1920

Events in 1920 76

• 1837 – 1920 William Dean Howells (1837-1920) Died 11 May 1920, aged 83 American novelist, literary critic, and editor known as the "Dean of American Letters" for his influence on realist fiction. He edited the Atlantic Monthly and championed writers including Mark Twain and Henry James. His own novels include "The Rise of Silas Lapham."
• 1843 – 1920 Benito Perez Galdos (1843-1920) Died 4 January 1920, aged 76 Spanish novelist widely regarded as the leading figure of nineteenth-century Spanish literary realism after Cervantes. His extensive body of work includes the multi-volume "Episodios Nacionales" chronicling Spanish history. He was repeatedly nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature but never won.
• 1846 – 1920 Peter Carl Faberge (1846-1920) Died 24 September 1920, aged 74 Russian jeweller famed for the ornate Faberge eggs he created for the Russian imperial family. He fled Russia after the Bolshevik Revolution and died in exile in Switzerland. His firm's work remains among the most celebrated in the history of decorative arts.
• 1856 – 1920 Bal Gangadhar Tilak (1856-1920) Died 1 August 1920, aged 64 Indian nationalist leader and one of the first popular advocates of complete Indian self-rule, known by the epithet "Lokmanya." He was a prominent voice in the Indian independence movement before the rise of Mahatma Gandhi. His death was followed the same month by Gandhi's launch of the non-cooperation movement.
• 1856 – 1920 Robert Peary (1856-1920) Died 20 February 1920, aged 63 American explorer who led the expedition credited with being first to reach the North Pole in 1909, a claim that remains disputed. He was a US Navy rear admiral and one of the best-known polar explorers of his era.
• 1859 – 1920 Venustiano Carranza (1859-1920) Died 21 May 1920, aged 60 Mexican revolutionary leader who served as president of Mexico from 1917 to 1920 and oversaw the drafting of the 1917 constitution. He was killed while fleeing forces loyal to rebel generals who had risen against him. His death marked the end of the constitutionalist phase of the Mexican Revolution.
• 1864 – 1920 Max Weber (1864-1920) Died 14 June 1920, aged 56 German sociologist and political economist regarded as one of the founders of modern sociology. His works, including "The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism," examined the relationship between religion, rationalization, and modern society. He died of pneumonia in Munich.
• 1884 – 1920 Amedeo Modigliani Modernism · Italy Amedeo Modigliani (July 12, 1884 – January 24, 1920) was an Italian Modernist painter and sculptor known for his elongated, mask-like portraits and nudes. He died of tubercular meningitis at 35, his work largely unrecognised in his lifetime.
• 1887 – 1920 John Reed (1887-1920) Died 17 October 1920, aged 32 American journalist and communist activist best known for "Ten Days That Shook the World," his firsthand account of the Russian Revolution. He co-founded the Communist Labor Party in the United States. He died of typhus in Moscow and was buried at the Kremlin Wall Necropolis.
• 1887 – 1920 Srinivasa Ramanujan (1887-1920) Died 26 April 1920, aged 32 Self-taught Indian mathematician who made extraordinary contributions to number theory, infinite series, and continued fractions despite having almost no formal training. His collaboration with G. H. Hardy at Cambridge produced results still studied today. He died of illness shortly after returning to India.
• 1918 – 1920 Spanish flu 50 million+ deaths The 1918–1920 influenza pandemic infected 500 million people and killed an estimated 50–100 million — more than World War I.
• 1918 – 1920 The influenza pandemic Worldwide First recorded at a Kansas army camp and spread by troop movements, the pandemic killed somewhere between 25 and 50 million people — more than the war itself. Wartime censorship meant only neutral Spain reported it freely, which is how it got its name.
• 1919 – 1920 The Paris Peace Conference Paris, France Thirty-two states attended; Germany and Russia were not invited. Clemenceau wanted security, Lloyd George a workable Europe, Wilson his principles. The maps drawn here are still being contested.
