1920

January 1

• Paul Adam French writer (L'enfant d'Austerlitz), dies at age 57. [1]

January 2

• 10,000 US union and socialist organizers arrested (Palmer Raids). [1]

January 3

• Arthur Honegger's "Chant de Nigamon" premieres. [1]

January 4

• Amsterdam actors decide to strike for retirement benefits. [1]
• Benito Pérez Galdós Spanish writer (Gloria), dies at age 76. [1]

January 10

• League of Nations' first meeting, Treaty of Versailles in effect. [1] [37]
• Silver reaches record $1.37 an ounce. [1]

January 11

• French passenger ship Afrique sinks near La Rochelle; 553 die. [1]

January 13

• New York Times editorial (falsely) reports rockets can never fly. [1]

January 16

• 18th Amendment, prohibition, becomes the law of the land - one year after ratification; it is repealed in 1933. [1]
• First assembly of League of Nations (Paris). [1]
• Georgia declares independence. [1]
• Reginald De Koven composer, dies at age 60. [1]

January 17

• Paul Deschanel elected President of France. [1]

January 19

• Alexandre Millerand forms French government. [1]
• US Senate votes against membership in League of Nations. [1]

January 20

• Dutch second Chamber passes school laws. [1]

January 23

• Dutch government refuses to turn over ex-Kaiser Wilhelm I of Germany to the allies. [1]

January 25

• Amadeo Modigliani Italian sculptor/painter, dies at age 35. [1]

January 26

• Amadeo Modigliani's mistress jumps out of a window. [1]
• Matthias Enzberger German minister of finance, murdered. [1]

January 29

• Walt Disney starts first job as an artist; $40 week with Kansas City Slide Co. [1]

January 31

• First Ukrainian daily newspaper in US (New York City New York) begins publication. [1]
• Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity, at Howard University, incorporates. [1]

February 1

• First commercial armored car introduced (Saint Paul Minnesota). [1]
• Royal Canadian Mounted Police forms as Royal Northwest Mounted Police merge with Dominion Police. [1]

February 2

• Estonia declares its Independence from Russia (Dorpat Peace). [1]
• France occupies (German) Memel territory. [1]
• Tarto/Dorpat peace treaty USSR recognizes Estonian independence. [1]

February 4

• First flight from London to South Africa takes-off (1.5 months). [1]

February 6

• Saarland administrated by League of Nations. [1]

February 7

• Alexander Koltsjak Admiral/leader Russian counter-revolutionary, executed. [1]

February 8

• Richard Dehmel writer, dies at age 56. [1]
• Swiss men vote against women's suffrage. [1]

February 9

• International treaty recognizes Norwegian sovereignty over Svalbard. [1]

February 12

• 14,000 Rotterdam/Amsterdam harbor workers strike. [1]
• Emile Sauret composer, dies at age 67. [1]
• Jean Allemane French socialist/communard (allemanisten), dies at age 77. [1]
• Ottalee Baker, Frank "Home Run" Baker's wife, dies at age 31. [1]

February 13

• League of Nations recognizes perpetual neutrality of Switzerland. [1]
• Switzerland rejoins League of Nations. [1]

February 14

• League of Women Voters forms in Chicago. [1]

February 19

• Netherlands joins League of Nations. [1]

February 20

• Robert E Peary US pole explorer (North Pole, 6/4/1909), dies at age 63. [1]

February 21

• Darius Milhaud and Jean Cocteau's ballet, "Le Train Bleu" premieres in Paris. [1]

February 22

• In Emeryville, New York, the first dog race track to employ an imitation rabbit opens. [1] [5]

February 23

• Alexander Alexandrovich Il'yinsky composer, dies at age 61. [1]

February 24

• NSDAP begins at Hofbräuhaus Münich. [1]
• Peace treaty gives Estonia independence. [1]

February 25

• Aloys Liechtenstein nobleman/politician, dies at age 73. [1]

February 26

• Ludwig Rubiner writer, dies at age 38. [1]

February 27

• Alexandru D Xenopol Romanian historian, dies at age 72. [1]

February 28

• Maurice Ravel's "Le tombeau de Couperin" premieres. [1]

March 1

• Austria becomes a kingdom again, under Admiral Horthy. [1]
• Joseph Trumpeldor killed defending Tel-Mai against arab attack. [1]

March 2

• Karel Capék's "Loupeznik" premieres in Prague. [1]

March 4

• Last day of Julian civil calendar in Greece. [1]

March 8

• Denmark and Cuba join the League of Nations. [1]
• Rafael Obligado Argentine writer (Santos Vega), dies at age 69. [1]

