1925 (MCMXXV) was a common year starting on Thursday (link will take you to calendar).
Events
January-May
- January 3 - Benito Mussolini announces he is taking dictatorial powers over Italy.
- January 5 - Nellie Tayloe Ross becomes the first female governor in the United States.
- January 27–February 1 - The 1925 serum run to Nome, or the "Great Race of Mercy", relays diphtheria antitoxin by dog sled across the U.S. territory of Alaska to combat an epidemic
- February 21 - The New Yorker publishes its first issue.
- March 4 - Calvin Coolidge becomes the first President of the United States to have his inauguration broadcasted on radio.
- March 6 - Pionerskaya Pravda, one of the oldest children's newspapers in Europe, is founded
- March 13 - Scopes Trial: A law in Tennessee prohibits the teaching of evolution.
- March 18 - The Tri-State Tornado raked through Missouri, Illinois, and Indiana and killed 695 people.
- March 31 - WOWO radio station in Ft. Wayne, Indiana begins broadcasting.
- May 5 - Scopes Trial: Dayton, Tennessee, biology teacher John Scopes is arrested for teaching Charles Darwin's Theory of Evolution.
- May 25 - Scopes Trial: John T. Scopes is indicted for teaching Darwin's theory of evolution.
- May 25 - The National Forensics League is founded.
- May 29 - Last communication from the British explorer Percy Fawcett, a telegram to his wife, before he disappears in the Amazon
June-September
- June 1 - Percy and Florence Arrowsmith were married. Celebrated their 80th wedding anniversary June 1, 2005 - Percy is now 105, and wife Florence is 100. Guinness_Book_of_Records said the pair held records for the longest marriage for a living couple and the oldest aggregate age of a married couple
- June 6 - The Chrysler Corporation is founded by Walter Percy Chrysler.
- June 13 - Charles Francis Jenkins achieves the first synchronized transmission of pictures and sound, using 48 lines, and a mechanical system. A 10-minute film of a miniature windmill in motion is sent across 5 miles from Anacostia to Washington, DC. The images were viewed by representatives of , the U.S. Navy, , and others. Jenkins called this "the first public demonstration of radiovision".
- July 10 - Scopes Trial: In Dayton, Tennessee, the so-called "Monkey Trial" begins with John T. Scopes, a young high school science teacher, accused of teaching evolution in violation of a Tennessee state law.
- July 18 - Adolf Hitler publishes his personal manifesto Mein Kampf.
- July 21 - Scopes Trial: In Dayton, Tennessee, high school biology teacher John T. Scopes is found guilty of teaching evolution in class and fined $100.
- September 3 - US dirigible Shenandoah breaks up en route to , St. Louis - 14 crewmen dead
October-December
Unknown dates
Births
January-April
- January 6 - John De Lorean, American car maker (d. 2005)
- January 7 - Gerald Durrell, British naturalist, zookeeper, author, and television presenter (d. 1995)
- January 11 - Grant Tinker, American television executive
- January 25 - Gilles Deleuze, French philosopher (d. 1995)
- January 26 - Paul Newman, American actor
- January 30 - Dorothy Malone, American actress
- February 8 - Jack Lemmon, American actor and film director (d. 2001)
- February 17 - Ron Goodwin, English composer and conductor (d. 2003)
- February 17 - Hal Holbrook, American actor
- February 18 - George Kennedy, American actor
- February 20 - Robert Altman, American film director
- February 21 - Sam Peckinpah, American director (d. 1984)
- February 27 - Samuel Dash, American Congressional counsel (d. 2004)
- March 12 - Leo Esaki, Japanese physicist, Nobel Prize laureate
- March 23 - David Watkin, British cinematographer
- March 26 - Pierre Boulez, French composer
- April 14 - Gene Ammons, American jazz saxophonist (d. 1974)