• 1920 – 1959 Boris Vian (1920-1959) Died 23 June 1959, aged 39 Vian was a French novelist, poet, and jazz trumpeter whose surrealist novel Froth on the Daydream and satirical songwriting made him a fixture of postwar Parisian bohemian culture. He also wrote hardboiled crime fiction under the pseudonym Vernon Sullivan. He died of a heart attack at a screening of a film adaptation of one of his own novels.
• 1920 – 1955 Charlie Parker (1920-1955) Died 12 March 1955, aged 34 Charlie Parker was an American saxophonist and composer who helped pioneer bebop jazz. Known as "Bird," he transformed jazz improvisation through his virtuosic technique and harmonic innovation. He died in New York City after years of ill health worsened by drug addiction.
• 1920 Harlem Renaissance African-American arts flourish The Harlem Renaissance saw an explosion of African-American literature, art, and music that reshaped American culture and identity.
• 1920 – 1965 King Farouk of Egypt (1920-1965) Died 18 March 1965, aged 45 Farouk was the last reigning King of Egypt and Sudan, ruling from 1936 until his forced abdication in the 1952 coup that established the Egyptian republic. He spent his remaining years in exile in Italy and France. He died of a heart attack while dining in Rome on 18 March 1965.
• 1920 – 1966 Montgomery Clift (1920-1966) Died 23 July 1966, aged 45 Montgomery Clift was an American actor acclaimed for films including A Place in the Sun and From Here to Eternity. He died of a heart attack at his New York home on 23 July 1966.
• 1920 Women vote in US Women vote in US The Nineteenth Amendment was ratified on 18 August 1920 when Tennessee became the thirty-sixth state to approve it, barring the denial of the vote on grounds of sex. It capped seven decades of campaigning that began at Seneca Falls in 1848. In practice many Black women remained disenfranchised until the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
• 1920 – 1992 Isaac Asimov (1920-1992) Died 6 April 1992, aged 72 Isaac Asimov was a prolific author and biochemist best known for science fiction works including the Foundation series and the Three Laws of Robotics. He wrote or edited nearly 500 books across fiction and popular science. He died in New York from complications of HIV contracted through a blood transfusion.
• 1920 Palmer Raids US government arrests thousands of suspected radicals Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer led a series of raids across the United States targeting suspected anarchists and communists during the First Red Scare. Thousands were arrested, many without warrants, and hundreds of foreign nationals were later deported. The raids drew criticism for widespread civil liberties violations.
• 1920 – 2012 Sun Myung Moon (1920-2012) Died 3 September 2012, aged 92 Korean religious leader who founded the Unification Church and was known for officiating mass wedding ceremonies. He died of pneumonia in South Korea.
• 1920 League of Nations Founded International organization for peace established The League of Nations formally came into existence as the Treaty of Versailles entered into force, creating the first worldwide intergovernmental organization for maintaining peace. Its headquarters were established in Geneva, Switzerland. The League operated until being succeeded by the United Nations after World War II.
• 1920 Prohibition Begins in the United States Manufacture and sale of alcohol banned nationwide The Volstead Act took effect, enforcing the Eighteenth Amendment and banning the manufacture, sale, and transport of alcoholic beverages across the United States. The law gave rise to widespread bootlegging and organized crime. It remained in force until repeal in 1933.
• 1920 – 1999 DeForest Kelley (1920-1999) Died 11 June 1999, aged 79 DeForest Kelley played Dr. Leonard 'Bones' McCoy in the original Star Trek television series and its film sequels. His character became one of the franchise's most enduring figures. He died of stomach cancer in Woodland Hills, California.
• 1920 – 1993 Federico Fellini Cinema Maestro One of the most influential filmmakers of all time, known for masterpieces like La Dolce Vita.
• 1920 – 1956 Stan Ockers The Belgian Hero 1955 World Champion; a hero of post-war Belgian cycling.
• 1920 Schleswig Plebiscites Referendums redraw the Danish-German border Voters in Schleswig chose by referendum whether to join Denmark or remain part of Germany, held in two zones under the terms of the Treaty of Versailles. The northern zone voted to join Denmark while the southern zone remained German. The new border was formally established later that year.
