of radical political dissidents in response to the postwar Red Scare sweeping the nation.January 8, 1920
Steel Strike EndsThe Great Steel Strike of 1919 ends with capitulation by the steelworkers.March 19, 1920
Senate Rejects LeagueThe Senate refuses to ratify the Versailles Treaty or authorize United States participation in the League of Nations.April 1920
Too Much CottonCotton prices at New Orleans peak at 42 cents a pound, prompting Southern farmers to plant the largest crop in history. The resulting overproduction causes a collapse in prices, with cotton falling to less than 10 cents a pound by early 1921. Cotton farmers will toil in near-depression conditions throughout most of the 1920s and 30s.August 1, 1920
Garvey ConferenceCharismatic black nationalist leader Marcus Garvey, a Jamaican immigrant, convenes the first International Convention of the Negro Peoples of the World in New York's Madison Square Garden.August 18, 1920
Nineteenth AmendmentThe Nineteenth Amendment is ratified, granting women the right to vote.November 2, 1920
Harding LandslideRepublican Warren G. Harding is elected to the presidency by a landslide. Harding wins 60% of the popular vote and 75% of the electoral vote; Democrat James Cox wins only a handful of states in the South. Socialist Eugene Debs garners more than 900,000 votes despite campaigning from prison, where he is incarcerated for violating the wartime Espionage Act by giving an antiwar speech in 1918.May 19, 1921
Immigration QuotaCongress passes immigration restrictions, for the first time creating a quota for European immigration to the United States. Targeted at "undesirable" immigrants from Southern and Eastern Europe, the act sharply curtails the quota for those areas while retaining a generous allowance for migrants from Northern and Western Europe.May 31, 1921
Sacco-Vanzetti TrialThe Sacco-Vanzetti trial begins; immigrant Italian radicals Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti will eventually be convicted of murder and executed.192110
World SeriesBaseball's World Series is broadcast on radio for the first time; the New York Giants defeat the New York Yankees, five games to three.September 21, 1922
Tariffs UpCongress passes the Fordney-McCumber Tariff, sharply raising tariff duties to protect the American market for American manufactures. The tariff boosts the domestic economy of the Roaring Twenties, but it also worsens the crisis for struggling European economies like Germany's, helping to enable Adolf Hitler's rise to power there on a platform of economic grievance.1923
German ReparationsGermany, burdened by reparations payments imposed by Treaty of Versailles, suffers hyperinflation. One American dollar is now worth 7,000 German marks.1923
Yankee StadiumYankee Stadium, "The House that Ruth Built," is constructed in the Bronx, New York.August 2, 1923
Harding DiesPresident Warren G. Harding dies of stroke in a San Francisco hotel room. Vice President Calvin Coolidge ascends to presidency.January 9, 1924
Ford Motor CompanyThe market capitalization of Ford Motor Company exceeds $1 billion.May 5, 1925
Scopes Violates BanTennessee schoolteacher John Scopes is arrested for teaching evolution, in violation of new state law banning the teaching of Darwin. The ensuing "Scopes Monkey Trial," pitting defense attorney Clarence Darrow against three-time presidential candidate William Jennings Bryan in a proxy debate of modernity versus fundamentalism, captivates the nation. Scopes is eventually found guilty.August 8, 1925
Klansmen MarchForty thousand Ku Klux Klansmen march on Washington, their white-hooded procession filling Pennsylvania Avenue.August 16, 1925
Charlie Chaplin in Gold RushCharlie Chaplin's popular silent comedy premieres before enthusiastic audiences.February 5, 1927
The GeneralBuster Keaton's comedy classic The General, considered by many to be the greatest silent film ever made, premieres.April 9, 1927
Mae West ObsceneRisqué entertainer Mae West is found guilty of obscenity by a New York court and sentenced to ten days in jail.May 21, 1927
Spirit of St. LouisAviator Charles Lindbergh completes the first solo transatlantic flight, landing his "Spirit of Saint Louis" in Paris 33 hours after departing from New York. Lindbergh becomes a national hero.August 23, 1927
Immigrant RadicalsWith all possible avenues of appeal now exhausted, Italian immigrant radicals Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti are executed by electric chair.September 30, 1927
Babe Ruth 60New York Yankees star Babe Ruth hits his 60th home run of the season, breaking his own record of 59. Ruth's record will stand for more than thirty years.October 6, 1927
The Jazz SingerAl Jolson's The Jazz Singer, the first "talking" motion picture, premieres, marking the beginning of the end of the silent film era.August 27, 1928
Kellogg-Briand PactFifteen nations, including the United States, sign the Kellogg-Briand pact "outlawing" war. The unenforceable pact will be made a mockery through the rise of European fascist states in the 1930s.November 6, 1928
Hoover PresidentHerbert Hoover, running on a slogan of "A chicken in every pot, a car in every garage," is elected to the presidency, crushing Catholic Democrat Al Smith to maintain Republican dominance of the Oval Office.November 18, 1928
Mickey MouseWalt Disney's Steamboat Willie premieres, introducing the world to a new animated character—Mickey Mouse.December 14, 1929
Chicago MobIn the "Saint Valentine's Day Massacre," the single bloodiest incident in a decade-long turf war between rival Chicago mobsters fighting to control the lucrative bootlegging trade, members of Al Capone's gang murder six followers of rival Bugs Moran.October 1929
Stock Market CollapseThe American stock market collapses, signaling the onset of the Great Depression. The Dow Jones Industrial Average peaks in September 1929 at 381.17—a level that it will not reach again until 1954. The Dow will bottom out at a Depression-era low of just 41.22 in 1932. |
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