1919
1919 was a common year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar).
Events
January
February-April
May-June
May 1 – Large left-wing demonstration in France leads to a violent confrontation with the police
May 1 - In Cleveland , police and army confront the May Day parade and drive into crowd – 2 dead, one hundred injured
May 3 – People's Republic of Munich is crushed
May 4 - May Fourth Movement opposes foreign colonizers in China
May 15 - Winnipeg launches general strike for better wages and working conditions.
May 16 - US Navy Naval Curtiss aircraft NC-4 commanded by Albert Cushing Read departs Trepassey, Newfoundland , for Lisbon via the Azores on the first transatlantic flight
May 17 - Committee of One Thousand forms to oppose Winnipeg General Strike
May 25 – Volcano Kelut erupts in Java – 16.000 dead
May 29 - Einstein's theory of general relativity confirmed by Arthur Eddington 's observation of a total eclipse of the Sun .
June 4 - Women's rights : The United States Congress approves the 19th Amendment to the United States Constitution , which would guarantee suffrage to women , and sends it to the U.S. states for ratification.
June 14 - John Alcock and Arthur Brown depart St. John's, Newfoundland on the first nonstop transatlantic flight (they landed at Clifden , County Galway , Ireland the next day). [1]
June 21 - Royal Canadian Mounted Police fire a volley into a crowd of unemployed war veterans, killing two, during Winnipeg General Strike .
June 21 - Admiral Ludvig von Reuter scuttles the German fleet in Scapa Flow , Orkney . The nine sailors killed were the last casualties of the First World War .
June 28 - The Treaty of Versailles is signed, ending World War I with Germany.
July-November
July 6 - The British dirigible R-34 lands in New York, completing the first crossing of the Atlantic by an airship.
July 31 - Strike of policemen in London and Liverpool for recognition of the National Union of Police and Prison Officers. Over 2,000 strikers are dismissed.
August 11 - In Germany , the Weimar Constitution is passed into law .
August 19 - Afghanistan gains independence from the United Kingdom .
16 August -26 August - First Silesian Uprising , the Poles in Upper Silesia rise against the Germans
August 31 - American Communist Party is established
September 10 - Treaty of Saint-Germain is signed, ending World War I with Austria.
September 10 -15 : A hurricane kills 600 in the Gulf of Mexico and Texas .
September 27 - Last British troops leave Archangel , Russia and leave fighting to the Russians
October 1 - Elaine Race Riot breaks out in Arkansas
October 2 - US President Woodrow Wilson suffers a massive stroke, leaving him partially paralyzed .
October 9 - Black Sox scandal : The Cincinnati Reds "win" the World Series .
October 9 - Boston police strike
October 13 - Convention relating to the Regulation of Aerial Navigation signed.
October 28 - Prohibition begins: The United States Congress passes the Volstead Act over President Woodrow Wilson 's veto.
November - At end of month health officials declare the global Spanish Flu Pandemic over
November 10 - The first national convention of the American Legion is held in Minneapolis, Minnesota (convention ended on November 12 ).
November 11 - The Centralia Massacre in Centralia, Washington results the deaths of four members of the American Legion and the lynching of a local leader of the IWW .
November 27 - The Treaty of Neuilly is signed between Allies and Bulgaria.
November 28 - The American-born Lady Astor is elected to the British House of Commons , becoming the first female MP to take a seat on December 1 .
December
Unknown dates
Births
January-April
January 1 - J. D. Salinger , novelist
January 13 - Army Archerd , Hollywood journalist
January 13 - Robert Stack , actor (d. 2003 )
January 14 - Andy Rooney , television journalist
January 23 - Hans Haas , zoologist and underwater scientist
January 23 - Ernie Kovacs , comedian (d. 1962 )
January 25 - Edwin Newman , journalist, writer
January 26 - Valentino Mazzola , Italian footballer, captain of the Torino team killed in the Superga air disaster , father of Sandro Mazzola (d. 1949 )
January 27 - Ross Bagdasarian , musician, actor (d. 1972 )
January 31 - Jackie Robinson , baseball player (d. 1972 )
February 5 - Andreas Papandreou , Greek politician (d. 1996 )
February 5 - Red Buttons , actor
February 11 - Gretchen Fraser , slalom skier.
