1918 in the United States

Events from the year 1918 in the United States.

Incumbents

Federal Government

* President: Woodrow Wilson ( D-New Jersey)
* Vice President: Thomas R. Marshall ( D-Indiana)
* Chief Justice: Edward Douglass White (Louisiana)
* Speaker of the House of Representatives: Champ Clark ( D-Missouri)
* Congress: 65th

Events

January–March

* January – '' The World Tomorrow'' pacifist magazine begins publication.
* January 8 – President Woodrow Wilson delivers his Fourteen Points speech.
* February 21 – The last Carolina parakeet (the last breed of parrot native to the eastern U.S.), a male named "Incas", dies at Cincinnati Zoo.
* March – '' The Liberator'' socialist magazine begins publication.
* March 4 – A soldier at Camp Funston, Kansas falls sick with the first confirmed case of the Spanish flu.
* March 19 – The U.S. Congress establishes time zones and approves daylight saving time (DST goes into effect on March 31).

April–June

* April 21 – The 6.7 San Jacinto earthquake shakes southern California with a maximum Mercalli intensity of IX (''Severe''), causing $200,000 in damage, one death, and several injuries.
* May 2 – General Motors acquires the Chevrolet Motor Company of Delaware.
* May 15 – The United States Post Office Department (later renamed the United States Postal Service) begins the first regular airmail service in the world (between New York City, Philadelphia and Washington, DC).
* May 16 – The Sedition Act of 1918 is approved by the U.S. Congress.
* May 22 – The small town of Codell, Kansas is hit for the fith year in a row by a tornado. Coincidentally, all three tornadoes hit on the same date.
* May 23 – First victims of the "axeman of New Orleans" in a 17-month series of brutal murders mainly directed at Italian American shopkeepers and their families; the serial killer is never identified.
* June 8 – The total solar eclipse of June 8, 1918 crosses the United States from Washington State to Florida.
* 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.
** Hammond Circus Train Wreck: A locomotive engineer fell asleep and ran his troop train into the rear of a circus train near Hammond, Indiana. The circus train held 400 performers and roustabouts of the Hagenbeck-Wallace Circus.

July–September

* July 9 – Great Train Wreck of 1918: In Nashville, Tennessee, an inbound local train collides with an outbound express, killing 101 and injuring 171. It is considered the worst rail accident in U.S. history.
* August – A deadly second wave of the Spanish flu starts in France, Sierra Leone and the United States.
* August 13 – Opha May Johnson becomes the first woman to enlist in the United States Marine Corps.
* August 27 – Border War; Battle of Ambos Nogales – U.S. Army forces skirmish with Mexican Carrancistas at Nogales, Arizona, in the only battle of World War I fought on U.S. soil.
* September 11 – The Boston Red Sox defeat the Chicago Cubs for the 1918 World Series championship, their last World Series win until 2004.
* September 12–15 – World War I: Battle of Saint-Mihiel fought in France: The first and only offensive launched solely by the American Expeditionary Forces under John J. Pershing overcomes German forces in the Saint-Mihiel salient.

October–December

* October 4 – The T. A. Gillespie Company Shell Loading Plant explosion in New Jersey kills 100+, and destroys enough ammunition to supply the Western Front for 6 months.
* October 8 – World War I: In the Forest of Argonne in France, U.S. Corporal Alvin C. York almost single-handedly kills 25 German soldiers and captures 132.
* October 11 – The 7.1 San Fermín earthquake shakes Puerto Rico with a maximum Mercalli intensity of IX (''Violent''), killing 76–116 people. A destructive tsunami contributed to the damage and loss of life.
* October 12 – 1918 Cloquet Fire: The city of Cloquet, Minnesota and nearby areas are destroyed in a fire, killing 453.
* October 25 – The sinks on Vanderbilt Reef near Juneau, Alaska; 353 people die in the greatest maritime disaster in the Pacific Northwest.
* November 1 – Malbone Street Wreck: The worst rapid transit accident in world history occurs under the intersection of Malbone Street and Flatbush Avenue, in Brooklyn, New York City, with at least 93 dead.
* November 11 – World War I ends.
* December 4 – President of the U.S. Woodrow Wilson sails for the Paris Peace Conference, becoming the first U.S. president to travel to Europe while in office.
* December 19 – '' Ripley's Believe It or Not!'' first appears as a cartoon under the title ''Champs and Chumps'' in ''The New York Globe''.

Undated

* The Native American Church is formally founded.
* The Association Against the Prohibition Amendment is founded to oppose Prohibition in the U.S.
* George Drumm's concert march " Hail, America" is first performed in New York City.

