1924 in the United States

Incumbents

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

• President: Calvin Coolidge
• Vice President: vacant
• Chief Justice: William Howard Taft
• Speaker of the House of Representatives: Frederick H. Gillett
• Senate Majority Leader: Henry Cabot Lodge , vacant
• Congress: 68th

  Governors

Lieutenant Governors

Events

January–March

• February 7 - Death penalty: The first state execution using gas in the United States takes place in Nevada.
• February 12 - Rhapsody in Blue, by George Gershwin, is first performed in New York City at Aeolian Hall.
• February 14 - IBM is founded in New York State.
• February 16–February 26 - Dock strikes break out in various U.S. harbors.
• February 22 - Calvin Coolidge becomes the first President of the United States to deliver a radio broadcast from the White House.
• March 8 - The Castle Gate mine disaster kills 172 coal miners in Utah, United States.

  April–June

• April 16 - American media company Metro Goldwyn Mayer is founded in Los Angeles, California.
• May 3 - The Aleph Zadik Aleph, the oldest Jewish youth fraternity, is founded in Omaha, Nebraska.
• May 10 - J. Edgar Hoover is appointed head of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
• May 21 - University of Chicago students Richard Loeb and Nathan Leopold, Jr. murder 14-year-old Bobby Franks, in a thrill killing.
• June 2 - U.S. President Calvin Coolidge signs the Indian Citizenship Act of 1924 into law, granting citizenship to all Native Americans born within the territorial limits of the United States.
• June 12 - Rondout Heist: Six men of the Egan's Rats gang rob a mail train in Rondout, Illinois; the robbery is later found to have been an :wikt:inside job|inside job.
• June 23 - American airman Russell L. Maughan flies from New York to San Francisco in 21 hours and 48 minutes on a dawn-to-dusk flight in a Curtiss pursuit.
• June 24-July 9 - The 1924 Democratic National Convention takes a record 103 ballots, to nominate John Davis for President.

  July–September

• September 9 – The Hanapepe Massacre occurs on Kauai, Hawaii.

  October–December

• October 10 - The Alpha Delta Gamma fraternity is founded at the Lake Shore Campus of Loyola University, Chicago.
• * The Washington Senators defeat the New York Giants, 4 games to 3.
• November 4
• *Nellie Tayloe Ross of Wyoming is elected as the first woman governor in the United States.
• *U.S. presidential election, 1924: Republican Calvin Coolidge defeats Democrat John W. Davis and Progressive U. S. Senator Robert M. La Follette Sr.
• November 19 - In Los Angeles, California, famous silent film director Thomas H. Ince dies, reportedly of a heart attack, in his bed.
• November 27 - In New York City the first Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade is held.
• December 1 – George Gershwin's Lady Be Good and Fascinating Rhythm premiere in New York City.

  Undated

• Alice Vanderbilt Morris, a wealthy heiress, founds the International Auxiliary Language Association in New York City.
• U.S. bootleggers begin to use Thompson submachine guns.
• The earth inductor compass is developed by Morris Titterington at the Pioneer Instrument Company in Brooklyn, New York.

  Ongoing

• Lochner era
• U.S. occupation of Haiti
• Prohibition
• Roaring Twenties

  Births

January

• January 1 – Charlie Munger, American businessman and philanthropist
• January 4
• * Walter Ris, American freestyle swimmer
• * Charles Thone, American politician
• January 5 – Glenn Boyer, American historian and author
• January 6 – Earl Scruggs, American musician
• January 7 – Gene L. Coon, American screenwriter and producer
• January 8 – James Clinkscales Hill, American jurist
• January 10
• * Earl Bakken, American engineer and businessman, inventor of the modern Artificial pacemaker
• * Max Roach, African-American percussionist, drummer and composer
• January 11
• * Don Cherry, American pop singer
• * Sam B. Hall, American politician
• * Slim Harpo, American musician
• January 12 – Chris Chase, American model, film actress, writer and journalist
• January 14 – Carole Cook, American actress and singer
• January 19 – Nicholas Colasanto, American actor and television director
• January 23 – Frank Lautenberg, American politician
• January 25
• * Lou Groza, American football player and coach
• * Speedy West, American musician
• January 26 – Annette Strauss, American philanthropist and politician
• January 28 – Betty Tucker, American female baseball player
• January 30
• * Lloyd Alexander, American writer
• * Dorothy Malone, American actress

