What a Difference a Century Makes: 1922
US Population:106,021,537
By: M. Callahan
Howard Carter examining the innermost coffin of Tutankhamun.
The tomb of young pharaoh Tutankhamun is located on November 4th in the Valley of the Kings, near Thebes, Egypt. It is renowned for the wealth of valuable antiquities that it contained. Howard Carter, under the patronage of Lord Carnovan discovered it underneath the remains of workmen's huts built during the Ramesside Period.
Public Figures
President: Warren G. Harding
Vice President: Calvin Coolidge
Virginia Governor: Westmoreland Davis
Chief Justice Supreme Court: William Howard Taft
Speaker of the House: Frederick H. Gillett (R-Massachusetts)
Senate Majority Leader: Henry Cabot Lodge (R-Massachusetts)
VA Senators: Claude A. Swanson & Carter Glass
BORN: Josephine Cecilia Leonard, Judy Garland, Doris Day, Ava Gardner, Kurt Vonnegut, Pierre Cardin
DIED: Ernest Shackleton, Nellie Bly, John Butler Yates, Alexander Graham Bell, Michael Collins, John Wanamaker
HISTORICAL EVENTS
- The last hunted California grizzly bear is shot in Tulare County, California. The California grizzly bear (Ursus arctos californicus) is an extinct population or subspecies of the brown bear, generally known together with other North American brown bear populations as the grizzly bear. Two years later in 1924, what was thought to be a grizzly was spotted in Sequoia National Park for the last time and thereafter, grizzlies were never seen again in California.
- American women accessorized their outfits with an Egyptian motif. When French avant-garde artwork became a topic of conversation, jewelry began mirroring abstract art movements such as cubism, art deco, and surrealism. Women altered their facial features with cosmetics to imitate movie stars. Some completely plucked their eyebrows and redrew them in dark eyebrow pencil. They even wore thick black eyeliner to take on a sensuous look popularized by movie stars Theda Bara and Pola Negri.
- Knickerbocker Storm: Snowfall from the biggest-ever recorded snowstorm in Washington, D.C., causes the roof of the Knickerbocker Theatre to collapse, killing 98.
- The United States Secretary of the Interior, Albert Fall, leases Teapot Dome oil reserves in Wyoming to Harry Sinclair of Mammoth Oil, a subsidiary of Sinclair Oil Company, Thus, the Teapot Dome Scandal begins. He also leased the Elk Hills reserve to Edward L. Doheny of Pan American Petroleum and Transport Company. Both leases were issued without competitive bidding, which was legal under the Mineral Leasing Act of 1920.
Although Fall was to blame for this scandal, President Harding's reputation was tarnished because of his involvement with the wrong people. Evidence proving Fall's guilt only arose after Harding's death in 1923.
The lease terms were very favorable to the oil companies, who secretly made Fall a rich man. Fall received a no-interest loan from Doheny of $100,000, (about $1.45 million today) in November 1921. He received other gifts from Doheny and Sinclair totaling about $404,000 (about $5.86 million today). This money changing hands was illegal, not the leases. Fall attempted to keep his actions secret, but the sudden improvement in his standard of living was suspect. He even paid up his ranch taxes, which had been as much as 10 years.
The Teapot Dome scandal has historically been regarded as the worst such scandal in the United States – the "high water mark" of cabinet corruption. It was not until 1927 that the Supreme Court's ruling in McGrain v. Daugherty which for the first time explicitly established that Congress had the power to compel testimony.
The Teapot Dome oil field was then idled for 49 years, but went back into production in 1976. After Teapot Dome had earned over $569 million in revenue from the 22 million barrels (3,500,000 m3) of oil extracted over the previous 39 years, the Department of Energy in February 2015 sold the oil field for $45 million to New York-based Stranded Oil Resources Corp.
- The novel Ulysses by James Joyce is published in Paris on his 40th birthday by Sylvia Beach, while DeWitt and Lila Wallace publish the first issue of Reader's Digest in the United States.
