Events from the year 1921 in the United States.
Incumbents
Federal government President: Woodrow Wilson (D-New Jersey) (until March 4) Warren G. Harding (R-Ohio) (starting March 4) Vice President: Thomas R. Marshall (D-Indiana) (until March 4) Calvin Coolidge (R-Massachusetts) (starting March 4) Chief Justice: Edward Douglass White (Louisiana) (until May 19) William Howard Taft (Ohio) (starting July 11) Speaker of the House of Representatives: Frederick H. Gillett (R-Massachusetts) Senate Majority Leader: Henry Cabot Lodge (R-Massachusetts) Congress: 66th (until March 4), 67th (starting March 4)
State governments Governors and lieutenant governors Governors
Lieutenant governors
Events January–March
January – E. W. Scripps and William Emerson Ritter found Science Service, later renamed Society for Science & the Public, in the United States, with the goal of keeping the public informed of scientific developments. January 1 – In American football, the University of California defeats Ohio State 28–0 in the Rose Bowl. January 2 The first religious radio broadcast is heard, over station KDKA (AM) in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The De Young Museum opens in Golden Gate Park, San Francisco. January 21 – The full-length silent comedy-drama film The Kid, written, produced, directed by and starring Charlie Chaplin (in his Tramp character), with Jackie Coogan, is released. March 4 – Warren G. Harding is sworn in as the 29th president of the United States, and Calvin Coolidge is sworn in as the 29th vice president of the United States. March 25 – The first Lowe's opens in North Wilkesboro, North Carolina.
April–June April – The United States Figure Skating Association is formed. April 20 – Ferenc Molnár's play Liliom is first produced on Broadway in English. May 19 – The Emergency Quota Act passes the U.S. Congress, establishing national quotas on immigration. Because this drastically limits immigration from Eastern Europe, Jews emigrating from there begin to prefer Palestine as a destination rather than the U.S. May 22 – In the first golf international between the two countries, the United States beats the United Kingdom 9 rounds to 3. May 27 – First victim of the Osage Indian murders is discovered in Osage County, Oklahoma. May 31–June 1 – Tulsa Race Massacre (Greenwood Massacre): Mobs of white residents attack black residents and businesses in Greenwood District, Tulsa, Oklahoma. The official death toll is 36, but later investigations suggest an actual figure between 100 and 300. 1,250 homes are destroyed and roughly 6,000 African Americans imprisoned in one of the worst incidents of mass racial violence in the United States. June 15 29-year-old Bessie Coleman gets her pilot's licence in France and becomes the first African American to earn an international pilot's licence. Compagnie Générale Transatlantique's liner makes her maiden voyage from Le Havre to New York.
July–September July 2 – U.S. President Warren Harding signs a joint congressional resolution declaring an end to America's state of war with Germany, Austria and Hungary. July 11 – Former President of the United States William Howard Taft is sworn in as Chief Justice of the United States, making him the only person ever to hold both positions. July 14 – A Massachusetts jury finds Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti guilty of first degree murder following a widely publicized trial. July 26 – U.S. President Warren G. Harding receives Princess Fatima of Afghanistan who is escorted by imposter Stanley Clifford Weyman. August 5 – The first radio baseball game is broadcast: Harold Arlin announces the Pirates-Phillies game from Forbes Field over Westinghouse KDKA in Pittsburgh. August 11 Franklin D. Roosevelt's paralytic illness strikes while he is vacationing on Campobello Island; on August 25 he is diagnosed with polio and aged 39 becomes permanently disabled. James Coyle, a Catholic priest in Birmingham, Alabama, is shot and killed by Klan member E. R. Stephenson after presiding over the wedding of Stephenson's daughter, Ruth, and Pedro Gussman, a Puerto Rican working for her father. August 25–September 2 – An uprising of striking coal miners in West Virginia leads to the Battle of Blair Mountain. September - A hurricane hits Texas, followed by flooding that left at least 224 people dead. September 5 – Popular comedian Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle attends a party at the St. Francis Hotel, San Francisco, during which actress Virginia Rappe is fatally injured; although he is eventually acquitted of rape and manslaughter, the scandal derails his career. September 8 – Sixteen-year-old Margaret Gorman wins the Golden Mermaid trophy at a beauty pageant in Atlantic City, New Jersey; officials later dub her the first Miss America. September 13 – White Castle hamburger restaurant opens in Wichita, Kansas, the foundation of the world's first fast food chain.
