← 1917 1916 1915 1918 in the United States → 1919 1920 1921
Decades:	1890s 1900s 1910s 1920s 1930s
See also:	History of the United States (1918–1945) Timeline of United States history (1900–1929) List of years in the United States

Events from the year 1918 in the United States.

Incumbents

Events

July–September

1918 flu pandemic

• 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.^[1]
• 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.

Births

January

Gertrude B. Elion

John Forsythe

• January 1 – Ed Price, American soldier, pilot, and politician (d. 2012)
• January 9 – Alma Ziegler, professional baseball player (d. 2005)
• January 15 – Ira B. Harkey Jr., newspaper editor (d. 2006)
• January 16 – Stirling Silliphant, screenwriter and producer (d. 1996)^[3]
• January 17 – George M. Leader, politician (d. 2013)
• January 19
  • Peter Hobbs, 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)^[4]
• 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

Joey Bishop

Julian Schwinger

Fay McKenzie

• 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, athlete (d. 1996)
  • Bobby Riggs, tennis player (d. 1995)
• February 26
  • Otis R. Bowen, politician (d. 2013)
  • Theodore Sturgeon, writer (d. 1985)

March

Howard Cosell

Pearl Bailey

• March 1 – James N. Morgan, economist (d. 2018)
• March 3 – Arthur Kornberg, 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)^[5]
• 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)^[6]
  • 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)^[7]
  • Shirley Jameson, American female baseball player (d. 1993)
  • Sam Walton, founder of Wal-Mart (d. 1992)

April

Betty Ford

William Holden

• 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, writer (d. 1993)
  • Edmund Jones, politician (d. 2019)
• April 17
  • William Holden, actor (d. 1981)
  • Anne Shirley, actress (d. 1993)
• April 18 – Clifton Hillegass, author, founder of CliffsNotes (d. 2001)
• April 20 – Edward L. Beach Jr., naval captain and author (d. 2002)
• April 22
  • Mickey Vernon, baseball player (d. 2008)
  • William Jay Smith, American poet (d. 2015)
• April 24 – Lou Dorfsman, graphic designer (d. 2008)
• April 27 – John Rice, baseball umpire (d. 2011)
• April 28
  • Mildred Persinger, 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

Mike Wallace

Richard Feynman

Eddy Arnold

• 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

Robert Preston

Jerome Karle

• 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

Craig Stevens

Pee Wee Reese

Paul D. Boyer

Hank Jones

• 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

Leonard Bernstein

Katherine Johnson

• 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

Paul Harvey

• 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 5 - Fred McCarthy, cartoonist (d. 2009)
• 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, bartender (d. 2022)
  • John Zacherle, television and radio host, singer, and voice actor (d. 2016)
• September 28 – Arnold Stang, comic actor (d. 2009)

October

Rita Hayworth

• October 4 – Adrian Kantrowitz, American cardiac surgeon (d. 2008)
• October 9 – E. Howard Hunt, American Watergate break-in coordinator (d. 2007)
• October 13 – Robert Walker, American actor (d. 1951)
• October 17 – Rita Hayworth, American actress (d. 1987)
• October 18 – Bobby Troup, American singer-songwriter and actor, known for his role in Emergency! (d. 1999)
• October 19 – Robert S. Strauss, American politician, Democratic National Committee Chairman (d. 2014)
• October 22 – Fred Caligiuri, American baseball player (d. 2018)
• October 23
  • Augusta Dabney, American actress (d. 2008)
  • Paul Rudolph, American architect (d. 1997)
• October 25 – Milton Selzer, American actor (d. 2006)
• October 27 – Teresa Wright, American actress (d. 2005)
• October 29 – Diana Serra Cary, born Peggy-Jean Montgomery ("Baby Peggy"), American silent film child actress (d. 2020)
• October 31 – Ian Stevenson, American parapsychologist (d. 2007)

November

Art Carney

Billy Graham

Spiro Agnew

• November 3
  • Bob Feller, American baseball player (d. 2010)
  • Ann Hutchinson Guest, American movement, dance researcher (d. 2022)
  • Elizabeth P. Hoisington, American Brigadier General (d. 2007)
  • Russell B. Long, United States Senator from Louisiana (d. 2003)
  • Dean Riesner, American film, television screenwriter (d. 2002)
• November 4
  • Art Carney, American actor, best known for his role in The Honeymooners (d. 2003)
  • Cameron Mitchell, American actor, best known for his role in The High Chaparral (d. 1994)
• November 7
  • Fred Cusick, American ice hockey broadcaster (d. 2009)
  • Billy Graham, evangelist (d. 2018)
• November 8 – Bob Schiller, American screenwriter (d. 2017)
• November 9
  • Spiro Agnew, 39th vice president of the United States from 1969 to 1973 (d. 1996)
  • Thomas Ferebee, United States Air Force colonel (d. 2000)
• November 10 – John Henry Moss, American baseball executive, politician (d. 2009)
• November 11 – Louise Tobin, American singer (d. 2022)
• November 21 – Dorothy Maguire, American professional baseball player (d. 1981)
• November 28 – Jack H. Harris, American film producer, distributor and actor (d. 2017)
• November 29 – Madeleine L'Engle, children's fiction writer (d. 2007)
• November 30 – Efrem Zimbalist, Jr., American actor (d. 2014)