- The State of Massachusetts opens all public offices to women.
- Rebecca L. Felton becomes the first female U.S. senator, when Georgia's governor gives her a temporary appointment, pending an election to replace Senator Thomas Watson, who has died suddenly.
- The 19th Amendment (women’s right to vote) is upheld by the US Supreme Court.
- In the Bronx, construction begins on Yankee Stadium.
- Rose Bowl sports stadium officially opens in Pasadena, California.
- President of the United States Warren G. Harding introduces the first radio in the White House. By 1922 over 500 commercial radio stations are in operation in the United States.
- The first use of insulin as a diabetes treatment takes place during January in Toronto.
- Christian K. Nelson patents the Eskimo Pie ice cream bar in the United States.
- The Chicago Stanleys are renamed the Chicago Bears.
- 34 people are killed when Airship Roma explodes in Virginia. The Roma left Langley Field (Norfolk) in the early afternoon remaining aloft for about 15 minutes “when the elevators refused to respond to the turning of the wheel. When it nosed down, attempts to elevate the nose were futile, the momentum of the ship drove it forward into high tension wires which ignited the hydrogen gas in the envelope. The instant the nose of the ship came in contact with the high tension wires an explosion took place which completely enveloped her in blue white flames and in a very few seconds the entire structure had collapsed,” according to the Langley Field Times.
- Howard Carter and Lord Carnarvon become the first people to see inside KV62, the tomb of Pharaoh Tutankhamun, in over 3,000 years.
- Benito Mussolini, 39, becomes the youngest ever Prime Minister of Italy. Italy begins a period of dictatorship that lasts until the end of the Second World War, but at the same time becomes the predominant power in the Mediterranean.
- Gabriele D'Annunzio, one of Mussolini's rivals, falls out of a window (either pushed or fell while intoxicated), injuring him severely.
- Mohandas Gandhi preaches for mass civil disobedience, non-violence and peaceful resistance against British Rule in India and British Authorities sentenced him to six years' imprisonment. He serves two.
- The British Broadcasting Company (BBC) is formed and financed by a Post Office license fee of 10 shillings, payable by anyone owning a radio receiver.
- The Irish Civil War begins during June. The conflict was fought between the Irish Nationalists and the Irish Republicans. The war started over the Anglo-Irish Treaty which established the Irish Free State. Pro-Treaty nationalists were backed by the United Kingdom who wanted Northern Ireland to remain linked to the United Kingdom. For 11 months the civil war continued with the Pro-Treaty forces claiming victory. The UK Parliament enacts the Irish Free State Constitution Act, legally sanctioning the new Constitution of the Irish Free State. The Parliament of Northern Ireland votes to remain part of the United Kingdom.
- Michael Collins becomes Chairman of the Provisional Government of the Irish Free State.
- Bombardment of the Four Courts, located on Inns Quay in Dublin. The Four Courts was and is the principal seat of the Supreme Court, the Court of Appeal, the High Court and the Dublin Circuit Court, & in 1922 also the seat of the Criminal Courts.
- The Irish Free State officially comes into existence.[1] George V becomes the Free State's monarch. Tim Healy is appointed first Governor-General of the Irish Free State, and W. T. Cosgrave becomes President of the Executive Council.
- King George V Opens new concrete tennis stadium Center Court at Wimbledon.
- The first US Aircraft Carrier The USS Langley commissioned.
- The first German officers travel to the Soviet Union for the purposes of military cooperation between Germany and the Soviet Union.
- 3,000 German marks are now needed to buy a single American dollar – triple the figure three months ago due to hyperinflation.
- Germany and the Soviet Union sign the Treaty of Rapallo, re-establishing diplomatic relations, renouncing financial claims on each other and pledge future cooperation.