October–December October 5 – The World Series baseball game in North America is first broadcast on the radio, by Newark, New Jersey, station WJZ, Pittsburgh station KDKA, and a group of other commercial and amateur stations throughout the eastern U.S. October 8 – The first Sweetest Day is staged in Cleveland, Ohio. October 26 – The Chicago Theatre, the oldest surviving grand movie palace, opens. October 29 Construction of the Link River Dam, a part of the Klamath Project in Oregon, is completed. 1921 Centre vs. Harvard football game: Centre College's football team, led by quarterback Bo McMillin, defeats Harvard University 6–0 to snap Harvard's five-year winning streak. For decades afterward, this is called "football's upset of the century." November 11 – During an Armistice Day ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery, the Tomb of the Unknowns is dedicated by U.S. President Warren G. Harding. November 23 – The Sheppard–Towner Act is signed by President Harding, providing federal funding for maternity and child care. December 13 – In the Four Power Treaty on Insular Possessions, the Empire of Japan, the United States, United Kingdom and French Third Republic agree to recognize the status quo in the Pacific.
Undated Simon Rodia begins construction of the Watts Towers in Los Angeles. The central tower is added to the De Young (museum) museum in Golden Gate Park, San Francisco. Potawatomi Zoo established in South Bend, Indiana. The Tau Epsilon Chi Jewish high school sorority is founded in Atlantic City, New Jersey.
Ongoing Lochner era (c. 1897–c. 1937) U.S. occupation of Haiti (1915–1934) U.S. occupation of the Dominican Republic (1916-1924) Prohibition (1920–1933) Depression of 1920–21 (1920–1921) Roaring Twenties (1920–1929)
Births
January 1 – William Pulgram, Austrian-American architect (d. 2020) January 3 John Russell, actor (d. 1991) Cecil Souders, American football player (d. 2021) January 4 – Leo Sarkisian, musicologist, broadcaster (d. 2018) January 6 – Cary Middlecoff, golfer (d. 1998) January 9 – John Sperling, businessman, founded the University of Phoenix (d. 2014) January 10 – Rodger Ward, race car driver (d. 2004) January 11 Gory Guerrero, wrestler, father of Eddie Guerrero (d. 1990) Juanita M. Kreps, government official and businesswoman (d. 2010) Judith Leiber, Hungarian-American fashion designer, businesswoman (d. 2018) January 14 – Murray Bookchin, libertarian socialist (d. 2006) January 16 – Henry Sayler, politician (d. 2021) January 17 – Herb Ellis, American actor (d. 2018) January 19 – Patricia Highsmith, crime fiction writer (died 1995 in Switzerland) January 21 – Howard Unruh, spree killer (d. 2009) January 24 – Beatrice Mintz, biologist (d. 2022)Volume 11 of Encyclopedia of World Biography, Gale Research, 1998, p. 49, January 27 Raymond E. Peet, admiral (d. 2021) Donna Reed, actress (died 1986) January 29 Anthony George, television actor (died 2005) Geraldine Pittman Woods, African American science administrator and promoter of community service (died 1999) January 31 Carol Channing, actress (died 2019) Mario Lanza, tenor, actor (died 1959) Anthony Lazzaro, university administrator (d. 2021) February 4 – Betty Friedan, feminist author (died 2006) February 8 Betsy Jochum, female baseball player (died 2025) Lana Turner, actress (died 1995) February 11 – Lloyd Bentsen, U.S. Senator from Texas from 1971 to 1993 (died 2006) February 12 Don