1919

Events

January

• January 1
• * The Czechoslovak Legions occupy much of the self-proclaimed "free city" of Pressburg, enforcing its incorporation into the new republic of Czechoslovakia.
• * HMY Iolaire sinks off the coast of the Hebrides; 201 people, mostly servicemen returning home to Lewis and Harris, are killed.
• * Edsel Ford succeeds his father as head of the Ford Motor Company.
• January 2–22 - Russian Civil War: The Red Army's Caspian-Caucasian Front begins the Northern Caucasus Operation against the White Army, but fails to make progress.
• January 3 - The Faisal–Weizmann Agreement is signed by Emir Faisal and Zionist leader Chaim Weizmann, for Arab–Jewish cooperation in the development of a Jewish homeland in Palestine, and an Arab nation in a large part of the Middle East.
• January 5 - In Germany:
• * Spartacist uprising in Berlin: the Marxist Spartacus League with the newly formed Communist Party of Germany and the Independent Social Democratic Party begin mass demonstrations which will be suppressed by armed force within a week.
• * The German Workers' Party, predecessor of the Nazi Party, is formed by the merger of Anton Drexler's Committee of Independent Workmen with journalist Karl Harrer's Political Workers' Circle.
• January 6 - Danone, a well-known dairy brand worldwide, founded in Barcelona, Spain.
• January 7
• * The Tragic Week in Argentina, an anarchist uprising in Buenos Aires, begins; it is later suppressed by official forces.
• * Estonian War of Independence: With Soviet Russian forces just 40 km of the capital Tallinn, Estonian forces start a general and successful counter-offensive against the Red Army.
• January 8 - The funeral of Theodore Roosevelt, 26th President of the United States, is held at Christ Church Oyster Bay, Long Island; Roosevelt had died in his sleep at the age of 60, two days earlier.
• January 8–22 - Russian Civil War, Southern Front: The Red Army attacks and defeat the White Don Army under Pyotr Krasnovin the Voronezh–Povorino Operation.
• January 9 - Friedrich Ebert orders the Freikorps into action in Berlin.
• January 10–12 - The Freikorps attacks Spartacist supporters around Berlin.
• January 11
• *Romania annexes Transylvania.
• *The Georgian genocide occurs in Alagir.
• January 12–May 19 - Russian Civil War: On the Southern Front, the Armed Forces of South Russia under General Anton Denikin fight against the Red Army for the possession of the strategic region of the Donbass.
• January 13 - Workers' councils in Berlin end the general strike; the Spartacist uprising is over.
• January 14 - Estonian War of Independence: Estonian forces liberate Tartu from the Red Army.
• January 15
• * Rosa Luxemburg and Karl Liebknecht are murdered following the Spartacist uprising.
• * Great Molasses Flood: A wave of molasses released from an exploding storage tank sweeps through Boston, Massachusetts, killing 33 and injuring 150.
• January 16
• * The Eighteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, authorizing Prohibition, is ratified.
• * Pianist Ignacy Jan Paderewski becomes the second Prime Minister of Poland.
• January 18
• * World War I: The Paris Peace Conference opens in France, with delegates from 27 nations attending for meetings at the Palace of Versailles.
• * Estonian War of Independence: Estonian forces liberate Narva, expelling the Red Army from Northern Estonia.
• * Bentley Motors Limited is founded in England.
• January 19–28 - Russian Civil War: The Red Army begin the counter offensive in the Perm area against the White forces.
• January 19
• * The Monarchy of the North is established in Northern Portugal.
• * 1919 German federal election, first under the Weimar Republic and the first in Germany with female suffrage.
• January 21
• * Dáil Éireann meets for the first time in the Mansion House, Dublin. It comprises Sinn Féin members elected in the 1918 general election who have, in accordance with their manifesto, not taken their seats in the Parliament of the United Kingdom, but chosen to declare an independent Irish Republic. In the first shots of the Anglo-Irish War, two Royal Irish Constabulary men are killed in an ambush at Soloheadbeg in Tipperary.
• * Emperor Gojong of the Korean Empire dies.
• January 23 - The Khotin Uprising breaks out in Khotyn, Ukraine.
• January 25 - The League of Nations is founded in Paris, France.
• January 31 - Battle of George Square: The British Army is called in to deal with riots, during negotiations over working hours in Glasgow, Scotland.

February

• February 1 - Estonian War of Independence: Estonian forces liberate Valga and Võru, expelling the Red Army from the entire territory of Estonia.
• February 3 - Russian Civil War: Soviet troops occupy Ukraine.
• February 4-5 - Pressburg becomes the capital of Slovakia.
• February 5
• *United Artists is incorporated by D.W. Griffith, Charlie Chaplin, Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks.
• *Russian Civil War: Soviet troops occupy the city of Kiev after the Battle of Kiev.
• February 6 - The Seattle General Strike begins in the United States, affecting over 65,000 workers.
• February 11
• * Friedrich Ebert is elected the first President of Germany, by the Weimar National Assembly.
• * The Seattle General Strike ends, when Federal troops are summoned by the State of Washington's Attorney General.
• February 12 - Ethnic Germans and Hungarian inhabitants of Pressburg start a protest against its incorporation into Czechoslovakia, but the Czechoslovak Legions open fire on the unarmed demonstrators.
• February 14 - The Polish–Soviet War begins, with the Battle of Bereza Kartuska.
• February 16-21 - Estonian War of Independence: Uniformed peasants in Saaremaa rebel against the government of Estonia; the rebellion is crushed by government forces, leaving more than 200 dead.
• February 25 - Oregon places a one cent per US gallon tax on gasoline, becoming the first U.S. state to levy a gasoline tax.
• February 26 - Grand Canyon National Park: An act of the United States Congress establishes most of the Grand Canyon as a United States National Park.
• February 28
• * Amānullāh Khān becomes King of Afghanistan.
• * An independence mission to the U.S., funded by the Philippine legislature, sets out from Manila to present its case to Secretary of War Newton D. Baker.

