1918 in the United States
Encyclopedia
January–March
- January 8 – Woodrow WilsonWoodrow WilsonThomas Woodrow Wilson was the 28th President of the United States, from 1913 to 1921. A leader of the Progressive Movement, he served as President of Princeton University from 1902 to 1910, and then as the Governor of New Jersey from 1911 to 1913...
delivers his Fourteen PointsFourteen PointsThe Fourteen Points was a speech given by United States President Woodrow Wilson to a joint session of Congress on January 8, 1918. The address was intended to assure the country that the Great War was being fought for a moral cause and for postwar peace in Europe...
speech. - March 4 – A soldier at Camp Fuston, Kansas falls sick with the first confirmed case of the Spanish fluSpanish fluThe 1918 flu pandemic was an influenza pandemic, and the first of the two pandemics involving H1N1 influenza virus . It was an unusually severe and deadly pandemic that spread across the world. Historical and epidemiological data are inadequate to identify the geographic origin...
. - March 19 – The U.S. Congress establishes time zoneTime zoneA time zone is a region on Earth that has a uniform standard time for legal, commercial, and social purposes. In order for the same clock time to always correspond to the same portion of the day as the Earth rotates , different places on the Earth need to have different clock times...
s and approves daylight saving timeDaylight saving timeDaylight saving time —also summer time in several countries including in British English and European official terminology —is the practice of temporarily advancing clocks during the summertime so that afternoons have more daylight and mornings have less...
(DST goes into effect on March 31).
April–June
- May 2 – General Motors acquires the Chevrolet Motor Company of DelawareDelawareDelaware is a U.S. state located on the Atlantic Coast in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It is bordered to the south and west by Maryland, and to the north by Pennsylvania...
. - May 15 – The United States Post Office Department (later renamed the United States Postal ServiceUnited States Postal ServiceThe United States Postal Service is an independent agency of the United States government responsible for providing postal service in the United States...
) begins the first regular airmailAirmailAirmail is mail that is transported by aircraft. It typically arrives more quickly than surface mail, and usually costs more to send...
service in the world (between New York CityNew York CityNew York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
, Philadelphia and Washington, DC). - May 16 – The Sedition Act of 1918Sedition Act of 1918The Sedition Act of 1918 was an Act of the United States Congress that extended the Espionage Act of 1917 to cover a broader range of offenses, notably speech and the expression of opinion that cast the government or the war effort in a negative light or interfered with the sale of government bonds...
is approved by the U.S. Congress. - May 20 – The small town of Codell, KansasCodell, KansasCodell is an unincorporated community in Township 12, Rooks County, Kansas, United States. It lies in the middle of the township, south of the city of Stockton and near the southeastern corner of Rooks County. The community lies along the banks of Paradise Creek and an abandoned railroad line...
is hit for the third year in a row by a tornadoTornadoA tornado is a violent, dangerous, rotating column of air that is in contact with both the surface of the earth and a cumulonimbus cloud or, in rare cases, the base of a cumulus cloud. They are often referred to as a twister or a cyclone, although the word cyclone is used in meteorology in a wider...
. Coincidentally, all three tornadoes hit on May 20, 1916, 1917, and 1918 respectively. - June 22 – Suspects in the Chicago Restaurant Poisonings are arrested, and more than 100 waiters are taken into custody, for poisoning restaurant customers with a lethal powder called Mickey Finn (drugs)Mickey Finn (drugs)A Mickey Finn, is a slang term for a drink laced with a drug given to someone without his knowledge in order to incapacitate him...
.
July–September
- July 9 – Great train wreck of 1918Great train wreck of 1918The Great Train Wreck of 1918 occurred on July 9, 1918, in Nashville, Tennessee. Two passenger trains, operated by the Nashville, Chattanooga and St. Louis Railway , collided head-on, killing 101 people and injuring an additional 171. It is considered the deadliest rail accident in United States...