- April 14 - Rod Steiger, American actor (d. 2002)
- April 25 - Kay E. Kuter, American actor (d. 2003)
May-July
- May 2 - Yogi Berra, baseball player
- May 19 - Pol Pot, Cambodian Khmer Rouge leader (d. 1998)
- May 19 - Malcolm X, American civil rights activist (d. 1965)
- May 22 - James King, American tenor (d. 2005)
- May 23 - Joshua Lederberg, American molecular biologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
- May 25 - Jeanne Crain, American actress (d. 2003)
- June 3 - Tony Curtis, American actor
- June 8 - Barbara Bush, First Lady of the United States
- June 14 - Pierre Salinger, John F. Kennedy's White House Press Secretary (d. 2004)
- July 1 - Farley Granger, American actor
- July 6 - Merv Griffin, American game show developer and host
- July 6 - Bill Haley, American musician (Bill Haley and the Comets) (d. 1981)
- July 10 - Mahathir bin Mohamad, fourth Prime Minister of Maylasia
- July 28 - Baruch S. Blumberg, American scientist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
August-September
- August 3 - Dom Um Romão, Brazilian jazz drummer
- August 7 - M. S. Swaminathan, Indian scientist
- August 8 - Alija Izetbegović, President of Bosnia-Herzegovina (d. 2003)
- August 12 - Norris McWhirter, Scottish co-founder of the Guinness Book of Records (d. 2004)
- August 12 - Ross McWhirter, Scottish co-founder of the Guinness Book of Records (d. 1975)
- August 21 - Maurice Pialat, French actor and director (d. 2003)
- August 27 - Nat Lofthouse, English footballer
- August 28 - Donald O'Connor, American actor, singer, and dancer (d. 2003)
- August 30 - Laurent de Brunhoff, French writer and illustrator
- September 8 - Peter Sellers, English comedian and actor (d. 1980)
- September 10 - Boris Alexandrovich Tchaikovsky, Russian composer (d. 1996)
- September 24 - Autar Singh Paintal, Indian medical scientist (d. 2004)
- September 28 - Arnold Stang, American actor
October-December
- October 13 - Margaret Thatcher, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
- October 16 - Angela Lansbury, American actress
- October 23 - Johnny Carson, American comedian and television host (d. 2005)
- October 24 - Luciano Berio, Italian composer (d. 2003)
- October 24 - Al Feldstein, American artist and comic book creator
- October 27 - Albert Medwin, American inventor
- October 31 - John Anthony Pople, English chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2004)
- November 11 - Jonathan Winters, American actor and comedian
- November 18 - Gene Mauch, baseball manager (d. 2005)
- November 20 - Robert Kennedy, American politician and Attorney General of the United States (d. 1968)
- November 24 - William F. Buckley, Jr., American author and commentator. Founder of National Review Magazine
- November 24 - Simon van der Meer, Dutch physicist, Nobel Prize laureate
- November 26 - Eugene Istomin, American pianist (d. 2003)
- November 27 - John Maddox, Welsh science writer
- December 1 - Martin Rodbell, American scientist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (d. 1998)
- December 3 - Kim Daejung, President of South Korea, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize
- December 8 - Sammy Davis Jr., American singer, dancer, musician, and actor (d. 1990)
- December 11 - Paul Greengard, American neuroscientist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
- December 13 - Dick Van Dyke, American actor
- December 14 - Gloria Malgarini, American actress, spokesperson
Unknown
Deaths
- January 4 - Nellie Cashman, Irish-born actress (b. 1845)
- January 8 - George Bellows, American artist (b. 1882)
- January 14 - Camille Decoppet, Swiss Federal Councilor (b. 1852)
- January 31 - George Washington Cable, American writer (b. 1844)
- February 2 - Jaap Eden, Dutch speed skater (b. 1873)
