1921

Year 1921 (MCMXXI) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will display full 1921 calendar) of the Gregorian calendar.

Events of 1921 :

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 is heard over station (KDKA AM in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania).

The Spanish liner Santa Isabel sinks off Villa Garcia; 244 die.

DeYoung Museum in Golden Gate Park San Francisco opens.

January 20 - The Royal Navy K-boat K5 sinks in the English Channel with all 56 hands on board.

January 21

The Italian Communist Party is founded in Livorno.

Women are allowed to vote in Sweden.

February :

• February 25 - The Democratic Republic of Georgia is occupied by Bolshevist Russia during the Red Army invasion of Georgia.
• February 27 - The International Working Union of Socialist Parties is formed in Vienna.
• February 28 - Russian sailors rebel in Kronstadt.

March :

• March 1 - The city Kiryu, located in Gunma, Japan, is founded.
• March 4 - Warren G. Harding is inaugurated as the 29th President of the United States.
• March 6 - The Portuguese Communist Party is founded.
• March 8
• Spanish Premier Eduardo Dato Iradier is assassinated while exiting the parliament building in Madrid.
• Allied forces occupy Düsseldorf, Rurhort and Duisburg.
• March 13 - The Russian White Army captures Mongolia from China. Roman Ungern von Sternberg declares himself ruler.
• March 17
• The Red Army crushes the Kronstadt rebellion, and a number of sailors flee to Finland.
• 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.
• March 23 - A plebiscite in Silesia votes for re-annexation to Germany.

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; the government threatens to call in the army.
• April 16 - The Communist Party of Czechoslovakia is founded.
• April 20 - Ferenc Molnár's play Liliom is first produced on Broadway in English. A flop in its native Hungary when first presented there in 1909, the American production is critically acclaimed and becomes a modern classic, filmed more than once, and eclipsed only when Rodgers and Hammerstein adapt it in 1945 into a hit musical, Carousel, which becomes a stage classic in its own right.
• April 24 - A referendum in Tyrol supports joining to Germany.

May :

• May 1-May 7 - Riots in Palestine of May, 1921.
• May 2-July 5 - 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 occur 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: 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 6 - Southwark Bridge in London, is opened for traffic by King George V and Queen Mary

July :

• July 1
• Official founding date for the Communist Party of China.
• A 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 4 - A new conservative government is formed in Italy by Ivanoe Bonomi.
• July 11
• The Irish War of Independence comes to an end when a truce is signed between the British Government and Irish forces.
• The Red Army captures Mongolia from the White Army and establishes the Mongolian People's Republic.
• July 14 - A Massachusetts jury finds Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti guilty of first degree murder following a widely-publicized trial.
• July 18 - The first BCG vaccination against tuberculosis is given.
• July 21 - Rif War: Spanish troops are dealt a crushing defeat at the Battle of Annual against Abd el-Krim.
• July 22 - The Irish Truce is declared in Britain.
• July 26 - US President Warren G. Harding receives Princess Fatima of Afghanistan and Stanley Clifford Weyman.
• July 27 - Researchers at the University of Toronto led by biochemist Frederick Banting announce the discovery of the hormone insulin.
• July 29 - Adolf Hitler becomes Fuhrer of the Nazi Party.

August :

• August - The United States formally ends World War I, declaring a peace with Germany.
• August 2 - Famous opera singer Enrico Morricone dies.
• August 5 - The first radio baseball game is broadcast; Harold Arlin announces the Pirates-Phillies game from Forbes Field over Westinghouse KDKA, in Pittsburgh.
• August 11 - 39 degrees 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 are dead.
• August 26
• Rising prices cause major riots in Munich.
• The assassination of German politician Matthias Erzberger causes the government to declare martial law.

September :

• September 1 - Poplar Strike in London: Nine members of the Poplar borough council are arrested.
• September 7 - In Atlantic City, New Jersey, the first Miss America Pageant is held.
• September 8 - Sixteen-year-old Margaret Gorman wins the Atlantic City Pageant's Golden Mermaid trophy; pageant officials later dub her the first Miss America.
• September 12 - Lotta Svärd is founded in Finland.
• September 21 - The Oppau explosion occurs at BASF's nitrate factory in Oppau, Germany; 500600 dead.

