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News and Events of 1919

Year by Year: 1900-2012 View a 1919 calendar

World Events

World Statistics

population by decade

Nobel Peace Prize:
Woodrow Wilson (US)

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Versailles Treaty, incorporating Woodrow Wilson's draft Covenant of League of Nations, signed by Allies and Germany; rejected by U.S. Senate.
18th Amendment (Prohibition) adopted. Background: Amendments to the Constitution of the United States
Mahatma Gandhi initiates Satyagraha campaigns, beginning his nonviolent resistance movement against British rule in India.

U.S. Events

U.S. Statistics

President: Woodrow Wilson
Vice President: Thomas R. Marshall
Population: 104,514,000

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About three-quarters of the Boston police force goes on strike (Sept. 9). Massachusetts Governor (John) Calvin Coolidge acts quickly to dismiss the strikers, saying that no one has the right to strike against the public safety.
Race riots erupt in 26 U.S. cities during the course of the year, including Washington, D.C., and Chicago in July.
The 18th amendment to the Constitution, prohibiting the sale of alcholic beverages anywhere in the U.S., is ratified (Jan. 16).

Economics

Federal spending:   $18.49 billion
Consumer Price Index:   17.3
Unemployment:   1.4%
Cost of a first-class stamp:   $0.03 ($0.02 as of 7/1/19)

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Sports

Sports Links

Pro Football Summary

Pro Basketball Summary

Pro Baseball Summary

World Series

Cincinnati d. Chicago White Sox (5-3)

Stanley Cup

No Decision (due to influenza epidemic)

Wimbledon

Women: Suzanne Lenglen d. D. Chambers (10-8 4-6 9-7)
Men: Gerald Patterson d. N. Brookes (6-3 7-5 6-2)

Kentucky Derby Champion

Sir Barton

NCAA Football Champions

Harvard (CFRA-tie, HF) (9-0-1) Illinois (CFRA-tie) (6-1-0) & Notre Dame (NCF) (9-0-0)

Entertainment

Entertainment Awards

Pulitzer Prizes
Fiction: The Magnificent Ambersons, Booth Tarkington

Nobel Prize for Literature: Carl Spitteler (Switzerland)

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Events

After moving from its southern rural roots, jazz establishes Chicago as its capital. The city will become home to such jazz greats as trumpeter Louis Armstrong and pianist Jelly Roll Morton.
Charlie Chaplin, D.W. Griffith, Douglas Fairbanks, and Mary Pickford establish United Artists in an attempt to control their own work.

Science

Nobel Prizes in Science

Chemistry: None awarded

Physics: Johannes Stark (Germany), discovery of Doppler effect in Canal rays and decomposition of spectrum lines by electric fields

Physiology or Medicine: Jules Bordet (Belgium), for discoveries in connection with immunity

Dial telephones are introduced by the American Telephone and Telegraph Company.
Albert Einstein's theory of general relativity is confirmed when the Royal Astronomical Society sees the predicted effect during a solar eclipse.