1921
1921 (
MCMXXI) was a
common year starting on Saturday (see link for calendar).
January
*
January 1 - In
American football, the
University of California defeats
Ohio State 28-0 in the
Rose Bowl.
*
January 2 - The first religious
radio broadcast (
KDKA AM in
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania)
*
January 2 - Spanish liner
Santa Isabel sinks off
Villa Garcia - 244 dead
*
January 2 -
DeYoung Museum in
Golden Gate Park San Francisco opens.
*
January 20 -
Royal Navy K-boat K5 sinks in the
English Channel with all 56 hands onboard.
February
*
February 25 - The
Democratic Republic of Georgia is occupied by
Bolshevist Russia.*
February 27 - The
International Working Union of Socialist Parties is formed in
Vienna*
February 28 -
Russian sailors rebel in
Kronstadt - On
March
*
March 1 - The city
Kiryu, located in
Gunma,
Japan, is founded.
*
March 4 - Change of
US presidency from
Woodrow Wilson (
1913-1921) to
Warren G. Harding (1921-
1923)
*
March 6 - The
Portuguese Communist Party is founded.
*
March 8 - Spanish Premier
Eduardo Dato Iradier is assassinated while exiting the parliament building in
Madrid.
*
March 13 - Russian White Army captures
Mongolia from
China*
March 17 - The
Red Army crushes the
Kronstadt rebellion and a number of sailors flee to Finland
* March 17 -
Marie Stopes opens the first
birth control clinic in
London,
England. The
Second Republic of Poland adopts the
March Constitution.
*
March 18 - The second
Peace of Riga ends the
Polish-Soviet war. The permanent border is established between the Polish and Soviet states.
April
*
April 11 - The
Emirate of Transjordan is created, with
Abdullah I as emir.
*
April 14 - In Britain, labour unions for mining, railway and transportation workers call for a
strike - government threatens to call in the army
*
April 24 -
Referendum in
Tyrol supports joining to
GermanyMay
*
May 1-
May 7 -
Riots in Palestine of May, 1921*
2 May-
5 July -
Third Silesian Uprising, the Poles in
Upper Silesia rise against the Germans
*
May 5 - Only 13 spectators attend the soccer match between
Leicester City and
Stockport County, the lowest attendance in
The Football League's history.
*
May 6 -
General strike begins in
Norway*
May 8 -
Death penalty abolished in
Sweden*
May 14 -
May 17 - Violent anti-European riots in
Cairo and
Alexandria*
May 19 - The
Emergency Quota Act passes the
U.S. Congress establishing national quotas on
immigration.
*
May 24 - Elections are held for the first time for the new
Northern Ireland Parliament.
*
May 31 -
Tulsa Race Riot: A
civil unrest in
Tulsa, Oklahoma,
USA, the official death toll is 39, but recent investigations suggest the actual toll may be much higher.
June
*
June 1 -
Tulsa Race Riot of 1921: A
race riot in
Tulsa, Oklahoma kills 85 people.
*
June 26 - In Britain, rain ends 100 days of drought.
July
*
July 1 - Official founding date for the Communist Party of China.
*
July 1 - Coal strike ends in England.
*
July 2 - U.S. President
Warren Harding signs a joint congressional resolution declaring an end to America's state of war with
Germany,
Austria and
Hungary.
*
July 11 - The
Irish War of Independence comes to an end when a truce is signed between the British Government and the Irish forces.
*
July 11 - Red Army captures
Mongolia from White Army and establishes
Mongolian People's Republic*
July 14 - A Massachusetts jury finds
Nichola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti guilty of first degree murder following a widely-publicized trial.
*
July 18 - The first
BCG vaccination against
tuberculosis*
July 22 - Irish Truce declared in Britain
*
July 26 - US President
Warren G. Harding receives
Princess Fatima of Afghanistan - and
Stanley Clifford Weyman...
*
July 29 -
Adolf Hitler becomes Chairman of the
Nazi Party*
July 27 - Researchers at the
University of Toronto led by biochemist
Frederick Banting announce the discovery of the hormone
insulin.
August
* August - The
United States formally ends
World War I, declaring a peace with
Germany*
August 5 - First radio broadcast of baseball game; Harold Arlin announced Pirates-Phillies game from Forbes Field over Westinghouse KDKA Pittsburgh
*
August 11 - 35 degree Celsius in
Breslau - heat wave continues elsewhere in Europe as well
*
August 23 - King
Faisal is crowned in
Baghdad*
August 24 -
Airship ZR 2 explodes during a test flight near
Hull,
England - 41 dead
*
August 26 - Rising prices cause riots in
Munich*
August 29 - Assassination of German politician
Matthias Erzberger causes the government to declare martial law.
