1923 in the United States

::Calvin Coolidge (R-Massachusetts) (starting August 2) - Vice President: ::Calvin Coolidge (R-Massachusetts) (until August 2) ::*vacant* (starting August 2) - Chief Justice: William Howard Taft (Ohio) - Speaker of the House of Representatives: Frederick H. Gillett (R-Massachusetts) - Senate Majority Leader: Henry Cabot Lodge (R-Massachusetts) - Congress: [67th](67th-united-states-congress) (until March 4), [68th](68th-united-states-congress) (starting March 4) #### State governments ::data[format=table] | Governors and lieutenant governors | |---| | | :: ## Events ::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6a/Calvin_Coolidge.jpg" caption="August 2: Vice President [[Calvin Coolidge]] becomes the 30th U.S. president following the death of President [[Warren G. Harding"] :: ### January–March - January 1–7 – The Rosewood massacre, a racially motivated massacre of black people and the destruction of a black town, takes place in Rosewood, Florida. - January 15 – William W. Brandon is sworn in as the 37th governor of Alabama replacing Thomas Kilby. - January 18 – Elon College's campus in North Carolina is destroyed by a fire. - February 5 – *United States v. Bhagat Singh Thind*: The Supreme Court decides that Bhagat Singh Thind cannot become a naturalized U.S. citizen because, as a Punjabi Sikh, he is not a "white person". - February 23 – The American Law Institute is incorporated. - March 1 – The USS *Connecticut* is decommissioned. - March 2 – The first issue of *Time* magazine is published. - March 23 – The governor of Oklahoma signs House Bill 197 with the Montgomery amendment outlawing the theory of evolution in public school textbooks purchased by the state, the first anti-Darwinian legislation passed in the U.S. ### April–June - April 1 – *Safety Last!*, a silent romantic comedy film starring Harold Lloyd, is released. - April 4 – Warner Bros. Film Studio is formally incorporated in the United States, as Warner Brothers Pictures, Inc., by Jack L. Warner, Harry Warner, Sam Warner and Albert Warner. - April 6 – Louis Armstrong makes his first recording, "Chimes Blues", with King Oliver's Creole Jazz Band. - April 15 – Nihon Shōgakkō fire: 10 Japanese-American children are killed in a racially motivated arson attack on a Japanese Buddhist mission school in Sacramento, California, by an itinerant Mexican-American serial arsonist. - April 18 – The first Yankee Stadium opens its doors in the Bronx, New York City. - May 9 – Southeastern Michigan receives a record 6 in of snow after temperatures plummeted from 62 F to 34 F degrees between 13:00-18:00 on the previous day. - May 15 – Riegelmann Boardwalk at Coney Island officially opened. - May 27 – The Ku Klux Klan defies a law requiring publication of its members. ### July–September - July 13 – The Hollywood Sign is inaugurated in California (originally reading *Hollywoodland*). - August 2 – Vice President Calvin Coolidge becomes the 30th president of the United States, upon the death of President Warren G. Harding. - September 3 – *Illustrated Daily News* first published in Los Angeles by Cornelius Vanderbilt IV. - September 4 – The United States Navy's first home-built rigid airship USS *Shenandoah* makes her first flight at Naval Air Station Lakehurst (New Jersey); she contains most of the world's extracted reserves of helium at this time (named and commissioned October 10). - September 8 – Honda Point Disaster: Seven U.S. Navy destroyers run aground off the California coast. - September 17 – [1923 Berkeley Fire](1923-berkeley-fire): Berkeley, California erupts, consuming some 640 structures, including 584 homes in the densely built neighborhoods north of the campus of the University of California. - September 18–26 – Newspaper printers strike in New York City. - September 24 – Rowan University opens. - September 29 – [First American Track & Field championships for women](1923-usa-outdoor-track-and-field-championships), in New Jersey ### October–December - October 1 – Mississippi something Road Signs Act came into effect. - October 15 – The New York Yankees defeat the New York Giants (baseball), 4 games to 2, to win their first World Series Title. - October 16 – Roy and Walt Disney found The Walt Disney Company. - October 19 – War Resisters League organized by Jessie Wallace Hughan. - December 10 – Sigma Alpha Kappa is founded at Loyola University New Orleans, making it