1913 in the United States

::Woodrow Wilson (D-New Jersey) (starting March 4) - Vice President: ::*vacant* (until March 4) ::Thomas R. Marshall (D-Indiana) (starting March 4) - Chief Justice: Edward Douglass White (Louisiana) - Speaker of the House of Representatives: Champ Clark (D-Missouri) - Congress: [62nd](62nd-united-states-congress) (until March 4), [63rd](63rd-united-states-congress) (starting March 4) #### State governments ::data[format=table] | Governors and lieutenant governors | |---| | | :: ## Events ### January–March ::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4d/Woodrow_Wilson-H&E.jpg" caption="March 4: [[Woodrow Wilson]] becomes the 28th U.S. president"] :: ::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/00/Thomas_Riley_Marshall_headshot_(3x4).jpg" caption="[[Thomas R. Marshall]] becomes the 28th U.S. vice president"] :: - January – The magazine *Vanity Fair* is launched in New York City by Condé Montrose Nast. - February 2 – New York City's Grand Central Terminal, having been rebuilt, reopens as the world's largest train station. - February 3 – The Sixteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution is ratified, authorizing the Federal government to impose and collect income taxes. - February 17 – The Armory Show opens in New York City. It displays the works of artists who are to become some of the most influential painters of the early twentieth century. - March 3 – The Woman Suffrage Procession takes place in Washington, D.C., initiated and organized by Alice Paul and led by Inez Milholland on horseback. - March 4 - Woodrow Wilson is sworn in as the 28th president of the United States, and Thomas R. Marshall is sworn in as the 28th vice president. - The U.S. Department of Commerce and U.S. Department of Labor are established by splitting the duties of the 10-year-old Department of Commerce and Labor. The Census Bureau, U.S. Bureau of Fisheries and U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey form part of the Department of Commerce. - The first U.S. law regulating the shooting of migratory birds is passed. - March 7 – The British freighter *Alum Chine*, carrying 343 tons of dynamite, explodes in Baltimore harbor. - March 13 – Mexican Revolution: Pancho Villa returns to Mexico from his self-imposed exile in the United States. - March 25 – Great Dayton Flood: Four days of rain in the Miami Valley flood the region and mark the worst natural disaster in Ohio's recorded history, killing over 360 people and destroying 20,000 homes, chiefly in Dayton. ### April–June - April 5 – The United States Soccer Federation is formed. - April 8 – The Seventeenth Amendment to the United States Constitution is passed, dictating the direct election of senators. - April 24 – The Woolworth Building opens in New York City. Designed by Cass Gilbert, it is the tallest building in the world at this date and for more than a decade after. - April 26 – Mary Phagan is raped and strangled on the premises of the National Pencil Factory in Atlanta. Leo Frank is tried and convicted for the crime. - May – The Paul Émile Chabas painting *September Morn* provokes a charge of indecency when displayed in the window of a Chicago art gallery. - May 1 – The Sherwood Hotel opens in Greene, NY. - May 14 – New York Governor William Sulzer approves the charter for the Rockefeller Foundation, which begins operations with a $100 million donation from John D. Rockefeller. - June 13 – An International Railway (New York – Ontario) trolley and passengers are buried under the contents of an overhead garbage chute that breaks in Niagara Falls, New York. - June 15 – Battle of Bud Bagsak in the Philippines concludes with U.S. troops under General John J. Pershing taking Bug Bagsak from defending Moro rebels, killing at least 500. ### July–September - July 3 – The fiftieth anniversary of the Battle of Gettysburg draws thousands of American Civil War veterans and their families to Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. - July 