September
*
September 1 -
Poplar Strike in London - 9 members of
Poplar borough council are arrested
*
September 7 - In
Atlantic City, New Jersey, the first
Miss America Pageant is held.
*
September 8 - 16-year-old
Margaret Gorman won the Atlantic City Pageant's Golden Mermaid trophy; pageant officials later dubbed her the first
Miss America.
*
September 12 -
Lotta Svärd founded in
Finland.
*
September 21 -
Oppau explosion happened at
BASF's
nitrate factory in
Oppau,
Germany - 500"600 dead.
October
*
October 10 - Teaching at the
University of Szeged started in
Hungary.
*
October 19 - A massacre in
Lisbon claims the lives of Portuguese Prime Minister
António Granjo and other politicians.
*
October 21 - Peace conference between Irish and United Kingdom begins in London.
*
October 24 - Spanish army defeats
rifkabyls.
*
October 29 - Construction of the
Link River Dam, a part of the
Klamath Reclamation Project completed.
*
October 29 -
Centre College's football team, led by quarterback
Bo McMillin, defeats
Harvard University 6-0 to snap Harvard's five-year winning streak. For decades afterward, this is called "football's upset of the century."
November
*
November 9 - Riots in
Reykjavík - most of the small police force is injured.
*
November 11 - During an
Armistice Day ceremony at
Arlington National Cemetery, the
Tomb of the Unknowns is dedicated by US President
Warren G. Harding.
December
*
December 1 - Rising prices cause riots in
Vienna.
*
December 6 - The
Anglo-Irish Treaty establishing the
Irish Free State is signed in
London. See
Ireland/History.
*
December 13 - In the
Four Power Treaty on Insular Possessions Japan, the
United States,
United Kingdom, and
France agree to recognize the status quo in the Pacific.
*
December 29 -
William Lyon Mackenzie King becomes
Canada's tenth
prime minister.
unknown dates
*
Agnes Macphail becomes the first woman to enter Canadian parliament
* Invention of the
vibraphone.
*
Abkhazia becomes an autonomous republic within the
Soviet Union.
*
Edward Harper the ' father of broadcasting ' in Ceylon arrives in Colombo to take up his post as Chief Engineer of the Ceylon Telegraph Department.
Fictitious Events
1921 is a song on the album
Tommy by
The Who.
Date unknown
*
Norma Macmillan, voice actress (d.
2001)
January
*
January 5 -
Friedrich Dürrenmatt, Swiss writer (d.
1990)
*
January 5 -
Jean, Grand Duke of Luxembourg*
January 10 -
Rodger Ward, American race car driver (d.
2004)
*
January 19 -
Patricia Highsmith, American author (d.
1995)
*
January 27 -
Donna Reed, American actress (d.
1986)
*
January 31 -
Carol Channing, American actress
*
January 31 -
Mario Lanza, American tenor (d.
1959)
February
*
February 4 -
Betty Friedan, American feminist (d.
2006)
*
February 4 -
K. R. Narayanan,
President of India (d.
2005)
*
February 5 -
John Pritchard, English conductor (d.
1989)
*
February 11 -
Eva Gabor, Hungarian actress (d.
1996)
*
February 11 -
Lloyd Bentsen, American politician (d.
2006)
*
February 14 -
Hugh Downs, American game show host and journalist
*
February 20 -
Buddy Rogers, American professional wrestler (d.
1992)
*
February 22 -
Wayne Booth, American literary critic (d.
2005)
*
February 25 -
Pierre Laporte, Canadian statesman (assassinated) (d.
1970)
*
February 28 -
Pierre Clostermann, French World War II pilot (d.
2006)
March
*
March 1 -
Jack Clayton, British film director
*
March 1 -
Terence Cardinal Cooke, American Catholic archbishop (d.
1983)
*
March 1 -
Richard Wilbur, American poet
*
March 2 -
Robert Simpson, English composer (d.
1997)
*
March 3 -
Paul Guimard, French writer (d.
2004)
*
March 4 -
Joan Greenwood, English actress and director (d.
1987)
*
March 4 -
Halim El-Dabh, Egyptian-born U.S. composer, performer, ethnomusicologist, and educator
*
March 5 -
Elmer Valo, Czech
Major League Baseball player (d.