the first social fraternity at a Jesuit college in the U.S. - December 20 – BEGGARS Fraternity (the second social fraternity at a Jesuit college in the United States) is founded by nine men, who have secured permission to do so from the Pope. ### Undated - Soledad C. Chacón takes office as Secretary of State of New Mexico; all subsequent holders of this office until December 2015 will also be women. - The Moderation League of New York becomes part of the movement for the repeal of Prohibition in the U.S. - Rainbow trout introduced into the upper Firehole River in Yellowstone National Park. ### Ongoing - Lochner era (c. 1897–c. 1937) - U.S. occupation of Haiti (1915–1934) - Prohibition (1920–1933) - Roaring Twenties (1920–1929) ## Births ::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a9/Ks_1996_dole.jpg" caption="[[Bob Dole"] :: - January 1 – Daniel Gorenstein, mathematician (died [1992](1992-in-the-united-states)) - January 3 – Hank Stram, American football coach and broadcaster (died [2005](2005-in-the-united-states)) - January 5 - Virginia Halas McCaskey, American football executive (died [2025](2025-in-the-united-states)) - Sam Phillips, record producer (died [2003](2003-in-the-united-states)) - January 16 – Anthony Hecht, poet (died [2004](2004-in-the-united-states)) - January 29 - Jack Burke Jr., golfer and coach (died [2024](2024-in-the-united-states)) - Paddy Chayefsky, writer (died [1981](1981-in-the-united-states)) - January 31 – Norman Mailer, writer (died [2007](2007-in-the-united-states)) - February 2 - James Dickey, poet and author (died [1997](1997-in-the-united-states)) - Red Schoendienst, baseball player (died [2018](2018-in-the-united-states)) - Liz Smith, gossip columnist (died [2017](2017-in-the-united-states)) - February 13 - James Abdnor, U.S. Senator from South Dakota from 1981 to 1987 (died [2012](2012-in-the-united-states)) - Chuck Yeager, pilot (died [2020](2020-in-the-united-states)) - February 18 – Perry J. Dahl, World War II flying ace (died [2024](2024-in-the-united-states)) - February 20 – Helen Murray Free, chemist and educator (died [2021](2021-in-the-united-states)) - February 28 - Jean Carson, actress (died [2005](2005-in-the-united-states)) - Charles Durning, actor (died [2012](2012-in-the-united-states)) - March 2 – Bob Chinn, restaurateur (d. [2022](2022-in-the-united-states)) - March 9 - James L. Buckley, judge and U.S. Senator from New York from 1971 to 1977 (died [2023](2023-in-the-united-states)) - Wayne B. Warrington Sr., Arizona civil servant (died [1989](1989-in-the-united-states)) - March 10 – Val Logsdon Fitch, nuclear physicist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physics (died [2015](2015-in-the-united-states)) - March 12 - Helen Parrish, actress (died [1959](1959-in-the-united-states)) - Mae Young, wrestler (died [2014](2014)) - March 14 – Diane Arbus, photographer (died [1971](1971-in-the-united-states)) - March 27 – Jack O'Neill, businessman (O'Neill surfwear & equipment) (died [2017](2017-in-the-united-states)) - April 1 - Leora Dana, actress (died [1983](1983-in-the-united-states)) - Bobby Jordan, actor (died [1965](1965-in-the-united-states)) - April 3 – Daniel Hoffman, poet (died [2013](2013-in-the-united-states)) - April 13 - Don Adams, actor and director (died [2005](2005-in-the-united-states)) - Stanley Tanger, businessman and philanthropist, founder of the Tanger Factory Outlet Centers (died [2010](2010-in-the-united-states)) - April 23 – Walter Pitts, logician and cognitive psychologist (died [1969](1969-in-the-united-states)) - April 25 - Timothy S. Healy, Jesuit priest and academic administrator (died [1992](1992-in-the-united-states)) - Albert King, blues guitarist and singer (died 1992) - May 1 – Joseph Heller, novelist (died [1999](1999-in-the-united-states)) - May 16 – Merton Miller, economist, recipient of the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences (died [2000](2000-in-the-united-states)) - May 27 – Henry Kissinger, United States Secretary of State, recipient of the [1973 Nobel Peace Prize](1973-nobel-peace-prize) (died [2023](2023-in-the-united-states)) - June 2 – Lloyd Shapley, mathematician, economist and Nobel Prize laureate (died [2016](2016-in-the-united-states)) - June 8 – Malcolm Boyd, priest and author (died [2015](2015-in-the-united-states)) - June 19 – Geri M. Joseph, diplomat and political figure (died [2023](2023-in-the-united-states)) - June 