10 – The temperature in Death Valley, California, hits 134 °F (~56.7 °C), the highest recorded in the U.S. (). - August 3 – Strike action by agricultural workers in Wheatland, California, degenerates into the "Wheatland hop riot", one of the first major farm labor confrontations in the state. - September 8 – The largest commercial office building in the world opens in Saint Louis, Missouri, to great fanfare. The Railroad Exchange building houses 31 acres under one roof, and its central tenant, Famous-Barr Co., becomes the world's largest department store with over 1,500,000 square feet. - September 19 – Francis Ouimet wins the U.S. Open (golf) championship by five strokes, becoming the first amateur to ever win the event. ### October–December - October 3 – The United States Revenue Act of 1913 re-imposes the federal income tax and lowers basic tariff rates from 40% to 25%. - October 7–December 1 – The Ford Motor Company adopts a moving assembly line for chassis production of the Model T at its Highland Park Plant in Highland Park, Michigan (Detroit), reducing assembly time from 12½ hours to 2 hours 40 minutes, a landmark in mass production. Between 1912 and 1914 the retail price of a Model T drops by $150. - October 10 – President Woodrow Wilson triggers the explosion of the Gamboa Dike, ending construction on the Panama Canal. - October 31 - Indianapolis Streetcar Strike of 1913: Public transport employees in Indianapolis go on strike, shutting down mass transit in the city and sparking riots when strikebreakers attempt to restart services. - The Lincoln Highway, the first automobile road across the United States, is dedicated. - November 7–11 – The Great Lakes Storm of 1913 kills more than 250. - November 26 – Phi Sigma Sigma, the first non-sectarian sorority, is founded at Hunter College in New York. - December 21 – Arthur Wynne's "word-cross", the first crossword puzzle, is published in the *New York World*. - December 23 – The Federal Reserve is created by Woodrow Wilson. - December 24 – Italian Hall disaster: 73 people are killed in a stampede at the Italian Hall in Calumet, Michigan (59 of them children) during a party for over 400 miners and their families involved in the Copper Country strike of 1913–14. ### Undated - The two cities of "Winston" and "Salem" in North Carolina officially merge to become Winston-Salem. - Portuguese emigration to the Hawaiian Islands (1878–1913) ends. - The National Temperance Council is founded to promote the temperance movement. - R. J. Reynolds introduces Camel, the first packaged cigarette. - First Erector Set construction toy marketed. - Louis Armstrong begins playing the cornet, in the band of the New Orleans Home for Colored Waifs. - The Bureau of Commercial Economics, founded in Philadelphia, was one of the largest film libraries in its day and the only one that was international. ### Ongoing - Progressive Era (1890s–1920s) - Lochner era (c. 1897–c. 1937) ## Births - January 1 – Norman Rosten, poet, playwright and novelist (died [1995](1995-in-the-united-states)) - January 6 – Loretta Young, actress (died [2000](2000-in-the-united-states)) - January 7 – Victor H. Krulak, United States Marine Corps general (died [2008](2008-in-the-united-states)) - January 9 – Richard Nixon, 37th president of the United States from 1969 to 1974, 36th vice president of the United States from 1953 to 1961 (died [1994](1994-in-the-united-states)) - January 11 – Jean Murrell Capers, judge (died [2017](2017-in-the-united-states)) - January 15 – Lloyd Bridges, film and television actor (died [1998](1998-in-the-united-states)) - January 17 – Everett Parker, civil rights activist (died [2015](2015-in-the-united-states)) - January 20 – W. Cleon Skousen, author and academic (died [2006](2006-in-the-united-states)) - January 23 – Wally Parks, founder of the NHRA (died [2007](2007-in-the-united-states)) - January 29 – Victor Mature, film actor (died [1999](1999-in-the-united-states)) - January 