- The Russian Civil War (ongoing since 7 November 1917) ends in Bolshevik victory with the defeat of the last White forces in Siberia. Russia, Ukraine, Belarus and the Transcaucasian Republic (Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia) come together to form the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, dissolved in 1991.
- Joseph Stalin is appointed General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Soviet Communist Party.
- The Ottoman Empire is abolished after 600 years, and its last sultan, Mehmed VI, abdicates, leaves for exile in Italy on November 17.
- Pope Pius XI (Achille Ratti) succeeds Pope Benedict XV, to become the 259th pope.
- The Five Power Naval Disarmament Treaty is signed between the United States, United Kingdom, Japan, France and Italy. Japan returns some of its control over the Shandong Peninsula to China.
- Egypt declares its independence.
- Constantine I abdicates as King of Greece.
- The Fascist Party comes to power in Italy.
- Crown Prince Hirohito becomes Regent of Japan
Chief Justice Taft, President Harding and Robert Todd Lincoln at the dedication of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, DC on May 30, 1922
- The novel Ulysses by James Joyce is published in Paris on his 40th birthday by Sylvia Beach, while DeWitt and Lila Wallace publish the first issue of Reader's Digest in the United States.
1922 Fashion Trends
- Jewelry was less flashy and less elaborate, using romantic, more natural shapes. Sharp, geometric patterns celebrated the machine age, while exotic creations inspired by the Near and Far East hinted that jewelry fashions were truly international.
- Mary Janes shoes were still popular from the previous era. The T-strap heel was a variation of the Mary Jane, having the same base with the addition of a strap going around the heel and down to the top of the shoe that looked like a T. The bar shoe which fastened with a strap and a single button also became vastly popular. It was worn with the new short skirts and was practical for the robust style of dancing.
- Coco Chanel, the founder and namesake of the Chanel brand, was credited in the post-World War I era with popularizing a sporty, casual chic as the feminine standard of style, replacing the "corseted silhouette" that was dominant beforehand. The female figure was liberated from the restrictive corset, and newly popular boyish look . Chanel No. 5 perfume is created.
- The development of new fabrics and new means of fastening clothing affected fashions. The development of metal hooks and eyes, snaps, buttons and zippers meant that there were easier means of fastening clothing.
- Expensive fabrics, including silk, velvet, and satin were favored by high-end designers, while department stores carried less expensive variations on those designs made of newly available synthetic fabrics. The use of mannequins became widespread during the 1920s and served as a way to show shoppers how to combine and accessorize the new fashions
1922 Lifestyle
- New music emerged along with new dancing. Jazz dances, such as the Charleston, replaced the slow waltz of the Victorian-Edwardian eras Jazz music and dance are credited with the origin of the iconic term "flapper", a group of new socially unconventional ladies. When dancers did the Charleston, the fast movement of the feet and swaying of the arms resembled the flapping movements of a bird. Jazz music sparked the need to dance, and dance sparked the need for new clothing, especially for women to easily dance without being constricted
- The "slouch suit," with jacket bloused over a hip-level belt, becomes popular among women, as lifestyles became far more casual embracing jazz music, dance.
- Architectural delineator Hugh Ferriss draws and publishes his influential artwork of the four stages of skyscraper construction.
- Congress passes the Cable Act, granting independent citizenship to married women. The act, in part read, “that the right of any woman to become a naturalized citizen of the United States shall not be denied or abridged because of her sex or because she is a married woman.” The Cable Act was written in response to sections of the Expatriation Act of 1907 that stripped women of their U.S. citizenship if they married non-citizen men.
- The average life span in the United States was about fifty-four years, whereas today it's about seventy-seven years.
- Disturbing revival of the Ku Klux Klan, a white terrorist group that had been active in the South during the Reconstruction Era following the American Civil War; 1861–65).
