1927

Events from the year **1927 in the United States**.

Governors
* Governor of Alabama: William W. Brandon (Democratic) (until January 17), Bibb Graves (Democratic) (starting January 17)
* Governor of Arizona: George W. P. Hunt (Democratic)
* Governor of Arkansas: Tom Jefferson Terral (Democratic) (until January 11), John Ellis Martineau (Democratic) (starting January 11)
* Governor of California: Friend Richardson (Republican) (until January 4), Clement C. Young (Republican) (starting January 4)
* Governor of Colorado: Clarence Morley (Republican) (until January 11), Billy Adams (Democratic) (starting January 11)
* Governor of Connecticut: John H. Trumbull (Republican)
* Governor of Delaware: Robert P. Robinson (Republican)
* Governor of Florida: John W. Martin (Democratic)
* Governor of Georgia: Clifford Walker (Democratic) (until June 25), Lamartine G. Hardman (Democratic) (starting June 25)
* Governor of Idaho: Charles C. Moore (Republican) (until January 3), H. C. Baldridge (Republican) (starting January 3)
* Governor of Illinois: Len Small (Republican)
* Governor of Indiana: Edward L. Jackson (Republican)
* Governor of Iowa: John Hammill (Republican)
* Governor of Kansas: Ben S. Paulen (Republican)
* Governor of Kentucky: William J. Fields (Democratic) (until December 13), Flem D. Sampson (Republican) (starting December 13)
* Governor of Louisiana: Oramel H. Simpson (Democratic)
* Governor of Maine: Owen Brewster (Republican)
* Governor of Maryland: Albert C. Ritchie (Democratic)
* Governor of Massachusetts: Alvan T. Fuller (Republican)
* Governor of Michigan: Alex Groesbeck (Republican) (until January 1), Fred W. Green (Republican) (starting January 1)
* Governor of Minnesota: Theodore Christianson (Republican)
* Governor of Mississippi: Henry L. Whitfield (Democratic) (until March 18), Dennis Murphree (Democratic) (starting March 18)
* Governor of Missouri: Samuel Aaron Baker (Republican)
* Governor of Montana: John E. Erickson (Democratic)
* Governor of Nebraska: Adam McMullen (Republican)
* Governor of Nevada: James G. Scrugham (Democratic) (until January 3), Fred B. Balzar (Republican) (starting January 3)
* Governor of New Hampshire: John Gilbert Winant (Republican) (until January 6), Huntley N. Spaulding (Republican) (starting January 6)
* Governor of New Jersey: A. Harry Moore (Democratic)
* Governor of New Mexico: Arthur T. Hannett (Democratic) (until January 1), Richard C. Dillon (Republican) (starting January 1)
* Governor of New York: Al Smith (Democratic)
* Governor of North Carolina: Angus Wilton McLean (Democratic)
* Governor of North Dakota: Arthur G. Sorlie (Republican)
* Governor of Ohio: A. Victor Donahey (Democratic)
* Governor of Oklahoma: Martin E. Trapp (Democratic) (until January 10), Henry S. Johnston (Democratic) (starting January 10)
* Governor of Oregon: Walter M. Pierce (Democratic) (until January 10), I. L. Patterson (Republican) (starting January 10)
* Governor of Pennsylvania: Gifford Pinchot (Republican) (until January 18), John Stuchell Fisher (Republican) (starting January 18)
* Governor of Rhode Island: Aram J. Pothier (Republican)
* Governor of South Carolina: Thomas Gordon McLeod (Democratic) (until January 18), John Gardiner Richards Jr. (Democratic) (starting January 18)
* Governor of South Dakota: Carl Gunderson (Republican) (until January 4), William J. Bulow (Democratic) (starting January 4)
* Governor of Tennessee: Austin Peay (Democratic) (until October 3), Henry Hollis Horton (Democratic) (starting October 3)
* Governor of Texas: Miriam A. Ferguson (Democratic) (until January 17), Dan Moody (Democratic) (starting January 17)
* Governor of Utah: George Dern (Democratic)
* Governor of Vermont: Franklin S. Billings (Republican) (until January 6), John E. Weeks (Republican) (starting January 6)
* Governor of Virginia: Harry F. Byrd (Democratic)
* Governor of Washington: Roland H. Hartley (Republican)
* Governor of West Virginia: Howard M. Gore (Republican)
* Governor of Wisconsin: John J. Blaine (Republican) (until January 3), Fred R. Zimmerman (Republican) (starting January 3)
* Governor of Wyoming: Nellie Tayloe Ross (Democratic) (until January 3), Frank C. Emerson (Republican) (starting January 3)