31 – Murray Bowen, psychiatrist, pioneer of family therapy (died [1990](1990-in-the-united-states)) - February 4 - Frank P. Keller, film editor (died [1977](1977-in-the-united-states)) - Rosa Parks, African American Civil Rights activist (died [2005](2005-in-the-united-states)) - February 8 - Norman H. Boke, plant anatomist (died [1996](1996-in-the-united-states)) - February 14 - Mel Allen, sports reporter (died [1996](1996-in-the-united-states)) - Woody Hayes, college football coach (died [1987](1987-in-the-united-states)) - Jimmy Hoffa, labor union leader (died [1975](1975-in-the-united-states)) - February 20 – Tommy Henrich, baseball player (died [2009](2009-in-the-united-states)) - February 27 – Irwin Shaw, playwright, screenwriter and novelist (died [1984](1984-in-the-united-states)) - March 7 – Gordon Willey, archaeologist (died [2002](2002-in-the-united-states)) - March 12 – Loulie Jean Norman, singer (died [2005](2005-in-the-united-states)) - March 22 – Tom McCall, politician and journalist (died [1983](1983-in-the-united-states)) - March 31 – Etta Baker, Piedmont blues guitarist (died [2006](2006-in-the-united-states)) - April 4 - Cecil Gant, blues singer, songwriter and pianist (died [1951](1951-in-the-united-states)) - Rosemary Lane, singer (died [1974](1974-in-the-united-states)) - Frances Langford, singer, actress (died [2005](2005-in-the-united-states)) - Muddy Waters, African-American musician (died [1983](1983-in-the-united-states)) - April 7 - Louise Currie, actress (died [2013](2013-in-the-united-states)) - Florence S. Jacobsen, Mormon leader (died [2017](2017-in-the-united-states)) - Charles Vanik, politician (died [2007](2007-in-the-united-states)) - April 8 – Benedict J. Semmes Jr., admiral (died [1994](1994-in-the-united-states)) - May 8 – Bob Clampett, animator, director, producer and puppeteer (died [1984](1984-in-the-united-states)) - May 16 – Woody Herman, jazz clarinetist and bandleader (died [1987](1987-in-the-united-states)) - May 24 – Peter Ellenshaw, matte designer (died [2007](2007-in-the-united-states)) - May 25 – Benjamin Melniker, producer (died [2018](2018-in-the-united-states)) - June 6 – Carlo L. Golino, scholar (died [1991](1991-in-the-united-states)) - June 11 – Vince Lombardi, American football coach (died [1970](1970-in-the-united-states)) - June 18 – Sammy Cahn, songwriter (died [1993](1993-in-the-united-states)) - June 27 – Richard Pike Bissell, author (died [1977](1977-in-the-united-states)) - July 1 - Lee Guttero, basketball player (died [2004](2004-in-the-united-states)) - Frederick Malkus, politician (died [1999](1999-in-the-united-states)) - Frank Barrett, baseball relief pitcher (died [1998](1998-in-the-united-states)) - July 5 – Smiley Lewis, New Orleans rhythm and blues singer, guitarist (died [1966](1966-in-the-united-states)) - July 6 – Vance Trimble, journalist (died [2021](2021-in-the-united-states)) - July 7 - Pinetop Perkins, African American blues pianist (died [2011](2011-in-the-united-states)) - Lu Ann Meredith, actress (died [1998](1998-in-the-united-states)) - July 8 – Bill Thompson, voice actor (died [1971](1971-in-the-united-states)) - July 12 - Edith Nash, educator and poet (died [2003](2003-in-the-united-states)) - Philip Mayer Kaiser, diplomat (died [2007](2007-in-the-united-states)) - Willis Lamb, physicist and Nobel laureate (died [2008](2008-in-the-united-states)) - July 13 – Kay Linaker, actress (died [2008](2008-in-the-united-states)) - July 14 – Gerald Ford, 38th president of the United States from 1974 to 1977, 40th vice president of the United States from 1973 to 1974 (died [2006](2006-in-the-united-states)) - July 15 – Gene Wettstone, gymnastics coach (died [2013](2013-in-the-united-states)) - July 16 – Herman Gundlach, American football offensive lineman (died [2005](2005-in-the-united-states)) - July 17 – Bertrand Goldberg, architect (died [1997](1997-in-the-united-states)) - July 19 – Fred Agnich, geophysicist and politician (died [2004](2004-in-the-united-states)) - July 24 – Robert Emhardt, actor (died [1994](1994-in-the-united-states)) - July 30 – Lou Darvas, cartoonist (died [1987](1987-in-the-united-states)) - August 8 - Robert Stafford, 71st Governor of Vermont ( died 2006 - John Facenda, sports broadcaster, chief narrator for NFL Films (died [1984](1984-in-the-united-states)) - Cecil Travis, baseball player, shortstop and third baseman for the Washington Senators (died [2006](2006-in-the-united-states)) - August 9 – Herman Talmadge, U.S. Senator from Georgia from 1957 to 1981 (died [2002](2002-in-the-united-states)) - August 16 – Helen F. Holt, politician (died [2015](2015-in-the-united-states)) - August 17 - W. Mark Felt, FBI agent also known as "Deep Throat" from Watergate scandal (died [2008](2008-in-the-united-states)) - Rudy York, baseball player (died [1970](1970-in-the-united-states)) - August 20 – Roger Wolcott Sperry, neuropsychologist and neurobiologist, winner of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1981 (died [1994](1994-in-the-united-states)) - August 31 – Helen Levitt, photographer (died [2009](2009-in-the-united-states)) - September 1 – Christian Nyby, director and producer (died [1993](1993-in-the-united-states)) - September 2 – Alex Lovy, animator (died [1992](1992-in-the-united-states)) - September 4 - Mickey Cohen, gangster (died [1976](1976-in-the-united-states)) - Boone Guyton, test pilot (died [1996](1996-in-the-united-states)) - Stanford Moore, chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (died [1982](1982-in-the-united-states)) - September 10 – Lincoln Gordon, diplomat (died [2009](2009-in-the-united-states)) - September 11 - Bear Bryant, American football coach (died [1984](1984-in-the-united-states)) - Eugenia Rawls, actress (died [2000](2000-in-the-united-states)) - September 12 – Jesse Owens, athlete (died [1980](1980-in-the-united-states)) - September 13 – Roy Engel, actor (died [1980](1980-in-the-united-states)) - November 2 – Burt Lancaster, film actor (died 1994) - November 8 – Max Desfor, news photographer, winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Photography in 1951 (died [2018](2018-in-the-united-states)) - November 13 - Landrum Bolling, political scientist and academic administrator (died [2018](2018-in-the-united-states)) - Alexander Scourby, actor (died [1985](1985-in-the-united-states)) - November 14 – George Smathers, U.S. Senator from Florida from 1951 to 1969 (died [2007](2007-in-the-united-states)) - December 2 – Jerry Sohl, scriptwriter (died [2002](2002-in-the-united-states)) - December 8 – Delmore Schwartz, poet (died [1966](1966-in-the-united-states)) - December 15 – Muriel Rukeyser, poet (died [1980](1980-in-the-united-states)) - December 21 – Arnold Friberg, painter and illustrator (died [2010](2010-in-the-united-states)) - December 25 - Candy Candido, voice actor (died [1999](1999-in-the-united-states)) - Tony Martin, actor and singer (died [2012](2012-in-the-united-states)) - December 28 – Charles Maxwell, actor (died [1993](1993-in-the-united-states)) ## Deaths - January 16 – Thaddeus S. C. Lowe, aeronaut, scientist and inventor (born [1832](1832-in-the-united-states)) - January 30 – James Henderson Berry, U.S. Senator from Arkansas from 1885 to 1907 (born [1841](1841-in-the-united-states)) - February 13 – Charles Major, novelist (born [1856](1856-in-the-united-states)) - February 17 – Joaquin Miller, "Poet of the Sierras" (born [1837](1837-in-the-united-states)) - March 10 – Harriet Tubman, African-American abolitionist, humanitarian and Civil War Union spy (born c. [1822](1822-in-the-united-states)) - March 11 – John Shaw Billings, military and medical leader (born [1838](1838-in-the-united-states)) - March 31 – J. P. Morgan, financier and banker (born [1837](1837-in-the-united-states)) - May 1 – John Barclay Armstrong, Texas Ranger and U.S. Marshal (born [1850](1850-in-the-united-states)) - May 8 – Frank O. Briggs, U.S. Senator from New Jersey from 1907 to 