1924

Events in 1924 59

• 1844 – 1924 Anatole France (1844-1924) Died 12 October 1924, aged 80 Anatole France was a French novelist and Nobel laureate in Literature (1921), known for works such as Le Crime de Sylvestre Bonnard and Penguin Island. He was one of the most celebrated French writers of his era.
• 1845 – 1924 Gabriel Fauré (1845-1924) Died 4 November 1924, aged 79 Gabriel Fauré was a French composer whose Requiem and songs are among the most performed works of French Romantic music. He served as director of the Paris Conservatoire and influenced a generation of composers including Ravel.
• 1850 – 1924 Samuel Gompers (1850-1924) Died 13 December 1924, aged 74 Samuel Gompers was a British-born American labor leader who founded and led the American Federation of Labor for nearly four decades. He shaped the direction of the American labor movement toward pragmatic collective bargaining.
• 1856 – 1924 Louis Sullivan (1856-1924) Died 14 April 1924, aged 67 Louis Sullivan was an American architect known as a pioneer of the modern skyscraper and mentor to Frank Lloyd Wright. His maxim "form follows function" became a defining principle of modernist architecture.
• 1856 – 1924 Woodrow Wilson 28th President — led US in WWI, founded League of Nations Woodrow Wilson (Dec 28, 1856 – Feb 3, 1924) was the 28th President 1913-1921. He led the US through World War I, proposed the League of Nations, and won the Nobel Peace Prize. He suffered a debilitating stroke in 1919.
• 1858 – 1924 Eleonora Duse (1858-1924) Died 21 April 1924, aged 65 Eleonora Duse was an Italian actress widely regarded as one of the greatest stage performers of her generation, celebrated for her naturalistic style. She toured internationally and was closely associated with the plays of Gabriele D'Annunzio and Henrik Ibsen.
• 1858 – 1924 Giacomo Puccini Verismo opera master Italian opera composer whose La Bohème, Tosca, Madama Butterfly and the unfinished Turandot are among the most performed operas in the world.
• 1866 – 1924 Ferruccio Busoni (1866-1924) Died 27 July 1924, aged 58 Ferruccio Busoni was an Italian-German composer and virtuoso pianist known for his transcriptions of Bach and his own operas and piano works. He was also an influential teacher and theorist of early 20th-century music.
• 1870 – 1924 Lenin Russian Revolution leader Vladimir Lenin led the Bolshevik Revolution in 1917, establishing the Soviet state and the foundation for communist rule in Russia.
• 1870 – 1924 Vladimir Lenin Founder of the Soviet Union Vladimir Ilyich Lenin (April 22, 1870 – January 21, 1924) was the founder of the Soviet state and leader of the Bolshevik Revolution. He led Soviet Russia from 1917 and the Soviet Union from its formation in 1922 until his death in 1924.
• 1883 – 1924 Franz Kafka Czech writer Kafka wrote surreal stories about alienation, bureaucracy, and existential anxiety in modern society.
• 1916 – 1924 Capablanca's unbeaten streak 8 years without a tournament loss From 1916 to 1924 Capablanca scored +40 =23 -0 in tournament games — a record span without a single loss that has never been surpassed at the elite level.
• 1924 First Winter Olympics First Winter Olympics Chamonix hosted an International Winter Sports Week in January 1924, which the IOC later recognised retroactively as the first Winter Olympic Games. Some 258 athletes from sixteen nations competed in skating, skiing, bobsleigh, curling and ice hockey. Norway and Finland took the great majority of the medals.
• 1924 – 1975 Rod Serling (1924-1975) Died 28 June 1975, aged 50 Rod Serling created and hosted "The Twilight Zone," the anthology series that became a landmark of American television. He was also a prolific screenwriter who won multiple Emmy Awards. He died of complications from heart surgery in Rochester, New York.
• 1924 – 1953 Stalin in power Soviet dictator — 1924 to 1953 Stalin consolidated power gradually after Lenin's death, becoming undisputed leader by the late 1920s. His 29-year rule transformed the USSR through forced industrialisation and collectivisation, but also brought the Great Terror, the Gulag and an estimated 6-20 million deaths from political repression.
• 1924 Australian Open 1924 — becomes Grand Slam Men: James Anderson · Women: Sylvia Lance The Australian Championships become one of the four Grand Slam tournaments.