  March

• March 1 - The March 1st Movement against Japanese colonial rule in Korea is formed.
• March 2 - The Founding Congress of the Comintern opens in Moscow.
• March 3 - The Supreme Court of the United States upholds the conviction of Charles Schenck.
• March 3-April - Russian Civil War: Beginning of the Chapan war as peasants of the provinces of Samara and Simbirsk rebel against Soviet rule.
• March 4
• * The Communist International is founded.
• * Russian Civil War: The White forces in Siberia under the command of Admiral Alexander Kolchak attack the positions of the Red Army in the Spring Offensive. The Whites crush the 5th Red Army under Jan Blumberg, and capture Okhansk, Osa, Sarapul and finally Ufa over the next days.
• March 4–5 - Kinmel Park Riots by troops of the Canadian Expeditionary Force awaiting repatriation at Kinmel Camp, Bodelwyddan, in North Wales. Five men are killed, 28 injured, and 25 convicted of mutiny.
• March 5 - A. Mitchell Palmer becomes United States Attorney General, through recess appointment.
• March 8
• * The Rowlatt Act is passed by the Imperial Legislative Council in London, indefinitely extending the emergency provisions of the Defence of India Act 1915.
• * British authorities in Egypt arrest populist leader Saad Zaghloul, exiling him to Malta, triggering the Egyptian Revolution of 1919.
• March 11–June 8 - Russian Civil War: The Cossacks of the Upper Don rebel against Bolshevik rule in the Vyoshenskaya Uprising and join the White forces.
• March 15–17 - Members of the American Expeditionary Forces convene in Paris for the first American Legion caucus.
• March 17 - Birth of the Commonwealth of the Philippines.
• March 21 - The Hungarian Soviet Republic is established by Béla Kun.
• March 23 - Benito Mussolini founds his Italian Fascist political movement in Milan.
• March 23–24 - Charles I, the last Emperor of Austria, leaves Austria for exile in Switzerland.
• March 26 - Queen of the South F.C. is formed in Dumfries, Scotland.
• March 27 - The name Bratislava is officially adopted for the city of Pressburg.
• March 31 - A general strike begins in the Ruhr.

  April

• April 5 - Pinsk massacre: 35 Jews are killed without trial, after being accused of Bolshevism.
• April 6–7 - The Bavarian Soviet Republic is founded.
• April 10 - Mexican Revolution leader Emiliano Zapata is ambushed and shot dead in Morelos.
• April 12 - French serial killer Henri Désiré Landru is arrested.
• April 13
• * Amritsar Massacre: British and Gurkha troops 379 Sikhs at Jallianwala Bagh in Amritsar, in the Punjab Province.
• * Eugene V. Debs enters prison at the Atlanta Federal Penitentiary in Atlanta, Georgia for speaking out against conscription in the United States during World War I.
• April 15 - The Save the Children Fund is created in the UK to raise money for the relief of German and Austrian children.
• April 20 - The French Army blows up the bridge over the Dniester at Bender, Moldova, to protect the city from the Bolsheviks.
• April 22–June 20 - Russian Civil War: Counteroffensive of Eastern Front - The Reds go on the offensive on the Siberia Front: General Gaya Gai defeats the White forces near Orenburg after a 3-day battle. Over the next weeks, the Red Army pushes the Whites behind the Ural mountains.
• April 23 - The Estonian Constituent Assembly convenes its first session.
• April 25
• * The Bauhaus architectural and design movement is founded in Weimar, Germany.
• * ANZAC Day is observed for the first time in Australia.
• * Pancho Villa takes Parral, Chihuahua, in Mexico, and executes the mayor and his two sons by hanging.
• April 30 - First wave of 1919 United States anarchist bombings: several bombs are intercepted.

  May

• May 1
• * A large left-wing demonstration in France leads to a violent confrontation with the police.
• * May Day Riots break out in Cleveland, Ohio; 2 people are killed, 40 injured, and 116 arrested.
• May 2 - Weimar Republic troops and the Freikorps occupy Munich and crush the Bavarian Soviet Republic.
• May 3 - Amānullāh Khān attacks the British government in India.
• May 4
• * The May Fourth Movement erupts in China as a result of the decision at the Paris Peace Conference to transfer former German concessions in Jiaozhou Bay to Japan rather than return sovereign authority to China.
• * The League of Red Cross Societies is formed in Paris.
• May 6 - The Third Anglo-Afghan War begins.
• May 8 - Edward George Honey proposes a moment of silence to commemorate the Armistice of World War I.
• May 8–27 - United States Navy Curtiss flying boat NC-4, commanded by Albert Cushing Read, makes the first transatlantic flight, from Naval Air Station Rockaway to Lisbon via Trepassey, Newfoundland and the Azores.
• May 9 - In Belgium, a new electoral law introduces universal manhood suffrage and gives the franchise to certain classes of women.
• May 14 - The University College of Wales, Aberystwyth, establishes probably the world's first Chair in International Politics, endowed by David Davies and his sisters in honour of Woodrow Wilson, with Alfred Eckhard Zimmern as first professor.
• May 15
• * Greek landing at Smyrna: The Hellenic Army lands at Smyrna assisted by ships of the British Royal Navy.
• * A law providing for full women's suffrage in the Netherlands is introduced.
• * Winnipeg general strike: Workers in Winnipeg, Canada launch a strike for better wages and working conditions.
• May 17 - The Committee of One Thousand forms to oppose the Winnipeg general strike.
• May 19
• * Mustafa Kemal Atatürk lands at Samsun on the Anatolian Black Sea coast, marking the start of the Turkish War of Independence. The anniversary of this event is also an official day of Turkish Youth.
• * Volcano Kelud erupts in Java, killing about 5,000.
• May 23 - The University of California opens its second campus in Los Angeles. Initially called Southern Branch of the University of California, it is eventually renamed the University of California, Los Angeles.
• May 25 - Estonian War of Independence: Estonian forces capture Pskov from the Red Army, and soon hand it over to the White forces.
• May 27
• * Fyodor Raskolnikov is exchanged for 14 British prisoners of war.
• * Siege of Spin Boldak : This is the last time the British Army uses an escalade.
• May 29
• * Einstein's theory of general relativity is tested by Arthur Eddington's observation of the "bending of light" during a total solar eclipse in Príncipe, and by Andrew Crommelin in Sobral, Ceará, Brazil.
• * The Republic of Prekmurje formally declares independence from Hungary.
• May 30 - By agreement with the United Kingdom, later confirmed by the League of Nations, Belgium is given the mandate over part of German East Africa.