1913 (born [1851](1851-in-the-united-states)) - June 1 – Thomas W. Palmer, U.S. Senator from Michigan from 1883 to 1889 (born [1830](1830-in-the-united-states)) - June 5 – Chris von der Ahe, brewer and baseball owner (born [1851](1851) in Prussia) - June 19 – Thomas M. Norwood, U.S. Senator from Georgia from 1871 to 1877 (born [1830](1830-in-the-united-states)) - July 3 – Horatio Nelson Young, Civil War Union naval hero (born [1845](1845-in-the-united-states)) - July 13 – Edward Burd Grubb, Jr., Civil War Union Brevet Brigadier General (born [1841](1841-in-the-united-states)) - August 3 - Alpheus Michael Bowman, politician and businessman (born [1847](1847-in-the-united-states)) - Josephine Cochrane, inventor of the first commercially successful dishwasher (born [1839](1839-in-the-united-states)) - August 7 – Samuel Franklin Cody, aviation pioneer, dies in aircraft accident in England (born [1867](1867-in-the-united-states)) - August 8 – Joseph F. Johnston, U.S. Senator from Alabama from 1907 to 1913 (born [1843](1843-in-the-united-states)) - August 12 – U. M. Rose, Arkansas lawyer (born [1834](1834-in-the-united-states)) - September 3 – John Martin, U.S. Senator from Kansas from 1893 to 1895 (born [1833](1833-in-the-united-states)) - October 16 – Ralph Rose, field athlete (born [1885](1885-in-the-united-states)) - October 24 – Cornelia Cole Fairbanks, Second Lady of the United States (died [1852](1852-in-the-united-states)) - November 20 – Helen Appo Cook, African American community activist (born [1837](1837-in-the-united-states)) - November 28 – George B. Post, architect (born [1837](1837-in-the-united-states)) - December 7 – Aaron Montgomery Ward, businessman, inventor of mail order (born [1844](1844-in-the-united-states)) - December 19 – Gustav Oelwein, founder of Oelwein, Iowa (born [1838](1838-in-the-united-states)) - December 25 – Letitia Stevenson, Second Lady of the United States (born [1843](1843-in-the-united-states)) - December 26 – Ambrose Bierce, writer and journalist, lost after this date in Mexican Revolution (born [1842](1842-in-the-united-states)) ## References ## References 1. (1913-03-08). ["Ship Blows Up"](https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1913/03/08/100256597.pdf). *[[The New York Times]]*. 2. Swan, Tony. (April 2013). ["Ford's Assembly Line Turns 100: How It Really Put the World on Wheels"](http://www.caranddriver.com/features/fords-assembly-line-turns-100-how-it-really-put-the-world-on-wheels-feature). *[[Car and Driver]]*. 3. ["October 7 1913: Moving assembly line debuts at Ford factory"](http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/moving-assembly-line-at-ford). *[[History (U.S. TV channel)*. 4. ["December 1 1913: Ford's assembly line starts rolling"](https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/fords-assembly-line-starts-rolling). *The History Channel*. 5. ["Rosa Parks {{!}} Biography & Facts"](https://www.britannica.com/biography/Rosa-Parks). 6. [https://www.nkytribune.com/2021/06/legendary-editor-of-the-kentucky-post-author-vance-trimble-dies-at-age-107-in-wewoka-oklahoma/ Legendary editor of The Kentucky Post, author Vance Trimble, dies at age 107 in Wewoka, Oklahoma] 7. (30 May 2007). ["Obituary: Philip Kaiser"](https://www.theguardian.com/news/2007/may/31/guardianobituaries.usa). *The Guardian*. 8. Gribbin, John. (2000). "Q is for quantum : an encyclopedia of particle physics". *Touchstone*. 9. ["Frederick Joseph Agnich"](http://gsinet.us/text/Frederick.Joseph.Agnich_2004). *Dallas Morning News, October 31, 2004*. 10. {{Biographical Directory of Congress. S000776 11. Borklund, Elmer. (1977). "Contemporary literary critics". *St. James Press St. Martin's Press*. ::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1913_in_the_United_States) and is available under the [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the [article history page](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1913_in_the_United_States?action=history). ::