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1925 in the United States
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Events from the year 1925 in the United States.
Incumbents
[[Federal government of the United States|Federal government]]
- President: Calvin Coolidge (R-Massachusetts)
- Vice President: ::vacant (until March 4)
- Chief Justice: William Howard Taft (Ohio)
- Speaker of the House of Representatives:
- Senate Majority Leader: Charles Curtis (R-Kansas)
- Congress: 68th (until March 4), 69th (starting March 4)
State governments
| Governors and lieutenant governors |
|---|
Events
January–March

- January 5–April 1 – Celia Cooney, "the Bobbed Hair Bandit", and her husband Ed go on an armed robbery spree in Brooklyn while she is pregnant. On April 21 they are arrested in Florida.
- January 27–February 1 – The 1925 serum run to Nome (the "Great Race of Mercy") relays diphtheria antitoxin by dog sled across the U.S. Territory of Alaska to combat an epidemic.
- February 21 – First issue of The New Yorker magazine is published under the editorship of Harold Ross.
- March 2 – In an appeal originating in a Prohibition era bootlegging case, Carroll v. United States is decided in the Supreme Court, affirming the motor vehicle exception, that a warrantless search of an automobile does not contravene the Fourth Amendment, subject to probable cause and exigent circumstances.
- March 4 – Calvin Coolidge becomes the first president of the United States to have his inauguration broadcast on radio. Charles G. Dawes is sworn in as the 30th vice president.
- March 15 – The Phi Lambda Chi fraternity (original name "The Aztecs") is founded on the campus of Arkansas State Teacher's College in Conway, Arkansas (the modern-day University of Central Arkansas).
- March 18 – The Tri-State Tornado rampages through Missouri, Illinois and Indiana, killing 695 people and injuring 2,027. It hits the towns of Murphysboro, Illinois; Gorham, Illinois; Ellington, Missouri; and Griffin, Indiana. The storm's damage path is indicated at 378 km (235 mi).
- March 21 – Tennessee Governor Austin Peay signs the Butler Act, prohibiting the teaching of evolution in the state's public schools.
- March 31 – Radio station WOWO in Ft. Wayne, Indiana, begins broadcasting.
April–June
- April 1 – Frank Heath and his horse Gypsy Queen leave Washington, D.C. to begin a two-year journey to visit all 48 states.
- April 10 – F. Scott Fitzgerald publishes The Great Gatsby.
- April 18 – University of Miami chartered in Coral Gables, Florida.
- May 8 – African American Tom Lee rescues 32 people from the M.E. Norman, a steamboat sinking in the Mississippi.
- May 25 – The National Forensic League is founded for the promotion of public speaking and debate in the United States.
- June 6 – The Chrysler Corporation is founded as an automobile manufacturer by Walter Percy Chrysler.
- June 13 – Charles Francis Jenkins achieves the first synchronized transmission of pictures and sound, using 48 lines, and a mechanical system. A 10-minute film of a miniature windmill in motion is sent across 5 miles from Anacostia to Washington, D.C. The images are viewed by representatives of the National Bureau of Standards, the U.S. Navy, the Department of Commerce and others. Jenkins calls this "the first public demonstration of radiovision".
- June 17 – 1st National Spelling Bee held in Washington, D.C.
- June 27 – The 6.6 Montana earthquake affects the central part of the state with a maximum Mercalli intensity of VIII (Severe). Because the affected area is mostly rural, financial losses are limited to $150,000, though the damage is considered severe.
- June 29 – The 6.8 Santa Barbara earthquake affects the central coast of California with a maximum Mercalli intensity of IX (Violent), destroying much of downtown Santa Barbara, California and leaving 13 people dead.
July–September
- July 7 – New York City Police Department Emergency Service Unit is created as the Emergency Automobile Squad.