February 11 - Eddie Robinson , football coach.
February 12 - Forrest Tucker , actor (d. 1986 )
February 13 - Tennessee Ernie Ford , musician (d. 1991 )
February 27 - Enrique A. Collantes Zafra is born.
March 2 - Jennifer Jones , actress
March 11 - Mercer Ellington , musician, composer (d. 1996 )
March 15 - Lawrence Tierney , actor (d. 2002 )
March 17 - Nat King Cole , singer (d. 1965 )
March 24 - Lawrence Ferlinghetti , author and publisher
March 30 - McGeorge Bundy , National Security Advisor (d. 1996 )
April 8 - Ian Douglas Smith , leader of white-ruled Rhodesia 1965-1979
May-December
May 1 - Dan O'Herlihy , Irish film actor (d. 2005 )
May 3 - Pete Seeger , singer and musician
May 7 - Eva Peron , wife of Argentina's President Juan Peron (d. 1952 )
May 8 - Lex Barker , actor (d. 1973 )
May 16 - Liberace , pianist (d. 1987 )
May 16 - Gisela Uhlen , actress
May 18 - Dame Margot Fonteyn , ballet dancer (d. 1991 )
May 20 - George Gobel , comedian (d. 1991 )
May 23 - Betty Garrett , actress, dancer
June 4 - Robert Merrill , baritone (d. 2004 )
June 5 - Richard Scarry , children's author (d. 1994 )
June 21 - Gérard Pelletier , French journalist, politician and diplomat (d. 1997 )
June 26 - Richard Neustadt , political historian (d. 2003 )
July 6 - Ernst Haefliger , Swiss tenor
July 7 - Jon Pertwee , actor (d. 1996 )
July 15 - Iris Murdoch , novelist (d. 1999 )
July 20 - Edmund Hillary , mountaineer
August 11 - Ginette Neveu , French violinist (d. 1949 )
September 11 - Ota Sik , Czech economist and politician (d. 2004 )
September 21 - Fazlur Rahman , scholar (d. 1988 )
September 27 - James H. Wilkinson , mathematician (d. 1986 )
October 1 - member of the Romanian Academy , president of the Jewish Communities Federation of Romania
October 11 - Art Blakey , jazz drummer (d. 1990 )
October 18 - Pierre Elliott Trudeau , Canadian prime minister (d. 2000 )
October 22 - Doris Lessing , British writer
October 26 - Mohammad Reza Pahlavi , Shah of Iran (d. 1980 )
November 10 - Mikhail Kalashnikov - inventor, designer of the Ak-47
November 14 - Lisa Otto , German soprano
November 18 - Andrée Borrel , WW II heroine executed by the Nazis (d. 1944 )
November - Keith Miller , Australian sportsman (d. 2004 )
December 31 - Tommy Byrne , Major League Baseball player
Deaths
January 6 - Theodore Roosevelt , 26th President of the United States (b. 1858 )
January 6 - Max Heindel , Christian occultist, astrologer and mystic (b. 1865 )
January 15 - Rosa Luxemburg and Karl Liebknecht
January 18 - His Royal Highness Prince John , son of George V and Queen Mary (b. 1905 )
February 17 - Wilfrid Laurier , seventh Prime Minister of Canada (b. 1841 )
April 4 - Sir William Crookes , English chemist and physicist (b. 1832 )
April 15 - Jane Delano , founder, American Red Cross Nursing Service (b. 1862 )
May 6 - L. Frank Baum , American writer (b. 1856 )
July 26 - Sir Edward Poynter , British painter (b. 1936 )
August 9 - Ruggiero Leoncavallo , Italian composer (b. 1857 )
October 7 - Alfred Deakin , second Prime Minister of Australia (b. 1856 )
October 18 - Viscount William Astor , American financier and statesman (b. 1848 )
December 3 - Pierre-Auguste Renoir , French painter (b. 1841 )
Nobel Prizes
Top Encyclopedia Articles
