1921

Events from the year **1921 in the United States**.

## Incumbents

### Federal Government

* President: Woodrow Wilson (D-NJ) (until March 4), Warren G. Harding (R-OH) (starting March 4)
* Vice President: Thomas R. Marshall (D-IN) (until March 4), Calvin Coolidge (R-MA) (starting March 4)
* Chief Justice: Edward Douglass White (LA) (until May 19), William Howard Taft (OH) (starting July 11)
* Speaker of the House of Representatives: Frederick H. Gillett (R-MA)
* Senate Majority Leader: Henry Cabot Lodge (R-MA)
* Congress: 66th (until March 4), 67th (starting March 4)

Governors
* Governor of Alabama: Thomas Kilby (Democratic)
* Governor of Arizona: Thomas Edward Campbell (Republican)
* Governor of Arkansas: Charles Hillman Brough (Democratic) (until January 11), Thomas Chipman McRae (Democratic) (starting January 11)
* Governor of California: William Stephens (Republican)
* Governor of Colorado: Oliver Henry Shoup (Republican)
* Governor of Connecticut: Marcus H. Holcomb (Republican) (until January 5), Everett J. Lake (Republican) (starting January 5)
* Governor of Delaware: John G. Townsend Jr. (Republican) (until January 16), William D. Denney (Republican) (starting January 16)
* Governor of Florida: Sidney Johnston Catts (Prohibition) (until January 4), Cary A. Hardee (Democratic) (starting January 4)
* Governor of Georgia: Hugh M. Dorsey (Democratic) (until June 25), Thomas W. Hardwick (Democratic) (starting June 25)
* Governor of Idaho: D. W. Davis (Republican)
* Governor of Illinois: Frank O. Lowden (Republican) (until January 10), Len Small (Republican) (starting January 10)
* Governor of Indiana: James P. Goodrich (Republican) (until January 10), Warren T. McCray (Republican) (starting January 10)
* Governor of Iowa: William L. Harding (Republican) (until January 13), Nathan E. Kendall (Republican) (starting January 13)
* Governor of Kansas: Henry Justin Allen (Republican)
* Governor of Kentucky: Edwin P. Morrow (Republican)
* Governor of Louisiana: John M. Parker (Democratic)
* Governor of Maine:
	+ until January 5: Carl E. Milliken (Republican)
	+ January 5 – January 31: Frederic Hale Parkhurst (Republican)
	+ starting January 31: Percival Proctor Baxter (Republican)
* Governor of Maryland: Albert C. Ritchie (Democratic)
* Governor of Massachusetts: Calvin Coolidge (Republican) (until January 6), Channing H. Cox (Republican) (starting January 6)
* Governor of Michigan: Albert Sleeper (Republican) (until January 1), Alex Groesbeck (Republican) (starting January 1)
* Governor of Minnesota: J. A. A. Burnquist (Republican) (until January 5), J. A. O. Preus (Republican) (starting January 5)
* Governor of Mississippi: Lee M. Russell (Democratic)
* Governor of Missouri: Frederick D. Gardner (Democratic) (until January 10), Arthur M. Hyde (Republican) (starting January 10)
* Governor of Montana: Sam V. Stewart (Democratic) (until January 3), Joseph M. Dixon (Republican) (starting January 3)
* Governor of Nebraska: Samuel R. McKelvie (Republican)
* Governor of Nevada: Emmet D. Boyle (Democratic)
* Governor of New Hampshire: John H. Bartlett (Republican) (until January 6), Albert O. Brown (Republican) (starting January 6)
* Governor of New Jersey: Edward I. Edwards (Democratic)
* Governor of New Mexico: Octaviano Ambrosio Larrazolo (Republican) (until January 1), Merritt C. Mechem (Republican) (starting January 1)
* Governor of New York: Nathan L. Miller (Republican)
* Governor of North Carolina: Thomas Walter Bickett (Democratic) (until January 12), Cameron A. Morrison (Democratic) (starting January 12)
* Governor of North Dakota: Lynn Frazier (Republican) (until November 23), Ragnvald A. Nestos (Republican) (starting November 23)
* Governor of Ohio: James M. Cox (Democratic) (until January 10), Harry L. Davis (Republican) (starting January 10)
* Governor of Oklahoma: James B. A. Robertson (Democratic)
* Governor of Oregon: Ben W. Olcott (Republican)
* Governor of Pennsylvania: William Cameron Sproul (Republican)
* Governor of Rhode Island: R. Livingston Beeckman (Republican) (until January 4), Emery J. San Souci (Republican) (starting January 4)
* Governor of South Carolina: Robert Archer Cooper (Democratic)
* Governor of South Dakota: Peter Norbeck (Republican) (until January 4), William H. McMaster (Republican) (starting January 4)
* Governor of Tennessee: A. H. Roberts (Democratic) (until January 15), Alfred A. Taylor (Republican) (starting January 15)
* Governor of Texas: William P. Hobby (Democratic) (until January 18), Pat Morris Neff (Democratic) (starting January 18)
* Governor of Utah: Simon Bamberger (Democratic) (until January 3), Charles R. Mabey (Republican) (starting January 3)
* Governor of Vermont: Percival W. Clement (Republican) (until January 6), James Hartness (Republican) (starting January 6)
* Governor of Virginia: Westmoreland Davis (Democratic)
* Governor of Washington: Louis Folwell Hart (Republican)
* Governor of West Virginia: John J. Cornwell (Democratic) (until March 4), Ephraim F. Morgan (Republican) (starting March 4)
* Governor of Wisconsin: Emanuel L. Philipp (Republican) (until January 3), John J. Blaine (Republican) (starting January 3)
* Governor of Wyoming: Robert D. Carey (Republican)

