1926 in the United States
Encyclopedia
January–March
- February 1 – Land on BroadwayBroadway (New York City)Broadway is a prominent avenue in New York City, United States, which runs through the full length of the borough of Manhattan and continues northward through the Bronx borough before terminating in Westchester County, New York. It is the oldest north–south main thoroughfare in the city, dating to...
and Wall StreetWall StreetWall Street refers to the financial district of New York City, named after and centered on the eight-block-long street running from Broadway to South Street on the East River in Lower Manhattan. Over time, the term has become a metonym for the financial markets of the United States as a whole, or...
in New York CityNew York CityNew York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
is sold at a record $7 per sq inch. - March 16 – Robert Goddard launches the first liquid-fuel rocket, at Auburn, MassachusettsAuburn, MassachusettsAuburn is a town in Worcester County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 16,188 at the 2010 census.- History :Auburn was first settled in 1789 and was officially incorporated in 1808 as the town of Ward, in honor of American Revolution General Artemas Ward...
.
April–June
- April 12 – By a vote of 45–41, the United States SenateUnited States SenateThe United States Senate is the upper house of the bicameral legislature of the United States, and together with the United States House of Representatives comprises the United States Congress. The composition and powers of the Senate are established in Article One of the U.S. Constitution. Each...
unseats IowaIowaIowa is a state located in the Midwestern United States, an area often referred to as the "American Heartland". It derives its name from the Ioway people, one of the many American Indian tribes that occupied the state at the time of European exploration. Iowa was a part of the French colony of New...
Senator Smith W. BrookhartSmith W. BrookhartSmith Wildman Brookhart , was twice elected as a Republican to represent Iowa in the United States Senate. He was considered an "insurgent" within the Republican Party; his criticisms of the Harding and Coolidge Administrations and of business interests alienated others within the Republican...
and seats Daniel F. SteckDaniel F. SteckDaniel Frederic Steck , was the only Iowa Democrat in the United States Senate between the American Civil War and the Great Depression. He was sworn in as Senator only after an extraordinary election challenge, in which his apparent defeat at the polls by a Progressive Party ally running as a...
, after Brookhart had already served for over one year. - April 30 – African-American pilot Bessie ColemanBessie ColemanElizabeth “Bessie” Coleman was an American civil aviator. She was the first female pilot of African American descent and the first person of African American descent to hold an international pilot license.-Early life:...
is killed after falling 2000 feet (609.6 m) from an airplane. - May 10 – Planes piloted by Major Harold GeigerHarold GeigerMajor Harold C. Geiger , born in East Orange, New Jersey, was a pioneer in US military aviation and ballooning who was killed in an airplane crash in 1927...
and Horace Meek HickamHorace Meek HickamHorace Meek Hickam was a pioneer airpower advocate and an officer in the United States Army Air Corps. Hickam Air Force Base, Hawaii, is named in his honor.-Background:...
, students at the Air Corps Tactical SchoolAir Corps Tactical SchoolThe Air Corps Tactical School, also known as ACTS and "the Tactical School", was a military professional development school for officers of the United States Army Air Service and United States Army Air Corps, the first such school in the world. Created in 1920 at Langley Field, Virginia, it...
, collide in mid-air at Langley Field, Virginia. Hickam parachutes to safety. - May 18 – Evangelist Aimee Semple McPhersonAimee Semple McPhersonAimee Semple McPherson , also known as Sister Aimee, was a Canadian-American Los Angeles, California evangelist and media celebrity in the 1920s and 1930s. She founded the Foursquare Church...
disappears while visiting a Venice, California beach. - May 20 – The United States CongressUnited States CongressThe United States Congress is the bicameral legislature of the federal government of the United States, consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Congress meets in the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C....
passes the Air Commerce Act, licensing pilots and planes. - June 19 – DeFord BaileyDeFord BaileyDeFord Bailey was an American country music star from the 1920s until 1941, and the first performer on the Grand Ole Opry...
is the first African-American to perform on Nashville's Grand Ole OpryGrand Ole OpryThe Grand Ole Opry is a weekly country music stage concert in Nashville, Tennessee, that has presented the biggest stars of that genre since 1925. It is also among the longest-running broadcasts in history since its beginnings as a one-hour radio "barn dance" on WSM-AM...