March 13

• Wolfgang Kapp's coup attempt in Berlin fails. [1]

March 16

• 1 Acre Park also known as Baby Park in the Bronx renamed Melrose Park. [1]

March 18

• Greece adopts the Gregorian calendar. [1]

March 19

• US Senate rejects Treaty of Versailles for second time refusing to ratify League of Nations' covenant (maintaining isolation policy). [1]

March 20

• First flight from London to South Africa lands (1.5 months). [1]
• Venustiano Carranza President of Mexico (1915-20), murdered at age 60. [1]

March 21

• Federigo Tozzi Ital writer/journalist (Torre, Tre Croci), dies at age 37. [1]

March 23

• Perserikatan Communist of India (PKI) political party forms. [1]

March 24

• First US coast guard air station established (Morehead City North Carolina). [1]

March 25

• Greek Independence Day. [1]

March 27

• Film stars Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks wed. [1]
• Hermann Müller becomes German chancellor (SPD). [1]
• Johan G Danser Dutch poet (Meetings), dies at age 26. [1]

March 28

• Actor Douglas Fairbanks marries actress Mary Pickford. [1]
• Thomas Masaryk elected President of Czechoslovakia. [1]

March 31

• British parliament accept Irish "Home Rule"-law. [1]

April 1

• Church disestablished in Wales. [1]

April 3

• Homer Newton Bartlett composer, dies at age 74. [1]

April 4

• Arabs attack Jews in Jerusalem. [1]

April 6

• French troop attacks Main/Darmstadt/Hanau. [1]

April 8

• Charles Tomlinson Griffes US composer (White Peacock), dies at age 35. [1]

April 10

• Moritz B Cantor German mathematician, dies at age 90. [1]
• Tryggve Andersen Norwegian writer (Mod Kvaeld), dies at age 53. [1]

April 13

• First woman US Civil Service Commissioner, Helen Hamilton appointed. [1]

April 14

• Tornadoes killed 219 people in Alabama and Mississippi. [1]

April 15

• Jacob van Stolk Azn art collector, dies at age 74. [1]
• The size of the Canadian 1-cent coin is reduced to a 3/4-inch diameter, similar to the American cent. [3]

April 16

• John Conrad Nordqvist composer, dies at age 80. [1]

April 20

• Balfour Declaration recognized, makes Palestine a British Mandate. [1]
• Big Show ends two year run on NBC radio. [1]
• Tornadoes kill 219 in Alabama and Mississippi. [1]

April 21

• John Galsworthy's "Skin Game", premieres in London. [1]

April 23

• Turkish Grand National Assembly first meets, in Ankara. [1]

April 24

• British Mandate over Palestine goes into effect (lasts 28 years). [1]
• Polish troops attack Ukraine. [1]

April 26

• H Shapley and H D Curtis hold "great debate" on nature of nebulae. [1]
• Srinivasa Ramanujan Indian math genius ('pi'/Notebooks), dies at age 32. [1]

April 27

• Pogrom leader Petljoera declares Ukraine Independence. [1]

April 28

• Azerbaijan SSR joins the USSR (first time). [1]

May 1

• Belgian-Luxembourg toll tunnel opens. [1]
• Swedish Crown Princess Margareta dies. [7]

May 5

• German-Latvian peace treaty signed. [1]
• Polish troops occupy Kiev. [1]
• US President Wilson makes Communist Labor Party illegal. [1]

May 7

• USSR recognizes independence of Georgia. [1]

May 10

• John Wesley Hyatt inventor/plastics pioneer, dies. [1]

May 11

• William D Howells US author (A Woman's Reason), dies at age 83. [1]

May 16

• Joan of Arc (Jeanne d'Arc) canonized a saint in Rome. [1]
• Spanish bullfighter Joselito is fatally gored fighting his last bull. [1]

May 17

• First De Havilland double-decker flight (London) lands in Schiphol. [1]
• First flight by Dutch airlines KLM (Koninklijke-Luchtvaart-Maatschappij). [1]

May 18

• Birth of Karol Jozef Wojtyla in Wadowice, Poland; ordained priest (1946), auxiliary bishop of Krakow (1958), cardinal (1967), Pope John Paul II (1978). [129]

May 20

• Montreal, Quebec station XWA broadcasts the first regularly scheduled radio programming in North America. [5]

May 23

• Pope Benedictus XV publishes encyclical Pacem Dei. [1]

May 27

• Tatar ASSR is established in Russian SFSR. [1]

June 5

• First rivet driven on Bank of Italy headquarters at 1 Powell. [1]

