1919

Centuries: 19th century - 20th century - 21st century

Decades: 1860s 1870s 1880s 1890s 1900s - 1910s - 1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s

Years: 1914 1915 1916 1917 1918 - 1919 - 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924

Events

• XWA (now CFCF),in Montreal, Quebec is the first public radio station in North America to go the air.
• January 1 - Edsel Ford succeeds his father as head of the Ford Motor Company
• January 11 - Romania annexes Transylvania.
• January 15 - The Boston Molasses Disaster kills 21 people
• January 15 - Ignace Paderewski[?] becomes Premier of Poland
• January 16 - The 18th Amendment, authorizing Prohibition, goes into effect in the United States
• January 18 - World War I: A peace conference opens in Versailles, France.
• January 18 - Bentley Motors is founded
• January 23 - Hans Haas[?], zoologist and underwater scientist
• January 23 - Ernie Kovacs, comedian (+ 1962)
• January 25 - The League of Nations is founded
• February 1 - The first Miss America is crowned (New York City).
• February 11 - Friedrich Ebert (SPD), is elected President of Germany.
• February 23 - Benito Mussolini forms the Fascist Party[?] in Italy.
• February 25 - Oregon places a 1 cent per gallon tax on gasoline, becoming the first U.S. state to levy a gasoline tax[?].
• February 26 - An act of the United States Congress establishes most of the Grand Canyon as a United States National Park (see Grand Canyon National Park).
• March 2 - The first Communist International meets in Moscow
• March 15 - The American Legion[?] forms in Paris
• March 23 - In Milan, Italy, Benito Mussolini founds his Fascist political movement.
• May 4 - May Fourth Movement opposes foreign colonizers in China
• May 15 - Winnipeg launches general strike[?] for better wages and working conditions.
• May 17 - Committee of One Thousand forms to oppose Winnipeg General Strike[?]
• May 29 - Einstein's theory of General Relativity confirmed by Arthur Eddington's observation of a total eclipse of the Sun
• July 6 - The British dirigible R-34 lands in New York, completing the first crossing of the Atlantic by an airship.
• November - at end of month health officials declare global Spanish Flu Pandemic over
• The Åland Islands vote for a return to Swedish rule in a referendum.
• Les Champs Magnetiques[?], the first automatic book, is written by Andre Breton and Philippe Soupault[?].
• December 30 - Lincoln's Inn, in London admits its first women bar student.

Art, Culture & Fashion

• 1919 in film
  • February 5 - Charlie Chaplin, Mary Pickford, Douglas Fairbanks and D.W. Griffith launch United Artists
• 1919 in literature
• 1919 in music
• 1919 in fashion[?]
  • Marcel Tolkowsky's Diamond Design is published.
• 1919 in sports[?]
  • The Black Sox scandal -- Seven members of the Chicago White Sox take bribes to throw the World Series against the Cincinnati Reds

Births

• January 1 - J. D. Salinger, novelist
• January 13 - Army Archerd[?], Hollywood journalist
• January 13 - Robert Stack, actor
• January 14 - Andy Rooney[?], television journalist
• January 25 - Edwin Newman[?], journalist, writer
• January 27 - Ross Bagdasarian[?], musician, actor (+ 1972)
• January 31 - Jackie Robinson, baseball player (+ 1972)
• February 5 - Andreas Papandreou[?], Greek politician (+ 1996)
• February 5 - Red Buttons[?], actor
• February 11 -Gretchen Fraser[?], slalom skier.
• February 11 - Eddie Robinson[?], football coach.
• February 12 - Forrest Tucker[?], actor (+ 1986)
• February 13 - Tennessee Ernie Ford, musician (+ 1991)
• March 2 - Jennifer Jones, actress
• March 11 - Mercer Ellington[?], musician, composer (+ 1996)
• March 15 - Lawrence Tierney[?], actor (+ 2002)
• March 17 - Nat King Cole, singer (+ 1965)
• March 24 - Lawrence Ferlinghetti, author and publisher
• March 30 - McGeorge Bundy, National Security Advisor (+ 1996)
• May 3 - Pete Seeger, singer and musician
• May 7 - Eva Peron, wife of Argentina's President Juan Peron (+ 1952)
• May 8 - Lex Barker[?], actor (+ 1973)
• May 16 - Liberace, pianist (+ 1987)
• May 16 - Gisela Uhlen[?], actress
• May 18 - Dame Margot Fonteyn[?], ballet dancer (+ 1991)
• May 20 - George Gobel, comedian (+ 1991)
• May 23 - Betty Garrett[?], actress, dancer
• June 5 - Richard Scarry, children's author
• July 7 - Jon Pertwee, actor
• July 20 - Edmund Hillary, mountaineer
• October 11 - Art Blakey, jazz drummer
• October 22 - Doris Lessing, British writer
• November 10 - Mikhail Kalashnikov - Soviet inventor

Deaths

• January 6 - Theodore Roosevelt
• February 17 - Wilfrid Laurier, seventh Prime Minister of Canada
• April 4 - Sir William Crookes, chemist and physicist
• May 6 - L. Frank Baum, writer
• December 3 - Pierre-Auguste Renoir, a French painter.

Nobel Prizes

• Physics - Johannes Stark[?]
• Chemistry - not awarded
• Medicine - Jules Bordet
• Literature - Carl Friedrich Georg Spitteler[?]
• Peace - Thomas Woodrow Wilson