Bollweg, baseball player (died 1996) Betty Jaynes, actress and singer (died 2018) Henry Simon, Air Force general (died 2016) February 14 Hugh Downs, broadcaster, television host, news anchor, TV producer, author, game show host, and music composer (died 2020) John Henry Waddell, artist (died 2019) February 15 Jefferson J. DeBlanc, World War II United States Marine Corps fighter ace (died 2007) Martha Farkas Glaser, Hungarian-American civil rights activist, manager of jazz musician Erroll Garner (died 2014) February 17 – Duane Gish, biochemist and academic (died 2013) February 20 – Buddy Rogers, pro wrestler (died 1992) February 24 – Abe vigoda, actor (died 2016) February 26 Jacob W. Gruber, anthropologist, archaeologist, historian and educator (died 2019) Betty Hutton, actress (died 2007) Louis Roney, opera singer (died 2017) February 27 – Michael Fox, actor (died 1996) March 1 – Richard Wilbur, poet laureate (died 2017) March 2 – Cornelius Edward Gallagher, politician (died 2018) March 3 – Diana Barrymore, actress (died 1960) March 4 – Robert F. Ruth, politician (died 2018) March 5 – Berkley Bedell, politician (died 2019) March 11 – Frank Harary, mathematician (died 2005) March 12 – Gordon MacRae, singer and actor (died 1986) March 13 – Al Jaffee, cartoonist (MAD Magazine) (died 2023) March 16 – Donald M. Kendall, businessman (d. 2020) March 27 – Tom Bevill, U.S. Representative from Alabama from 1967 to 1997 (died 2005) March 30 – Clemens Kalischer, photojournalist, art photographer (died 2018) March 31 – Peggy Rea, television actress (died 2011) April 1 Beau Jack, boxer (died 2000) Arthur "Guitar Boogie" Smith, musician and songwriter (died 2014) April 3 Robert Karvelas, actor (died 1991) Jan Sterling, actress (died 2004) April 7 – Robina Asti, flight instructor and LGBT activist (died 2021) April 9 William G. Callow, judge (died 2018) Mary Jackson, African-American mathematician and engineer (died 2005) Frankie Thomas, actor (died 2006) April 10 Chuck Connors, basketball and baseball player turned actor (d. 1992) Sheb Wooley, actor and singer (d. 2003) April 15 – Ken Potts, U.S. Navy sailor and World War II veteran (died 2023) April 20 – Kenneth O. Chilstrom, U.S. Air Force officer (died 2022) April 21 – John R. Huizenga, nuclear physicist (died 2014) April 23 Judy Agnew, Second Lady of the United States as wife of Spiro Agnew (died 2012) Janet Blair, American actress (died 2007) Warren Spahn, American baseball player (died 2003) May 1 – Boo Morcom, pole vaulter and jumper (died 2012) May 9 Daniel Berrigan, Jesuit priest, anti-war activist and poet (died 2016) Mona Van Duyn, poet and academic (died 2004) May 23 James Blish, science fiction author (died 1975) Laurin L. Henry, researcher (died 2025) May 20 – Hal Newhouser, baseball player (died 1998) May 25 Hal David, songwriter, lyricist (died 2012) Kitty Kallen, singer (died 2016) James C. Quayle, newspaper publisher (died 2000) May 30 – Leon Hale, journalist and author (died 2021) June 3 – John Shelton Wilder, politician, Lieutenant Governor of Tennessee (died 2010) June 7 – Dorothy Ruth Pirone, horse breeder and author (died 1989) June 9 – Forrest Bird, biomedical engineer (died 2015) June 10 – Jim Cullivan, American football coach (died 2024) June 13 – Nancy Warren, baseball pitcher (died 2001) June 15 – James Emanuel, African American poet and scholar (died 2013) June 17 – Tony Scott, jazz clarinetist (died 2007)