1908 in the United States

Incumbents

Federal Government">Federal government of the United States">Federal Government

• President: Theodore Roosevelt
• Vice President: Charles W. Fairbanks
• Chief Justice: Melville Fuller
• Speaker of the House of Representatives: Joseph Gurney Cannon
• Congress: 60th

  Governors

Lieutenant Governors

Events

January

• January 1
• *A ball signifying New Year's Day drops in New York City's Times Square for the first time.
• *Gustav Mahler makes his US conducting debut at the Metropolitan Opera.
• *Georgia introduces a law prohibiting alcohol.
• January 13 - A fire at the Rhoads Opera House in Boyertown, Pennsylvania, kills 170 people. The tragedy is a catalyst for stricter fire safety laws nationwide.
• January 15 - The Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority is established.
• January 21 - New York City passes the Sullivan Ordinance, making it illegal for people who control public places to allow women to smoke in them. It is vetoed by Mayor George B. McClellan Jr.

  February

• February - The Converse Rubber Shoe Company is formed in Malden, Massachusetts.
• February 12
• *The first around-the-world car race, begins in New York City.
• *Division of Militia Affairs with the War Department.
• February 18 - Japanese immigration to the United States is restricted under the Gentlemen's Agreement of 1907.
• February 25 - The Bible Institute of Los Angeles is founded.
• February 27 - A forty-sixth star is added to the United States flag representing the state of Oklahoma.

  March

• March 4 - The Collinwood School Fire, near Cleveland, Ohio, kills 174 people.
• March 26 - The US Thomas Flyer car sails for Alaska at the head of a motor race from New York to Paris.

  April

• April 8 - Harvard University votes to establish the Harvard Business School.
• April 14 - The first Hauser Dam in Montana fails, causing severe flooding and damage downstream.
• April 16 – Natural Bridges National Monument is established
• April 19 - The Garfield Park Conservatory in Chicago, designed by Jens Jensen, opens to the public for the first time.
• April 24 - The seventh deadliest tornado in U.S. history strikes the towns of Amite, Louisiana, Pine, Louisiana and Purvis, Mississippi, killing 143 and injuring 770.

  May

• May 10 - Mother's Day is observed for the first time, at Andrew's Methodist Church in Grafton, West Virginia.
• May 15 - Devon's Day is made a national holiday for the first time in history in San Antonio, Texas.

  June

• June 20 - The Georgia Tech Alumni Association is chartered in Atlanta, Georgia.

  July

• July 1 – Carson National Forest is established.
• July 22 - The automobile manufacturing company Fisher Body is founded.
• July 25 - , graduate of the University of Pennsylvania, becomes the at the London Summer Olympics
• July 26 - Attorney General Charles Joseph Bonaparte issues an order to immediately staff the Office of the Chief Examiner.

  August

• August 14 - Springfield Race Riot of 1908 in Springfield, Illinois.
• August 31 - A charter is granted for Wayland Literary and Technical Institute in Plainview, Texas.

  September

• September 16 - William C. Durant founds the company which eventually becomes General Motors.
• September 17 - At Ft. Myer, Virginia, U.S.A. Thomas Selfridge becomes the first person to die in an airplane crash. The pilot, Orville Wright, is severely injured in the crash, but makes a recovery.
• September 27 - Henry Ford produces his first Model T automobile.

  October

• October 1 - The launch price for the Ford Model T is set as $850, which is approximately $21,597 in 2017; when adjusted for inflation.
• October 10 - First section of Long Island Motor Parkway opened.
• October 13 - The Church of the Nazarene is organized officially at Pilot Point, Texas as the Pentecostal Church of the Nazarene. This is the official "birthday" of the denomination.
• October 14 - The Chicago Cubs win the 1908 World Series defeating the Detroit Tigers in Game 5. They would not win again until November 2, 2016, which stands as the longest championship drought in sports history.
• October 15 - The Metz Fire in Metz Township, Michigan; 37 people are killed, 134 families—about 700 people— are made homeless.

  November

• November 3 - 1908 Presidential election: Republican William Howard Taft defeats Democrat William Jennings Bryan.
• November 24 - The first credit union in the United States begins operation in Manchester, New Hampshire.

  Undated

• The Western University of Pennsylvania is renamed the University of Pittsburgh.
• The State Normal and Industrial School for Women, precursor to James Madison University, is founded in Harrisonburg, Virginia.
• The University of Omaha, precursor of the University of Nebraska Omaha is founded as a private non-sectarian college.
• Benjamin Franklin Institute of Technology in Boston, Massachusetts, is established under the terms of Franklin's will.
• The American Temperance University closes.
• The first upright vacuum cleaner is invented by James Murray Spangler and the rights sold later in the year to The Hoover Company.