  February

• February 1 – Richard Hooker, American writer and surgeon
• February 4 – Dorothy Harrell, American female professional baseball player
• February 7 – Catherine Small Long, American politician
• February 8 – Joe Black, African-American baseball player
• February 10 – Randy Van Horne, American singer and musician
• February 11 – Budge Patty, American tennis player
• February 14 – Gabe Pressman, American journalist
• February 15 – Toni Arden, American singer
• February 17 – Margaret Truman, American novelist and only child of U.S. President Harry S. Truman and Bess Truman
• February 19 – Lee Marvin, American actor
• February 20
• * Donald M. Fraser, American politician
• * Gerson Goldhaber, German-American physicist and astrophysicist
• * Gloria Vanderbilt, American socialite, artist and fashion designer
• February 21 – William Hathaway, American politician and lawyer
• February 28
• * Bettye Ackerman, American actress
• * Christopher C. Kraft Jr., American aerospace engineer
• February 29 – Al Rosen, American baseball player

  March

• March 1 – Deke Slayton, American astronaut
• March 4 – Kenneth O'Donnell, American political consultant, aide to U.S. President John F. Kennedy
• March 6
• * Ed Mierkowicz, American baseball player
• * William H. Webster, American lawyer and jurist
• March 9
• * George Haines, American swimmer and coach
• * William Hamilton, American theologian
• * Ben Schadler, American basketball player
• March 12 – Helen Parrish, American actress
• March 17 – Edith Savage-Jennings, African-American civil rights leader
• March 20 – Philip Abbott, American actor
• March 22
• * Al Neuharth, American businessman and journalist
• * Bill Wendell, American TV announcer
• * Lionel Wilson, American voice actor
• March 23 – Bette Nesmith Graham, American typist, commercial artist, and inventor
• March 24
• * Lois Andrews, American actress
• * Norman Fell, American actor
• March 25
• * Roberts Blossom, American actor and poet
• * Julia Perry, African-American composer
• March 27 – Sarah Vaughan, African-American jazz singer
• March 28 – Byrd Baylor, American novelist, essayist and author
• March 29 – Jimmy Work, American singer-songwriter
• March 31 – Kathleen O'Malley, American actress

  April

• April 1 – Brendan Byrne, American politician, statesman, and prosecutor
• April 2 – Delwin Jones, American politician
• April 3 – Marlon Brando, American actor
• April 4
• * Gil Hodges, American baseball player
• * Noreen Nash, American actress
• April 6 – Jimmy Roberts, American singer
• April 8 – Bob Mann, American football player
• April 9 – Milburn G. Apt, American test pilot
• April 13
• * Jack Chick, American fundamentalist Christian illustrator and publisher
• * Stanley Donen, American film director and choreographer
• April 16
• * Henry Mancini, American composer and arranger
• * Rudy Pompilli, American musician
• April 18
• * Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown, American blues musician
• * Henry Hyde, American politician
• April 23
• * Chuck Harmon, American baseball player and scout
• * Bobby Rosengarden, American jazz drummer
• April 28 – Emily W. Sunstein, American campaigner, political activist and biographer

  May

• May 1
• * Art Fleming, American actor and game show host
• * Evelyn Boyd Granville, American mathematician, computer scientist and academic
• * Big Maybelle, American R&B singer
• May 2 – Ladislava Bakanic, American gymnast
• May 3 – Isadore Singer, American mathematician
• May 6 – Patricia Kennedy Lawford, American socialite
• May 11 – Ninfa Laurenzo, American businessman, founder of Ninfa's
• May 16 – Frank Mankiewicz, American journalist, presidential campaign press secretary
• May 18
• *Jack Barlow, American country music singer
• * Priscilla Pointer, American actress
• * Jack Whitaker, American sportscaster
• May 21 – Peggy Cass, American actress and comedian
• May 24 – Philip Pearlstein, American soldier, painter
• May 29 – Lavonne "Pepper" Paire Davis, American female baseball player
• May 31 – Patricia Roberts Harris, American administrator