- July 10–21 – Scopes Trial: In a staged test case (the "Monkey Trial") in Dayton, Tennessee, John T. Scopes, a young high school science teacher (technically arrested on May 5 and indicted on May 25) is accused of assigning a reading from a state-mandated textbook on Darwinian evolution in violation of a Tennessee state law, the "Butler Act". He is found guilty and fined $100, though the verdict is later overturned on a technicality. The trial makes explicit the fundamentalist–modernist controversy within the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America, with William Jennings Bryan (who dies on July 26) being challenged by the liberal Clarence Darrow.
- August 14 – The original Hetch Hetchy Moccasin Powerhouse is completed and goes on line.
- September 1–30 – In the first year for which statewide data are reliable, this month with a statewide average water equivalent of 7.54 in remains Alaska's wettest calendar month on record.
- September 3 – The U.S. Navy dirigible Shenandoah breaks up in a squall line over Ohio en route to Scottfield, St. Louis; 14 crewmen are killed.
October–December
- October 6 – Xavier University of Louisiana, America's first and only historically black Catholic university is founded in New Orleans, Louisiana. In 2000, it becomes the only Catholic university to have been founded by a saint. (Another university's founder is canonized in 2006.)
- October 15 – The Pittsburgh Pirates defeat the Washington Senators, 4 games to 3, to win their 2nd World Series Title in baseball.
- November 11 – City of Chicago, Illinois renames Municipal Grant Park Stadium, as Soldier Field, in honor of US soldiers killed in combat during World War I.
- November 21 – Lava Beds National Monument is established in California.
- November 28 – The weekly country music radio program Grand Ole Opry is first broadcast on WSM radio in Nashville, Tennessee, as the "WSM Barn Dance".
- December 12 – The first motel in the world, the Milestone Mo-Tel (later the Motel Inn of San Luis Obispo), opens in San Luis Obispo, California (architect: Arthur Heineman).
- December 16 – Alpha Phi Omega, a national service fraternity, is founded at Lafayette College in Pennsylvania.
Undated
- New York City becomes the largest city in the world, taking the lead from London.
- Calvin Coolidge signs into law the act establishing a U.S. Probation and Pretrial Services System.
- The National Football League adds 5 teams: the New York Giants, Detroit Panthers, Providence Steam Roller, a new Canton Bulldogs team, and the Pottsville Maroons.
Ongoing
- Lochner era (c. 1897–c. 1937)
- U.S. occupation of Haiti (1915–1934)
- Prohibition (1920–1933)
- Roaring Twenties (1920–1929)
Births
January




- January 1
- January 2 – Larry Harmon, American entertainer and television producer (d. 2008)
- January 4
- January 6 – John DeLorean, American car maker (d. 2005)
- January 7 – Harry Stradling Jr., American cinematographer (d. 2017)
- January 8 – Tharon Musser, American designer (d. 2009) Notice of Tharon Musser' death, Live Design Online, April 19, 2009
- January 9
- January 10 – Elizabeth Virginia Hallanan, American judge (d. 2004)
- January 11
- January 12
- January 13
- January 15 – Ruth Slenczynska, American pianist
- January 16
- January 17
- January 18 – Art Paul, American graphic designer (d. 2018)
- January 21 – Charles Aidman, American actor (d. 1993)
- January 22 – Bobby Young, American professional baseball player (d. 1985)
- January 24 – Maria Tallchief, American ballerina (d. 2013)
- January 25 – Barbara Carroll, American jazz pianist (d. 2017)
- January 26
- January 29
- January 30 – Douglas Engelbart, pioneer in human–computer interaction (d. 2013)
- January 31 – Benjamin Hooks, American civil rights activist, minister, and attorney (d. 2010)