.
July–September
- July 12 – A lightning strike destroys an ammunition depot in Dover, New JerseyDover, New JerseyDover is a town in Morris County, New Jersey on the Rockaway River. Dover is west of New York City and west of Newark, New Jersey. As of the United States Census, 2000, the town's population was 18,188.-Geography:...
. - July 26 – The National Bar AssociationNational Bar AssociationThe National Bar Association was established in 1925 as the "Negro Bar Association" after Gertrude Rush, George H. Woodson, S. Joe Brown, James B. Morris, and Charles P. Howard, Sr. were denied membership in the American Bar Association. It represents the interests of African-American attorneys in...
incorporates in the United States. - August 6 – In New YorkNew YorkNew York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
, the Warner Brothers' VitaphoneVitaphoneVitaphone was a sound film process used on feature films and nearly 1,000 short subjects produced by Warner Bros. and its sister studio First National from 1926 to 1930. Vitaphone was the last, but most successful, of the sound-on-disc processes...
system premieres with the movie Don JuanDon Juan (1926 film)Don Juan is a Warner Brothers film, directed by Alan Crosland. It was the first feature-length film with synchronized Vitaphone sound effects and musical soundtrack, though it has no spoken dialogue...
starring John BarrymoreJohn BarrymoreJohn Sidney Blyth , better known as John Barrymore, was an acclaimed American actor. He first gained fame as a handsome stage actor in light comedy, then high drama and culminating in groundbreaking portrayals in Shakespearean plays Hamlet and Richard III...
. - August 18 – A weather map is televised for the first time, sent from NAA Arlington to the Weather Bureau Office in Washington, D.C.Washington, D.C.Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
- September 11 – Aloha TowerAloha TowerThe Aloha Tower is a lighthouse that is considered one of the landmarks of the state of Hawaii in the United States. Opened on September 11, 1926, the Aloha Tower is located at Pier 9 of Honolulu Harbor. It has and continues to be a guiding beacon welcoming vessels to the City and County of Honolulu...
is officially dedicated at Honolulu HarborHonolulu HarborHonolulu Harbor, also called Kulolia and Ke Awa O Kou, is the principal seaport of Honolulu and the State of Hawaii in the United States. It is from Honolulu Harbor, located on Mamala Bay, that the City & County of Honolulu was developed and urbanized, in an outward fashion, over the course of the...
in the Territory of Hawai'iTerritory of HawaiiThe Territory of Hawaii or Hawaii Territory was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from July 7, 1898, until August 21, 1959, when its territory, with the exception of Johnston Atoll, was admitted to the Union as the fiftieth U.S. state, the State of Hawaii.The U.S...
. - September 16 – Philip Dunning and George Abbott's play Broadway premieres in New York CityNew York CityNew York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
. - September 18 – Great Miami Hurricane: A strong hurricane devastates Miami, FloridaMiami, FloridaMiami is a city located on the Atlantic coast in southeastern Florida and the county seat of Miami-Dade County, the most populous county in Florida and the eighth-most populous county in the United States with a population of 2,500,625...
, leaving over 100 dead and causing several hundred million dollars in damage (equal to nearly $100 billion dollars today). - September 20 – Twelve cars full of gangsters open fire at the Hawthorne Inn, Al CaponeAl CaponeAlphonse Gabriel "Al" Capone was an American gangster who led a Prohibition-era crime syndicate. The Chicago Outfit, which subsequently became known as the "Capones", was dedicated to smuggling and bootlegging liquor, and other illegal activities such as prostitution, in Chicago from the early...
's ChicagoChicagoChicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
headquarters. Only one of Capone's men is wounded.
October–December
- November 10 – In San Francisco, CaliforniaSan Francisco, CaliforniaSan Francisco , officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the financial, cultural, and transportation center of the San Francisco Bay Area, a region of 7.15 million people which includes San Jose and Oakland...