  June

• June 1 – William Sloane Coffin, American clergyman
• June 3
• * Bernard Glasser, American film producer, director
• * Herk Harvey, American film director
• * Jimmy Rogers, American musician
• June 4 – Dennis Weaver, American actor
• June 6
• * Robert Abernathy, American science fiction author
• * W. Marvin Watson, American presidential advisor, Postmaster General
• June 8
• * Sheldon Allman, American-Canadian actor and singer-songwriter
• * Lyn Nofziger, American journalist and author
• * David Pines, American physicist
• June 12 – George H. W. Bush, American politician, 41st President of the United States
• June 20 – Chet Atkins, American guitarist, record producer
• June 22 – John C. Whitcomb, American theologian
• June 23
• * Frank Bolle, American comic strip artist, comic book artist and illustrator
• * June Brooks, American businesswoman
• June 24
• * Leonard Everett Fisher, American artist known best for children's books
• * Yoshito Takamine, American politician
• June 25
• * Martin J. Klein, American historian and physicist
• * Sidney Lumet, American film director
• June 27
• * Charles Norman Shay, American Penobscot tribal elder, writer and decorated veteran of both World War II and the Korean War
• * Paul Conrad, American cartoonist
• June 26
• * Richard Bull, American actor
• * James W. McCord Jr., American CIA officer
• June 29
• * Philip H. Hoff, American politician
• * Ezra Laderman, American composer

  July

• July 1
• * Ralph Parr, American double-flying ace
• * Curtis W. Harris, American minister, civil rights activist and Virginia politician
• * Richard Longaker, American political scientist
• July 2 – Charley Winner, American football player
• July 4 – Eva Marie Saint, American actress
• July 6
• * Ernest Graves Jr., United States Army officer
• * Robert Michael White, American military aircraft test pilot, fighter pilot, electrical engineer and major general
• July 7 – Sam Cathcart, American football halfback, defensive back
• July 8 – Charles C. Droz, American politician
• July 10 – Gloria Stroock, American actress
• July 11
• * F. James Rutherford, American science professor
• * Oscar Wyatt, American businessman, self-made millionaire
• * Al Federoff, American professional baseball infielder, manager
• July 12 – Shirley Neil Pettis, American politician
• July 13 – Johnny Gilbert, American game show announcer
• July 14
• * Val Avery, American character actor
• * Warren Giese, American football player, coach and politician
• July 15 – Jeremiah Denton, American politician
• July 16
• * James L. Greenfield, American administrator
• * Bess Myerson, American politician, model and television actress
• July 18 – Will D. Campbell, American minister, author and activist
• July 19
• * Pat Hingle, American actor
• * Frank Ivancie, American businessman and politician
• * Arthur Rankin Jr., American film director, producer and co-founder of Rankin/Bass Productions
• July 20 – Lola Albright, American singer, actress
• July 21 – Don Knotts, American comedic actor
• July 22 – Margaret Whiting, American singer
• July 23 – Avern Cohn, American judge
• July 24 – Paul Meier, American statistician
• July 25 – Frank Church, American politician
• July 28
• * Anne Braden, American civil rights activist
• * C. T. Vivian, American civil rights activist, minister and author
• July 29
• *Lillian Faralla, American female professional baseball player
• * Robert Horton, American actor, singer
• July 30 – William H. Gass, American novelist