Ongoing

* Progressive Era (1890s–1920s)
* Lochner era (c. 1897–c. 1937)
* U.S. occupation of Haiti (1915–1934)
* World War I, U.S. involvement (1917–1918)
* First Red Scare (1917–1920)

Births

January

* January 1 – Ed Price, American soldier, pilot, and politician (d. 2012)
* January 9 – Alma Ziegler, American female professional baseball player (d. 2005)
* January 15 – Ira B. Harkey Jr., American newspaper editor (d. 2006)
* January 16 – Stirling Silliphant, American screenwriter and producer (d. 1996)
* January 17 – George M. Leader, American politician (d. 2013)
* January 19
** Peter Hobbs, American actor (d. 2011)
** John H. Johnson, African-American publisher, founder of ''Ebony'' (d. 2005)
* January 20 – Nevin S. Scrimshaw, American food scientist (d. 2013)
* January 21 – Richard Winters, American World War II soldier (d. 2011)
* January 23 – Gertrude B. Elion, American pharmacologist, winner of Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1988 (d. 1999)
* January 24 – Oral Roberts, American neo-Pentecostal televangelist (d. 2009)
* January 25 – Ernie Harwell, American baseball sportscaster (d. 2010)
* January 26
** Philip José Farmer, American writer (d. 2009)
** Vito Scotti, American actor (d. 1996)
* January 27 – Elmore James, American musician (d. 1963)
* January 29 – John Forsythe, American actor (''Dynasty'') (d. 2010)
* January 31 – Millie Dunn Veasey, African-American civil rights activist and World War II soldier (d. 2018)

February

* February 3
** Millie Bailey, World War II veteran and civil servant (d. 2022)
** Joey Bishop, American entertainer, member of the " Rat Pack" (d. 2007)
** Martin Greenberg, American poet and translator (d. 2021)
** Helen Stephens, American athlete (d. 1994)
* February 8
** Fred Blassie, American professional wrestler, novelty singer (''Pencil Neck Geek'') (d. 2003)
** Walter Newton Read, American lawyer and second chairman of the New Jersey Casino Control Commission (d. 2001)
* February 12 – Julian Schwinger, American physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1994)
* February 15
** Allan Arbus, American actor (''M*A*S*H'') (d. 2013)
** William T. Young, American businessman (d. 2004)
* February 16 – Patty Andrews, American singer (The Andrews Sisters) (d. 2013)
* February 17 – William Bronk, American poet (d. 1999)
* February 19 – Fay McKenzie, American silent film actress (d. 2019)
* February 21 – Robert E. Thacker, American aviator and test pilot (d. 2020)
* February 22
** Charlie Finley, American businessman (d. 1996)
** Don Pardo, American television announcer (''Saturday Night Live'') (d. 2014)
** Robert Pershing Wadlow, American tallest man record-holder (d. 1940)
* February 25
** Barney Ewell, American athlete (d. 1996)
** Bobby Riggs, American tennis player (d. 1995)
* February 26
** Otis R. Bowen, American politician (d. 2013)
** Theodore Sturgeon, American writer (d. 1985)

March

* March 1 – James N. Morgan, American economist (d. 2018)
* March 3 – Arthur Kornberg, American biochemist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (d. 2007)
* March 4 – Margaret Osborne duPont, American female tennis player (d. 2012)
* March 5 – James Tobin, American economist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2002)
* March 8 – Mendel L. Peterson, American underwater archaeologist (d. 2003)
* March 9
** George Lincoln Rockwell, American Nazi leader (d. 1967)
** Mickey Spillane, American writer (d. 2006)
* March 11 – Jack Coe, American evangelist (d. 1956)
* March 12 – Elaine de Kooning, American artist (d. 1989)
* March 13 – Eddie Pellagrini, American baseball player, coach (d. 2006)
* March 15 – Richard Ellmann, American literary biographer (d. 1987)
* March 16 – Frederick Reines, American physicist, winner of Nobel Prize in Physics in 1995 (d. 1998)
* March 17 – Ross Bass, American politician (d. 1993)
* March 18 – Bob Broeg, American sports writer (d. 2005)
* March 20 – Jack Barry, American television game show host, producer (d. 1984)
* March 23
** Helene Hale, American politician (d. 2013)
** Stick McGhee, American jump blues singer, guitarist, and songwriter (d. 1961)
* March 25 – Howard Cosell, American attorney, lecturer, and sports journalist (d. 1995)
* March 26 – Lloyd McCuiston, American politician
* March 29
** Pearl Bailey, African-American singer, actress (d. 1990)
** Shirley Jameson, American female baseball player (d. 1993)
** Sam Walton, founder of Wal-Mart (d. 1992)