February



- February 1
- February 2 – Elaine Stritch, American actress (d. 2014)
- February 3
- February 8 – Jack Lemmon, American actor and film director (d. 2001)
- February 9
- February 11
- February 15
- February 17 – Hal Holbrook, American actor (d. 2021)
- February 18 – George Kennedy, American actor (d. 2016)
- February 20 – Robert Altman, American film director (d. 2006)
- February 21 – Sam Peckinpah, American film director (d. 1984)
- February 22
- February 23 – Patricia Broderick, American playwright and painter (d. 2003)
- February 24 – Bud Day, United States Air Force colonel (d. 2013)
- February 25
- February 26
- February 27
- February 28 – Louis Nirenberg, Canadian-American mathematician (d. 2020)
March
- March 1 – Keith Harvey Miller, American politician (d. 2019)
- March 4 – Dale Barnstable, American basketball player (d. 2019)
- March 5
- March 6 – Clyde Biggers, American football coach (d. 1976)
- March 7 – Rene Gagnon, U.S. Marine (d. 1979)
- March 8
- March 9 – G. William Miller, American politician (d. 2006)
- March 12 – G. William Whitehurst, American politician
- March 13
- March 14 – Joseph A. Unanue, American chief executive (d. 2013)
- March 15 – Art Murakowski, American football player (d. 1985)
- March 16 – Mary Hinkson, African-American dancer and choreographer (d. 2014)
- March 19 – Brent Scowcroft, American general and diplomat (d. 2020)
- March 20 – Romana Acosta Bañuelos, American public servant (d. 2018)
- March 23 – Robie Lester, American Grammy-nominated voice artist and singer (d. 2005)
- March 25 – Flannery O'Connor, American author (d. 1964)
- March 28 – Dorothy DeBorba, American child actress (d. 2010)
- March 31 – John Wesley Hanes III, American civil servant (d. 2018)
April
- April 2 – Hard Boiled Haggerty, professional wrestler and actor (died 2004)
- April 3 – Jan Merlin, actor, screenwriter and author (died 2019)
- April 5 – Donald Burgett, writer and World War II veteran (died 2017)
- April 9 – Frank J. Shakespeare, diplomat and media executive (died 2022)
- April 12
- April 14
- April 17
- April 18 – Bob Hastings, actor (died 2014)
- April 19
- April 20
- April 24 – Faye Dancer, baseball player (died 2002)
- April 25 – Kay E. Kuter, actor (died 2003)
- April 27 – Joey LaMotta, boxer and manager (died 2020)
- April 29- Iwao Takamoto, animator, television producer and film director (died 2007)
May

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- May 1
- May 4 – Maurice R. Greenberg, American businessman
- May 5
- May 10
- May 11
- May 12 – Yogi Berra, American baseball player (d. 2015)
- May 14
- May 15 – Harvey D. Tallackson, American politician (d. 2022)
- May 16
- May 17 – Herb Henson, American country musician (d. 1963)
- May 19 – Malcolm X, African-American Muslim minister and human rights activist (d. 1965)
- May 21 – Frank Kameny, American gay rights activist (d. 2011)
- May 22 – James King, American tenor (d. 2005)
- May 23
- May 27 – Frank Dempsey, American football player (d. 2013)
- May 28 – Lucien Nedzi, American politician (d. 2025)
- May 29 – Thomas Collier Platt Jr., American judge (d. 2017)
- May 31
June



- June 3 – Tony Curtis, American actor (d. 2010)
- June 5
- June 6 – Fitzhugh L. Fulton, American pilot (d. 2015)
- June 7
- June 8
- June 9
- June 10 – Nat Hentoff, American historian, novelist, jazz and country music critic, and syndicated columnist (d. 2017)
- June 11 – William Styron, American writer (d. 2006)
- June 12 – Richard Paul Conaboy, American judge (d. 2018)
- June 14 – Pierre Salinger, American politician (d. 2004)
- June 16 – Lewis Morley, American photographer (d. 2013)
- June 17 – Alexander Shulgin, American psychopharmacologist (d. 2014)
- June 19 – Wendell Erickson, American politician (d. 2018)