: In Nashville, TennesseeNashville, TennesseeNashville is the capital of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the county seat of Davidson County. It is located on the Cumberland River in Davidson County, in the north-central part of the state. The city is a center for the health care, publishing, banking and transportation industries, and is home...
, an inbound local train collides with an outbound express, killing 101. - August – A deadly second wave of the Spanish fluSpanish fluThe 1918 flu pandemic was an influenza pandemic, and the first of the two pandemics involving H1N1 influenza virus . It was an unusually severe and deadly pandemic that spread across the world. Historical and epidemiological data are inadequate to identify the geographic origin...
starts in France, Sierra Leone, and the United States. - September 11 – The Boston Red SoxBoston Red SoxThe Boston Red Sox are a professional baseball team based in Boston, Massachusetts, and a member of Major League Baseball’s American League Eastern Division. Founded in as one of the American League's eight charter franchises, the Red Sox's home ballpark has been Fenway Park since . The "Red Sox"...
defeat the Chicago CubsChicago CubsThe Chicago Cubs are a professional baseball team located in Chicago, Illinois. They are members of the Central Division of Major League Baseball's National League. They are one of two Major League clubs based in Chicago . The Cubs are also one of the two remaining charter members of the National...
for the 1918 World Series1918 World SeriesThe 1918 World Series featured the Boston Red Sox, who defeated the Chicago Cubs four games to two. The Series victory for the Red Sox was their fifth in five tries, going back to . The Red Sox scored only nine runs in the entire Series; the fewest runs by the winning team in World Series history...
championship, their last World Series win until 2004.
October–December
- October 8 – World War IWorld War IWorld War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
: In the Argonne Forest in FranceFranceThe French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
, U.S. Corporal Alvin C. York almost single-handedly kills 25 German soldiers and captures 132. - October 11 – The city of Mayagüez, Puerto RicoMayagüez, Puerto RicoMayagüez is the eighth-largest municipality of Puerto Rico. Originally founded as "Nuestra Señora de la Candelaria" it is also known as "La Sultana del Oeste" , "Ciudad de las Aguas Puras" , or "Ciudad del Mangó"...
and other adjacent towns are nearly destroyed by an 7.5 earthquake and a tsunami. - October 12 – 1918 Cloquet Fire1918 Cloquet FireThe 1918 Cloquet fire was a massive fire in northern Minnesota in October, 1918 caused by sparks on the local railroads and dry conditions. The fire left much of western Carlton County devastated, mostly affecting Moose Lake, Cloquet, and Kettle River. Cloquet was hit the hardest by the fires...
: The city of Cloquet, MinnesotaCloquet, MinnesotaAs of the census of 2000, there were 11,201 people, 4,636 households, and 2,967 families residing in the city. The population density was 317.9 people per square mile . There were 4,805 housing units at an average density of 136.4 per square mile...
and nearby areas are destroyed in a fire, killing 453. - October 25 – The Princess SophiaPrincess Sophia (steamer)The SS Princess Sophia was a steel-built coastal passenger liner in the coastal service fleet of the Canadian Pacific Railway . Along with the SS Princess Adelaide the SS Princess Alice and the SS Princess Mary, the SS Princess Sophia was one of four sister ships built for CPR during 1910-1911.On...
sinks on Vanderbilt ReefVanderbilt ReefVanderbilt Reef is a rocky outcropping in Lynn Canal, a fjord in Alaska, USA at . The outcropping is visible just above the water's surface....
near Juneau, AlaskaJuneau, AlaskaThe City and Borough of Juneau is a unified municipality located on the Gastineau Channel in the panhandle of the U.S. state of Alaska. It has been the capital of Alaska since 1906, when the government of the then-District of Alaska was moved from Sitka as dictated by the U.S. Congress in 1900...