  August

• August 1 – Marcia Mae Jones, American actress
• August 2
• * James Baldwin, African-American author and civil rights activist
• * Joe Harnell, American pianist and composer
• * Carroll O'Connor, American actor, producer and director
• August 3 – Leon Uris, American writer
• August 6 – Ella Jenkins, American folk singer of children's music
• August 9 – Marta Becket, American dancer
• August 10 – Martha Hyer, American actress
• August 15 – Phyllis Schlafly, American activist
• August 17
• * Evan S. Connell, Jr., American fiction writer and poet
• * Charles Simmons, American author
• August 18 – Frank Logue, 25th mayor of New Haven, Connecticut
• August 20 – Frank Joseph Guarini, American politician
• August 23
• * Elaine Sturtevant, American artist
• * Robert Solow, American economist, Nobel Prize laureate
• August 24 – Louis Teicher, American pianist
• August 26 – Barbara Staff, American political activist
• August 29
• * Clyde Scott, American athlete
• * Dinah Washington, African-American singer, pianist
• August 31
• * Buddy Hackett, American actor, comedian
• * Thomas J. Hudner Jr., American naval aviator

  September

• September 1 – Diana Decker, American-English actress and singer
• September 2 – Sidney Phillips, American physician, WW2 Marine documentary consultant
• September 3 – Mary Grace Canfield, American actress
• September 5
• * Paul Dietzel, American college football coach
• * Roy Andrew Miller, American linguist
• September 6
• * John Melcher, American politician
• * Dale E. Wolf, American businessman, politician
• September 7 – Daniel Inouye, American politician
• September 8 – Wendell H. Ford, American politician
• September 9
• * Jane Greer, American actress
• * Sylvia Miles, American actress
• * Russell M. Nelson, American heart surgeon and religious leader
• September 11
• * Daniel Akaka, American soldier, engineer and politician
• * Tom Landry, American football player, coach
• September 12 – Howard C. Nielson, American politician
• September 13 – Scott Brady, American actor
• September 14 – Jerry Coleman, American baseball player, manager, broadcaster, and Marine aviator
• September 15 – Bobby Short, American entertainer
• September 16 – Lauren Bacall, American actress
• September 18 – Alma W. Byrd, American politician
• September 20
• * Gogi Grant, American singer
• * Helen Grayco, American singer, actress
• September 22
• * J. William Middendorf, American soldier and politician
• * Gerald Schoenfeld, American chairman
• September 28 – Merwin Coad, American politician
• September 30
• * Truman Capote, American author
• * Georgiana Young, American actress

  October

• October 1
• * Jimmy Carter, 39th President of the United States from 1977 to 1981
• * William Rehnquist, 16th Chief Justice of the Supreme Court
• * Roger Williams, American pianist
• October 2 – Ruby Stephens, American female baseball player
• October 3 – Harvey Kurtzman, American editor, cartoonist and creator of Mad
• October 5 – Bill Dana, American comedian, actor, screenwriter
• October 7 – Joyce Reynolds, American actress
• October 10
• * Buddy MacMaster, American artist
• * David Shepherd, American producer, director and actor
• * Ed Wood, American filmmaker, actor, writer, producer and director
• October 11 – Mal Whitfield, American Olympic athlete
• October 13 – Terry Gibbs, American vibraphone player and bandleader
• October 14 – Robert Webber, American actor
• October 15
• * Warren Miller, American ski and snowboarding filmmaker
• * Lee Iacocca, American automobile executive
• * Mark Lenard, American actor
• October 17 – Fredd Wayne, American actor
• October 18 – Arthur J. Jackson, American military officer
• October 21 – Joyce Randolph, American actress
• October 24 – Earl Palmer, American R&B Drummer
• October 25
• * Billy Barty, American actor
• * Weston E. Vivian, American politician
• October 27 – Bonnie Lou, American singer

  November

• November 6
• * Harlon Block, U.S. Marine flag raiser on Iwo Jima
• * Ted Hartley, American fighter pilot, actor and film producer
• November 10 – Russell Johnson, American actor
• November 11 – Leonard D. Wexler, American judge
• November 13 – Edward F. Welch, Jr., American admiral
• November 16 – Sam Farber, American businessman, co-founder of OXO
• November 19 – J. D. Sumner, American gospel singer
• November 20 – Mark Miller, American actor
• November 21 – Joseph Campanella, American actor
• November 22
• * Geraldine Page, American actress
• * Robert M. Young, American film director and producer
• November 24
• * James M. Burns, American attorney and judge
• * Joanne Winter, American female professional baseball pitcher, LPGA player
• November 25 – Paul Desmond, American jazz alto saxophonist and composer
• November 28 – Calvin J. Spann, African-American Tuskegee Airman, fighter pilot
• November 30
• * Shirley Chisholm, American politician
• * Allan Sherman, American comedy writer, television producer and song parodist