, a necrophiliac serial killerSerial killerA serial killer, as typically defined, is an individual who has murdered three or more people over a period of more than a month, with down time between the murders, and whose motivation for killing is usually based on psychological gratification...
named Earle NelsonEarle NelsonEarle Leonard Nelson aka The Gorilla Killer was an American serial killer.Nelson's childhood was a difficult one. His mother and father both died of syphilis before Nelson turned two. He was subsequently sent to be raised by his maternal grandmother, a devout Pentecostal...
(dubbed "Gorilla Man") kills and then rapeRapeRape is a type of sexual assault usually involving sexual intercourse, which is initiated by one or more persons against another person without that person's consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, abuse of authority or with a person who is incapable of valid consent. The...
s his 9th victim, a boardinghouse landlady named Mrs. William Edmonds. - November 11 – U.S. Route 66U.S. Route 66U.S. Route 66 was a highway within the U.S. Highway System. One of the original U.S. highways, Route 66 was established on November 11, 1926 -- with road signs erected the following year...
is established. - November 15 – The NBCNBCThe National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
radioRadioRadio is the transmission of signals through free space by modulation of electromagnetic waves with frequencies below those of visible light. Electromagnetic radiation travels by means of oscillating electromagnetic fields that pass through the air and the vacuum of space...
network opens with 24 stations (formed by Westinghouse, General ElectricGeneral ElectricGeneral Electric Company , or GE, is an American multinational conglomerate corporation incorporated in Schenectady, New York and headquartered in Fairfield, Connecticut, United States...
and RCARCARCA Corporation, founded as the Radio Corporation of America, was an American electronics company in existence from 1919 to 1986. The RCA trademark is currently owned by the French conglomerate Technicolor SA through RCA Trademark Management S.A., a company owned by Technicolor...
). - November 27 – In Williamsburg, VirginiaWilliamsburg, VirginiaWilliamsburg is an independent city located on the Virginia Peninsula in the Hampton Roads metropolitan area of Virginia, USA. As of the 2010 Census, the city had an estimated population of 14,068. It is bordered by James City County and York County, and is an independent city...
, the restoration of Colonial WilliamsburgColonial WilliamsburgColonial Williamsburg is the private foundation representing the historic district of the city of Williamsburg, Virginia, USA. The district includes buildings dating from 1699 to 1780 which made colonial Virginia's capital. The capital straddled the boundary of the original shires of Virginia —...
begins.
Undated
- The Pike SchoolThe Pike SchoolThe Pike School, founded in 1926 by Cynthia E. Pike, is an independent, coed day school in Andover, Massachusetts that serves students in grades Pre-kindergarten through Nine...
of Andover, Massachusetts is founded. - U.S. Marines intervene in NicaraguaNicaraguaNicaragua is the largest country in the Central American American isthmus, bordered by Honduras to the north and Costa Rica to the south. The country is situated between 11 and 14 degrees north of the Equator in the Northern Hemisphere, which places it entirely within the tropics. The Pacific Ocean...
to bolster the conservative government. - American microbiologist Selman WaksmanSelman WaksmanSelman Abraham Waksman was an American biochemist and microbiologist whose research into organic substances—largely into organisms that live in soil—and their decomposition promoted the discovery of Streptomycin, and several other antibiotics...
publishes Enzymes.
Births
- January 20 - Patricia NealPatricia NealPatricia Neal was an American actress of stage and screen. She was best known for her film roles as World War II widow Helen Benson in The Day the Earth Stood Still , wealthy matron Emily Eustace Failenson in Breakfast at Tiffany's , middle-aged housekeeper Alma Brown in Hud , for which she won...
, actress - February 3 - Richard YatesRichard Yates- People :*Richard Yates , English comic actor* Richard Yates , 13th Governor of Illinois , U.S. Senator from Illinois , U.S...
, novelist - February 17 - Lee HoibyLee HoibyLee Henry Hoiby was an American composer and classical pianist. Best known as a composer of operas and songs, he was a disciple of composer Gian Carlo Menotti. Like Menotti, his works championed lyricism during a time when such compositions were deemed old fashioned and irrelevant to modern society...
, composer (died 20112011 in the United States- Incumbents :* President: Barack Obama * Vice President: Joe Biden * Chief Justice: John Roberts* Speaker of the House of Representatives: Nancy Pelosi until January 3, John Boehner since January 5...
