1924

Stalin would go on to become one of the most influential political figures of the 20th century.

In the United Kingdom, Ramsay MacDonald becomes the first Labour Prime Minister on January 22nd, heralding the party’s political importance in decades to come.

The year also marks the abolishment of the 1400-year-old Islamic Caliphate in Turkey. All the while, the international community is trying to deal with the issues around war reparations from Germany after World War I. 1924 was a big year for the United States.

President Calvin Coolidge became the first President to deliver a radio address from the White House on February 22nd and, on June 2nd, signed the Indian Citizenship Act into law. He was re-elected for a second term in November. J. Edgar Hoover is appointed head of the Bureau of Investigation, which became the famous Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) under his leadership. Finally, Nellie Taylor-Ross of Wyoming became the first woman elected governor.

In sports, France held both the Winter and Summer Olympics, in Chamonix and Paris, respectively. In the arts, George Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue was performed for the first time at New York City’s Aeolian Hall and French author André Breton published the first Surrealist Manifesto. In science, astronomer Edwin Hubble (after whom the Hubble Space Telescope is named) discovers that Andromeda is in fact a galaxy, as opposed to a nebula.

Notable births in 1934 include American actor Marlon Brando, Armenian-French singer Charles Aznavour, American conservative icon Phyllis Schlafly and former U.S. President and Nobel Peace Prize Recipient Jimmy Carter.