  December

• December 2 – Alexander Haig, American politician, U.S. Secretary of State
• December 4 – John C. Portman Jr., American architect
• December 6 – Wally Cox, American television, motion picture actor
• December 9 – Frank Sturgis, one of the five Watergate burglars whose capture led to the end of the Presidency of Richard Nixon
• December 12 – Ed Koch, American politician
• December 13
• * Robert Coogan, American actor
• * Maria Riva, American actress
• December 17 – Margaret Wigiser, American female professional baseball player
• December 19 – Cicely Tyson, American actress
• December 23 – Bob Kurland, American basketball player
• December 25 – Rod Serling, American television screenwriter
• December 26 – Frank Broyles, American college football coach, athletic director
• December 27
• * James A. McClure, American politician
• * Frank North, American football coach
• December 31
• * Taylor Mead, American actor
• * Robert Ravenstahl, American politician
• * Frank J. Kelley, 50th Michigan Attorney General
• * J. Donald Monan, American academic administrator

  Deaths

• January 4 - John Peters, baseball shortstop
• January 12 - William V. Allen, U.S. Senator from Nebraska from 1893 to 1899.
• January 13 - Albert Abrams, quack doctor
• January 14 - Luther Emmett Holt, pediatrician
• February 1 - Maurice Prendergast, painter
• February 3 - Woodrow Wilson, 28th President of the United States from 1913 to 1921 and historian
• February 16 - John William Kendrick, railroad executive
• February 17 - Henry Bacon, Beaux-Arts architect of the Lincoln Memorial
• March 9 - Daniel Ridgway Knight, painter
• March 13 - Josephine St. Pierre Ruffin, African American civil rights campaigner and publisher
• April 1 - Frank Capone, gangster, shot by police
• April 7 - Marcus A. Smith, U.S. Senator from Arizona from 1912 to 1921
• April 19 - Paul Boyton, extreme water sports pioneer
• April 14 - Louis Sullivan, architect, "father of skyscrapers"
• April 18 - Frank X. Leyendecker, illustrator
• April 20 - Caroline Ingalls, pioneer, mother of author Laura Ingalls Wilder
• April 23 - Bertram Goodhue, neo-gothic architect
• April 24 - G. Stanley Hall, psychologist
• April 27 - Maecenas Eason Benton, U.S. Representative from Missouri
• May 5 - Kate Claxton, stage actress
• May 10 - George Kennan, explorer
• May 11 - Moses Fleetwood Walker, baseball pitcher and Black nationalist
• May 31 - Charles Stockton, admiral
• July 6 - Black Benny, bass drummer
• July 14 - Isabella Stewart Gardner, art collector and philanthropist
• July 23 - Frank Frost Abbott, classical scholar
• August 7 - John Edward Bruce, African American slave and historian
• August 25 - Velma Caldwell Melville, editor and writer
• September 1 - Samuel Baldwin Marks Young, general, first Chief of Staff of the United States Army
• September 15 - Frank Chance, baseball player
• September 25 - Lotta Crabtree, stage actress
• October 25 - Laura Jean Libbey, novelist
• October 27 - Percy Haughton, baseball player and coach
• October 29 - Frances Hodgson Burnett, children's novelist
• November 3 - Cornelius Cole, U.S. Senator from California from 1867 to 1873
• November 9 - Henry Cabot Lodge, U.S. Senator from Massachusetts from 1893 to 1924
• November 10 - Dean O'Banion, gangster, killed
• November 19 - Thomas H. Ince, silent film producer, "father of the Western"
• November 21 - Florence Harding, née Kling, First Lady of the United States from 1921 to 1923 as wife of Warren G. Harding, 29th President
• December 6 - Gene Stratton Porter, novelist and naturalist
• December 13 - Samuel Gompers, labor leader
• December 15 - William Herbert Carruth, linguist and poet