December

Jeff Chandler

• December 6 – Nick Drahos, American football player (d. 2018)
• December 10 – Anne Gwynne, American actress (d. 2003)
• December 11 – John W. Reed, American legal scholar (d. 2018)
• December 12 – Joe Williams, American jazz singer (d. 1999)
• December 14 – Jack Cole, American cartoonist (d. 1958)
• December 15 – Jeff Chandler, American actor (d. 1961)
• December 17 – Dusty Anderson, American actress and model (d. 2007)
• December 18 – Hal Kanter, American comedy writer, producer and director (d. 2011)
• December 20 – Joseph Payne Brennan, poet and author (d. 1990 in the United States1990)
• December 21
  • Fred Gloden, American football player (d. 2019)
  • Donald Regan, American Treasury Secretary, White House Chief of Staff (d. 2003)
• December 24 – Dave Bartholomew, American musician, bandleader, composer and arranger (d. 2019)
• December 25
  • Henry Hillman, American businessman and philanthropist (d. 2017)
  • George S. Vest, American diplomat (d. 2021)
• December 26 – Butch Ballard, American jazz drummer (d. 2011)
• December 29 – Leo J. Dulacki, American general (d. 2019)
• December 31
  • Al Lakeman, Major League Baseball catcher (d. 1976)
  • Kyra Petrovskaya Wayne, Russian-American author (d. 2018)

Deaths

• January 8 – Ellis H. Roberts, politician (born 1827)
• February 2 – John L. Sullivan, boxer, World Heavyweight Champion (born 1858)
• February 4 – Jeannette Walworth, American journalist and novelist (born 1835)^[10]
• February 7 – Effie Hoffman Rogers, educator, editor and journalist (born 1835/37)
• February 9 – E. J. Richmond, litterateur and author (born 1825)<ref">"Obituary, Mrs. E. J. Richmond. Died in Mount Upton, New York, 9 Feb 1918". Press and Sun-Bulletin. 14 February 1918. p. 7. Retrieved 6 January 2023. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.</ref>
• February 15 – Vernon Castle, ballroom dancer (born 1887)
• March 10 – Jim McCormick, baseball pitcher (born 1856 in Scotland)
• March 14 – Lucretia Garfield, First Lady of the United States (born 1832)
• March 16 – Prosper P. Parker, civil engineer, Union Army officer and politician (born 1835 in Canada)
• March 27 – Henry Adams, historian (born 1838)
• April 14 – James E. Ware, architect who devised the "dumbbell plan" for New York City tenements (born 1846)
• May 1 – Grove Karl Gilbert, geologist (born 1843)
• May 5 – Bertha Palmer, businesswoman, socialite and philanthropist (born 1849)
• May 14 – James Gordon Bennett, Jr., newspaper publisher (born 1841)
• May 17 – William Drew Robeson, African American Presbyterian minister, escaped slave and father of Paul Robeson (born 1844)
• May 19 – Raoul Lufbery, fighter pilot (killed in action; born 1885 in France)
• May 27 – Frederick Trump, German American businessman, paternal grandfather of Donald Trump (born 1869)
• June 4 – Charles W. Fairbanks, 26th vice president of the United States from 1905 to 1909 and U.S. Senator from Indiana from 1897 to 1905 (born 1852)
• June 18 – Lizzie Halliday, serial killer (born c.1859)
• June 25 – Jake Beckley, baseball player (born 1867)
• June 27 – George Mary Searle, astronomer (born 1839)
• June 28 – Albert Henry Munsell, inventor of the Munsell color system (born 1858)
• July 20 – Francis Lupo, U.S. Army soldier (killed in action; born 1895)
• July 22 – Roy Earl Parrish, American politician (killed in action; born 1888)
• July 27 – Gustav Kobbé, music critic and author (sailing accident; born 1857)
• July 30 – Joyce Kilmer, poet (killed in action; born 1886)
• August 1 – John Riley Banister, policeman and cowboy (born 1854)
• August 10 – William Pitt Kellogg, U.S. Senator from Louisiana from 1868 to 1872 and from 1877 to 1883 (born 1830)
• August 12 – Anna Held, singer (born 1872 in Poland)
• August 14 – Anna Morton, Second Lady of the United States (born 1846)
• August 24 – Louis Bennett Jr., World War I flying ace (killed in action) (b. 1894)
• September 12 – Joseph Clay Stiles Blackburn, U.S. Senator from Kentucky from 1885 to 1897 and from 1901 to 1907 (born 1838)
• September 28
  • True Boardman, silent film actor (born 1882)
  • Freddie Stowers, African American corporal (killed in action; born 1896)
• September 29 – Frank Luke, fighter pilot (killed in action; born 1897)
• October 8 – James B. McCreary, 27th and 37th Governor of Kentucky from 1875 to 1879 and from 1911 to 1915, U.S. Senator from Kentucky from 1903 to 1909 (born 1838)
• October 16 – Felix Arndt, pianist and composer (born 1889)
• October 19 – Harold Lockwood, silent film actor (born 1887)
• October 21
  • Wesley Newcomb Hohfeld, professor of jurisprudence (born 1879)
  • Jennie O. Starkey, journalist (born ca. 1856)
• October 22 – Myrtle Gonzalez, silent film actress (born 1891)
• October 28 – Edward Bouchet, physicist (born 1852)
• November 4 – Andrew Dickson White, diplomat, academic and author (born 1832)
• November 19 – Joseph F. Smith, Mormon leader (born 1838)
• December – Sarah Jim Mayo, Washoe basket weaver (born 1858)
• December 17 – John Green Brady, 5th Governor of the District of Alaska from 1897 to 1906 (born 1847)
• December 26 – William Hampton Patton, entomologist (born 1853)

See also

• List of American films of 1918
• Timeline of United States history (1900–1929)

References

External links

• Media related to 1918 in the United States at Wikimedia Commons
• "1918". Timeline. Digital Public Library of America. Archived from the original on November 22, 2014.