October :

• October 8 - The first Sweetest Day is staged in Cleveland, Ohio.
• October 10 - Teaching at the University of Szeged starts in Hungary.
• October 19 - A massacre in Lisbon claims the lives of Portuguese Prime Minister António Granjo and other politicians.
• October 21 - A peace conference between Ireland and the United Kingdom begins in London.
• October 24 - The Spanish Army defeats the rifkabyls.
• October 29
• Construction of the Link River Dam, a part of the Klamath Reclamation Project, is completed.
• 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-December :

• November 9 - Riots in Reykjavík injure most of the small police force.
• November 9 - Albert Einstein awarded Nobel Prize in Physics for his work with he photoelectric effect
• November 11 - During an Armistice Day ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery, the Tomb of the Unknowns is dedicated by U.S. President Warren G. Harding.
• November 14 - The Spanish Communist Party is founded.
• November 7 - The Partito Nazionale Fascista (PNF), National Fascist Party, comes into existence in Italy.
• December 1 - Rising prices cause riots in Vienna.
• December 6
• The Anglo-Irish Treaty establishing the Irish Free State, an independent nation incorporating 26 of Ireland's 32 counties, is signed in London. See Ireland/History.
• Agnes Macphail becomes the first woman to be elected to the Canadian Parliament.
• 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 23 - Visva-Bharati University is inaugurated.
• December 29 - William Lyon Mackenzie King becomes Canada's tenth prime minister.

Undated :

• Abkhazia becomes an autonomous republic within the Soviet Union.
• Beginning of regular radio broadcasting service in Italy.
• Edward Harper, the 'father of broadcasting' in Ceylon, arrives in Colombo to take up his post as Chief Engineer of the Ceylon Telegraph Department.
• Invention of the vibraphone in its original form.
• Tau Epsilon Chi (TEX) Jewish High School Sorority is founded in Atlantic City, NJ.

Ongoing :

• Ethnic cleansing in Turkey:
• Assyrian Genocide (19141922)
• Pontic Greek Genocide (19161923).

Births :

January-February :

• January 5
• *Friedrich Dürrenmatt, Swiss writer (d. 1990)
• *Jean, Grand Duke of Luxembourg
• January 9
• *William 'Billy Batts' Devino (d. 1970)
• *Lister Sinclair, Canadian broadcaster and playwright (d. 2006)
• January 10 - Rodger Ward, American race car driver (d. 2004)
• January 14 - Murray Bookchin, American libertarian socialist (d. 2006)
• January 19 - Patricia Highsmith, American author (d. 1995)
• January 27 - Donna Reed, American actress (d. 1986)
• January 31
• *Carol Channing, American actress
• *Mario Lanza, American tenor and actor (d. 1959)
• February 4
• *Betty Friedan, American feminist (d. 2006)
• *K. R. Narayanan, President of India (d. 2005)
• February 5 - John Pritchard, English conductor (d. 1989)
• February 7 - Nexhmije Hoxha, the widow of Enver Hoxha
• February 11 - Lloyd Bentsen, American politician (d. 2006)
• February 14 - Hugh Downs, American game show host and journalist
• February 16 - Vera-Ellen, American actress and dancer (d. 1981)
• February 20 - Buddy Rogers, American professional wrestler (d. 1992)
• February 22 - Wayne Booth, American literary critic (d. 2005)
• February 24 - Abe Vigoda, American actor
• February 25 - Pierre Laporte, Canadian statesman (assassinated) (d. 1970)
• February 26 - Betty Hutton, American actress (d. 2007)
• February 28 - Pierre Clostermann, French World War II pilot (d. 2006)

March-April :

• March 1
• *Jack Clayton, British film director (d. 1995)
• *Terence Cardinal Cooke, American Catholic archbishop (d. 1983)
• *Richard Wilbur, American poet
• March 2 - Robert Simpson, English composer (d. 1997)
• March 3 - Paul Guimard, French writer (d. 2004)
• March 4
• *Halim El-Dabh, Egyptian-born U.S. composer, performer, ethnomusicologist and educator
• *Joan Greenwood, British actress and director (d. 1987)
• *Wilson Harris, Guyanese writer
• March 5 - Elmer Valo, Czech Major League Baseball player (d. 1998)
• March 8
• *Cyd Charisse, American actress and dancer
• *Alan Hale, Jr., American actor (d. 1990)
• March 11 - Frank Harary, American mathematician (d. 2005)
• March 12
• *Gianni Agnelli, Italian auto executive (d. 2003)
• *Gordon MacRae, American singer and actor (d. 1986)
• March 13
• *Al Jaffee, American cartoonist
• *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 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
• April 21 - Vivian Dandridge, Actress
• *Warren Spahn, baseball player (d. 2003)
• *Janet Blair, American actress (d. 2007)
• April 25 - Karel Appel, Dutch painter (d. 2006)

May-June :