• 1920 Coto War Border conflict between Panama and Costa Rica Panama and Costa Rica fought a brief border war over the disputed Coto region. Costa Rican forces prevailed after several weeks of fighting. United States pressure ultimately forced Panama to withdraw and accept the earlier arbitration award favoring Costa Rica.
• 1920 Nazi Party Issues 25-Point Program Adolf Hitler announces the platform of the NSDAP At a public meeting in Munich, Adolf Hitler presented the twenty-five-point program of the German Workers' Party, which was renamed the National Socialist German Workers' Party shortly after. The platform combined nationalist, antisemitic, and anti-capitalist demands. It became the party's official manifesto for the next two decades.
• 1920 Czechoslovakia Adopts Its First Constitution New republic establishes parliamentary democracy The National Assembly of Czechoslovakia adopted the country's first constitution, establishing a parliamentary democratic republic. The document drew partly on French and American constitutional principles. It governed the state until the Munich Agreement in 1938.
• 1920 – 2005 James Doohan (1920-2005) Died 20 July 2005, aged 85 James Doohan, the Canadian actor who played chief engineer Montgomery "Scotty" Scott in the original "Star Trek" series and films, died on 20 July 2005. His catchphrases and performance made the character one of the most recognizable in science fiction. Doohan had lost part of a finger and been wounded in combat during D-Day in 1944.
• 1920 Kapp Putsch Failed right-wing coup against the Weimar government A group of right-wing nationalists and Freikorps units led by Wolfgang Kapp seized Berlin in an attempt to overthrow the Weimar Republic. A general strike by workers paralyzed the city and the coup collapsed within days. The failed putsch exposed the fragility of Germany's young democracy.
• 1920 US Senate Rejects Treaty of Versailles Second vote confirms United States will not join the League of Nations The US Senate voted for a second time against ratifying the Treaty of Versailles, falling short of the two-thirds majority required. The vote confirmed that the United States would not join the League of Nations it had helped create. The US later signed separate peace treaties with Germany and its allies.
• 1920 – 2000 Werner Klemperer (1920-2000) Died 6 December 2000, aged 80 Werner Klemperer, son of the conductor Otto Klemperer, fled Nazi Germany as a boy and became an American actor. He won two Emmy Awards as the bumbling Colonel Klink in the sitcom Hogan's Heroes, taking the role on condition that Klink always be outwitted. He was also an accomplished concert narrator and singer.
• 1920 Nabi Musa Riots Violence erupts in Jerusalem during religious festival Arab-Jewish violence broke out in Jerusalem during the annual Nabi Musa festival, leaving several people dead and many wounded on both sides. The unrest prompted British authorities to tighten control over the city. The riots are often cited as an early episode of the Arab-Israeli conflict.
• 1920 – 2012 Ravi Shankar (1920-2012) Died 11 December 2012, aged 92 Indian musician and composer credited with popularizing the sitar and Indian classical music in the West. He mentored George Harrison of the Beatles and performed at Woodstock and the Concert for Bangladesh.
• 1920 San Remo Conference Allied powers allocate League of Nations mandates in the Middle East Allied leaders meeting in San Remo, Italy, decided the allocation of mandates over former Ottoman territories, assigning Palestine and Iraq to Britain and Syria and Lebanon to France. The conference incorporated the Balfour Declaration's support for a Jewish national home in Palestine into the mandate terms. The decisions shaped the political map of the modern Middle East.
• 1920 1920 Summer Olympics VII Olympiad - Antwerp First time the Olympic flag was flown. Winner: USA.
• 1920 Sovietization of Azerbaijan Red Army invasion ends Azerbaijani independence The Soviet 11th Army invaded the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic and installed a Bolshevik government in Baku, ending the country's brief period of independence. Azerbaijan became a Soviet republic and was later incorporated into the Transcaucasian SFSR. It did not regain independence until 1991.