  June

• June - Earl W. Bascom, rodeo cowboy and artist, along with his father John W. Bascom at Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada, designs and makes rodeo's first reverse-opening side-delivery bucking chute, now the world standard.
• June 2 - 1919 United States anarchist bombings: Eight mail bombs are sent to prominent figures.
• 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 states for ratification.
• June 5 - Estonian and Latvian Wars of Independence: The advancing pro-German Baltische Landeswehr initiates war against Estonia in Northern Latvia.
• June 6 - The Hungarian Red Army attacks the Republic of Prekmurje.
• June 7
• * Sette Giugno on Malta: British troops fire on a mob protesting against the colonial government, killing four.
• *Russian Civil War: Counteroffensive of Eastern Front: The Reds army capture the city of Birsk from the White forces.
• June 9 - Russian Civil War: Counteroffensive of Eastern Front: The Reds army recapture the city of Ufa
• June 14–15 - A Vickers Vimy piloted by John Alcock DSC, with navigator Arthur Whitten Brown, makes the first nonstop transatlantic flight, from St. John's, Newfoundland, to Clifden, Connemara, Ireland.
• June 15 - Pancho Villa attacks Ciudad Juárez, Mexico. When the bullets begin to fly to the American side of the border, two units of the United States 7th Cavalry Regiment cross the border, to push Villa's forces from American territory.
• June 17 - Epsom Riot by Canadian troops: English Police Sergeant Thomas Green is killed.
• June 18 - The second most popular football club in Costa Rica, Liga Deportiva Alajuelense, is founded.
• June 20–July 1 - Russian Civil War: Perm Operation begins on the Siberian Front: The 2nd and 3rd armies of Soviet Russia recapture the city of Perm.
• June 20–25 - Russian Civil War, Southern Front: The White Volunteer Army defeat the exhausted Red forces in the Kharkiv Operation, capturing the industrial city of Kharkiv.
• June 21
• * Bloody Saturday of the Winnipeg general strike: Royal Northwest Mounted Police fire a volley of bullets into a crowd of unemployed war veterans, killing two.
• * Scuttling of the German fleet at Scapa Flow: Admiral Ludwig von Reuter scuttles the German fleet interned at Scapa Flow, Scotland; nine German sailors are killed.
• June 23 - Estonian and Latvian Wars of Independence - Battle of Cēsis: The Estonian army defeats the pro-German Baltische Landeswehr in northern Latvia, forcing it to retreat towards Riga; the event has been celebrated as Victory Day in Estonia ever since.
• June 26 - British Foreign Office official St John Philby and T. E. Lawrence arrive in Cairo for discussions about Arab unrest in Egypt, having been flown by Canadian pilot Harry Yates in a Handley Page bomber which set off from England on June 21.
• June 28
• * The Treaty of Versailles is signed, formally ending World War I. John Maynard Keynes, who had been present at the conference and is unhappy with the terms of the treaty, brings out his own analysis later in the year, entitled The Economic Consequences of the Peace.
• * The International Labour Organization is established as an agency of the League of Nations.

  July

• July 2 - The Syrian National Congress in Damascus: Arab nationalists announce independence.
• July 2–6 - British airship R34 makes the first transatlantic flight by dirigible, and the first westbound flight, from RAF East Fortune, Scotland, to Mineola, New York.
• July 3 - Estonian and Latvian Wars of Independence: The pro-German Baltische Landeswehr signs a peace treaty with Estonia and Latvia. The pro-German Prime Minister of Latvia Andrievs Niedra resigns, and Latvian forces take over Riga on July 8.
• July 5–20 - Russian Civil War, Eastern or Siberian Front, Ekaterinburg Operation: The Red Army captures the city of Ekaterinburg in the Ural mountains from the White rule of Admiral Alexander Kolchak.
• July 7 - The United States Army sends a convoy across the continental U.S., starting in Washington, D.C., to assess the possibility of crossing North America by road. This crossing takes many months to complete, because the building of the U.S. Highway System has not commenced.
• July 11 - The eight-hour day and free Sunday become law for workers in the Netherlands.
• July 19 - The Foreign Ministry of the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic is established, by decree of the chancellory for foreign affairs.
• July 21 - Wingfoot Air Express crash: The dirigible Wingfoot Air Express catches fire over downtown Chicago. Two passengers, one aircrewman and ten people on the ground are killed; however, two people parachute to the ground safely.
• July 27 - The Chicago Race Riot of 1919 begins when a white man throws stones at a group of four black teens on a raft.
• July 28 - The International Astronomical Union is founded in Paris, France.
• July 31 - British police strikes in London and Liverpool for recognition of the National Union of Police and Prison Officers; over 2,000 strikers are dismissed.