- June 20 – Audie Murphy, American World War II hero and actor (d. 1971)
- June 21
- June 22
- June 23
- June 24 – Ogden R. Reid, United States Representative from New York (d. 2019)
- June 25
- June 26 – Richard X. Slattery, American actor (d. 1997)
- June 27
- June 28 – Ray Boyle, American actor (d. 2022)
- June 29
- June 30 – Fred Schaus, American basketball player, head coach and athletic director (d. 2010)
July


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- July 1
- July 2
- July 3 – Danny Nardico, American professional boxer (d. 2010)
- July 4
- July 6
- July 7
- July 8
- July 9 – Mary de Rachewiltz, American poet and translator
- July 10
- July 11
- July 12 – William Benner Enright, judge (d. 2020)
- July 14
- July 15
- July 18
- July 19 – Sue Thompson, American pop and country music singer (d. 2021)
- July 22
- July 23
- July 25 – Benny Benjamin, musician, known as the main drummer used by Motown for studio recordings (d. 1969)
- July 28 – Baruch Samuel Blumberg, physician and geneticist (d. 2011)
- July 29 – Arnie Ferrin, basketball player (d. 2022)
- July 31
August
- August 1 – Roy Mackal, biologist (d. 2013)
- August 3 – Marv Levy, football coach and executive
- August 12
- August 13 – Benny Bailey, bebop and hard-bop jazz trumpeter (d. 2005)
- August 14 – Russell Baker, writer (d. 2019)
- August 15
- August 16
- August 19
- August 29 – Earle Brucker Jr., baseball player (d. 2009)
- August 31
September

- September 1 – Arvonne Fraser, American women's rights activist (d. 2018)
- September 2 – Ike Franklin Andrews, American politician (d. 2010)
- September 3 – Hank Thompson, American country musician (d. 2007)
- September 8 – Jacqueline Ceballos, American feminist
- September 12
- September 13
- September 15 – Peggy Webber, American actress
- September 16
- September 17 – Dorothy Loudon, American actress, singer (d. 2003)
- September 19 – Franklin Sousley, U.S. Marine flag raiser on Iwo Jima (d. 1945)
- September 20 – Bobby Nunn, R&B singer (d. 1986)
- September 25
- September 26 – Marty Robbins, American singer-songwriter and racing driver (d. 1982)
- September 28 – Carolyn Morris, American female professional baseball player (d. 1996)
- September 29 – John Tower, American politician (d. 1991)
October


- October 2 – Paul Goldsmith, American NASCAR driver (d. 2024)
- October 3
- October 5
- October 6 – Hiroshi Miyamura, American Medal of Honor recipient (d. 2022)
- October 7 – Mildred Earp, American baseball player (d. 2017)
- October 8 – Eleanor Anne Young, American religious sister, research scientist, and educator (d. 2007)
- October 10
- October 11 – Elmore Leonard, American novelist (d. 2013)
- October 13 – Lenny Bruce, American comic (d. 1966)
- October 15 – Ted Lerner, American real estate developer and baseball team owner (d. 2023)
- October 16 – Daniel J. Evans, American politician (d. 2024)
- October 20
- October 22 – Robert Rauschenberg, American painter (d. 2008)
- October 23 – Johnny Carson, American comedian and television host (d. 2005)
- October 24 – Al Feldstein, American comic book artist (d. 2014)
- October 25 – John J. Snyder, Roman Catholic bishop (d. 2019)
- October 27 – Warren Christopher, American diplomat (d. 2011)
- October 29 – Dominick Dunne, American writer (d. 2009)
- October 31 – Robert Rheault, American army officer (d. 2013)
November




- November 4
- November 6
- November 7 – Angelo Thomas Acerra, American Roman Catholic bishop (d. 1990)
- November 11
- November 15 – Howard Baker, American politician (d. 2014)
- November 17
- November 18 – Gene Mauch, American baseball manager (d. 2005)
- November 20
- Kaye Ballard, American actress, comedian (d. 2019)
- Robert F. Kennedy, American politician, Attorney General of the United States and a leading 1968 Democratic presidential candidate (d. 1968)