• 1920 Sacco and Vanzetti Arrested Anarchists charged in Massachusetts robbery-murder case Italian-born anarchists Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti were arrested in Massachusetts and charged with robbery and murder. Their trial and eventual 1927 execution became an international cause celebre, with many believing they were convicted for their political beliefs and immigrant origins rather than the evidence. The case remains a landmark episode in debates over justice and prejudice in America.
• 1920 – 2002 Peggy Lee (1920-2002) Died 21 January 2002, aged 81 Peggy Lee was an American singer and songwriter known for a cool, understated delivery on hits such as 'Fever' and 'Is That All There Is'. She rose to fame with the Benny Goodman orchestra in the early 1940s before a long solo career. She also co-wrote songs for Disney's Lady and the Tramp and voiced several of its characters.
• 1920 Treaty of Trianon Signed Peace treaty formalizes dismantling of the Kingdom of Hungary Hungary signed the Treaty of Trianon with the Allied powers, formally ending World War I hostilities and confirming the loss of roughly two-thirds of its pre-war territory and population. The treaty redrew borders across Central Europe, enlarging Czechoslovakia, Romania, and Yugoslavia at Hungary's expense. It remains a deeply contested episode in Hungarian national memory.
• 1920 – 2003 Alberto Sordi (1920-2003) Died 24 February 2003, aged 82 Alberto Sordi was one of the most popular Italian film actors of the postwar era, appearing in some 150 films that satirised the habits and hypocrisies of the ordinary Italian. His comic everyman became a national archetype, and around a million people attended his funeral in Rome.
• 1920 – 1985 Yul Brynner (1920-1985) Died 10 October 1985, aged 65 Brynner was an actor best known for his Tony and Academy Award-winning role as the King of Siam in The King and I. He died of lung cancer in New York on 10 October 1985, and a posthumous anti-smoking advertisement he recorded became widely seen.
• 1920 – 2010 Juan Antonio Samaranch (1920-2010) Died 21 April 2010, aged 89 Samaranch was a Spanish sports administrator who served as President of the International Olympic Committee from 1980 to 2001, overseeing the Games' transformation into a major commercial enterprise. His tenure was also marked by bidding scandals, including the 2002 Salt Lake City affair. He died of heart failure in Barcelona.
• 1920 – 2001 Isaac Stern (1920-2001) Died 22 September 2001, aged 81 Stern was one of the leading violinists of the twentieth century and a tireless cultural advocate. He led the campaign that saved Carnegie Hall from demolition in 1960 and chaired it thereafter. His 1979 visit to China was filmed as the documentary From Mao to Mozart.
• 1920 – 1999 Amália Rodrigues Queen of Fado The singer who popularized Fado music worldwide and became a symbol of Portuguese culture.
• 1920 Battle of Maysalun French forces defeat Arab army, ending Kingdom of Syria French troops defeated the army of the short-lived Arab Kingdom of Syria at Maysalun, near Damascus, ending King Faisal's rule. France subsequently established the Mandate for Syria. The defeat is remembered in Syria as a symbol of resistance to colonial occupation.
• 1920 – 1958 Rosalind Franklin X-ray crystallographer whose data was pivotal to discovering the structure of DNA Rosalind Elsie Franklin (1920-1958) was a British chemist and X-ray crystallographer whose diffraction images of DNA, most famously "Photo 51", provided critical evidence for the double-helix structure published by James Watson and Francis Crick in 1953. Beyond DNA, she made lasting contributions to the understanding of coal and carbon structures and to the molecular structure of viruses, including tobacco mosaic virus and poliovirus. Her data was used by Watson and Crick without her knowledge or consent, and for decades her role in the DNA discovery was underappreciated. She died of ovarian cancer at 37, four years before the 1962 Nobel Prize was awarded to Watson, Crick, and Maurice Wilkins for the work her data underpinned.
• 1920 Communist Party of Great Britain Founded British communists unite into a single party Several socialist and communist groups in Britain merged to form the Communist Party of Great Britain at a unity convention in London. The party affiliated with the Communist International in Moscow. It remained active in British politics for seven decades.
