U.S. Capitol Historical Society

1774-1799 | 1800-1824 | 1825-1849 | 1850-1874 | 1875-1899 | 1900-1924 | 1925-1949 | 1950-1974 | 1975-Modern

1925	March	4	Calvin Coolidge, Republican, was inaugurated for a full term as president after defeating John W. Davis, Democrat, and Robert M. La Follette, Progressive. His Vice President was Charles G. Dawes, Republican.
1925	May	26	National Origins Act banned immigration from east Asia completely. In addition, it changed the quota year from 1910 to 1890.
1929	March	4	Herbert Hoover, Republican, was inaugurated the 31st president, having defeated Democrat Alfred E. Smith, the first Catholic to receive a major party presidential nomination. Hoover's Vice President was Charles Curtis.
	June	15	Congress passed the Agricultural Marketing Act which gave governmental bureaucracy to help farmers maintain prices.
	October	29	Stock market crashed losing $16 billion in three days; it is often referred to as "Black Tuesday." This is usually considered to be the beginning of the Great Depression.
1930	June	17	In response to the worsening Depression, Congress passed the Smoot-Hawley Tariff, raising duties once again to extremely high levels.
1932			America's Gross National Product dropped 25% to $76.4 billion from its $104 billion GNP in 1929.
	February	2	Congress authorized the creation of the Reconstruction Finance Corporation. It provided federal aid to business, agriculture, local public works, and financial institutions. The 1932 budget for local public works alone was $1.5 billion.
	February	27	Glass-Steagall Banking Act passed Congress making it easier for American banks to meet the demands of overseas depositors who were withdrawing their gold from the United States.
	May	29	More than 20,000 WWI veterans marched on Washington demanding their bonus payment that Congress authorized in 1924. Hoover ordered the army to disperse the marchers. General Douglas MacArthur pursued the fleeing marchers across the Anacostia River and set fire to their campgrounds.
1933	January	23	The 20th Amendment established term lengths for the Senate and the House of Representatives ending on January 3 at noon, and Presidential and Vice Presidential terms ending on January 20 at noon.
	February	16	The 21st Amendment repealed the 18th Amendment banning alcohol.
	March	4	Franklin D. Roosevelt, Democrat, had defeated President Hoover, to be inaugurated as the 32nd President. His vice president was John Nance Garner.
		9	Congress, called into special session President Roosevelt, passed the Emergency Banking Relief Act, which gave the president wide discretionary powers over transactions.
		9
		31	Congress passed the Civilian Conservation Corps Reforestation Relief Act, providing for the creation of the Civilian Conservation Corps, authorized to provide work for 250,000 jobless male citizens between the ages of 18 to 25 in reforestation, road construction, and similar activities.
	April	19	The United States abandoned the gold standard.
	May	12	Congress passed the Federal Emergency Relief Act authorizing the appropriation of $500 million as grants to states and municipalities for relief.
		12	Congress passed the Agricultural Adjustment Act, which sought to eliminate surplus crops by the use of subsidies, and to establish parity prices for basic commodities.
		18	Congress passed legislation establishing the Tennessee Valley Authority, an independent public corporation authorized to construct dams and power plants to develop the economic and social well-being of the Tennessee Valley region.
	June	13	Congress passed the Home Owners Refinancing Act, to create the Home Owner's loan Corporation (HOLC) to refinance home mortgage debts for non-farm owners.
		16	Congressed passed the National Industrial Recovery Act, which created the National Recovery Administration (NRA) and made fair competition codes enforceable by law. It also established the Public Works Administration, for the construction of public works.
		16	Congress passed the Banking Act of 1933, which created the Federal Bank Deposit Insurance Corporation, guaranteeing individual bank deposits under $5,000.
1934	January	30	Congress passed the Gold Reserve Act of 1934, designed to give the government control over the value of the daughter, and to increase commodity prices without inflationary measures.
	June	6	Congress passed the Securties Exchange Act, which created the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to regulate securities markets.
	June	28	Congress passed the National Housing Act, creating the Federal Housing Administration to insure loans by banks, trust companies, building and loan associations, and other private lending institutions for new construction, repairs, and improvements.
1935	January	3	The 74th Congress was the first to convene under the provisions of the 20th Amendment.
	April	8	Congress passed the Emergency Relief Appropriations Act, which returned responsibility for direct relief operations to the states and created the Works Progress Administration (WPA) to establish a large-scale national works program for jobless employables.
	April	8
	July	5	Wagner Act created a National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) and guaranteed unions a permanent place in American industrial relations.
	August	14	Congress passed the Social Security Act, which provided for unemployment compensation, and the creation of a tax for old-age insurance.
	August	31	Neutrality Act of 1935 imposed an embargo on arms trade with countries at war and declared that American citizens could travel on belligerent ships only at their own risk.
1937	January	20	Inauguration of President Roosevelt and Vice President Garner for a second term. Roosevelt had defeated Republican Alfred M. Landon.
