January 2 – First Red Scare: The second of the Palmer Raids takes place with another 4,025 suspected communists and anarchists arrested and held without trial in several cities.
January 5 – 1920 United States Census count begins. This becomes the first census to record a population exceeding 100 million, at 106,021,537. Because there are so many mixed-race persons and because so many Americans with some black ancestry appear white, the Census Bureau stops counting mixed-race peoples and the one-drop rule becomes the national legal standard.
January 9 – Thousands of onlookers watch as "The Human Fly" George Polley climbs New York City's Woolworth Building. He reaches the 30th floor when a policeman arrests him for climbing without a permit.
January 13 – The New York Times ridicules the American rocket scientist Robert H. Goddard. (Decades later, on July 17, 1969, as the Apollo 11 crew head to the Moon, the newspaper will retract this editorial.)[2]
January 30 – A professional wrestling match in which Joe Stecher defeats Earl Caddock at New York City's Madison Square Garden is filmed by Pioneer Film Corporation for later viewing by cinema audiences; this is the oldest surviving movie of a pro wrestling match.[5]
June 21 – The 4.9 MLInglewood earthquake shakes the Los Angeles Area with a maximum Mercalli intensity of VIII (Severe), causing more than $100,000 in damage.
June 28 – Sigma Tau Gamma Fraternity, Incorporated is founded in Warrensburg, Missouri.
KDKA (AM) of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (owned by Westinghouse) starts broadcasting as a commercial radio station. The first broadcast is the results of the presidential election.
Van Wyck Brooks publishes The Ordeal of Mark Twain, arguing that Twain's genius was twisted by the conditions and culture of late 19th-century America. This begins a reassessment of Twain, who has been seen hitherto mainly as a humorous entertainer, and his contemporaries.
^"Ruth Bought By New York Americans For $125,000, Highest Price In Baseball Annals" (PDF). The New York Times. January 6, 1920. Retrieved October 27, 2009.
^"FAQs about Robert H. Goddard". Clark University. Archived from the original on November 3, 2009. Retrieved October 27, 2009. "When was the famous New York Times editorial about Dr. Goddard?"
^"History of Alcohol Prohibition". National Commission on Marijuana and Drug Abuse. Retrieved January 17, 2020.
^Vick, Dwight (2010). Drugs and Alcohol in the 21st Century: Theory, Behavior, and Policy. Jones & Bartlett Learning. p. 128. ISBN 978-0-7637-7488-2. Retrieved January 18, 2011.
^Golway, Terry (2001). Full of Grace: An Oral Biography of John Cardinal O'Connor. New York: Simon & Schuster. p. 1. ISBN 978-0-7434-4814-7.
^McLellan, Dennis (February 13, 2010). "Walter Fredrick Morrison dies at 90; father of the Frisbee". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved February 14, 2010.
^"DeForest Kelley | actor". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved August 10, 2019.
^"The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1990". NobelPrize.org. Retrieved August 15, 2022.
^"Marvin Mandel (1920-2015)". Archives of Maryland (Biographical Series). Retrieved June 19, 2019.
^"Earl W Killian". Florida Resident Database. November 7, 2016. Retrieved December 5, 2016.
^"Helen Thomas Fast Facts". CNN.com. Retrieved July 21, 2013.
^"Journal of the Assembly (June 13, 1978)". Assembly Journal. 5. Wisconsin Legislature Legislative Reference Bureau: 4420. 1977.
^Martin Harry Greenberg; Joseph D. Olander (1980). Ray Bradbury. Taplinger Publishing Company. p. 214. ISBN 978-0-8008-6638-9.
^National Academy of Engineering (January 1, 1989). Memorial Tributes: Volume 3. National Academies Press. p. 23. ISBN 978-0-309-03939-0.
^Johnson Publishing Company (January 1989). Ebony. Johnson Publishing Company. p. 132.
^Sterling Lord, agent who championed Jack Kerouac and more, dies at 102
^Chase's Calendar of Events 2021: The Ultimate Go-to Guide for Special Days, Weeks and Months. Rowman & Littlefield. October 27, 2020. p. 616. ISBN 978-1-64143-424-9.
^"Julia A. Moore | American poet | Britannica". www.britannica.com. Retrieved August 15, 2022.
Further readingedit
Burns, Eric. (2015). 1920: The Year That Made the Decade Roar. New York: Pegasus Books. IMDB 978-1-605-98772-9.
External linksedit
Media related to 1920 in the United States at Wikimedia Commons