1924

1924 was a leap year in the Gregorian calendar and a year of major political, economic, and cultural developments in the interwar period. In January, Vladimir Lenin died, triggering a power struggle within the Soviet leadership that would place Joseph Stalin at the center of the party and state by year’s end. The Soviet Union began to consolidate one-party rule, even as debates within the Communist leadership continued.

International diplomacy and economics were prominent in 1924. The Dawes Plan was proposed to restructure German reparations and stabilize the German economy, accompanied by a broader effort to normalize finance and currency in the Weimar Republic. The United States tightened immigration policy with the Immigration Act of 1924, establishing national-origin quotas that disproportionately restricted newcomers from Southern and Eastern Europe and from Asia, shaping U.S. demographics for decades. In Britain, the general election of October 1924 brought the Conservative Party to a large majority under Stanley Baldwin after a short-lived Labour government earlier in the year. In the United States, Calvin Coolidge was re-elected president in November, defeating John W. Davis and continuing a period of relative economic growth.

Sports and culture featured prominently as well. The 1924 Winter Olympics were held in Chamonix, the first edition of the Winter Games, while the Paris Summer Olympics brought together athletes from around the world. The year also saw the launch of the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York City, a tradition that would continue for decades.

Overall, 1924 reflected the ongoing tensions and change of the postwar era, with developments in governance, policy, and public life that shaped the years that followed.