  August

• August 1 - Béla Kun's Hungarian Soviet Republic collapses.
• August 3 - The Romanian army liberates Timișoara from Hungarian occupation.
• August 4 - The Romanian army occupies Budapest.
• August 8 - The Anglo-Afghan Treaty of 1919, signed in Rawalpindi, ends the Third Anglo-Afghan War, with the United Kingdom recognising the right of the Emirate of Afghanistan to manage its own foreign affairs and Afghanistan recognising the Durand Line as the border with British India.
• August 11 - In Germany, the Weimar Constitution is proclaimed to be in effect.
• August 16–26 - First Silesian Uprising: Poles in Upper Silesia rise against the Germans.
• August 18 - Russian Civil War: North Russia intervention - The Bolshevik fleet at Kronstadt, protecting Petrograd on the Baltic Sea, is substantially damaged by British Royal Navy Coastal Motor Boats and military aircraft in a combined operation.
• August 21 - Friedrich Ebert becomes the first president in Germany.
• August 27 - South African Prime Minister Louis Botha dies in office.
• August 24-September 12 - Russian Civil War: Counteroffensive of Southern Front - The Red Army commanded by Vladimir Yegoryev attacks the White forces of General Anton Denikin but is defeated.
• August 29 - Russian Civil War: The Red Army captures Pskov from White forces.
• August 31 - The American Communist Party is established.

  September

• September 1–October 2 - Russian Civil War, Siberian Front: Admiral Alexander Kolchak launches his final offensive in the Tobolsk operation, defeating the Red Army.
• September 3 - Jan Smuts becomes the second Prime Minister of South Africa.
• September 6 - The U.S. Army expedition across America, which started July 7, ends in San Francisco.
• September 10–15 - The Florida Keys hurricane kills 600 in the Gulf of Mexico, Florida and Texas.
• September 10 - The Treaty of Saint-Germain is signed, ending World War I with Austria-Hungary and declaring that the latter's empire is to be dissolved. The Republic of German-Austria becomes the First Austrian Republic but retains less than 40% of the prewar imperial territory.
• September 12
• * Gabriele D'Annunzio, with his entourage, marches into Fiume and convinces Italian troops to join him.
• * First gold fixing takes place in London.
• September 17 - German South West Africa is placed under South African administration.
• September 21 - The Steel strike of 1919 begins across the United States.
• September 27 - Russian Civil War: The last British Army troops leave Archangel, and leave the fighting to the Russians.

  October

• October 2 - President of the United States Woodrow Wilson suffers a serious stroke, rendering him an invalid for the remainder of his life.
• October 7 - The Dutch airline KLM is formed.
• October 9 - In Major League Baseball, the Cincinnati Reds win the World Series, five games to three, over the Chicago White Sox, whose players are later found to have lost intentionally.
• October 10 - Estonia adopts a radical land reform, nationalizing 97% of agrarian lands, mostly still belonging to Baltic Germans.
• October 13 - The Convention relating to the Regulation of Aerial Navigation is signed, in Paris, France.
• October 16
• * In Germany, Adolf Hitler gives his first speech for the German Workers' Party.
• * The historic Condado Vanderbilt Hotel is inaugurated, in San Juan, Puerto Rico.
• October 26 - 1919 Luxembourg general election, the first in the duchy with female suffrage, following constitutional amendments of May 15.
• October 28 - Prohibition in the United States: The United States Congress passes the Volstead Act, over President Woodrow Wilson's veto. Prohibition goes into effect on January 17, 1920, under the provisions of the 18th Amendment to the United States Constitution.

  November

• November 1 - The Coal Strike of 1919 begins in the United States, by the United Mine Workers under John L. Lewis; a final agreement is reached on December 10.
• November 7
• * The first of the Palmer Raids is conducted on the second anniversary of the Russian Revolution; over 10,000 suspected communists and anarchists are arrested in 23 different U.S. cities.
• *Inspired by Cape Town's daily Noon Gun Three Minute Pause, King George V institutes the Two Minute Silence, following a suggestion by Sir Percy Fitzpatrick, to be observed annually at the Eleventh Hour of the Eleventh Day of the Eleventh Month.
• November 9 - Felix the Cat debuts in Feline Follies.
• November 10–12 - The first national convention of the American Legion is held in Minneapolis.
• November 10 - Abrams v. United States: The Supreme Court of the United States upholds the conviction Abrams for inciting resistance to the war effort against Soviet Russia.
• November 11
• * Russian Civil War: The Northwestern Army of General Nikolai Yudenich retreats to Estonia and is disarmed.
• * The Centralia Massacre in Centralia, Washington, originating at an Armistice Day parade, results in the deaths of four members of the American Legion, and the lynching of a local leader of the Industrial Workers of the World.
• * First Remembrance Day observed in the British Empire with a two-minute silence at 11:00 hours.
• November 14 - Russian Civil War, Siberian Front: Admiral Alexander Kolchak's White forces begin the Great Siberian Ice March from the cities of Omsk and Tomsk to Irkutsk, escaping from the victorious Red Army.
• November 16 - After Entente pressure, Romanian forces withdraw from Budapest and allow Admiral Horthy to march in.
• November 19 - The Treaty of Versailles fails a critical ratification vote in the United States Senate. It will never be ratified by the U.S.
• November 22 - An annular solar eclipse took place at Atlantic Ocean. The greatest eclipse was 6º56'01.68" N, 48º52'42.24" W.
• November 27 - The Treaty of Neuilly-sur-Seine is signed between the Allies and Bulgaria.
• November 30 - Health officials declare the global "Spanish" flu pandemic has ceased.