April

* April 1 – Milt Earnhart, American politician (d. 2020)
* April 4 – Joseph Ashbrook, American astronomer (d. 1980)
* April 7 – Bobby Doerr, American baseball player (d. 2017)
* April 8
** Betty Ford, First Lady of the United States, Second Lady of the United States (d. 2011)
** Charles P. Roland, American historian
* April 14 – Mary Healy, American actress, variety entertainer and singer (d. 2015)
* April 15
**Louis O. Coxe, American writer (d. 1993)
** Edmund Jones, American politician (d. 2019)
* April 17
** William Holden, American actor (d. 1981)
** Anne Shirley, American actress (d. 1993)
* April 18 – Clifton Hillegass, American author, founder of ''CliffsNotes'' (d. 2001)
* April 20 – Edward L. Beach Jr., American naval captain and author (d. 2002)
* April 22
** Mickey Vernon, American baseball player (d. 2008)
** William Jay Smith, American poet (d. 2015)
* April 24 – Lou Dorfsman, American graphic designer (d. 2008)
* April 27 – John Rice, American baseball umpire (d. 2011)
* April 28
** Mildred Persinger, American feminist (d. 2018)
** Rodger Wilton Young, United States Army soldier, remembered in the song " The Ballad of Rodger Young" (d. 1943)
* April 29 – George Allen, American football coach (d. 1990)

May

* May 1 – Jack Paar, American television show host (''The Tonight Show'') (d. 2004)
* May 3 – Richard Dudman, American reporter, editorial writer (''St. Louis Post-Dispatch'') (d. 2017)
* May 9
** Russell M. Carneal, American politician, judge (d. 1998)
** Orville Freeman, American politician (d. 2003)
** Mike Wallace, American journalist (d. 2012)
* May 10
** T. Berry Brazelton, American pediatrician (d. 2018)
** Jane Mayhall, American poet and novelist (d. 2009)
** George Welch, U.S. soldier and pilot (d. 1954)
* May 11
** Richard Feynman, American physicist, winner of Nobel Prize in Physics in 1965 (d. 1988)
** Phil Rasmussen, American pilot (d. 2005)
* May 12 – Julius Rosenberg, American-born Soviet spy (d. 1953)
* May 15 – Eddy Arnold, American country music singer (d. 2008)
* May 17 – A. C. Lyles, American film producer (d. 2013)
* May 18
** Claudia Bryar, American actress (d. 2011)
** Joe Krush, American illustrator (d. 2022)
* May 20 – Edward B. Lewis, American geneticist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (d. 2004)
* May 21 – Lloyd Hartman Elliott, American educator, president of George Washington University (d. 2013)
* May 23
** Frank Mancuso, American major league baseball player, politician (d. 2007)
** Naomi Replansky, American poet (d. 2023)

June

* June 2 – Kathryn Tucker Windham, American writer, storyteller (d. 2011)
* June 4 – Johnny Klein, American drummer (d. 1997)
* June 6 – Edwin G. Krebs, American biochemist, winner of Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1992 (d. 2009)
* June 8
** Robert Preston, American actor (''The Music Man'') (d. 1987)
* 1918 – John D. Roberts, American chemist and academic (d. 2016)
* 1918 – John H. Ross, American captain and pilot (d. 2013)
* June 9 – John Hospers, American philosopher (d. 2011)
* June 10 – Wood Moy, American actor (d. 2017)
* June 12 – Jerry A. Moore Jr., American politician (d. 2017)
* June 18
** Jerome Karle, American chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2013)
** Lillian Ross, American journalist on ''The New Yorker'' (d. 2017)
** Elisabeth Waldo, American violinist, composer
* June 21
** Dee Molenaar, American mountaineer, author and artist (d. 2020)
** Josephine Webb, American engineer
* June 25 – Sid Tepper, American songwriter (d. 2015)
* June 26 – Raleigh Rhodes, American combat fighter pilot (d. 2007)
* June 27 – Adolph Kiefer, American former competition swimmer (d. 2017)
* June 28 – Marshall Brown, American professional basketball player (d. 2008)
* June 29
** Gene La Rocque, U.S. admiral (d. 2016)
** Francis W. Nye, United States Air Force major general (d. 2019)

