Top News Stories from 1919

World Events

World Statistics

Population: 4.378 billion
population by decade
Nobel Peace Prize: Woodrow Wilson (US)
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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)

Sports

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

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
More Nobel Prizes in 1998...
  • 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.
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