  December

• December 1
• * American-born Nancy Astor, Viscountess Astor, becomes the first woman to take her seat in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, having become the second to be elected on November 28.
• * XWA, in Montreal, becomes the first public radio station in North America to go on the air.
• December 3 - After nearly 20 years of planning and construction, including two collapses causing 89 deaths, the Quebec Bridge opens to traffic.
• December 4 - The French Opera House in New Orleans, Louisiana is destroyed by fire.
• December 5 - The Turkish Ministry of War releases Greeks, Armenians and Jews from military service.
• December 17 - Uruguay becomes a signatory to the Buenos Aires copyright treaty.
• December 19 - The fictional character Ham Gravy makes his début in Thimble Theatre comics in the United States.
• December 21 - The United States deports 249 people, including Emma Goldman, to Russia on the USAT Buford.
• December 23 - Sex Disqualification Act 1919 becomes law in the United Kingdom.
• December 25 - Cliftonhill Stadium in Coatbridge, Scotland, opens as the home of Albion Rovers F.C. They lose the opening match 2–0 to St Mirren.
• December 26 - American baseball player Babe Ruth is traded by the Boston Red Sox to the New York Yankees for $125,000, the largest sum ever paid for a player at this time, a deal made public at the beginning of January 1920.

  Date unknown

• John Browning finalizes the design for the M1919 Browning machine gun, the first widely distributed and practical air cooled medium machine gun introduced to the United States Military. It receives an official designation, and production is started in the same year.
• Severe inflation in Germany sees the Papiermark rise to 47 marks against the United States dollar by December, compared to 12 marks in April.
• Foundation of the Yugoslav Women's Alliance.

  Births

January

• January 1
• * Sirr Al-Khatim Al-Khalifa, 5th Prime Minister of Sudan
• * Rocky Graziano, American boxer
• * Carole Landis, American actress
• * Daniil Granin, Soviet-Russian author
• * J. D. Salinger, American novelist
• * Sheila Mercier, English actress
• January 7 - Huang Feng, Hong Kong film director
• January 13 - Robert Stack, American actor
• January 14
• * Giulio Andreotti, Italian politician, 3-time Prime Minister of Italy
• * Andy Rooney, American television personality
• January 15 - George Cadle Price, 2-Time Prime Minister of Belize
• January 17 - Mingote, Spanish cartoonist
• January 18 - Juan Orrego-Salas, Chilean-American composer
• January 19
• * Antonio Pietrangeli, Italian film director and screenwriter
• * Wasfi al-Tal, 3-Time Prime Minister of Jordan
• January 23
• * Frances Bay, Canadian actress
• * Hans Hass, Austrian zoologist
• * Ernie Kovacs, American comedian
• * Bob Paisley, English footballer and manager
• January 24
• * Mario Bunge, Spanish writer, Slavonic scholar, Portuguese scholar, literary critic and translator
• * Leon Kirchner, American composer
• January 26
• * Valentino Mazzola, Italian footballer
• * Hyun Soong-jong, 22nd Prime Minister of South Korea
• January 27 - Ross Bagdasarian Sr., American musician and actor
• January 28 - Gabby Gabreski, American fighter ace
• January 30 - Fred Korematsu, Japanese-American civil rights activist
• January 31 - Jackie Robinson, African-American baseball player

  February

• February 2 - Carlo D'Angelo, Italian actor and voice actor
• February 4 - Janet Waldo, American actress
• February 5
• * Red Buttons, American actor
• * Andreas Papandreou, Prime Minister of Greece
• February 7 - Desmond Doss, American combat medic
• February 11 - Eva Gabor, Hungarian actress, best known for her role in Green Acres
• February 12
• * Forrest Tucker, American actor, better known for his role in F Troop
• * Ferruccio Valcareggi, Italian football player and manager
• February 13 - Tennessee Ernie Ford, American musician
• February 14 - Miroslav Zikmund, Czech adventurer and film director
• February 17 - Kathleen Freeman, American film, television, voice actress, and stage actress
• February 18
• * Jack Palance, American actor
• * José de Jesús Pimiento Rodríguez, Colombian cardinal
• February 20 - Lotfollah Safi Golpaygani, Iranian Marja
• February 22 - Harold Rahm, American-Brazilian Roman Catholic priest
• February 24 - Árpád Bogsch, Hungarian international civil servant
• February 25 - Karl H. Pribram, Austrian-American neuroscientist
• February 26 - Rie Mastenbroek, Dutch swimmer

  March

• March 2 - Jennifer Jones, American film actress
• March 3
• * Peter Abrahams, South African-born Jamaican novelist and journalist
• * Tadahito Mochinaga, Japanese stop-motion animator
• March 5 - Peter Florjančič, Slovenian inventor
• March 7 - M. N. Nambiar, Indian film actor
• March 10
• * Marion Hutton, American singer and actress
• * Leonor Oyarzún, First Lady of Chile
• March 11 - Kira Golovko, Russian actress
• March 14 - Dickey Chapelle, American photojournalist
• March 15 - Lawrence Tierney, American actor
• March 17
• * Nat King Cole, African-American singer
• * Mad Mike Hoare, Indian-born British mercenary of Irish parentage
• March 18 - Santiago Álvarez, Cuban filmmaker
• March 19 - Abdullah Tariki, Saudi politician and government official
• March 20 - Gerhard Barkhorn, German World War II fighter ace
• March 21 - Prasert na Nagara, Thai scholar
• March 24 - Lawrence Ferlinghetti, American poet and publisher
• March 25 - Jeanne Cagney, American actress
• March 26 - B. J. Khatal-Patil, Indian politician

  April

• April 1
• * Joseph Murray, American surgeon, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
• * Jeannie Rousseau, French Allied intelligence agent
• April 5 - Lester James Peries, Sri Lankan director, screenwriter and producer
• April 8 - Ian Smith, Prime Minister of Rhodesia
• April 12 - Billy Vaughn, American singer, multi-instrumentalist, orchestra leader
• April 13
• * Howard Keel, American singer and actor
• * Madalyn Murray O'Hair, American atheist activist
• April 15 - Emyr Humphreys, Welsh poet
• April 18 - Esther Afua Ocloo, Ghanaian entrepreneur and pioneer of microlending
• April 19 - Gloria Marín, Mexican actress
• April 21
• * Licio Gelli, Italian financer
• * André Bettencourt, French politician
• April 22 - Donald J. Cram, American chemist, Nobel Prize laureate
• April 23 - Osman Nuhu Sharubutu, Ghanaian Islamic cleric
• April 24
• * Glafcos Clerides, Cypriot president
• * César Manrique, Spanish artist, sculptor, architect and activist
• * Yi Hae-won, South Korean princess