- November 22
- November 23
- November 24 – William F. Buckley, Jr., American journalist (d. 2008)
- November 26 – Eugene Istomin, American classical pianist (d. 2003)
- November 27 – Marshall Thompson, American actor (d. 1992)
- November 28
- November 29
- November 30
December


- December 1 – Martin Rodbell, American biochemist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (d. 1998)
- December 2 – Julie Harris, American actress (d. 2013)
- December 8
- December 11
- December 13
- John Ehle, American writer (d. 2018)
- Dick Van Dyke, American actor, singer, dancer and comedian
- December 15 – Kasey Rogers, American actress (d. 2006)
- December 19 – Robert B. Sherman, American songwriter (d. 2012)
- December 21
- December 23 – Harry Guardino, American actor (d. 1995)
- December 25
- December 26 – Jimmy Roselli, American singer (d. 2011)
- December 27 – Wilson Frost, American politician (d. 2018)
- December 29 – Pete Dye, American golf course architect (d. 2020)
- December 30 – Shirley Herz, American Broadway theatre press representative (d. 2013)
- December 31 – Dick Manville, American baseball player (d. 2019)
Undated
- William Arce, American college baseball coach (d. 2019)
Deaths
- January 4 – Nellie Cashman, Irish-born prospector (born 1845)
- January 8 – George Bellows, realist painter (born 1882)
- January 20 – Grace Meigs Crowder, physician and public health official (born 1881)
- January 22 – Fanny Bullock Workman, geographer, writer and mountain climber (born 1859)
- January 26 – Caspar F. Goodrich, admiral (born 1847)
- January 31 – George Washington Cable, novelist (born 1844)
- February 1 – Ellen Hamlin, Second Lady of the United States as wife of Hannibal Hamlin (born 1835)
- February 7 – Edward Jobson, actor (born 1860)
- February 18 – James Lane Allen, fiction writer (born 1849)
- February 23 – Samuel Berger, Olympic boxer (born 1884)
- March 4 – John Montgomery Ward, baseball player (born 1860)
- March 10 – Myer Prinstein, Olympic long jumper (born 1878 in Poland)
- March 13 – Lucille Ricksen, silent film actress (born 1910)
- March 14 – Walter Camp, American football coach (born 1859)
- March 30 – William J. McConnell, U.S. Senator from Idaho from 1890 to 1891 (born 1839)
- April 8 – Emma Curtis Hopkins, spiritual writer (born 1849)
- April 13 – Elwood Haynes, inventor (born 1857)
- April 14 – John Singer Sargent, portrait painter (born 1856 in Florence; died in London)
- April 19 – John Walter Smith, politician (born 1845)
- May 12 – Amy Lowell, poet (born 1874)
- May 15 – Nelson A. Miles, general (born 1839)
- May 20 – Elias M. Ammons, Governor of Colorado (born 1860)
- May 25 – Henry W. Petrie, popular music composer (born 1857)
- June 1 – Thomas R. Marshall, 28th vice president of the United States from 1913 to 1921 (born 1854)
- June 2 – James Ellsworth, mineowner and banker (born 1849)
- June 16 – Emmett Hardy, jazz cornet player (born 1903; TB)
- June 18 – Robert M. La Follette, politician (born 1855)
- June 26 – James A. Barber, Medal of Honor recipient (born 1841)
- July 7 – Clarence Hudson White, photographer (born 1871)
- July 26 – William Jennings Bryan, lawyer and politician (born 1860)
- July 29 – Mark Fenton, silent film actor (born 1866)
- August 4 – Charles W. Clark, baritone (born 1865)
- August 5 – Jennie Lee, silent film actress (born 1848)
- August 7 – George Gray, U.S. Senator from Delaware from 1885 to 1899 (born 1840)
- August 16 – Edna Hicks, blues singer (born 1895; killed in fire)
- August 17 – Junius George Groves, slave-born potato farmer (born 1859)
- September 13 – Emily Elizabeth Holman, architect (born 1854)
- September 17 – Carl Eytel, painter of the Southwest (born 1862 in Württemberg)