Lieutenant Governors
* Lieutenant Governor of Alabama: Nathan Lee Miller (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of California: Clement Calhoun Young (Republican)
* Lieutenant Governor of Colorado: George Stepham (Republican) (until month and day unknown), Earl Cooley (Republican) (starting month and day unknown)
* Lieutenant Governor of Connecticut: Clifford B. Wilson (Republican) (until January 5), Charles A. Templeton (Republican) (starting January 5)
* Lieutenant Governor of Delaware: vacant (until January 18), J. Danforth Bush (Republican) (starting January 18)
* Lieutenant Governor of Idaho: Charles C. Moore (Republican)
* Lieutenant Governor of Illinois: John G. Oglesby (Republican) (until January 10), Fred E. Sterling (Republican) (starting January 10)
* Lieutenant Governor of Indiana: Edgar D. Bush (Republican) (until January 10), Emmett Forrest Branch (Republican) (starting January 10)
* Lieutenant Governor of Iowa: Ernest Robert Moore (Republican) (until January 13), John Hammill (Republican) (starting January 13)
* Lieutenant Governor of Kansas: Charles Solomon Huffman (Republican)
* Lieutenant Governor of Kentucky: S. Thruston Ballard (political party unknown)
* Lieutenant Governor of Louisiana: Hewitt Bouanchaud (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts: Channing H. Cox (Republican) (until January 6), Alvan T. Fuller (Republican) (starting January 6)
* Lieutenant Governor of Michigan: Luren D. Dickinson (Republican) (until January 1), Thomas Read (Republican) (starting January 1)
* Lieutenant Governor of Minnesota: Thomas Frankson (Republican) (until January 4), Louis L. Collins (Republican) (starting January 4)
* Lieutenant Governor of Mississippi: Homer H. Casteel (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of Missouri: Wallace Crossley (Democratic) (until month and day unknown), Hiram Lloyd (Republican) (starting month and day unknown)
* Lieutenant Governor of Montana: W. W. McDowell (Democratic) (until month and day unknown), Nelson Story Jr. (political party unknown) (starting month and day unknown)
* Lieutenant Governor of Nebraska: Pelham A. Barrows (Republican)
* Lieutenant Governor of Nevada: Maurice J. Sullivan (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of New Mexico: Benjamin F. Pankey (Republican) (until January 1), William H. Duckworth (Republican) (starting January 1)
* Lieutenant Governor of New York: Jeremiah Wood (Republican)
* Lieutenant Governor of North Carolina: Oliver Max Gardner (Democratic) (until January 12), William B. Cooper (Democratic) (starting January 12)
* Lieutenant Governor of North Dakota: Howard R. Wood (Republican)
* Lieutenant Governor of Ohio: Clarence J. Brown Sr. (Republican)
* Lieutenant Governor of Oklahoma: Martin E. Trapp (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of Pennsylvania: Edward E. Beidleman (Republican)
* Lieutenant Governor of Rhode Island: Emery J. San Souci (Republican) (until January 4), Harold Gross (Republican) (starting January 4)
* Lieutenant Governor of South Carolina: J. T. Liles (Democratic) (until January 18), Wilson Godfrey Harvey (Democratic) (starting January 18)
* Lieutenant Governor of South Dakota: William H. McMaster (Republican) (until January 4), Carl Gunderson (Republican) (starting January 4)
* Lieutenant Governor of Tennessee: Andrew L. Todd Sr. (Democratic) (until month and day unknown), William West Bond (Democratic) (starting month and day unknown)
* Lieutenant Governor of Texas: Willard Arnold Johnson (Democratic) (until January 18), Lynch Davidson (Democratic) (starting January 18)
* Lieutenant Governor of Vermont: Mason S. Stone (Republican) (until January 6), Abram W. Foote (Republican) (starting January 6)
* Lieutenant Governor of Virginia: Benjamin Franklin Buchanan (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of Washington: vacant (until January 10), William J. Coyle (Republican) (starting January 10)
* Lieutenant Governor of Wisconsin: Edward F. Dithmar (Republican) (until January 3), George F. Comings (Republican) (starting January 3)

## Events

### January - March

* January 1
	+ 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.
	+ 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 3 – 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 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 Vice President of the United States.
* March 25 – The first Lowe's opens in North Wilkesboro, North Carolina.