- February 3 - Oliver Heaviside, English mathematician (b. 1850)
- February 4 - Robert Koldewey, German architect and archaeologist (b. 1855)
- February 10 - Aristide Bruant, French singer and nightclub owner (b. 1851)
- February 18 - James Lane Allen, American writer (b. 1849)
- February 24 - Hjalmar Branting, Prime Minister of Sweden, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (b. 1860)
- February 25 - Louis Feuillade, French silent film director (b. 1873)
- February 28 - Friedrich Ebert, Chancellor of Germany (b. 1871)
- March 2 - Luigj Gurakuqi, Albanian freedom fighter (assassinated) (b. 1879)
- March 4 - John Ward, baseball player (b. 1860)
- March 7 - Georgy Evgenyevich Lvov, Prime Minister of Russia (b. 1861)
- March 12 - Sun Yat-sen, Chinese revolutionary (b. 1866)
- March 14 - Walter Camp, American football coach (b. 1859)
- March 20 - George Nathaniel Curzon, 1st Marquess Curzon of Kedleston, Viceroy of India (b. 1859)
- March 25 - Tikhon of Moscow, Patriarch of the Russian Orthodox Church (b. 1865)
- March 28 - Henry Rawlinson, 1st Baron Rawlinson, British general (b. 1864)
- April 14 - John Singer Sargent, American artist (b. 1856)
- April 15 - Fritz Haarmann, German serial killer (b. 1879)
- April 19 - John Walter Smith, American politician (b. 1845)
- April 22 - André Caplet, French composer and conductor (b. 1878)
- April 23 - Rupert Brooke, English poet (b. 1887)
- May 2 - Johann Palisa, Austrian astronomer (b. 1848)
- May 2 - Antun Branko Simic, Croatian poet (b. 1898)
- May 10 - William Massey, Prime Minister of New Zealand (b.1856)
- May 12 - Amy Lowell, American poet (b. 1874)
- May 14 - H. Rider Haggard, English writer (b. 1856)
- May 20 - Elias M. Ammons, Governor of Colorado (b. 1860)
- May 22 - John French, 1st Earl of Ypres, British World War I field marshal (b. 1852)
- June 1 - Thomas R. Marshall, Vice President of the United States (b. 1854)
- June 2 - James Ellsworth, American mine owner and banker (b. 1849)
- June 16 - Emmett Hardy, American jazz cornetist (b. 1903)
- June 18 - Robert M. La Follette, Sr., American politician (b. 1855)
- June 29 - Christian Michelsen, Prime Minister of Norway (b. 1857)
- July 1 - Erik Satie, French composer (b. 1866)
- July 26 - Antonio Ascari, Italian race car driver (b. 1888)
- July 26 - William Jennings Bryan, American lawyer and politician (b. 1860)
- July 26 - Gottlob Frege, German mathematician and philosopher (b. 1848)
- August 17 - Ioan Slavici, Romanian writer (b. 1848)
- August 25 - Franz Graf Conrad von Hötzendorf, Austrian field marshal (b. 1852)
- September 7 - René Viviani, Prime Minister of France (b. 1863)
- September 16 - Alexander Alexandrovich Friedman, Russian mathematician (b. 1888)
- September 29 - Léon Bourgeois, French statesman, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (b. 1851)
- October 7 - Christy Mathewson, baseball player (b. 1880)
- October 31 - Mikhail Frunze, Russian Bolshevik leader (b. 1885)
- October 31 - Max Linder, French silent film actor (b. 1883)
- November 20 - Alexandra of Denmark, queen of Edward VII of the United Kingdom (b. 1844)
- November 25 - Vajiravudh, King of Siam (b. 1880)
- December 5 - Wladyslaw Reymont, Polish writer, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1867)
- December 9 - Pablo Iglesias, co-founder of the Spanish Socialist Workers Party (b. 1850)
- December 15 - Battling Siki, Senegalese boxer (b. 1897)
- December 19 - Jose Ignacio Quinton, Puerto Rican composer and pianist (b. 1881)
- December 21 - Jules Méline, Prime Minister of France (b. 1838)
- December 22 - Alice Heine, American wife of Albert I of Monaco (b. 1858)
- December 25 - Karl Abraham, German psychoanalyst (b. 1877)
- December 27 - Sergei Yesenin, Russian poet (b. 1895)
Nobel Prizes