• 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)
• *Mona Van Duyn, American poet (d. 2004)
• May 11 - Hildegard Hamm-Brücher, German politician
• May 12
• *Joseph Beuys, German artist (d. 1986)
• *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)
• *Hal Newhouser, baseball player (d. 1998)
• May 21
• *Prabhat Ranjan Sarkar, Indian philosopher author of socio-economical theory "Progressive Utilization Theory" (d. 1990)
• *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)
• *Humphrey Lyttelton, British jazz musician and radio personality
• May 25
• *Jack Steinberger, German-born physicist, Nobel Prize laureate
• *James C. Quayle, American newspaper publisher (d. 2000)
• May 26 - Stan Mortensen, English footballer (d. 1991)
• May 28 - Heinz G. Konsalik, German author (d. 1999)
• 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 12 - Christopher Derrick, British writer (d. 2007)
• June 15 - Errol Garner, American jazz musician (d. 1977)
• June 25 - Celia Franca, Canadian ballet dancer (d. 2007)
• June 26 - Violette Szabo, French World War II heroine (d. 1945)
• June 28 - P. V. Narasimha Rao, Prime Minister of India (d. 2004)

July-August :

• July 4
• *Gerard Debreu, French economist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2004)
• *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)
• *Eunice Kennedy Shriver, member of the Kennedy family
• 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)
• *Geoffrey Wilkinson, English chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1996)
• July 15 - Robert Bruce Merrifield, American chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2006)
• July 17
• *Frantiek Zvarík, Slovakian actor
• *Hannah Szenes, Hungarian World War II heroine (d. 1944)
• July 18
• *John Glenn, American astronaut
• *Aaron T. Beck, American psychiatrist
• 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 3 - Richard Adler, American Broadway composer
• 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 18 - Zdzislaw Zygulski, Jr., Polish art historian
• 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
• *Brian Moore, Northern Irish-born writer (d. 1999)

September-October :

• September 3 - Thurston Dart, English harpsichordist and conductor (d. 1971)
• September 8 - Harry Secombe, Welsh entertainer (d. 2001)
• September 12 - Stanislaw Lem, Polish science fiction writer (d. 2006)
• September 14 - Dario Vittori, Argentinean actor (d. 2001)
• September 15 - Norma Macmillan, voice actress (d. 2001)
• September 24 - Jim McKay, American sportscaster
• September 30 - Deborah Kerr, Scottish actress (d. 2007)
• 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 (d. 2006)
• October 22 - Georges Brassens, French singer-songwriter (d. 1981)
• October 25 - King Michael of Romania
• October 26 - Frances Scott Fitzgerald, Daughter of F. Scott Fitzgerald and Zelda Sayre. (d. 1986)

November-December :

• November 3 - Charles Bronson, American actor (d. 2003)
• November 5 - Princess Fawzia of Egypt
• November 6 - James Jones, American writer (d. 1977)
• 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 Dubcek, 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 Stallone
• December 3 - Phyllis Curtin, American soprano
• December 7 - Pramukhswami maharaj, Hindu spiritual leader/saint of swaminarayan.
• December 6 - Otto Graham, American football player (d. 2003)
• December 26 - Blae Koneski, Macedonian poet and linguist
• December 26 - Steve Allen, American actor, composer, comedian, and author (d. 2000)
• December 28 - Stan Lee, American writer and comic book creator

Deaths :

January - June :

• January 1 - Theobald von Bethmann Hollweg, Chancellor of Germany (b. 1856)
• February 8
• *Peter Kropotkin, Russian anarchist (b. 1842)
• *George Formby (Senior), English entertainer (b. 1876)
• February 26 - Carl Menger, Austrian economist (b. 1840)
• February 27 - Schofield Haigh, English cricketer (b. 1871)
• March 1 - King Nicholas I of Montenegro (b. 1841)
• April 21 - Tom O'Brien, 19th century major league baseball player (b. 1860)
• 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)
• May 19 - Edward Douglass White, 9th Chief Justice of the United States (b. 1845)
• June 5 - Georges Feydeau, French playwright (b. 1862)
• June 28 - Gjorche Petrov, Macedonian and Bulgarian revolutionary
• June 29 - Otto Seeck, German classical historian (b. 1850)

July - December :

• 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 7 - Alfred William Rich, English watercolour painter (b. 1856)
• September 11 - Subramanya Bharathy, Tamil poet (b. 1882)
• September 27 - Engelbert Humperdinck, German composer (b. 1854)
• October 25 - Bat Masterson, American gunfighter (b. 1853)
• October 30 - Joel Morrison, Upright bass player (b. 1862)
• November 4 - Hara Takashi, 19th Prime Minister of Japan (b. 1856)
• November 20 - Christina Nilsson, Swedish operatic soprano (b. 1843)
• 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)
• December 31

Nobel prizes :

• Physics - Albert Einstein
• Chemistry - Frederick Soddy
• Medicine - not awarded
• Literature - Anatole France
• Peace - Karl Hjalmar Branting, Christian Lous Lange

Notes :

External references :

• 1921 Aviation Comes North- NWT Historical Timeline- A Prince of Wales Northern Heritage Centre Online Exhibit

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