Events from the year 1921 in the United States.
Incumbents
Federal government
President: Woodrow Wilson (D-New Jersey) (until March 4), Warren G. Harding (R-Ohio) (starting March 4) Vice President: Thomas R. Marshall (D-Indiana) (until March 4), Calvin Coolidge (R-Massachusetts) (starting March 4) Chief Justice: Edward Douglass White (Louisiana) (until May 19), William Howard Taft (Ohio) (starting July 11) Speaker of the House of Representatives: Frederick H. Gillett (R-Massachusetts) Senate Majority Leader: Henry Cabot Lodge (R-Massachusetts) Congress: 66th (until March 4), 67th (starting March 4)
Events
January–March
January – E. W. Scripps and William Emerson Ritter found Science Service, later renamed Society for Science & the Public, in the United States, with the goal of keeping the public informed of scientific developments. January 1 – In American football, the University of California defeats Ohio State 28–0 in the Rose Bowl. January 2 The first religious radio broadcast is heard, over station KDKA (AM) in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The De Young Museum opens in Golden Gate Park, San Francisco. January 21 – The full-length silent comedy-drama film The Kid, written, produced, directed by and starring Charlie Chaplin (in his Tramp character), with Jackie Coogan, is released. March 4 – Warren G. Harding is sworn in as the 29th president of the United States, and Calvin Coolidge is sworn in as the 29th vice president of the United States. March 25 – The first Lowe's opens in North Wilkesboro, North Carolina.
April–June
April – The United States Figure Skating Association is formed. April 20 – Ferenc Molnár's play Liliom is first produced on Broadway in English. May 19 – The Emergency Quota Act passes the U.S. Congress, establishing national quotas on immigration. Because this drastically limits immigration from Eastern Europe, Jews emigrating from there begin to prefer Palestine as a destination rather than the U.S. May 22 – In the first golf international between the two countries, the United States beats the United Kingdom 9 rounds to 3. May 27 – First victim of the Osage Indian murders is discovered in Osage County, Oklahoma. May 31 – June 1 – Tulsa Race Massacre (Greenwood Massacre): Mobs of white residents attack black residents and businesses in Greenwood District, Tulsa, Oklahoma. The official death toll is 36, but later investigations suggest an actual figure between 100 and 300. 1,250 homes are destroyed and roughly 6,000 African Americans imprisoned in one of the worst incidents of mass racial violence in the United States. June 15 29-year-old Bessie Coleman gets her pilot's licence in France and becomes the first African American to earn an international pilot's licence. Compagnie Générale Transatlantique's liner makes her maiden voyage from Le Havre to New York.
July–September
July 2 – U.S. President Warren Harding signs a joint congressional resolution declaring an end to America's state of war with Germany, Austria and Hungary. July 11 – Former President of the United States William Howard Taft is sworn in as Chief Justice of the United States, making him the only person ever to hold both positions. July 14 – A Massachusetts jury finds Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti guilty of first degree murder following a widely publicized trial. July 26 – U.S. President Warren G. Harding receives Princess Fatima of Afghanistan who is escorted by imposter Stanley Clifford Weyman. August 5 – The first radio baseball game is broadcast: Harold Arlin announces the Pirates-Phillies game from Forbes Field over Westinghouse KDKA in Pittsburgh. August 11 Franklin D. Roosevelt's paralytic illness strikes while he is vacationing on Campobello Island; on August 25 he is diagnosed with polio and aged 39 becomes permanently disabled. James Coyle, a Catholic priest in Birmingham, Alabama, is shot and killed by Klan member E. R. Stephenson after presiding over the wedding of Stephenson's daughter, Ruth, and Pedro Gussman, a Puerto Rican working for her father. August 25 – September 2 – An uprising of striking coal miners in West Virginia leads to the Battle of Blair Mountain. September 5 – Popular comedian Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle attends a party at the St. Francis Hotel, San Francisco, during which actress Virginia Rappe is fatally injured; although he is eventually acquitted of rape and manslaughter, the scandal derails his career. September 8 – Sixteen-year-old Margaret Gorman wins the Golden Mermaid trophy at a beauty pageant in Atlantic City, New Jersey; officials later dub her the first Miss America. September 13 – White Castle hamburger restaurant opens in Wichita, Kansas, the foundation of the world's first fast food chain.