  May

• May 1
• * Lance Barnard, Australian politician
• * Manna Dey, Indian playback singer
• * Mohammed Karim Lamrani, Prime Minister of Morocco
• * Dan O'Herlihy, Irish film actor
• May 3 - Pete Seeger, American folk singer and musician
• May 5 - Georgios Papadopoulos, President of Greece and Prime Minister of Greece
• May 7 - Eva Perón, wife of Argentine President Juan Perón
• May 8 - Lex Barker, American actor
• May 10 - Atmasthananda, Indian Hindu leader
• May 15 - Eugenia Charles, 3rd Prime Minister of Dominica
• May 16 - Liberace, American pianist, singer and actor
• May 17 - Antonio Aguilar, Mexican singer and actor
• May 18 - Margot Fonteyn, English ballet dancer
• May 19
• * Arvid Andersson, Swedish weightlifter
• * Mitja Ribičič, Slovene politician, 25th Prime Minister of Yugoslavia
• May 20 - Jal Cursetji, Indian navy admiral
• May 21
• * Vera Altayskaya, Soviet actress
• * Wense Grabarek, American politician
• May 22 - Paul Vanden Boeynants, 2-time Prime Minister of Belgium
• May 23
• * Betty Garrett, American actress and dancer
• * Avraham Drori, Polish-born Israeli politician
• May 25 - Raymond Smullyan, American mathematician, logician, and philosopher
• May 28 - Lim Chong Eu, Malaysian politician
• May 30
• * René Barrientos, 2-time President of Bolivia
• * Joe McQueen, American jazz saxophonist

  June

• June 5 - Veikko Huhtanen, Finnish artistic gymnast
• June 8 - Abdirashid Ali Shermarke, 2nd President and 3rd Prime Minister of Somalia
• June 12 - Ahmed Abdallah, President of the Comoros
• June 16 - V. T. Sambanthan, Malaysian politician
• June 18 - Gordon A. Smith, English-Canadian artist
• June 19 - Pál Fábry, Hungarian politician
• June 21
• * K. R. Gowri Amma, Indian politician
• * Tsilla Chelton, French actress
• June 23
• * Mohamed Boudiaf, 4th President of Algeria
• * Hermann Gmeiner, Austrian educator
• June 24 - Don Salls, American football player and coach
• June 27 - Amala Shankar, Indian danseuse
• June 29
• * Slim Pickens, American film and television actor
• * Ernesto Corripio y Ahumada, Mexican cardinal

  July

• July 1
• * Malik Dohan al-Hassan, Iraqi politician
• * Mikhail Shultz, Soviet and Russian physical chemist
• * Arnold Meri, Estonian colonel
• July 3 - Gabriel Valdés, Chilean politician, lawyer and diplomat
• July 4 - Gerd Hagman, Swedish actress
• July 8 - Walter Scheel, President of Germany
• July 10 - Pierre Gamarra, French poet, novelist and literary critic
• July 11 - Donald Zilversmit, Dutch-born U.S. nutritional biochemist, researcher and educator
• July 13 - Grisha Filipov, leading member of the Bulgarian communist party
• July 14 - Lino Ventura, Italian actor
• July 15 - Iris Murdoch, British novelist and philosopher
• July 16
• * Choi Kyu-hah, 19th Prime Minister of South Korea and 4th President of South Korea
• * Hermine Braunsteiner, Austrian SS officer
• July 18 - Lilia Dale, Italian actress
• July 19 - Patricia Medina, English-born actress
• July 20 - Sir Edmund Hillary, New Zealand mountaineer, conqueror of Mount Everest
• July 24
• * Asadollah Alam, Iranian politician, 40th Prime Minister of Iran
• * Ferdinand Kübler, Swiss racing cyclist
• July 26 - James Lovelock, English biologist and chemist
• July 31
• * Maurice Boitel, French painter
• * Primo Levi, Italian chemist and writer
• * Robert Morgenthau, American lawyer

  August

• August 2
• * Nehemiah Persoff, Israeli-American character actor
• * Carlo Savina, Italian composer and conductor
• August 4 - Michel Déon, French writer
• August 8
• * Dino De Laurentiis, Italian film producer
• * Hau Pei-tsun, Premier of the Republic of China
• August 9 - Joop den Uyl, Dutch politician, Prime Minister of the Netherlands from 1973–77
• August 11 - Ginette Neveu, French violinist
• August 12 - Margaret Burbidge, English-American astrophysicist and academic
• August 13 - George Shearing, Anglo-American jazz pianist
• August 15 - Dina Wadia, Indian political figure
• August 17 - Georgia Gibbs, American singer
• August 20 - Adamantios Androutsopoulos, Prime Minister of Greece
• August 24 - Carlos Julio Arosemena Monroy, 31st President of Ecuador
• August 25 - George Wallace, American politician, 45th Governor of Alabama
• August 28 - Godfrey Hounsfield, English electrical engineer and inventor, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
• August 30
• * Maurice Hilleman, American microbiologist and vaccinologist
• * Joachim Rønneberg, Norwegian war veteran
• * Wolfgang Wagner, German opera director
• * Kitty Wells, American country music singer
• August 31 - Amrita Pritam, Indian poet and author