Lieutenant Governors
* Lieutenant Governor of Alabama: Charles S. McDowell (Democratic) (until January 17), William C. Davis (Democratic) (starting January 17)
* Lieutenant Governor of Arkansas: Harvey Parnell (Democratic) (starting month and day unknown)
* Lieutenant Governor of California: Clement Calhoun Young (Republican) (until January 6), Buron Fitts (Republican) (starting January 6)
* Lieutenant Governor of Colorado: Sterling Byrd Lacy (Democratic) (until January 11), George Milton Corlett (Republican) (starting January 11)
* Lieutenant Governor of Connecticut: J. Edwin Brainard (Republican)
* Lieutenant Governor of Delaware: James H. Anderson (Republican)
* Lieutenant Governor of Idaho: H. C. Baldridge (Republican) (until January 3), O. E. Hailey (Republican) (starting January 3)
* Lieutenant Governor of Illinois: Fred E. Sterling (Republican)
* Lieutenant Governor of Indiana: F. Harold Van Orman (Republican)
* Lieutenant Governor of Iowa: Clem F. Kimball (Republican)
* Lieutenant Governor of Kansas: De Lanson Alson Newton Chase (Republican)
* Lieutenant Governor of Kentucky: Henry Denhardt (Democratic) (until December 13), James Breathitt Jr. (Democratic) (starting December 13)
* Lieutenant Governor of Louisiana: Philip H. Gilbert (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts: Frank G. Allen (Republican)
* Lieutenant Governor of Michigan: George W. Welsh (Republican) (until January 1), Luren D. Dickinson (Republican) (starting January 1)
* Lieutenant Governor of Minnesota: William I. Nolan (Republican)
* Lieutenant Governor of Mississippi: Dennis Murphree (Democratic) (until March 18), vacant (starting March 18)
* Lieutenant Governor of Missouri: Philip Allen Bennett (Republican)
* Lieutenant Governor of Montana: W. S. McCormack (political party unknown)
* Lieutenant Governor of Nebraska: George A. Williams (Republican)
* Lieutenant Governor of Nevada: Maurice J. Sullivan (Democratic) (until January 3), Morley Griswold (Republican) (starting January 3)
* Lieutenant Governor of New Mexico: Edward G. Sargent (Republican)
* Lieutenant Governor of New York: Edwin Corning (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of North Carolina: Jacob E. Long (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of North Dakota: Walter Maddock (Republican)
* Lieutenant Governor of Ohio: Charles H. Lewis (Republican) (until January 10), Earl D. Bloom (Democratic) (starting January 10)
* Lieutenant Governor of Oklahoma: vacant (until January 10), William J. Holloway (Democratic) (starting January 10)
* Lieutenant Governor of Pennsylvania: David J. Davis (Republican) (until January 18), Arthur H. James (Republican) (starting January 18)
* Lieutenant Governor of Rhode Island: Nathaniel W. Smith (Republican) (until month and day unknown), Norman S. Case (Republican) (starting month and day unknown)
* Lieutenant Governor of South Carolina: E. B. Jackson (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of South Dakota: Alva Clark Forney (Republican) (until January 4), Hyatt E. Covey (Republican) (starting January 4)
* Lieutenant Governor of Tennessee:
	+ until month and day unknown: Lucius D. Hill (Democratic)
	+ month and day unknown: Henry Hollis Horton (Democratic)
	+ starting month and day unknown: vacant
* Lieutenant Governor of Texas: Barry Miller (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of Vermont:
	+ until month and day unknown: Walter K. Farnsworth (Republican)
	+ month and day unknown: Hollister Jackson (Democratic)
	+ starting month and day unknown: vacant
* Lieutenant Governor of Virginia: Junius Edgar West (Democratic)
* Lieutenant Governor of Washington: W. Lon Johnson (Republican)
* Lieutenant Governor of Wisconsin: Henry A. Huber (Republican)