1998)
*
March 8 -
Cyd Charisse, American actress and dancer
*
March 8 -
Alan Hale, Jr., American actor (d.
1990)
*
March 11 -
Frank Harary, American mathematician (d.
2005)
*
March 12 -
Giovanni Agnelli, Italian auto executive (d.
2003)
*
March 12 -
Gordon MacRae, American singer and actor (d.
1986)
*
March 13 -
Al Jaffee, American cartoonist
*
March 13 -
Cyril Poole, English cricketer (d.
1996)
*
March 20 -
Sister Rosetta Tharpe, American singer (d.
1973)
*
March 21 -
Arthur Grumiaux, Belgian violinist (d.
1986)
*
March 25 -
Simone Signoret, French actress (d.
1985)
*
March 28 -
Dirk Bogarde, English actor (d.
1999)
April
*
April 1 -
Beau Jack, American boxer (d.
2000)
*
April 8 -
Franco Corelli, Italian opera singer (d.
2003)
*
April 10 -
Sheb Wooley, American actor and singer (d.
2003)
*
April 14 -
Thomas Schelling, American economist,
Nobel Prize laureate
*
April 15 -
Georgi Beregovoi, Soviet cosmonaut (d.
1995)
*
April 16 -
Peter Ustinov, English actor and director (d.
2004)
*
April 23 -
Warren Spahn, baseball player (d.
2003)
*
April 25 -
Karel Appel, Dutch painter (d.
2006)
May
*
May 2 -
Satyajit Ray, Indian filmmaker (d.
1992)
*
May 5 -
Arthur Leonard Schawlow, American physicist,
Nobel Prize laureate (d.
1999)
*
May 6 -
Erich Fried, Austrian author (d.
1988)
*
May 9 -
Sophie Scholl, resistance fighter in Nazi Germany (d.
1943)
*
May 9 -
Mona Van Duyn, American poet (d.
2004)
*
May 11 -
Hildegard Hamm-Brücher, German politician
*
May 12 -
Joseph Beuys, German artist (d.
1986)
*
May 12 -
Farley Mowat, Canadian writer and naturalist
*
May 17 -
Dennis Brain, English French horn player (d.
1957)
*
May 18 - Sir
Michael Epstein, British medical researcher
*
May 19 -
Karel van het Reve, Dutch writer (d.
1999)
*
May 20 -
Wolfgang Borchert, German writer (d.
1947)
*
May 20 -
Hal Newhouser, baseball player (d.
1998)
*
May 21 -
Andrei Sakharov, Russian physicist and activist, recipient of the
Nobel Peace Prize (declined) (d.
1989)
*
May 23 -
James Blish, American science fiction author (d.
1975)
*
May 25 -
Jack Steinberger, German-born physicist,
Nobel Prize laureate
*
May 25 -
James C. Quayle, American newspaper publisher
*
May 26 -
Stan Mortensen, English footballer (d.
1991)
*
May 28 -
Heinz G. Konsalik, German author (d.
1999)
June
*
June 1 -
Nelson Riddle, American bandleader (d.
1985)
*
June 3 -
Forbes Carlile, Australian athlete
*
June 8 -
Alexis Smith, Canadian actress (d.
1993)
*
June 10 -
Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh*
June 15 -
Errol Garner, American jazz musician (d.
1977)
*
June 25 -
Celia Franca, Canadian ballet dancer
*
June 26 -
Violette Szabo, French World War II heroine (d.
1945)
*
June 28 -
P. V. Narasimha Rao,
Prime Minister of India (d.
2004)
July
*
July 4 -
Gerard Debreu, French economist,
Nobel Prize laureate (d.
2004)
*
July 4 -
Tibor Varga, Hungarian violinist and conductor (d.
2003)
*
July 6 -
Nancy Davis Reagan, wife of U.S President
Ronald Reagan*
July 10 -
Harvey Ball, American designer (d.
2001)
*
July 11 -
Ilse Werner, German actress (d.
2005)
*
July 13 -
Friedrich Peter, Austrian poltitician (d.
2005)
*
July 14 -
Leon Garfield, English children's author (d.
1996)
*
July 14 -
Geoffrey Wilkinson, English chemist,
Nobel Prize laureate
*
July 15 -
Robert Bruce Merrifield, American chemist,
Nobel Prize laureate
*
July 17 -
František Zvarík, Slovakian actor
*
July 17 -
Hannah Szenes, Hungarian World War II heroine (d.
1944)
*
July 18 -
John Glenn, American astronaut
*
July 19 -
Rosalyn Sussman Yalow, American physicist, recipient of the
Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine*
July 22 -
William Roth, U.S. Senator (d.