) - March 6 - Alan GreenspanAlan GreenspanAlan Greenspan is an American economist who served as Chairman of the Federal Reserve of the United States from 1987 to 2006. He currently works as a private advisor and provides consulting for firms through his company, Greenspan Associates LLC...
, economist - March 11 - Ralph AbernathyRalph AbernathyRalph David Abernathy, Sr. was a leader of the American Civil Rights Movement, a minister, and a close associate of Martin Luther King, Jr. in the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. Following King's assassination, Dr. Abernathy took up the leadership of the SCLC Poor People's Campaign and...
, civil rights leader (died 19901990 in the United States-Incumbents:* President: George H. W. Bush * Vice President: Dan Quayle * Chief Justice: William Rehnquist* Speaker of the House of Representatives: Tom Foley * Senate Majority Leader: George J. Mitchell...
) - April 28 - Harper LeeHarper LeeNelle Harper Lee is an American author known for her 1960 Pulitzer-Prize-winning novel To Kill a Mockingbird, which deals with the issues of racism that were observed by the author as a child in her hometown of Monroeville, Alabama...
, novelist - May 26 - Miles DavisMiles DavisMiles Dewey Davis III was an American jazz musician, trumpeter, bandleader, and composer. Widely considered one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century, Miles Davis was, with his musical groups, at the forefront of several major developments in jazz music, including bebop, cool jazz,...
, jazz musician - June 1 -
- Andy GriffithAndy GriffithAndy Samuel Griffith is an American actor, director, producer, Grammy Award-winning Southern-gospel singer, and writer. He gained prominence in the starring role in director Elia Kazan's epic film A Face in the Crowd before he became better known for his television roles, playing the lead...
, actor - Marilyn MonroeMarilyn MonroeMarilyn Monroe was an American actress, singer, model and showgirl who became a major sex symbol, starring in a number of commercially successful motion pictures during the 1950s....
, actress and icon (died 19621962 in the United States-January:* January 1 – The United States Navy SEALs are activated. SEAL Team One is commissioned in the Pacific Fleet and SEAL Team Two in the Atlantic Fleet.* January 2 – NAACP Executive Secretary Roy Wilkins praises U.S. President John F...
)
- Andy Griffith
- June 3 - Allen GinsbergAllen GinsbergIrwin Allen Ginsberg was an American poet and one of the leading figures of the Beat Generation in the 1950s. He vigorously opposed militarism, materialism and sexual repression...
, poet - September 16 - John KnowlesJohn KnowlesJohn Knowles was an American novelist best known for his novel A Separate Peace. He died in 2001 at the age of seventy-five.-Early life:...
, author - December 23 - Robert BlyRobert BlyRobert Bly is an American poet, author, activist and leader of the Mythopoetic Men's Movement.-Life:Bly was born in Lac qui Parle County, Minnesota, to Jacob and Alice Bly, who were of Norwegian ancestry. Following graduation from high school in 1944, he enlisted in the United States Navy, serving...
, poet
Deaths
- April 11 - Luther BurbankLuther BurbankLuther Burbank was an American botanist, horticulturist and a pioneer in agricultural science.He developed more than 800 strains and varieties of plants over his 54-year career. Burbank's varied creations included fruits, flowers, grains, grasses, and vegetables...
, botanist - October 20 - Eugene V. DebsEugene V. DebsEugene Victor Debs was an American union leader, one of the founding members of the International Labor Union and the Industrial Workers of the World , and several times the candidate of the Socialist Party of America for President of the United States...
, labor leader - October 23 - Olympia BrownOlympia BrownOlympia Brown was an American suffragist. She is regarded as the first woman to graduate from a theological school, as well as becoming the first full time ordained minister...
, suffragette - November 3 - Annie OakleyAnnie OakleyAnnie Oakley , born Phoebe Ann Mosey, was an American sharpshooter and exhibition shooter. Oakley's amazing talent and timely rise to fame led to a starring role in Buffalo Bill's Wild West show, which propelled her to become the first American female superstar.Oakley's most famous trick is perhaps...
, performance artist