June 11

• Republicans nominate Warren G Harding for president. [1]

June 12

• Farmer Labor Party organized (Chicago). [1]

June 24

• Chuvash Autonomous Region formed in RSFSR. [1]

July 3

• Royal Air Force holds an air display at Hendon, England. [1]

July 12

• Lithuania and USSR sign peace treaty, Lithuuania becomes independent rep. [1]

July 15

• The Manila Mint in the Philippines begins coining bronze 1-centavo coins for circulation. [442.24]

July 16

• General Amos Fries appointed first US army chemical warfare chief. [1]

July 23

• Kenya becomes a British crown colony. [1]

July 25

• The first transatlantic two-way radio broadcast takes place. [5]

July 29

• First transcontinental airmail flight from New York to San Francisco. [1]

August 16

• Norman Lockyer editor of NATURE, discoverer of helium in Sun, dies. [1]

August 18

• Tennessee ratifies 19th Amendment, guarantees women voting right. [1]

August 20

• First US commercial radio, 8MK (WWJ), Detroit, Michigan begins daily broadcasting. [1] [5]
• Allen Woodring wins Oympic 200 m dash wearing borrowed shoes. [1]

August 26

• 19th amendment passes-women's suffrage granted (about time!). [1]

August 31

• The first news radio program is broadcast in Detroit, Michigan. [5]

September 4

• Last day of Julian civil calendar (in parts of Bulgaria). [1]

September 6

• First radio broadcast of a prizefight. [1]

September 8

• US Air Mail service begins (New York City to San Francisco). [1]

October 10

• Hudson Stuck dies in Alaska; first to climb to peak of Mount McKinley, highest point in North America. [129]

October 12

• Man O'War's last race and win. [1]

October 14

• Part of Petsamo province ceded by Soviet Union to Finland. [1]

October

• Cunard Line's Caronia embarks from Tilbury, England, with a record number of passengers: 1500. [274.13]

October 27

• League of Nations moves headquarters in Geneva. [1]
• Westinghouse radio station in East Pittsburgh, KDKA begins. [1]

November 2

• KDKA (Pittsburgh) goes on the air as first commercial radio station. [1]
• Warren G Harding elected President. [1]

November 3

• "Emperor Jones" opens at Provincetown Theater. [1]

November 13

• Hudson River frozen at Albany (1820?). [1]

November 15

• Free City of Danzig established under League of Nations protection. [1]
• League of Nations holds first meeting, in Geneva. [1]

November 16

• Qantas (Queensland and Northern Territory Aerial Services Limited), the national airline of Australia, registers as an aerial carrier. [5]
• Postage meter first used in US in lieu of postage stamps. [1]

December 3

• Turkey and Armenia agree to peace treaty. [1]

December 6

• Karel Kovarovic composer, dies at age 57. [1]

December 7

• New South Wales make 802 against South Australia, then Mailey takes 8-81. [1]
• USPD-KPD parties merge into Vereinigte Communist Party of Germany. [1]

December 10

• President Woodrow Wilson receives Nobel Peace Prize. [1]

December 12

• Maurice Ravels ballet "La Valse" premieres in Paris. [1]
• Olive Schreiner South Africa writer (Healing Imagination), dies at age 75. [1]
• Paul Lacome composer, dies at age 82. [1]

December 13

• F Pease's interferometer measures first stellar diameter (Betelgeuse). [1]
• League of nations establishes International Court of Justice in The Hague. [1]
• Netherlands breaks contact with kingdoms of Serbia, Croatia and Slavia. [1]

December 16

• Ma Mua-Ming-Hsin the Benovelent, Chinese Muslim rebel (holy war), dies. [1]
• Over 180,000 die when 8.6 earthquake destroys 15,000 square miles (Kansu China). [1]

December 17

• British Empire receives League of Nations mandate to Nauru. [1]
• Japan receives League of Nations mandate over Pacific islands. [1]
• South Africa receives League of Nations mandate over SW Africa. [1]

December 18

• First US postage stamps printed without the words United States or US. [1]

December 20

• Bob Hope becomes an American citizen. [1]

December 21

• Jerome Kern/BG DeSylva's musical "Sally" premieres in New York City, New York. [1]

December 23

• Ireland divided into two parts, each with its own parliament. [1]
• King George V signs Home Rule Act. [1]

December 24

• Enrico Caruso gives his last public performance (New York City, New York). [1]

December 29

• The netherlands/Venezuela recover diplomatic relations. [1]
• Yugoslav government bans communist party. [1]

December 31

• Albert Roelofs Dutch painter/etcher, dies at age 43. [1]