	February	5	President Roosevelt, irrritated by Supreme Court decisions that several major pieces of New Deal legislation were unconstitutional, submitted to Congress a Judiciary Reorgnization Bill, which provided for an increase in the membership of the Supreme Court to 15 if justices over 70 refused to retire. The bill aroused widespread opposition as a "court-packing" scheme, and ultimately died in the Senate on July 22, following the death of Senate Majority Leader Joseph T. Robinson, the leader of the floor fight for the bill.
	May	1	Congress passed the Neutrality Act of 1937, which authorized the president to list commodities other than munitions to be paid for on delivery, and made travel on belligerent vessels unlawful.
1938	June	25	Congress passed the Fair Labor Standards Act, which established a minimum wage of 40 cents an hour, a maximum work week of 40 hours, and forbade labor by children under 16.
1939	August	2	Congress passed the Hatch Act, making it illegal for Federal office holders below the policy-making level in the Executive branch to participate actively in political campaigns.
	September	1	The Second World War began with the German invasion of Poland.
	November	4	Congress passed the Neutrality Act of 1939, which repealed the arms embargo and authorized "cash and carry" exports of arms to belligerent powers.
1940	June	28	Congress passed the Smith Act, making it unlawful to advocate the violent overthrow of the United States government.
	September	16	Congress passed the Selective Training and Service Act, the first peacetime program of compulsory military service in American history.
	November	5	President Roosevelt was elected for an unprecedented third term as president, defeating Republican Wendell L. Willkie. Roosevelt's new vice president was Henry A. Wallace.
1941	March	11	Congress passed the Lend-Lease Act, which enabled any country whose defense the president considered vital to that of the U.S. to receive arms and other equipment and supplies by sale, transfer, exchange, or lease.
	August	14	British Prime Minister Winston Churchill met President Roosevelt aboard the British battleship Prince of Wales and released the Atlantic Charter, which renounced territorial aggrandizement, and asserted the four freedoms of freedom from want and fear, freedom of expression, and freedom of worship.
	December	8	President Roosevelt asked Congress for war against Japan, "Yesterday, December 7, 1941 - a date which will live in infamy - the United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked by naval and air forces of the empire of Japan." Jeanette Rankin was the only dissenting vote in the declaration of war.
1942	January	30	Congress passed the Emergency Price Control Act, establishing the Office of Price Administration to fix price ceilings on all commodities and to control rents in defense areas.
	March	23	President Roosevelt approved a War Department plan to intern Japanese Americans in relocation camps for the duration of the war.
			Planned Parenthood was established in response to the Supreme Court decision in United States vs. One Package of Japanese Pessaries prohibiting the federal government from disseminating contraceptive information.
	December		Congress imposed a nation-wide speed limit of 35 mph in response to the rationing of gasoline.
1943	June	25	Smith-Connally Act required a 30 day cooling off period before a strike and prohibited strikes in defense industries entirely.
1944	November	7	President Roosevelt defeated Republican Thomas Dewey to be elected for a fourth term as president. His vice president was Harry S. Truman
1944	December	18	The Supreme Court upheld the decision to relocate Japanese Americans in Hirabuyshi vs. the United States: "residents having ethnic affiliations with an invading enemy may be a greater source of danger than those of different ancestry."
1945	February	4	Yalta Conference was held by the leaders of the "Big Three" powers -- President Roosevelt, Churchill, and Stalin. They met to arrange the shape of the post-war world.
	April	12	Harry Truman became the 33rd President on the death of President Roosevelt.
	April	12	American forces liberated Buchenwald concentration camp.
	May	8	The war in Europe ended with the unconditional surrender of Germany.
	July	28	The Senate ratified the United Nations charter by a vote of 89 to 2.
	August	6, 9	Truman authorized the dropping of two atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan. More than 240,000 Japanese citizens perished. This led to the unconditional surrender of Japan on September 2.
1946	August	2	Congress passed the Legislative Reorganization Act, which modified Congressional procedure.
1946	November	5	Midterm Congressional elections gave Republicans control over both houses of Congress for the first time in 14 years.
1947	March	12	Pres. Truman addressed Congress for aid to Greece and Turkey in the so-called "Truman Doctrine"
1947	June	23	The Republican Congress passed the Taft-Hartley Act over President Truman's veto. It significantly limited the rights of labor unions by banning the closed shop, permitting employers to sue unions, and requiring a 60 day "cooling off' period before striking.
1948	November	2	President Truman won re-election to a full term in the presidency by his upset victory over Republican Thomas Dewey, in spite of splinter challengers from within the Democratic party -- the Dixiecrat "States' Rights" candidate Strom Thurmond and Progressive Henry Wallace. Truman's running mate was Alben Barkley.
1949	July	21	The Senate ratified the North Atlantic Treaty, creating NATO, by a vote of 82-13.