- October 7 – Christy Mathewson, baseball player (born 1880)
- October 10 – James Buchanan Duke, tobacco and electric power industrialist (born 1856)
- October 17 – John I. Beggs, businessman (born 1847)
- November 1 – Lester Cuneo, actor (born 1888)
- November 3 – Lucile McVey, silent film comedy actress (born 1890)
- November 21 – Robert Wrenn, tennis player (born 1873)
- December 7 – James O. Barrows, actor (born 1855)
- December 8 – Marguerite Marsh, silent film actress (born 1888)
- December 22 – Mary Thurman, silent film actress (born 1895)
- December 28 – Raymond P. Rodgers, admiral (born 1849)
- December 31 – J. Gordon Edwards director (born 1867 in Canada)
References
References
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- [https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/267/132/ ''Carroll v. United States'', 267 U.S. 132 (1925).]
- (2013). "The 1925 Tri-State Tornado Damage Path And Associated Storm System.". Electronic Journal of Severe Storms Metereology.
- (1993). "Seismicity of the United States, 1568–1989 (Revised) – U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 1527". [[United States Government Printing Office]].
- Moran, Jeffrey P.. (2002). "The Scopes Trial: A Brief History with Documents". Bedford/St. Martin's.
- [[National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration]]; [https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/cag/time-series/us/50/0/pcp/1/9/1925-2016?base_prd=true&firstbaseyear=1925&lastbaseyear=1974&trend=true&trend_base=10&firsttrendyear=1975&lasttrendyear=2017&filter=true&filterType=binomial Alaska Precipitation: September]
- {{The Timetables of Science
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- (2014). "The Federal Probation System: The Struggle To Achieve It And Its First 25 Years.". Federal Probation.
- "The long legacy of the U.S. occupation of Haiti". Washington Post.
- "Volstead Act {{!}} History, Definition, & Significance {{!}} Britannica".
- [https://nypost.com/2023/07/26/notre-dame-football-legend-johnny-lujack-dead-at-98/ Notre Dame football legend, Heisman winner Johnny Lujack dead at 98]
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- {{unfit
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- The National Archives in Washington, DC; Washington, DC, USA; Petitions For Naturalization, U.s. District Court For the Central District of California (Los Angeles), 1940-1991; NAI Number: 594890; Record Group Title: Records of District Courts of the United States, 1685-2009; Record Group Number: Records of District Courts of the United States, 1685-2009
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- [https://nypost.com/2024/01/24/metro/howard-golden-98-former-brooklyn-leader-wwii-vet-dies/ Howard Golden, former longtime Brooklyn leader and WWII vet, dies at 98]
- [https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-63003583 US secretary of state's father Donald Blinken dies]
- Stout, David. (1995-07-18). "Harry Guardino, 69, an Actor In Romantic and Gangster Roles".
- Fox, Margalit. (July 10, 2011). "Jimmy Roselli, Italian-American Singer, Dies at 85". [[The New York Times]].
- "Dr. William Arce". American Baseball Coaches Association.
- "Biography – Cashman, Ellen (also known as Nellie Pioche and Irish Nellie) – Volume XV (1921–1930)". [[Dictionary of Canadian Biography]].
- (May 1925). "Dr. Grace Meigs Crowder". American Journal of Public Health.
- ''Literature of Travel and Exploration: R to Z, index'', ed. [[Jennifer Speake]], p. 1296
- (1927). "The Minute Man". Sons of the American Revolution.
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- (1985). "The Letters of D.H. Lawrence & Amy Lowell, 1914-1925". Black Sparrow Press.
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