• 1924 – 2024 Roger Guillemin (1924-2024) Died 21 February 2024, aged 100 French-born American physiologist who shared the 1977 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine for work on brain hormones.
• 1924 First UK Labour government takes office Ramsay MacDonald becomes Britain's first Labour prime minister Ramsay MacDonald formed Britain's first Labour government on 22 January 1924, governing as a minority administration with Liberal support. It fell in October 1924 after less than a year, but marked Labour's arrival as a party of government.
• 1924 – 1963 Sabu (1924-1963) Indian actor who became an international star as a boy in Elephant Boy and The Thief of Bagdad.
• 1924 – 2018 Dorothy Malone (1924-2018) American actress, Oscar winner for Written on the Wind and a star of Peyton Place on TV.
• 1924 Rhapsody in Blue premieres in New York Gershwin's jazz-influenced concert piece debuts at Aeolian Hall George Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue premiered on 12 February 1924 in an orchestral arrangement by Paul Whiteman's band. The piece fused jazz idioms with concert-hall form and became one of the best-known American orchestral works of the century.
• 1924 International Business Machines founded Computing-Tabulating-Recording Company renamed IBM On 14 February 1924, Thomas J. Watson renamed the Computing-Tabulating-Recording Company as International Business Machines. IBM went on to become one of the dominant technology companies of the 20th century.
• 1924 – 1987 Lee Marvin (1924-1987) Died 29 August 1987, aged 63 Marvin was an American actor known for tough-guy roles in films including The Dirty Dozen and Cat Ballou, for which he won an Academy Award. A decorated Marine Corps veteran of the Second World War, he was also the defendant in a landmark palimony lawsuit. He died in Tucson, Arizona.
• 1924 – 2019 Robert Mugabe (1924-2019) Died 6 September 2019, aged 95 Robert Mugabe led Zimbabwe as prime minister and then president from independence in 1980 until he was forced from power in a 2017 military coup. His early land reforms and later authoritarian rule and economic mismanagement left a deeply contested legacy. He died in a Singapore hospital.
• 1924 Hitler tried for the Beer Hall Putsch Failed 1923 coup leader gets lenient sentence and writes Mein Kampf in prison Adolf Hitler stood trial in Munich from 26 February to 1 April 1924 for his role in the failed 1923 Beer Hall Putsch. Convicted of treason but sentenced to only five years, he served under nine months at Landsberg Prison, where he dictated much of Mein Kampf, and was released on 20 December 1924.
• 1924 – 2025 Murayama Tomiichi (1924-2025) Died 17 October 2025, aged 101 Japanese politician who from 1994 to 1996 was the first Socialist prime minister of Japan since 1948.
• 1924 Ottoman Caliphate abolished Turkish Grand National Assembly ends the centuries-old Islamic caliphate On 3 March 1924 the Grand National Assembly of Turkey abolished the Ottoman Caliphate as part of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk's secularizing reforms. The last caliph, Abdulmejid II, was exiled, ending an institution that had claimed religious authority over Sunni Islam for centuries.
• 1924 Greece proclaims the Second Hellenic Republic Monarchy abolished after referendum, republic declared Following a referendum, the Greek National Assembly proclaimed a republic on 25 March 1924, abolishing the monarchy of King George II. The Second Hellenic Republic lasted until a royalist restoration in 1935.
• 1924 – 1992 Freddie Bartholomew (1924-1992) English-American child star of the 1930s, famous as David Copperfield and Little Lord Fauntleroy.
• 1924 – 2004 Marlon Brando (1924-2004) Died 1 July 2004, aged 80 Brando was widely regarded as one of the greatest film actors of all time, known for his roles in "A Streetcar Named Desire," "On the Waterfront," and "The Godfather." His naturalistic Method acting style reshaped American cinema.
• 1924 First aerial circumnavigation of the globe completed US Army Air Service Douglas World Cruisers finish round-the-world flight Four US Army biplanes set out from Seattle on 6 April 1924 to attempt the first flight around the world; two completed the journey, landing back in Seattle on 28 September 1924. The flight demonstrated the growing feasibility of long-distance aviation.
• 1924 Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer formed Merger creates one of Hollywood's major studios Metro Pictures, Goldwyn Pictures, and Louis B. Mayer Pictures merged on 17 April 1924 to form Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. MGM became one of the most prominent film studios of Hollywood's golden age, known for its leo-the-lion trademark.