## Events

### January - March

* January 7 – The first transatlantic telephone call is made from New York City to London.
* February 23 – The U.S. Federal Radio Commission (later renamed the Federal Communications Commission) begins to regulate the use of radio frequencies.
* March 11
	+ In New York City, the *Roxy Theater* is opened by Samuel Roxy Rothafel.
	+ The first armored car robbery is committed by the Flatheads Gang near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

### April - June

* April 19 – Actress-playwright Mae West is sentenced to ten days incarceration for "corrupting the morals of youth" for her comedy-drama *Sex* after 375 performances on Broadway.
* April 22 – The Great Mississippi Flood of 1927 affects 700,000 people in the greatest national disaster in U.S. history at this time.
* April 30 – The Federal Industrial Institute for Women opens near Alderson, West Virginia, as the first federal prison for women in the U.S.
* May 2 – *Buck v. Bell* decided in the Supreme Court of the United States, permitting compulsory sterilization of people with intellectual disability.
* May 11 – The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, the "Academy" in "Academy Awards," is founded.
* May 14 – The University of Chicago's local collegiate organization, Phi Sigma, becomes incorporated under the laws of the State of Illinois as Eta Sigma Phi, the National Honorary Classical Fraternity.
* May 17 – Army aviation pioneer Major Harold Geiger dies in the crash of his Airco DH.4 de Havilland plane, at Olmsted Field, Pennsylvania.
* May 18 – Bath School disaster: Bombings by a disaffected local official result in 45 deaths, mostly children, in Bath Township, Michigan.
* May 20 – Aviator Charles Lindbergh makes the first solo non-stop trans-Atlantic flight, from New York to Paris in the single-seat, single-engine monoplane *Spirit of St. Louis*.
* May 23 – Nearly 600 members of the American Institute of Electrical Engineers and the Institute of Radio Engineers view the first live demonstration of television at the Bell Telephone Building in New York.
* May 26 – The final Model T rolls off the assembly line at the Ford Motor Company factory in Highland Park, Michigan, ending a run of 19 years and 15 million cars.
* June 13 – A ticker-tape parade is held for aviator Charles Lindbergh down Fifth Avenue in New York City.

### July - September

* August 2 – U.S. President Calvin Coolidge announces, "I do not choose to run for president in 1928."
* August 7 – The Peace Bridge opens between Fort Erie, Ontario, and Buffalo, New York.
* August 23 — After six years of appeals, as protests rage in capital cities around the world, Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti are electrocuted at midnight in Charlestown, Massachusetts.
* August 26 – Paul Redfern leaves Brunswick, Georgia, flying his Stinson Detroiter *Port of Brunswick* to attempt a solo non-stop flight to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. He later crashes in the Venezuela jungle (the crash site is never located).
* September 18 – The Columbia Phonographic Broadcasting System (later known as CBS) is formed and goes on the air with 47 radio stations.
* September 29 – 79 are killed and 550 are injured when a tornado strikes the St. Louis, Missouri area; it is the second-costliest and at least 24th-deadliest tornado in U.S. history.