22 – John Oldham, basketball player (died [2020](2020-in-the-united-states)) - July 13 – Ashley Bryan, children's book writer and illustrator (died [2022](2022-in-the-united-states)) - July 14 – Robert Zildjian, musical instrument manufacturer (Sabian) (died [2013](2013-in-the-united-states)) - July 22 - Bob Dole, U.S. Senator from Kansas from 1969 to 1996, presidential candidate (died [2021](2021-in-the-united-states)) - The Fabulous Moolah, wrestler (died [2007](2007-in-the-united-states)) - July 31 – Stephanie Kwolek, polymer chemist (died [2014](2014-in-the-united-states)) - August 3 – Jean Hagen, actress (died [1977](1977-in-the-united-states)) - August 10 - Rhonda Fleming, screen actress (died [2020](2020-in-the-united-states)) - David H. Rodgers, politician (died [2017](2017-in-the-united-states)) - August 20 – Jim Reeves, country singer (died [1964](1964-in-the-united-states)) - September 1 – Rocky Marciano, boxer (died [1969](1969-in-the-united-states)) - September 3 - Glen Bell, entrepreneur, founder of Taco Bell (died [2010](2010-in-the-united-states)) - Mort Walker, cartoonist, creator of *Beetle Bailey* (died [2018](2018-in-the-united-states)) - September 9 - Daniel Carleton Gajdusek, virologist (died [2008](2008-in-the-united-states)) - Charles Grier Sellers, historian (died [2021](2021-in-the-united-states)) - September 17 – Hank Williams, country musician (died [1953](1953-in-the-united-states)) - September 18 – Al Quie, politician (died [2023](2023-in-the-united-states)) - September 26 – Jack Oliver, geophysicist (died [2011](2011-in-the-united-states)) - October 1 – Babe McCarthy, basketball coach (died [1975](1975-in-the-united-states)) - October 2 – Hershel W. Williams, Medal of Honour recipient (died [2022](2022-in-the-united-states)) - October 4 – Charlton Heston, film actor (died [2008](2008-in-the-united-states)) - October 20 – Robert Craft, orchestral conductor (died [2015](2015-in-the-united-states)) - October 23 - Ned Rorem, composer (died [2022](2022-in-the-united-states)) - Frank Sutton, actor (died [2022](1974-in-the-united-states)) - October 27 – Roy Lichtenstein, pop artist (died [1997](1997-in-the-united-states)) - November 1 – Ann B. Walker, journalist and radio broadcaster (died [2025](2025-in-the-united-states)) - November 3 – Charles Nolte, actor (died [2010](2010-in-the-united-states)) - November 6 – Robert P. Griffin, U.S. Senator from Michigan from 1966 to 1979 (died [2015](2015-in-the-united-states)) - November 8 – Jack Kilby, electrical engineer, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physics (died [2005](2005-in-the-united-states)) - November 9 – James Schuyler, poet (died [1991](1991-in-the-united-states)) - November 10 – Robert Carrier, chef (died [2006 in France](2006-in-france)) - November 18 - Ted Stevens, U.S. Senator from Alaska from 1968 to 2009 (died [2010](2010-in-the-united-states)) - Alan Shepard, astronaut (died [1998](1998-in-the-united-states)) - November 23 - Daniel Brewster, U.S. Senator from Maryland from 1963 to 1969 (died [2007](2007-in-the-united-states)) - Billy Haughton, harness racer and trainer (died [1986](1986-in-the-united-states)) - November 26 – Nat Allbright, sports commentator (died [2011](2011-in-the-united-states)) - December 2 – Maria Callas, singer (died [1977](1977-in-greece)) - December 10 – Harold Gould, actor (died [2010](2010-in-the-united-states)) - December 11 - Betsy Blair, film actress (died [2009](2009-in-the-united-states)) - Lillian Cahn, Hungarian-American businesswoman, co-founder of Coach, Inc. (died [2013](2013-in-the-united-states)) - December 12 – Bob Barker, game show host (died [2023](2023-in-the-united-states)) - December 13 - Philip W. Anderson, physicist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physics (died [2020](2020-in-the-united-states)) - Larry Doby, baseball player (died [2003](2003-in-the-united-states)) - December 23 – James Stockdale, U.S. Navy admiral and vice presidential candidate (died [2005](2005-in-the-united-states)) - December 24 – George Patton IV, U.S. Army general (died [2004](2004-in-the-united-states)) - December 29 - Dina Merrill, actress, heiress, socialite and philanthropist (died [2017](2017-in-the-united-states)) - Mike Nussbaum, actor and director (died [2023](2023-in-the-united-states)) ## Deaths ::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6f/Warren_G_Harding-Harris_&_Ewing_crop.jpg" caption="[[Warren