• 1920 Marcus Garvey Convenes UNIA International Convention Thousands gather in Harlem for Black nationalist congress The Universal Negro Improvement Association held its first International Convention of the Negro Peoples of the World in New York, drawing thousands of delegates from across the diaspora. The convention adopted the Declaration of the Rights of the Negro Peoples of the World and elected Marcus Garvey as Provisional President of Africa. It marked the high point of Garvey's Black nationalist movement.
• 1920 – 2014 P.D. James (1920-2014) Died 27 November 2014, aged 94 P.D. James, the English author best known for her Adam Dalgliesh detective novels, died at her home in Oxford. She was widely regarded as one of the leading crime writers of her generation. She continued publishing well into her nineties.
• 1920 Treaty of Sevres Signed Allied powers impose peace terms on the Ottoman Empire The Ottoman government signed the Treaty of Sevres, which stripped the empire of most of its Arab territories and ceded large areas to Greece and other neighbors. The harsh terms fueled the Turkish National Movement led by Mustafa Kemal, which rejected the treaty. It was superseded by the Treaty of Lausanne in 1923.
• 1920 Battle of Warsaw Polish forces halt the Soviet advance on the capital Polish troops under Jozef Pilsudski decisively defeated the advancing Red Army outside Warsaw during the Polish-Soviet War, a victory later dubbed the "Miracle on the Vistula." The battle halted the westward spread of Soviet power and secured Polish independence. It is regarded as one of the most significant battles of the twentieth century.
• 1920 – 2015 Maureen O'Hara (1920-2015) Died 24 October 2015, aged 95 Maureen O'Hara was an Irish-American actress known for her roles in The Quiet Man, Miracle on 34th Street and a string of Technicolor films opposite John Wayne. She was one of the leading actresses of Hollywood's golden age. O'Hara received an honorary Academy Award in 2014 for her body of work.
• 1920 – 2006 Shelley Winters (1920-2006) American actress with a career of six decades, winner of two Oscars, for The Diary of Anne Frank and A Patch of Blue.
• 1920 – 2012 Ray Bradbury (1920-2012) Died 5 June 2012, aged 91 American author of science fiction and fantasy, best known for the novel "Fahrenheit 451" and the story collection "The Martian Chronicles." He was one of the most widely read American writers of the 20th century.
• 1920 Gandhi Launches Non-Cooperation Movement Mass campaign of civil disobedience begins against British rule Mahatma Gandhi launched the non-cooperation movement, urging Indians to boycott British goods, schools, courts, and institutions in a campaign of nonviolent resistance to colonial rule. The Indian National Congress formally endorsed the movement at its Calcutta session in September. It marked the first mass mobilization of Indians in the independence struggle.
• 1920 Wall Street Bombing Deadly explosion strikes New York's financial district A horse-drawn wagon packed with explosives detonated on Wall Street outside the J.P. Morgan bank, killing 38 people and injuring hundreds. The bombing was never solved, though it was widely attributed to Italian anarchists. It remains the deadliest terrorist attack on US soil until the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing.
• 1920 American Professional Football Association Founded Forerunner of the National Football League established Team owners meeting in Canton, Ohio, founded the American Professional Football Association, which was renamed the National Football League two years later. Jim Thorpe was elected its first president. The league grew to become the dominant professional football competition in the United States.
• 1920 – 2014 Mickey Rooney (1920-2014) Died 6 April 2014, aged 93 Mickey Rooney, one of the last surviving stars of Hollywood's golden age and a top box-office draw in the 1930s and 1940s, died in California. His career spanned nearly the entire history of American film, from silent movies to modern cinema. He appeared in over 300 films across nine decades.
• 1920 – 2000 Walter Matthau (1920-2000) Died 1 July 2000, aged 79 Walter Matthau was an American actor known for his hangdog face and gravelly delivery, often paired with Jack Lemmon in films such as The Odd Couple and Grumpy Old Men. He won an Academy Award for The Fortune Cookie in 1966. His career ran from Broadway to Hitchcock to broad comedy.