SPORTS
World Series: New York Giants defeated the New York Yankees in five games (four games to none with one tie)
Stanley Cup: Toronto St. Pats defeated Vancouver three games to two in the best-of-five game series to win
World Heavyweight Boxing: Jack Dempsey
USPGA Championship: Gene Sarazen
US Open: Walter Hagen
British Open: Gene Sarazen, USA
Heavyweight Boxing Champion: Jack Dempsey
Horseracing Triple Crown:
Kentucky - Morvich
Preakness - Pillory
Belmont Stakes - Pillory
Wimbledon Men’s Singles: Gerald Patterson, Australia defeats Randolph Lycett, Britain
Wimbledon Women’s Singles: Suzanne Lenglen, France over Molly Mallory, USA
Rose Bowl: Washington & Jefferson Presidents (W&J) v. the California Golden Bears - only scoreless Rose Bowl Game
NOBEL AWARDS 1922:
Peace: Fridtjof Nansen of Norway, for his work on behalf of the displaced victims of World War I
Literature: Jancinto Benavente, Spain, for the h
appy manner in which he has continued the illustrious traditions of the Spanish drama"
Chemistry: Francis William Aston, England, for his discovery, by means of his mass spectrograph, of isotopes in many non-radioactive elements and for his enunciation of the whole number rule.
Physics: Niels Bohr, Danish physicist who made foundational contributions to understanding atomic structure and quantum theory
PULITZER PRIZES
Pulitzer-Drama: Eugene O’Neill, “Anna Christie”
Pulitzer-Fiction: Booth Tarkington, “Alice Adams”
Pulitzer– Biography: Hamlin Garland, “A Daughter of the Middle Border”
Pulitzer History: James T. Adams, “The Founding of New England”
Pulitzer Journalism Reporting: Kirke L. Simpson of the Associated Press - For articles on the burial of the Unknown Soldier
COST OF COMMON CONSUMER GOODS
Housing, fuel and miscellaneous items have been stable for the past year while food, clothing, and furniture have declined in price. Unemployment rate soars to 11.7%.
Consumer Price Index: 16.8%
Unemployment: 6.9%
Ave Net Income: $3,269.00
Ave. Home Cost: $3,200– $7,197 (depending on size & area)
Monthly Rent Ave: $15 month
Manicure: $3.22
FOOD COSTS
Pound of Butter: $.52
Loaf of bread: $.12
One dozen eggs: $.35
Quart of milk: $.09
Pound of Bacon: $.53
Potatoes (pound): $.063
Pound of Coffee: $.25
Chicken (pound): $.30
Chuck Roast (pound): $.12
Roast Pork (pound): $.12
Oranges (dz.): $.63
Sugar 5 pounds: $.97
Orange Pekoe Tea $.23 lb.
Green Tea: $.45 lb.
Campbell Soup: $.10 can
Jell-O: $.10 pkg.
Wisconsin Cheese: $.25 lb.
Kippered Herring: $.10/1/2 lb. can
Bar of Palmolive Soap: $.10
Peanut Butter: $.10 / jar
APPLIANCES AND FREQUENTLY BOUGHT ITEMS
Hoover Vacuum: $45
Corona Typewriter: $50
Kodak Box Camera: $50
Touring Car: $1,045
Cabriolet Car: $1,145
Gallon of Gas: $0.33
Newspaper: $.02 daily edition
Movie Tickets: $.15
First-class stamp: $.02 & timely delivery (most areas twice per day)
Roll of Life Savers: $.05
Bar of Palmolive Soap: $.10
Popular Toys of the 20’s
Massed Produced Teddy Bears, Construction Sets, Doll Houses and Dolls and Pedal Cars & Hand Cars were the very favorite toys and specifically those below:
- Teddy bears
- Erector sets.
- Lionel trains
- Lincoln Logs
- Raggedy Ann & Flossy Flirty
- Radio Flyer Wagon
- Tinker Toys
- Crayons
- Pedal Cars
- Erector Sets
- Radio Flyer Wagon
- Dinky Toys (cars, trucks, planes)
- Hornby Model Trains
1922 Washington
DC Population: 437,571
A group of happy youngsters who rolled their Easter eggs on the White House lawn.
