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Ford Model T
The first production Model T Ford is completed at the company's Piquette Avenue plant in Detroit in 1908, but continued through 1927. Though the Model T was fairly expensive at first (the cheapest one cost $825, or about $18,000 today), it was built for ordinary people to drive every day. -
Period: to
1920s
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Rejection of Treaty of Versailles
On Nov. 19, 1919, the Senate rejected the Treaty of Versailles based primarily on objections to the League of Nations. The U.S. would never ratify the treaty or join the League of Nations. Senate Majority Leader Henry Cabot Lodge, a Republican, opposed the treaty, specifically the section regarding the League of Nations. Lodge said that the U.S. was giving up too much power under the League of Nations, so he drafted 14 reservations that reduced the control the league would have over the U.S. -
Woman’s Right to Vote
The 19th amendment guarantees all American women the right to vote. When Tennessee became the 36th state to ratify the amendment on August 18, 1920, the amendment passed its final hurdle of gaining the agreement of three-fourths of the states. Secretary of State Bainbridge Colby certified the ratification on August 26, 1920, changing the American electorate forever. -
Farm Crisis
During the war, farmers were encouraged to produce mass amounts of food supplies. Once the war was over the debt-ridden countries of Europe had little money to spend on these products. Congress unintentionally made matters worse by passing the Fordney-McCumber Act of 1922. -
Clash of Cultures
In 1925, Tennessee outlawed any teaching that denied "the story of the Divine Creation of man as taught in the bible," of taught that "man descended from a lower order of animals." John T. Scopes was found guilty and fined 100$. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) advertised for a teacher willing to be arrested for teaching evolution. -
Klansman March
The Ku Klux Klan was at the height of its popularity when more than 30,000 members — racists and anti-Semites marching in a 22 by 14 line-paraded down Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington on Aug. 8, 1925. Led by L.A. Mueller, the grand Kleagle of Washington, the Ku Klux Klan booked 18 trains for their march and rally. Hotels filled. The Klan even brought their own ambulances to escort those felled by the August heat. They marched for over three hours before arriving at the Washington Monument. -
Babe Ruth's 60th Homerun
On September 30, 1927, Babe Ruth hits his 60th home run of the 1927 season and with it sets a record that would stand for 34 years. His record 59 home runs, set in 1921, until he hit 16 in the month of September. On September 30, in the last game of the season, Ruth came to the plate against lefty Tom Zachary of the Washington Senators in the eighth inning. With the count at 2-1, Ruth launched a Zachary pitch high into the right-field bleachers, and then took a slow stroll around the bases. -
Hoover Elected as President
In the summer of 1928, Herbert Hoover was on the verge of winning his party's nomination for President. He had won primaries in California, Oregon, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Michigan, and Maryland. The popular vote gave Hoover 21,391,993 votes (58.2%) and 15,016,169 (40.9%). -
Mickey Mouse is Born
The cartoon "Steamboat Willie" is considered the debut of Mickey Mouse and his girlfriend Minnie, although both the characters appeared months earlier in a test screening of "Plane Crazy". Steamboat Willie was the third of Mickey's films to be produced, but was the first to be distributed because Walt Disney had committed himself to producing the first fully synchronized sound cartoon. -
Stock Market Collapse
The American stock market collapses, signaling the onset of the Great Depression. The Dow Jones Industrial Average peaks in September 1929 at 381.17—a level that it won't reach again until 1954. The Dow will bottom out at a Depression-era low of just 41.22 in 1932. -
Chicago Mob/ St. Valentine's Massacre
Al Capone had control by eliminating his rivals in the illegal trades of bootlegging, gambling and prostitution. This rash of gang violence reached its climax in a garage on the city’s North Side, when seven men associated with the Irish gangster George “Bugs” Moran, Capone’s longtime enemies, were shot to death by several men dressed as policemen. The St. Valentine’s Day Massacre, as it was known, was never officially linked to Capone, but he was generally considered to have been responsible.