• 1924 J. Edgar Hoover named head of the Bureau of Investigation Appointment begins a tenure that would last 48 years Attorney General Harlan Fiske Stone appointed J. Edgar Hoover acting director of the Bureau of Investigation on 10 May 1924. Hoover reshaped the agency, later renamed the FBI, and led it until his death in 1972.
• 1924 Leopold and Loeb murder Bobby Franks Chicago "crime of the century" ends in life sentences Nathan Leopold and Richard Loeb, two wealthy University of Chicago students, murdered 14-year-old Bobby Franks on 21 May 1924 in a case that became a national sensation. Defended by Clarence Darrow, both were sentenced to life imprisonment rather than execution on 10 September 1924.
• 1924 – 2018 Charles Aznavour (1924-2018) Died 1 October 2018, aged 94 French-Armenian singer, songwriter and actor who recorded in several languages and sold hundreds of millions of records over a seven-decade career. He was widely regarded as one of France's most important cultural figures. He also worked as a diplomat representing Armenia internationally.
• 1924 Immigration Act of 1924 signed into law US law imposed strict national-origin quotas President Calvin Coolidge signed the Johnson-Reed Act on 26 May, sharply restricting immigration and setting quotas based on 1890 census nationality data. It effectively barred immigration from Asia and sharply curtailed arrivals from Southern and Eastern Europe.
• 1924 – 2018 George H.W. Bush 41st President — Gulf War, end of Cold War George H.W. Bush (Jun 12, 1924 – Nov 30, 2018) was the 41st President 1989-1993. He oversaw the end of the Cold War, German reunification, and led a 34-nation coalition in the Gulf War to liberate Kuwait.
• 1924 – 2001 Chet Atkins (1924-2001) Died 30 June 2001, aged 77 Atkins was a guitarist and record producer whose fingerpicking technique made him one of the most admired players in country music. As an executive at RCA in Nashville he helped shape the smooth Nashville sound. He won 14 Grammy Awards.
• 1924 – 2011 Sidney Lumet (1924-2011) Died 9 April 2011, aged 86 The American film director made more than 40 films over five decades, including "12 Angry Men," "Dog Day Afternoon," and "Network." He received an honorary Academy Award in 2005 after four unsuccessful nominations for Best Director. He died in Manhattan of lymphoma.
• 1924 Summer Olympics open in Paris Second Paris Games, later dramatized in Chariots of Fire The 1924 Summer Olympics opened in Paris on 5 July, the last Games to include events like rugby union and tug of war for decades. Finnish runner Paavo Nurmi and British sprinters Harold Abrahams and Eric Liddell became the meet's defining stars.
• 1924 – 2006 Don Knotts (1924-2006) Died 24 February 2006, aged 81 Don Knotts, the American actor and comedian best known as Deputy Barney Fife on "The Andy Griffith Show," died of pulmonary and respiratory complications. He won five Emmy Awards for the role. His comic timing made him one of television's most recognizable character actors.
• 1924 – 2001 Carroll O'Connor (1924-2001) Died 21 June 2001, aged 76 O'Connor played the bigoted working-class Archie Bunker in the sitcom All in the Family, one of the most watched and debated US television shows of the 1970s. He later starred in the drama In the Heat of the Night. He won four Emmy Awards.
• 1924 – 1987 James Baldwin (1924-1987) Died 1 December 1987, aged 63 Baldwin was an American novelist and essayist whose work, including Go Tell It on the Mountain and The Fire Next Time, explored race, sexuality and identity in twentieth-century America. He lived much of his later life in France. He died of stomach cancer in Saint-Paul-de-Vence.
• 1924 – 1988 Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq (1924-1988) Died 17 August 1988, aged 64 Zia-ul-Haq ruled Pakistan as military dictator and later president after seizing power in a 1977 coup. His rule was marked by Islamization policies and support for Afghan mujahideen fighting the Soviet occupation. He was killed when his military aircraft crashed shortly after takeoff, in an incident never conclusively explained.
• 1924 – 2000 Tom Landry (1924-2000) Died 12 February 2000, aged 75 Tom Landry was the founding head coach of the Dallas Cowboys, leading the team for 29 seasons from 1960 and winning two Super Bowls. Recognisable by the fedora on the sideline, he was credited with popularising the 4-3 defence and the modern shotgun formation. His run of twenty straight winning seasons is an NFL record.