National Photo Company Collection, Library of Congress
The Children’s Crusade for Amnesty protested in front of the White House for four months for the release of their husbands and fathers who had been imprisoned for their opposition to WWI. By the time they left fourteen fathers had been released from federal custody, and review of additional cases continued.
President Warren G. Harding began: March 4, 1921, to Aug. 2, 1923. Died suddenly of a heart attack. He presided in the period directly after WWI with soaring unemployment, changing economic times, an agricultural recession resulting in low crop prices and low farm incomes. He died of an apparent heart attack and was succeeded by Vice President Calvin Coolidge.
Forty delegates from European countries passing through Washington on their way to attend the American Legion Convention at New Orleans are entertained at the White House by President Harding.
Lincoln Memorial is dedicated by Former US President William Howard Taft. The dedication ceremony was officiated by former U.S. President and Chief Justice of the Supreme Court William Howard Taft. Special guests at the ceremony including Robert Todd Lincoln (Abraham Lincoln’s son), Robert Morton (the President of the Tuskegee Institute), President Warren G. Harding, and Vice President Calvin Coolidge. The memorial was designed by Henry Bacon to resemble a Grecian-style temple complete with columns and a 19-foot-tall marble statue of Lincoln that was sculpted by Daniel Chester French.
Thomas Circle, Washington, DC 1922. The equestrian statue seen in this image was erected in 1879 and honors General George Henry Thomas. The streetcar lines wrapping around the Circle on 14th Street were installed in the 1890s, but no longer exist. It is located at the intersection of Massachusetts Avenue NW, Vermont Avenue NW,
14th Street NW, and M Street NW
Policeman standing alongside wrecked car and cases of moonshine.
Under new additional Prohibition Laws home brewing is illegal. Bathtub Gin or Moonshine is being produced throughout the country, rum running occurs from the Caribbean and Canada, car chases, confiscation of the illegal booze, and Speak Easies (basement night clubs serving liquor illegally) pop-up in most major and minor cities alike.
Reproduction of this story and photographs, in part or in whole, requires the written permission of the author. Copyright © 2011 Annandale Chamber of Commerce. All rights reserved.
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Bombing of the Four Courts in Ireland
Michael Collins, Commander-in-Chief of the Irish National Forces
Stalin and Lenin
Rose Bowl Stadium
Pilot Lawrence Sperry, capable of 100 mph and land in an ordinary roadway. Lincoln Memorialin background.
March 21, 1921
USS Langley, first US Aircraft Carrier
Easy to see why aircraft carriers became known as “FLATTOPS”.
California Grizzley
Roma Burning
Aerial View of Capitol 1922
Washington DC: Policemen with
cases of moonshine.
Knickerbocker Theater collapse
Washington Evening Star
Newspaper Headline
Knickerbocker Theater before fire
When heavy snow (26”) caused an Adams Morgan theater's roof to collapse at the Knickerbocker, 98 moviegoers were killed in one of the District's worst disasters. Police, firemen, and military personnel rendered aid in the evacuation and rescue. It was determined that faulty construction was ultimately responsible.
The recently renovated ballroom at the Willard Hotel after the fire on April 23, 1922. Vice President & Mrs. Calvin Coolidge were residing at the hotel and were evacuated along with Bandleader Sousa.
Window of the Arthur Jordan Piano Co. store in DC showing an illustration of the life of a moonshiner.
Three Ku Klux Klan members standing beside automobile driven by Klan members at a Ku Klux Klan parade through counties in Northern Virginia bordering on the District of Columbia targeting Catholics, African Americans and Jews.
Pictures are from Wikipedia and the Library of Congress, Private Collections, Library of Virginia, National Library of Ireland
Reproduction of this story and photographs, in part or in whole, requires the written permission of the author. Copyright © 2011 Annandale Chamber of Commerce. All rights reserved.
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