### October - December

* October 6 – *The Jazz Singer* opens in the United States and becomes a huge success, leading to the end of the silent film era.
* October 8 – Murderer's Row: The New York Yankees complete a 4-game sweep of the Pittsburgh Pirates in the World Series.
* October 28 – Pan American Airways' first flight takes off from Key West, bound for Havana.
* November 3 – Floods devastating Vermont incur the "worst natural disaster in the state's history".
* November 4
	+ Frank Heath and his horse *Gypsy Queen* return to Washington, D.C., having completed a 2-year journey of 11,356 miles to all 48 states.
	+ The 7.3 Mw Lompoc earthquake affected the central coast of California with a maximum Mercalli intensity of VIII (*Severe*), causing a tsunami and moderate damage.
* November 10 – Unexplained explosions occur in Canton, Ohio.
* November 13 – The Holland Tunnel opens to traffic as the first Hudson River vehicular tunnel linking New Jersey to New York City.
* November 14 – The Pittsburgh Gasometer Explosion: Three Equitable Gas storage tanks in the North Side of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, explode, killing 26 people and causing damage estimated between contemporary totals of $4 million and $5 million.
* December 2 – Following 19 years of Ford Model T production, the Ford Motor Company unveils the Ford Model A as its new automobile.
* December 15 – Marion Parker, 12, is kidnapped in Los Angeles. Her dismembered body is found on December 19, prompting the largest manhunt to date on the West Coast for her killer, William Edward Hickman, who is arrested on December 22 in Oregon.
* December 17 – The U.S. submarine S-4 is accidentally rammed and sunk by the United States Coast Guard destroyer *John Paulding* off Provincetown, Massachusetts, killing everyone aboard after several unsuccessful attempts to raise the sub.
* December 27 – Kern and Hammerstein's musical play *Show Boat*, based on Edna Ferber's novel, opens on Broadway and goes on to become the first great classic of the American musical theatre.

## Memoriam

* January 17 – Juliette Gordon Low, founder of Girls Scouts of the USA (aged 66; Savannah, GA, USA)
* January 26 – Lyman J. Gage, financier and Presidential Cabinet Officer (aged 90; San Diego, CA, USA)
* January 30 – Simeon Eben Baldwin, 65th Governor of Connecticut (aged 86; New Haven, CT, USA)
* February 7 – Walter Guion, U.S. Senator from Louisiana in 1918 (aged 77; New Orleans, LA, USA)
* February 13
	+ Brooks Adams, historian (aged 78; Boston, MA, USA)
	+ Vive Lindaman, professional baseball player (aged 49; Charles City, IA, USA)
* February 20 – George McClellan, U.S. Representative from New York (aged 70; Kinderhook, NY, USA)
* February 22 – Judson Harmon, 45th Governor of Ohio (aged 81; Cincinnati, OH, USA)
* February 25 – David Baird Sr., U.S. Senator from New Jersey from 1918 to 1919 (aged 87; Camden, NJ, USA)
* March 4 – Ira Remsen, chemist (aged 81; Carmel, CA, USA)
* March 11 – August Paulsen, Danish-American businessman and philanthropist (aged 55; Spokane, WA, USA)
* April 25 – Earle Williams, actor (aged 47; Hollywood, CA, USA)
* April 27 – Albert J. Beveridge, U.S. Senator from Indiana from 1899 to 1911 (aged 64; Indianapolis, IN, USA)
* May 6 – Hudson Maxim, inventor and chemist (aged 74; Landing, NJ, USA)
* May 23 – Henry E. Huntington, railroad magnate (aged 77; Philadelphia, PA, USA)
* June 9 – Victoria Woodhull, American leader of the woman's suffrage movement (aged 88; Worcestershire, England, UK)
* June 15 – William Joseph Deboe, U.S. Senator from Kentucky from 1897 to 1903 (aged 77; Marion, KY, USA)
* July 17 – Florence Roberts, actress (aged 56; Los Angeles, CA, USA)
* August 7 – Leonard Wood, major general, physician, and public official (aged 66; Boston, MA, USA)
* August 15 – B. B. Comer, 33rd Governor of Alabama from 1907 to 1911 and U.S. Senator from Alabama in 1920 (aged 78; Birmingham, AL, USA)
* September 7 – Mary Canfield Ballard, poet and hymn-writer (aged 75; Troy, PA, USA)
* September 20 – George Nichols, American actor and director (aged 62; Hollywood, CA, USA)
* September 27 – Leopold Wharton, film director (aged 57; New York City, NY, USA)
* September 30 – Charles Kilpatrick, one-legged trick cyclist (aged 58; Danville, IL, USA)
* December 1 – Herbert S. Hadley, 32nd Governor of Missouri (aged 55; St. Louis, MO, USA)
* December 3 – Orrin Dubbs Bleakley, U.S. House of Representatives from Pennsylvania (aged 73; Robinson, IL, USA)
* December 18 – Nicholas Fessenden, politician (aged 80; Fort Fairfield, ME, USA)