July

* July 1 – Ralph Young, American singer, actor (d. 2008)
* July 3
** Johnny Palmer, American golfer (d. 2006)
** Shirley Adelson Siegel, American activist and lawyer (d. 2020)
** Ben Thompson, American architect and designer (d. 2002)
* July 4
** Joe Fortunato, American football, basketball, and baseball coach (d. 2004)
** Eppie Lederer, American journalist and radio host (d. 2002)
** Johnnie Parsons, American race car driver (d. 1984)
** Pauline Phillips, American journalist and radio host, creator of Dear Abby (d. 2013)
* July 5 – George Rochberg, American composer (d. 2005)
* July 6
** J. Dewey Daane, American economist (d. 2017)
** Herm Fuetsch, American professional basketball player (d. 2010)
* July 7 – Bob Vanatta, American head basketball coach (d. 2016)
* July 8
** Edward B. Giller, U.S. major general (d. 2017)
** Craig Stevens, American actor (d. 2000)
** Paul B. Fay, American businessman, soldier, and diplomat, 12th United States Secretary of the Navy (d. 2009)
* July 10
** Chuck Stevens, American major baseball (d. 2018)
** Frank L. Lambert, American professor emeritus of chemistry at Occidental College (d. 2018)
* July 12
** Doris Grumbach, American novelist, memoirist, biographer, literary critic, and essayist (d. 2022)
** Alice Van-Springsteen, American stuntwoman, jockey (d. 2008)
** Vivian Mason, American actress (d. 2009)
** Paul Stenn, American football offensive tackle (d. 2003)
* July 14
** Jay Wright Forrester, American computer engineer, systems scientist (d. 2016)
** Arthur Laurents, American novelist and screenwriter (d. 2011)
* July 16 – Leonard T. Schroeder, American colonel (d. 2009)
* July 17 – Chandler Robbins, American ornithologist (d. 2017)
* July 18
** James Duesenberry, American economist (d. 2009)
** Warren Hair, American professional basketball player (d. 2006)
* July 20
** Edward S. Little, American diplomat (d. 2004)
** Cindy Walker, American songwriter, country singer (d. 2006)
* July 22 – Stanley Lebergott, American government economist (d. 2009)
* July 23
** Carl T. Langford, American politician (d. 2011)
** Pee Wee Reese, American baseball player (d. 1999)
* July 24 – Irving London, American hematologist and geneticist (d. 2018)
* July 25 – Jane Frank, American artist (d. 1986)
* July 26 – Marjorie Lord, American actress (d. 2015)
* July 27 – Leonard Rose, American cellist (d. 1984)
* July 29 – Edwin O'Connor, American novelist, Pulitzer Prize for Fiction winner (d. 1968)
* July 30
** John L. Cason, American actor (d. 1961)
** Jimmy Robinson, American actor (d. 1967)
* July 31
** Paul D. Boyer, American chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2018)
** Hank Jones, American pianist (d. 2010)

August

* August 3 – Sidney Gottlieb, American Central Intelligence Agency official (d. 1999)
* August 6 – Charles Coulston Gillispie, American historian (d. 2015)
* August 9 – Robert Aldrich, American writer and filmmaker (d. 1983)
* August 12 – Roy C. Bennett, American songwriter (d. 2015)
* August 13 – Tao Porchon-Lynch, American yoga master and author (d. 2020)
* August 19 – Oliver Brown, African-American plaintiff (d. 1961)
* August 20 – Jacqueline Susann, American novelist (d. 1974)
* August 21 – Bruria Kaufman, American-born Israeli physicist (d. 2010 in Israel)
* August 22 – Martin Pope, American physical chemist
* August 23 – Bernard Fisher, American surgeon (d. 2019)
* August 25 – Leonard Bernstein, American composer and conductor (d. 1990)
* August 26
** Hutton Gibson, American religion writer, father of actor Mel Gibson (d. 2020)
** Katherine Johnson, African-American physicist and mathematician (d. 2020)
* August 27 – Simeon Booker, American journalist (d. 2017)
* August 30 – Ted Williams, American baseball player (d. 2002)
* August 31
** Griffin Bell, American politician (d. 2009)
** Alan Jay Lerner, American lyricist (d. 1986)
** Kenny Washington, African-American football player (d. 1971)

September

* September 1 – James D. Martin, American politician (d. 2017)
* September 3 – Helen Wagner, American soap opera actress (d. 2010)
* September 4
** Paul Harvey, American radio broadcaster (d. 2009)
** Gerald Wilson, American jazz trumpeter (d. 2014)
* September 6 – Hugh Gillis, American politician (d. 2013)
* September 13
** Ray Charles, American musician, singer and songwriter (d. 2015)
** Rosemary Kennedy, sister of John F. Kennedy (d. 2005)
* September 15 – Nipsey Russell, African-American comedian (d. 2005)
* September 19 – Joseph Zeller, American politician (d. 2018)
* September 21 – John Gofman, American Manhattan Project scientist, advocate (d. 2007)
* September 26
** Harry Yee, American bartender (d. 2022)
** John Zacherle, American television and radio host, singer, and voice actor (d. 2016)
* September 28
** Arnold Stang

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