  Ongoing

• Progressive Era
• Lochner era
• Black Patch Tobacco Wars
• Great White Fleet voyage

  Births

January – March

• January 1 - Bill Tapia, Musician
• January 14 - Russ Columbo, Singer, bandleader, and composer
• January 27 - Oran "Hot Lips" Page, Jazz musician
• February 2 - Justice M. Chambers, Medal of Honor recipient
• February 10 - Charles Henri Ford, novelist, poet, filmmaker, photographer and collage artist
• February 17 - Red Barber, Baseball announcer and sports journalist
• February 26 - Tex Avery, Cartoonist
• February 29 - Dee Brown, Writer and historian
• March 4 - T.R.M. Howard, African-American civil rights leader &

• March 5 - Irving Fiske, American playwright, WPA writer and speaker; co-created Quarry Hill Creative Center in Rochester, Vermont, early children's rights activist; died 1990)
• March 13 - Walter Annenberg, Publisher and philanthropist
• March 20 - Frank Stanton, Businessman
• March 22 - Louis L'Amour, Author
• March 26 - Henry Sylvern, Radio personality
• March 29 - Arthur O'Connell, Actor

  April – June

• April 2 - Buddy Ebsen, Actor and dancer
• April 4
• * Ernestine Gilbreth Carey, Author
• * Frances Ford Seymour, Socialite
• April 5 - Bette Davis, Actress
• April 6 - John P. Davies, Diplomat
• April 15 - eden ahbez, Musician
• April 20 - Lionel Hampton, African-American musician and bandleader
• April 25 - Edward R. Murrow, Journalist
• April 29 - Jack Williamson, Science fiction author
• May 3 - Howard Cary, American engineer & founder of Cary Instruments
• May 20 - James Stewart, Actor
• May 23 - John Bardeen, Physicist, Nobel Prize laureate
• May 25 - Theodore Roethke, Poet
• May 30 - Mel Blanc, Voice actor
• May 31 - Don Ameche, Actor
• June 18 - Bud Collyer, Voice actor and game show host
• June 20 - Billy Werber, Baseball player
• June 25 - Willard Van Orman Quine, Philosopher
• June 26 - William F. Knowland, United States Senator from California from 1945 till 1959. Politician and newspaperman
• June 27 - Bill Kennedy, Actor
• June 29 - Leroy Anderson, Composer

  July – September

• July 8 - Nelson A. Rockefeller, 49th Governor of New York from 1959 to 1973 and 41st Vice President of the United States from 1974 to 1977.
• July 12 - Milton Berle, Comedian
• July 21 - William E. Jenner, United States Senator from Indiana from 1947 to 1959.
• July 25 - Kathryn Eames, Actress
• July 27 - Joseph Mitchell, Writer
• August 2 - Al Alquist, California politician
• August 9 - A. I. Bezzerides, Screenwriter
• August 16
• * Miriam Rosen Minsker, Centenarian
• * William Maxwell, Novelist and editor
• * Orlando Cole, Classical cellist and educator
• August 20 - Al López, Baseball player and manager
• August 27 - Lyndon B. Johnson, 36th President of the United States from 1963 till 1969, 37th Vice President of the United States from 1961 till 1963.
• August 28 - Roger Tory Peterson, Naturalist, artist and educator
• August 31 - William Saroyan, Writer
• September 4 - Richard Wright, African-American author
• September 6 - Korczak Ziolkowski, Sculptor
• September 7
• * Paul Brown, Football coach
• * Michael E. DeBakey, Surgeon and medical researcher
• September 10 - Raymond Scott, Composer, bandleader, electronic music pioneer
• September 13 - Mae Questel, Actress
• September 15 - Penny Singleton, Actress
• September 29 - Eddie Tolan, Athlete

  October – December

• October 6 - Carole Lombard, film actress
• October 9 - Lee Wiley, jazz singer
• October 14 - Ruth Hale, playwright and actress
• October 20 - Carl Stuart Hamblen, musician and presidential candidate
• October 22 - John Gould, humorist, essayist and columnist
• November 12 - Harry Blackmun, judge
• November 14 - Joseph McCarthy, U.S. Senator from Wisconsin
• November 18 - Imogene Coca, actress
• November 20 - Alistair Cooke, English-born journalist
• November 23 - Nelson S. Bond, science fiction writer
• November 28 - Mary Oppen, activist, artist, photographer and writer
• November 29 - Adam Clayton Powell, Jr., politician
• December 3 - Edward Underdown, actor
• December 4 - Alfred Hershey, bacteriologist, Nobel Prize laureate
• December 6 - Baby Face Nelson, bank robber
• December 7 - Slim Bryant, country music singer, songwriter and guitarist
• December 11 - Elliott Carter, composer
• December 17 - Willard Libby, chemist, Nobel Prize laureate
• December 21 - Herbert Hutner, banker and lawyer
• December 23 - Sol Carter, baseball player

  Deaths

• February 21 - Harriet Hosmer, neoclassical sculptor, first female professional sculptor
• March 1 - Augusta Hejnek, Polish-born supercentenarian, latest known surviving person born in the 18th century
• March 25 - Durham Stevens, diplomat
• April 19 - Simon B. Conover, U.S. Senator from Florida from 1873 to 1879
• April 20 - Henry Chadwick, English-born baseball writer and historian
• May 14 - John O'Connell, baseball player
• June 1 - James Kimbrough Jones, U.S. Senator from Arkansas from 1885 to 1903
• June 13 - Henry Lomb, German-American optician, co-founder of Bausch & Lomb
• June 14 - Frederick Stanley, founder of the Stanley Cup
• June 24 - Grover Cleveland, 22nd and 24th President of the United States from 1885 to 1889 and from 1893 to 1897
• July 3 - Joel Chandler Harris, author
• July 10 - Phoebe Knapp, hymn composer
• August 4 - William B. Allison, U.S. Senator from Iowa from 1873 to 1908
• August 26 - Tony Pastor, vaudeville and theater impresario
• September 17 - Thomas Selfridge, army officer & first aviation casualty
• October 30 - Caroline Astor, socialite
• November 7 - Butch Cassidy, train and bank robber
• December 9 - William Harvey Carney, first African American to receive the Medal of Honor
• December 13 - Augustus Le Plongeon, photographer and antiquarian
• Jacob W. Davis, Latvian-born tailor, inventor of jeans