; 353 people die in the greatest maritime disaster in the Pacific Northwest. - November 1 – Malbone Street WreckMalbone Street WreckThe Malbone Street Wreck, also known as the Brighton Beach Line Accident of the Brooklyn Rapid Transit Company , was a rapid transit railroad accident that occurred November 1, 1918, beneath the intersection of Flatbush Avenue, Ocean Avenue, and Malbone Street, in the community of Flatbush, Brooklyn...
: The worst rapid transitRapid transitA rapid transit, underground, subway, elevated railway, metro or metropolitan railway system is an electric passenger railway in an urban area with a high capacity and frequency, and grade separation from other traffic. Rapid transit systems are typically located either in underground tunnels or on...
accident in world history occurs under the intersection of Malbone Street and Flatbush Avenue, in BrooklynBrooklynBrooklyn is the most populous of New York City's five boroughs, with nearly 2.6 million residents, and the second-largest in area. Since 1896, Brooklyn has had the same boundaries as Kings County, which is now the most populous county in New York State and the second-most densely populated...
, New York City, with at least 93 dead. - December 4 – U.S. President Woodrow WilsonWoodrow WilsonThomas Woodrow Wilson was the 28th President of the United States, from 1913 to 1921. A leader of the Progressive Movement, he served as President of Princeton University from 1902 to 1910, and then as the Governor of New Jersey from 1911 to 1913...
sails for the Paris Peace ConferenceParis Peace Conference, 1919The Paris Peace Conference was the meeting of the Allied victors following the end of World War I to set the peace terms for the defeated Central Powers following the armistices of 1918. It took place in Paris in 1919 and involved diplomats from more than 32 countries and nationalities...
, becoming the first U.S. president to travel to EuropeEuropeEurope is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
while in office.
Undated
- The Native American ChurchNative American ChurchNative American Church, a religious denomination which practices Peyotism or the Peyote religion, originated in the U.S. state of Oklahoma, and is the most widespread indigenous religion among Native Americans in the United States...
is formally founded. - The Association Against the Prohibition AmendmentAssociation Against the Prohibition AmendmentThe Association Against the Prohibition Amendment was established in 1918 and became a leading organization working for the repeal of prohibition in the United States.- Background :...
is founded to stop ProhibitionRepeal of ProhibitionThe Repeal of Prohibition in the United States was accomplished with the passage of the Twenty-first Amendment to the United States Constitution on December 5, 1933.-Background:...
in the U.S. - The last captive Carolina ParakeetCarolina ParakeetThe Carolina Parakeet was the only parrot species native to the eastern United States. It was found from the Ohio Valley to the Gulf of Mexico, and lived in old forests along rivers. It was the only species at the time classified in the genus Conuropsis...
(the last breed of parrotParrotParrots, also known as psittacines , are birds of the roughly 372 species in 86 genera that make up the order Psittaciformes, found in most tropical and subtropical regions. The order is subdivided into three families: the Psittacidae , the Cacatuidae and the Strigopidae...
native to North America) dies at the Cincinnati Zoo .
Births
- January 21 – Richard WintersRichard WintersMajor Richard "Dick" D. Winters was a United States Army officer and decorated war veteran. He commanded Company "E", 2nd Battalion, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division, during World War II....
, World War IIWorld War IIWorld War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
soldier (d. 20112011 in the United States- Incumbents :* President: Barack Obama * Vice President: Joe Biden * Chief Justice: John Roberts* Speaker of the House of Representatives: Nancy Pelosi until January 3, John Boehner since January 5...
) - August 21 – Bruria KaufmanBruria KaufmanBruria Kaufman was an Israeli theoretical physicist. She contributed to Albert Einstein's Theory of general relativity and to statistical physics. She is well-known for her studies of derivation using spinor analysis of the exact result of Lars Onsager on the partition function of the...
, American-born IsraelIsraelThe State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
i physicist (d. 20102010 in Israel-Incumbents:* Prime Minister of Israel – Benjamin Netanyahu * President of Israel – Shimon Peres* Chief of General Staff – Gabi Ashkenazi* Government of Israel – 32nd Government of Israel-Events:...
)