  September

• September 2 - Marge Champion, American actress
• September 4 - Howard Morris, American actor, voice actor, film and television director
• September 6 - Lee Archer, African-American U.S. fighter pilot
• September 8 - Maria Lassnig, American painter.
• September 9 - Barbara Fiske Calhoun, American cartoonist in WWII and artist; co-founded Quarry Hill Creative Center, where she taught art for many years.
• *Pyotr Braiko, Soviet soldier
• September 11
• *Ota Šik, Czech economist and politician
• *Daphne Odjig, Canadian artist
• September 13
• * Olle Anderberg, Swedish wrestler
• * Mary Midgley, English philosopher
• September 14 - Kay Medford, American character actress and comedian
• September 15
• * Fausto Coppi, Italian cyclist
• * Alfie Scopp, Canadian English-born actor
• September 17 - Helmut Ashley, Austrian cinematographer
• September 18 - Pál Losonczi, Hungarian politician
• September 21
• * Mario Bunge, Argentine philosopher and physicist
• * Fazlur Rahman, Pakistani Islamic scholar
• September 23 - Tōta Kaneko, Japanese writer
• September 26 - Matilde Camus, Spanish poet and researcher
• September 27
• * Jayne Meadows, American actress
• * James H. Wilkinson, English mathematician
• September 29 - Margot Hielscher, German singer and film actress

  October

• October 3 - James M. Buchanan, American economist, Nobel Prize laureate
• October 5 - Donald Pleasence, English actor
• October 6 - Siad Barre, President of Somalia
• October 7 - Zelman Cowen, Governor-General of Australia
• October 8 - Kiichi Miyazawa, 49th Prime Minister of Japan
• October 11 - Art Blakey, American jazz drummer
• October 14 - Edward L. Feightner, United States Navy officer
• October 16 - Kathleen Winsor, American writer
• October 17
• * Isaak Markovich Khalatnikov, Ukrainian-Russian physicist and academic
• * Zhao Ziyang, Premier of the People's Republic of China
• October 18
• * Anita O'Day, American jazz singer
• * Pierre Trudeau, 15th Prime Minister of Canada
• * Orlando Drummond, Brazilian stage, television and film actor
• October 22
• * Abdulrahim Abby Farah, Somali diplomat and politician
• * Doris Lessing, Persian-born English writer, winner of Nobel Prize in Literature
• October 23 - Manolis Andronikos, Greek archaeologist
• October 26
• * Edward Brooke, U. S. Senator from Massachusetts
• * Princess Ashraf of Iran
• * Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, Shah of Iran
• October 30 - Stane Kavčič, Prime Minister of Slovenia
• October 31 - Tong Siv Eng, Cambodian politician

  November

• November 1
• * Hermann Bondi, British-Austrian mathematician and cosmologist
• * Russell Bannock, Canadian fighter ace
• November 4
• * Martin Balsam, American actor
• * Shirley Mitchell, American actress
• November 6 - Christoph Probst, German White Rose resistance member
• November 9 - Eva Todor, Hungarian-born Brazilian actress
• November 10
• * Mikhail Kalashnikov, Russian firearms inventor
• * Moïse Tshombe, Congolese business and politician
• November 18 - Andrée Borrel, French World War II heroine
• November 19
• * Elizabeth Strohfus, American aviator
• * Alan Young, British-born Canadian-American actor
• * Lolita Lebrón, Puerto Rican nationalist
• November 21 - Gert Fredriksson, Swedish canoer
• November 26
• * Ryszard Kaczorowski, President of Poland
• * Frederik Pohl, American science fiction writer
• November 28 - Keith Miller, Australian sportsman and Air force pilot

  December

• December 2 - Norma Miller, African-American dancer, choreographer, actress, author and comedian
• December 4 - I. K. Gujral, Indian politician, Prime Minister of India
• December 6 - Paul de Man, Belgian-born literary critic
• December 8 - Mieczysław Weinberg, Polish composer
• December 9 - William Lipscomb, American chemist, Nobel Prize laureate
• December 11 - Paavo Aaltonen, Finnish gymnast
• December 13 - Hans-Joachim Marseille, German World War II fighter ace
• December 15 - Max Yasgur, American farmer
• December 24 - Pierre Soulages, French artist
• December 27 - Charles Sweeney, American WWII pilot
• December 31 - Recy Taylor, American activist

  Deaths

January

• January 4 - Georg von Hertling, 7th Chancellor of Germany
• January 6
• * Max Heindel, Christian occultist, astrologer, and mystic
• * Theodore Roosevelt, 26th President of the United States
• * Jacques Vaché, French writer, associated with Surrealism
• January 8
• * Peter Altenberg, Austrian writer
• * J. Franklin Bell, Major General of the US Army
• January 10 - Wallace Clement Sabine, American physicist
• January 12 - Sir Charles Wyndham, British actor and theatrical manager, Spanish flu
• January 15
• * Karl Liebknecht, German communist politician
• * Rosa Luxemburg, German communist politician
• January 16 - Francisco de Paula Rodrigues Alves, Brazilian politician, 5th President of Brazil, Spanish flu
• January 17
• * Alexis, Prince of Bentheim and Steinfurt
• * Arichi Shinanojō, Japanese admiral
• January 18
• * Prince John of the United Kingdom
• * Archduke Ludwig Viktor of Austria
• January 21 - Gojong, first Emperor of Korea
• January 22 - Carl Larsson, Swedish painter
• January 24 - Ismail Qemali, Albanian politician, 1st Prime Minister of Albania and 1st President of Albania
• January 27
• * Endre Ady, Hungarian poet
• * French Ensor Chadwick, American admiral
• * Nikolai Iudovich Ivanov, Russian general
• January 28
• * Franz Mehring, German communist politician
• * Grand Duke Dmitry Konstantinovich of Russia
• January 31 - Nat Goodwin, American actor and comedian

  February

• February 2 - Julius Kuperjanov, Estonian military commander
• February 4 - John C. Bates, American general
• February 14 - Pál Luthár, Slovene teacher, cantor and writer
• February 17 - Sir Wilfrid Laurier, 7th Prime Minister of Canada
• February 20
• * Habibullah Khan, Emir of Afghanistan
• * Augusta Lundin, Swedish fashion designer
• February 21
• * Kurt Eisner, German socialist revolutionary
• * Prince Karl Anton of Hohenzollern
• * Mary Edwards Walker, American physician