2003)
*
July 30 -
Grant Johannesen, American concert pianist (d.
2005)
August
*
August 4 -
Maurice Richard, Canadian hockey player (d.
2000)
*
August 8 -
John Herbert Chapman, Canadian physicist (d.
1979)
*
August 9 -
J. James Exon Governor of Nebraska and U.S. Senator (d.
2005)
*
August 13 -
Barney Liddell, American musician,
The Lawrence Welk Show (d.
2003)
*
August 19 -
Gene Roddenberry, American television producer (d.
1991)
*
August 23 -
Kenneth Arrow, American economist,
Nobel Prize laureate
*
August 25 -
Monty Hall, Canadian actor and game show host
*
August 25 -
Brian Moore, Northern Irish-born writer (d.
1999)
September
*
September 3 -
Thurston Dart, English harpsichordist and conductor (d.
1971)
*
September 8 -
Harry Secombe, Welsh entertainer (d.
2001)
*
September 12 -
Stanisław Lem, Polish science fiction writer
*
September 30 -
Deborah Kerr, Scottish actress
October
*
October 2 -
Robert Runcie,
Archbishop of Canterbury (d.
2000)
*
October 5 -
Bill Willis, American football player
*
October 13 -
Yves Montand, French singer and actor (d.
1991)
*
October 17 -
Maria Gorokhovskaya, Soviet gymnast (d.
2001)
*
October 18 -
Jesse Helms, U.S. Senator from North Carolina
*
October 19 -
Gunnar Nordahl, Swedish footballer (d.
1995)
*
October 21 -
Malcolm Arnold, music composer
*
October 22 -
Georges Brassens, French singer-songwriter (d.
1981)
*
October 25 - King
Michael of RomaniaNovember
*
November 3 -
Charles Bronson, American actor (d.
2003)
*
November 5 - Princess
Fawzia of Egypt*
November 11 -
Ron Greenwood, English football manager (d.
2006)
*
November 14 -
Brian Keith, American actor (d.
1997)
*
November 22 -
Rodney Dangerfield, American actor and comedian (d.
2004)
*
November 23 -
Fred Buscaglione, Italian singer and actor (d.
1960)
*
November 27 -
Alexander Dubček, Slovak politician and First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia (d.
1992)
*
November 29 -
Jackie Stallone, American astrologer and mother of
Sylvester StalloneDecember
*
December 3 -
Phyllis Curtin, American soprano
*
December 6 -
Otto Graham, American football player (d.
2003)
*
December 7 -
Pramukh Swami Maharaj, Indian Spiritual Leader
*
December 26 -
Steve Allen, American actor, composer, comedian, and author (d.
2000)
*
January 1 -
Theobald von Bethmann-Hollweg,
Chancellor of Germany (b.
1856)
*
February 8 -
Peter Kropotkin, Russian anarchist (b.
1842)
*
February 26 -
Carl Menger, Austrian economist (b.
1840)
*
February 27 -
Schofield Haigh, English cricketer (b.
1871)
*
March 2 - King
Nicholas I of Montenegro (b.
1841)
*
April 27 -
Arthur Mold, English cricketer (b.
1863)
*
May 5 -
Alfred Hermann Fried, Austrian writer and pacifist, recipient of the
Nobel Peace Prize (b.
1864)
*
June 5 -
Georges Feydeau, French playwright (b.
1862)
*
August 2 -
Enrico Caruso, Italian tenor (b.
1873)
*
August 19 -
Georges Darien, French writer (b.
1862)
*
September 2 -
Henry Austin Dobson, English poet (b.
1840)
*
September 11 -
Subramanya Bharathy, Tamil poet (b.
1882)
*
September 27 -
Engelbert Humperdinck, German composer (b.
1854)
*
October 25 -
Bat Masterson, American gunfighter
*
November 4 -
Hara Takashi 19th
Prime Minister of Japan (b.
1856)
*
November 28 -
`Abdu'l-Bahá, Persian religious leader (b.
1844)
*
December 10 -
George Ashlin, Irish architect (b.
1837)
*
December 16 -
Camille Saint-Saëns, French composer (b.
1835)
*
December 31 -
Boies Penrose, U.S. Senator from Pennsylvania (b.
1860)
*
Physics -
Albert Einstein*
Chemistry -
Frederick Soddy*
Medicine - not awarded
*
Literature -
Anatole France*
Peace -
Karl Hjalmar Branting,
Christian Lous Lange