### April - June

* April 1 – 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 – Tulsa Race Massacre (Greenwood Massacre) begins: 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 1 – Tulsa Race Massacre (Greenwood Massacre) ends.
* June 15
	+ 29-year-old Bessie Coleman gets her pilot's license in France and becomes the first African American to earn an international pilot's license.
	+ Compagnie Générale Transatlantique's liner SS *Paris* 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 – An uprising of striking coal miners in West Virginia leads to the Battle of Blair Mountain begins.
* September 2 – Battle of Blair Mountain ends.
* 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.

## Memoriam

* January 20 – Mary Watson Whitney, astronomer (aged 73; Waltham, MA, USA)
* February 7 – John J. Gardner, member of the House of Representatives from New Jersey from 1893 to 1913 (aged 75; Indian Mills, NJ, USA)
* February 11 – Nat Love, African American cowboy (aged 66; Los Angeles, CA, USA)
* February 17 – Rosetta Luce Gilchrist, physician and author (aged 70; Kingsville, OH, USA)
* February 22 – William F. McCombs, lawyer and politician (aged 44; Greenwich, CT, USA)
* March 2 – Champ Clark, politician and attorney (aged 70; Washington, DC, USA)
* March 8 – Thomas H. Paynter, U.S. Senator from Kentucky from 1907 to 1913 (aged 69; Frankfort, KY, USA)
* March 29
	+ Levi Ankeny, U.S. Senator from Washington from 1903 to 1909 (aged 76; Walla Walla, WA, USA)
	+ John Burroughs, naturalist (aged 83; Kingsville, OH, USA)
* April 9 – Wharton Barker, financier and publicist (aged 74; Philadelphia, PA, USA)
* April 10 – Jeter Connelly Pritchard, U.S. Senator from North Carolina from 1895 to 1903 (aged 63; Asheville, NC, USA)
* April 21 – Tom O'Brien, baseball player (aged 60; Worcester, MA, USA)
* April 23 – John P. Young, managing editor of the San Francisco Chronicle (aged 71; Los Angeles, CA, USA)
* May 19 – Edward Douglass White, 9th Chief Justice of the United States from 1910 to 1921, Associate Justice of the Supreme Court from 1894 to 1910 and U.S. Senator from Louisiana from 1891 to 1894 (aged 75; Washington, DC, USA)
* May 26 – Donald Evans, poet, publisher, music critic and journalist (aged 36; Haverford, PA, USA)
* June 12 – Murphy J. Foster, U.S. Senator from Louisiana from 1901 to 1913 (aged 72; Franklin, LA, USA)
* June 16 – William E. Mason, U.S. Senator from Illinois from 1897 to 1903 (aged 70; Washington, DC, USA)
* July 24 – C. I. Scofield, theologian (aged 77; Long Island, NY, USA)
* August 20 – Grace Carew Sheldon, journalist and businesswoman (aged 66; Buffalo, NY, USA)
* August 25 – Peter Cooper Hewitt, electrical engineer and inventor (aged 60; Paris, France)
* September 9 – Virginia Rappe, model and silent film actress (aged 26; San Francisco, CA, USA)
* October 12 – Philander C. Knox, United States Attorney General from 1901 to 1904 and United States Secretary of State from 1909 to 1913 (aged 68; Washington, DC, USA)
* October 25 – Bat Masterson, gunfighter (aged 67; New York City, NY, USA)
* October 31 – William Egan, gangster (aged 37; St. Louis, MO, USA)
* November 26 – Charles W. Whittlesey, United States Army officer, commander of the "Lost Battalion" in World War I (suicide) (aged 37; Havana, Cuba)
* December 12 – Henrietta Swan Leavitt, astronomer (aged 53; Cambridge, MA, USA)
* December 22 – Henry Watterson, U.S. Congressman (aged 81; Jacksonville, FL, USA)
* December 31 – Boies Penrose, U.S. Senator from Pennsylvania from 1897 to 1921 (aged 61; Washington, DC, USA)