• 1920 – 1996 Timothy Leary (1920-1996) Died 31 May 1996, aged 75 Timothy Leary was an American psychologist and writer who became a leading advocate for the therapeutic and recreational use of psychedelic drugs in the 1960s counterculture. His research at Harvard and public campaigns for LSD experimentation made him a controversial and widely recognized figure. He died of prostate cancer at his home in Beverly Hills.
• 1920 Warren G. Harding Elected US President Republican landslide followed by first broadcast election returns Warren G. Harding won the US presidential election in a landslide over Democrat James M. Cox, campaigning on a return to "normalcy" after the war. Radio station KDKA in Pittsburgh broadcast the election results, among the first commercial radio broadcasts in the country. Harding took office in March 1921.
• 1920 – 2003 Roy Jenkins (1920-2003) Died 5 January 2003, aged 82 Roy Jenkins was a British Labour home secretary whose reforms in the 1960s liberalised laws on divorce, homosexuality, abortion and censorship. He later served as President of the European Commission and in 1981 co-founded the Social Democratic Party. He was also a prolific political biographer.
• 1920 Treaty of Rapallo Signed Italy and Yugoslavia settle their Adriatic border dispute Italy and the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes signed the Treaty of Rapallo, resolving territorial disputes left unsettled after World War I and establishing Fiume as a free state. The agreement fixed Italy's eastern border for the interwar period. Disputes over Fiume nonetheless continued in the following years.
• 1920 – 1991 Gene Tierney (1920-1991) American actress celebrated for her beauty and for Laura and Leave Her to Heaven.
• 1920 Bloody Sunday in Dublin Violence in the Irish War of Independence kills over thirty IRA operatives assassinated a group of British intelligence officers in Dublin, and British forces retaliated by firing on a crowd at a Gaelic football match, killing fourteen civilians. Further killings followed later the same day. The events marked one of the bloodiest days of the Irish War of Independence.
• 1920 – 2013 Stan Musial (1920-2013) Died 19 January 2013, aged 92 Stan Musial was an American baseball Hall of Famer who spent his entire 22-season career with the St. Louis Cardinals, winning three World Series titles. He died at his home in Missouri.
• 1920 – 2009 Ricardo Montalban (1920-2009) Died 14 January 2009, aged 88 Montalban was a Mexican-American actor best known for playing Mr. Roarke on the television series Fantasy Island and Khan in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. He worked in Hollywood for over six decades. He also had a long career as an advocate for Latino representation in film.
• 1920 – 2005 Virginia Mayo (1920-2005) American actress, Danny Kaye's leading lady and James Cagney's wife in White Heat.
• 1920 Treaty of Alexandropol Signed Armenia cedes territory to end war with Turkish nationalists The Democratic Republic of Armenia signed the Treaty of Alexandropol with the Turkish National Movement, ceding large territories and effectively ending Armenian independence. Soviet forces took control of Armenia within days of the signing. The treaty was never ratified but its territorial terms shaped the later Soviet-Turkish border.
• 1920 – 2012 Dave Brubeck (1920-2012) Died 5 December 2012, aged 91 American jazz pianist and composer best known for the album "Time Out" and its hit track "Take Five." He died of heart failure one day before his 92nd birthday.
• 1920 Government of Ireland Act Receives Royal Assent Legislation partitions Ireland into two jurisdictions The British Parliament's Government of Ireland Act received royal assent, creating separate home rule parliaments for Northern Ireland and Southern Ireland. The act laid the legal groundwork for the partition of Ireland. Northern Ireland's institutions endured, while Southern Ireland's were superseded by the Irish Free State in 1922.
• 1920 French Communist Party Founded at Tours Congress Majority of French socialists vote to join the Communist International At a congress in Tours, a majority of the French Section of the Workers' International voted to affiliate with the Communist International, founding the French Communist Party. A minority retained the old socialist party under Leon Blum. The split shaped the French left for the rest of the century.