  March

• March 2 - Melchora Aquino, Filipino revolutionary hero
• March 5 - Ernest von Koerber, Austrian politician, former Prime Minister
• March 16 - Yakov Sverdlov, Bolshevik revolutionary and politician, Spanish flu
• March 26 - Ernest Henry, British explorer

  April

• April 4
• * Saint Francisco Marto, witness to the apparitions of the Blessed Virgin Mary in 1917 at Fátima, Portugal, Spanish flu
• * Sir William Crookes, British chemist and physicist
• April 8 - Frank Winfield Woolworth, American businessman
• April 9 - Sidney Drew, American stage and film actor
• April 10 - Emiliano Zapata, Mexican revolutionary
• April 14 - Auguste-Réal Angers, Canadian judge and politician, 6th Lieutenant Governor of Quebec
• April 15 - Jane Delano, American nurse and founder of the American Red Cross Nursing Service
• April 19 - Andrei Eberhardt, Russian admiral
• April 20
• * Vasili Altfater, Russian and Soviet admiral
• *Thomas Egan, American gangster
• April 21 - Jules Védrines, French pre-war aviator and World War I pilot
• April 23 - Prince Tsunehisa Takeda

  May

• * María Antonia Bandrés Elósegui, Spanish Roman Catholic religious professed and blessed
• * Anton Irv, Estonian military officer
• May 2 - Gustav Landauer, German anarchist
• May 4 - Milan Rastislav Štefánik, Slovak general, politician, and astronomer
• May 6 - L. Frank Baum, American author, poet, playwright, actor and independent filmmaker
• May 9 - Juan Isidro Jimenes Pereyra, Dominican political figure, 2-time President of the Dominican Republic
• May 12 - D. M. Canright, American Seventh-day Adventist minister and author, later one of the church's severest critics
• May 14 - Henry J. Heinz, American entrepreneur
• May 15 - Aaron Aaronsohn, Romanian-born Israeli botanist
• May 21 - Victor Segalen, French naval doctor, ethnographer, archeologist, writer, poet, explorer, art-theorist, linguist and literary critic
• May 28 - Hermann von Spaun, Austro-Hungarian admiral

  June

• June 1 - Caroline Still Anderson, American physician
• June 5 - Eugen Leviné, German revolutionary
• June 15 - Prince Francis Joseph of Braganza
• June 19 - Petre P. Carp, 2-Time Prime Minister of Romania
• June 29
• *José Gregorio Hernández, Venezuelan medician and Roman Catholic venerable
• *Alexander Ragoza, Russian general and Ukrainian politician
• June 30 - John Strutt, 3rd Baron Rayleigh, British physicist, Nobel Prize laureate

  July

• July 2 - Friedrich Soennecken, German entrepreneur and inventor of hole punch and ringbinder
• July 10
• * Edward Abeles, American actor
• * Jean Navarre, French World War I fighter ace
• July 15 - Emil Fischer, German chemist, Nobel Prize laureate
• July 17 - Charles Conrad Abbott, American naturalist
• July 18 - Raymonde de Laroche, French aviator, the first woman to receive an aviators license
• July 21
• * Eremia Grigorescu, Romanian general
• * Gustaf Retzius, Swediah physician and anatomist
• July 26 - Sir Edward Poynter, British painter

  August

• August 1 - Oscar Hammerstein I, Polish-born theater impresario and composer
• August 7 - Felice Abrami, Italian painter
• August 9
• * Ralph Albert Blakelock, American romanticist painter
• * Ernst Haeckel, German biologist, naturalist and philosopher
• * Ruggero Leoncavallo, Italian composer
• August 11 - Andrew Carnegie, Scottish-born businessman and philanthropist
• August 23 - Augustus George Vernon Harcourt, English chemist
• August 24 - Friedrich Naumann, German politician and pastor
• August 27 - Louis Botha, Boer general, statesman, 1st Prime Minister of South Africa

  September

• September 16 - Alfred Parland, Russian architect
• September 22 - Alajos Gáspár, Slovene writer in Hungary
• September 27 - Adelina Patti, Italian opera singer
• September 29 - Masataka Kawase, a.k.a. Kogorō Ishikawa, Japanese political activist and diplomat

  October

• October 1 - Princess Charlotte of Prussia, German royal
• October 2 - Victorino de la Plaza, Argentinian politician, 18th President of Argentina, leader
• October 6 - Ricardo Palma, Peruvian writer
• October 7 - Alfred Deakin, 2nd Prime Minister of Australia
• October 13 - Karl Adolph Gjellerup, Danish writer, Nobel Prize laureate
• October 18 - William Waldorf Astor, 1st Viscount Astor, American financier and statesman
• October 22 - John Cyril Porte, Irish-born British flying boat pioneer

  November

• November 3 - Terauchi Masatake, 9th Prime Minister of Japan
• November 9 - Eduard Müller, Swiss Federal Councillor
• November 15 - Alfred Werner, German chemist, Nobel Prize laureate

  December

• December 2
• * Henry Clay Frick, American industrialist
• * Sir Evelyn Wood, British field marshal and Victoria Cross recipient
• December 3 - Pierre-Auguste Renoir, French painter
• December 12 - Feng Guozhang, Chinese general
• December 16 - Julia Lermontova, Russian chemist
• December 18 - Sir John Alcock, British aviator; pilot of first nonstop transatlantic flight in airplane, June 1919
• December 19 - Martin Savage, IRA commander
• December 22 - Sarah Morgan Bryan Piatt, American poet

  Nobel Prizes

• Physics - Johannes Stark
• Chemistry - not awarded
• Physiology or Medicine - Jules Bordet
• Literature - Carl Friedrich Georg Spitteler
• Peace - Woodrow Wilson