G. Harding"] :: - January 1 – Willie Keeler, baseball player (born [1872](1872-in-the-united-states)) - January 18 – Wallace Reid, actor (born [1891](1891-in-the-united-states)) - February 6 – Edward Emerson Barnard, astronomer (born [1857](1857-in-the-united-states)) - February 14 – Charles Henry Turner, African American entomologist (born [1867](2022-in-the-united-states)) - February 15 – Minnie Willis Baines, author (born [1845](1845-in-the-united-states)) - February 24 – Edward W. Morley, scientist (born [1838](1838-in-the-united-states)) - February 26 - Walter B. Barrows, naturalist (born [1855](1855-in-the-united-states)) - George Clement Perkins, U.S. Senator from California from 1893 to 1915 (born [1839](1839-in-the-united-states)) - March 3 – Melancthon J. Briggs, lawyer and politician (born [1846](1846-in-the-united-states)) - March 6 – Joseph McDermott, actor (born [1878](1878-in-the-united-states)) - March 15 – Goat Anderson, baseball player (born [1880](1880-in-the-united-states)) - April 6 – Alice Cunningham Fletcher, ethnologist and anthropologist (born 1838) - April 11 – Mary Treat, naturalist (born [1830](1830-in-the-united-states)) - April 28 – Knute Nelson, Governor of Minnesota from 1893 to 1895 and U.S. Senator from Minnesota from 1895 to 1923 (born [1843 in Norway](1843-in-norway)) - August 2 – Warren G. Harding, 29th president of the United States from 1921 to 1923 (born [1865](1865-in-the-united-states)) - August 10 – Laura Redden Searing, deaf poet and journalist (born [1839](1839-in-the-united-states)) - October 19 – Eleanor Norcross, painter (born [1854](1854-in-the-united-states)) - October 23 – Hannah Johnston Bailey, temperance advocate and suffragist (born 1839) - November 11 – Elizabeth Eggleston Seelye, biographer (born [1858](1858-in-the-united-states)) - November 17 – Mary Bigelow Ingham, author, educator, and religious worker (born [1832](1832-in-the-united-states)) - December 28 – Frank Hayes, actor (born [1871](1871-in-the-united-states)) ## References ## References 1. (1923-01-16). ["Immense Crowd Cheers As William W. Brandon Takes Oath As State's Governor"](https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-montgomery-advertiser-brandon-sworn/129080086/). *The Montgomery Advertiser*. 2. O'Dell, Larry. ["Anti-Evolution Movement"](http://digital.library.okstate.edu/encyclopedia/entries/A/AN011.html). *Oklahoma Historical Society*. 3. (August 17, 1923). "Fire Fiend Unmasked". *Los Angeles Times*. 4. ["May Snow Storm"](http://www.crh.noaa.gov/dtx/talesmay.php). *National Weather Service*. 5. (1923-05-16). ["Crowds at Coney To Open Boardwalk"](https://www.nytimes.com/1923/05/16/archives/crowds-at-coney-to-open-broadwalk-mayor-and-other-city-officials.html). *The New York Times*. 6. Hayward, John T.. (August 1978). "Comment and Discussion". *United States Naval Institute Proceedings*. 7. Powers, Roger S.. (2012). ["Protest, Power, and Change: An Encyclopedia of Nonviolent Action"](https://books.google.com/books?id=xmlWr4aAt4EC&pg=PA563). *Routledge*. 8. ["The long legacy of the U.S. occupation of Haiti"](https://www.washingtonpost.com/history/2021/08/06/haiti-us-occupation-1915/). *Washington Post*. 9. ["Volstead Act {{!}} History, Definition, & Significance {{!}} Britannica"](https://www.britannica.com/topic/Volstead-Act). 10. (November 30, 1991). ["Ex-White House aide hid from mob for 18 years, son says"](https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9D0CEFDD153AF933A05752C1A967958260). *The New York Times*. 11. Martin, Douglas. (September 27, 2005). ["Don Adams, Television's Maxwell Smart, Dies at 82"](https://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/27/arts/television/27adams.html?ex=1285473600&en=4148e6056f84aece&ei=5090). *The New York Times*. 12. ["Jean Hagen"](http://projects.latimes.com/hollywood/star-walk/jean-hagen/). 13. [https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/24/books/charles-g-sellers-dead.html Charles Sellers, 98, Historian Who Upset the Postwar Consensus, Dies] 14. (17 February 1923). ["Article Written by Mrs. Miller is Read at Funeral"](https://www.newspapers.com/image/823937938/?article=e543c32f-034b-4b8f-9fcb-3f6ec8c5153a&terms=Minnie%20Baines-Miller). *Springfield News-Sun*. ::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1923_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/1923_in_the_United_States?action=history). ::