• 1924 – 2014 Lauren Bacall (1924-2014) Died 12 August 2014, aged 89 Lauren Bacall, the sultry-voiced Hollywood star known for "To Have and Have Not" and her marriage to Humphrey Bogart, died in New York. She won an honorary Academy Award in 2009 for her body of work. She remained active in film and theater throughout her long career.
• 1924 – 1925 Heisenberg goes to Copenhagen on a Rockefeller fellowship Seven months with Bohr, to 1 May 1925 The institute where the interpretation of quantum mechanics would be argued out.
• 1924 – 1996 Marcello Mastroianni (1924-1996) Died 19 December 1996, aged 72 Marcello Mastroianni was an Italian actor celebrated for his roles in Federico Fellini films including "La Dolce Vita" and "8½." He received three Academy Award nominations and was one of the most internationally recognized European film stars of his era. He died in Paris of pancreatic cancer.
• 1924 – 1984 Truman Capote (1924-1984) Died 25 August 1984, aged 59 American writer Truman Capote, author of Breakfast at Tiffany's and In Cold Blood, died in Los Angeles. His nonfiction novel In Cold Blood is credited with helping to establish the true crime genre.
• 1924 – 2024 Jimmy Carter 39th President — longest-lived US president Jimmy Carter (Oct 1, 1924 – Dec 29, 2024) was the 39th President 1977-1981. He brokered the Camp David Accords, won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2002, and became the longest-lived US president at age 100.
• 1924 – 2005 William Rehnquist (1924-2005) Died 3 September 2005, aged 80 William Rehnquist, Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court, died on 3 September 2005 while still serving on the bench, having led the court since 1986. He presided over the 2000 Bush v. Gore case and the impeachment trial of President Bill Clinton. Rehnquist had served on the Supreme Court since being appointed an associate justice in 1972.
• 1924 Zeppelin LZ 126 crosses the Atlantic German-built airship delivered to the US Navy The airship LZ 126, built by the Zeppelin company as war-reparations payment, flew from Friedrichshafen to Lakehurst, New Jersey between 12 and 15 October 1924. Renamed USS Los Angeles, it served the US Navy for years as a demonstration of long-range airship travel.
• 1924 – 2019 Lee Iacocca (1924-2019) Died 2 July 2019, aged 94 Lee Iacocca was an American automobile executive who led the development of the Ford Mustang before becoming CEO of Chrysler, where he engineered a landmark government-backed turnaround in the early 1980s. He became one of the most recognizable corporate leaders in American business history. He died at his home in Bel Air, California.
• 1924 Calvin Coolidge elected president in his own right Republican landslide over Democrat John W. Davis and Progressive Robert La Follette Calvin Coolidge, who had succeeded to the presidency after Warren Harding's 1923 death, won election in his own right on 4 November 1924. He defeated Democrat John W. Davis and Progressive candidate Robert La Follette in a decisive victory.
• 1924 – 1987 Geraldine Page (1924-1987) American actress with eight Oscar nominations, winning for The Trip to Bountiful.
• 1924 Mongolian People's Republic established Soviet-backed communist state proclaimed after death of the Bogd Khan The Mongolian People's Republic was proclaimed on 26 November 1924, replacing the theocratic monarchy that had followed independence from China. It became the world's second communist state, closely aligned with the Soviet Union.
• 1924 – 2005 Shirley Chisholm (1924-2005) Died 1 January 2005, aged 80 Shirley Chisholm, the first Black woman elected to the US Congress and the first to run for a major party's presidential nomination, died on 1 January 2005. She represented New York in the House of Representatives from 1969 to 1983 and championed civil rights, education and anti-poverty legislation. Her 1972 presidential campaign broke barriers in American politics.
• 1924 – 2010 Alexander Haig (1924-2010) Died 20 February 2010, aged 85 Haig was a United States Army general who served as White House Chief of Staff under Presidents Nixon and Ford and later as Secretary of State under Ronald Reagan. He commanded NATO forces in Europe before entering politics fully. He died of complications from an infection.
• 1924 – 2017 Mário Soares Father of Democracy A pivotal figure in the transition to democracy and the first Prime Minister after the revolution.