“There is no other Jew in Baltimore who seems suitable.”
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #quote
Figure timeline
H. L. Mencken
Henry Louis Mencken was an American journalist, essayist, satirist, cultural critic, and scholar of American English. He commented widely on literature, music, prominent politicians, and contemporary movements. His satirical reporting on the Scopes Trial, which he dubbed the "Monkey Trial", also earned him attention. The term Menckenian has entered multiple dictionaries to describe anything of or…
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
culture · American journalist and writer (1880–1956) · satirist · literary critic · essayist · social critic · autobiographer · writer · journalist · historian · linguist · editor · also H. L. Mencken, Henry Louis Mencken, Mencken
Born 12 September 1880 · Died 29 January 1956 · Q439204
36 published statements · 0 followers
See & hear
Photos & media
6 photos
Media from Wikimedia Commons, hotlinked at the source under its own licence — see each file for author and terms.
Live now
In the news
Pulling headlines from trusted outlets — this usually takes a few seconds
Checking the wires…
Feed scan
These are live links, not archived citations — they only join the timeline once a collect run verifies and archives them.
Live pulse
Recent highlights
Most recent outstanding titles, awards, and quotes
- Quote
- Quote
2026· 6 entries
“Imagine measuring infinity! That”
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #quote
“s thesis and admired his writing style,”
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #quote
“s book, The Mysterious Universe, in which Mencken wrote that mathematics is not necessary for physics. Instead of mathematical”
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #quote
“Like all other infidels, I am superstitious and always follow hunches: this one seemed to be a superb one.”
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #quote
“because it is honest; it admits the central fact of human nature... A nation too long at peace becomes a sort of gigantic old maid.”
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #quote
2019· 1 entry
With the third floor and rear of the second floor becoming the headquarters of the Baltimore National Heritage Area
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
2015· 1 entry
The American Conservative: H.L. Mencken’s Merry Days
- #news
- #headline
2012· 1 entry
Wall Street Journal: H.L. Mencken's Notable, Quotable and Witty Compendium
- #news
- #headline
2009· 2 entries
Chicago Reader: H.L. Mencken on “the Anglo-Saxon American”
- #news
- #headline
Forbes: In Pictures: In His Own Words--H.L. Mencken
- #news
- #headline
2007· 1 entry
Johns Hopkins acquired "nearly 6,000 books, photographs and letters by and about Mencken" from "the estate of an Ohio accountant"
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
2004· 1 entry
Snopes rated the claim “H. L. Mencken wrote that eventually "the White House will be adorned by a downright moron."” Correct Attribution.
Shown as reported and rated by a fact checker, not as an established fact.
- #fact-check
- #rated
- #claim-about-figure
2002· 1 entry
The Baltimore Sun: Teachout on H.L. Mencken: a real man — warts and all
- #news
- #headline
1956· 5 entries
Died 1956-01-29.
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikidata
- #death
“I am one of the few Goyim who have ever actually tackled the Talmud. I suppose you now expect me to add that it is a profound and noble work, worthy of hard study by all other Goyim. Unhappily, my report must differ from this expectation. It seems to me, save for a few bright spots, to be quite indistinguishable from rubbish.”
- #wikiquote
- #saying
- #undated
- #lang:en
- #lang:pt
- #multi-edition
“Explanations exist; they have existed for all time; there is always a well-known solution to every human problem — neat, plausible, and wrong.”
- #wikiquote
- #saying
- #undated
- #lang:en
- #lang:pt
- #multi-edition
“A man loses his sense of direction after four drinks; a woman loses hers after four kisses”
- #wikiquote
- #saying
- #undated
- #lang:pt
“It is impossible to imagine the universe run by a wise, just and omnipotent God, but it is quite easy to imagine it run by a board of gods. If such a board actually exists it operates precisely like the board of a corporation that is losing money.”
- #wikiquote
- #saying
- #undated
- #lang:en
- #lang:pt
- #multi-edition
1948· 2 entries
Mencken suffered a stroke, which left him aware and fully conscious but nearly unable to read or write and able to speak only with difficulty
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
Briefly returned to the political scene to cover the presidential election in which President Harry S
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
1935· 4 entries
“all…seem to be headed toward the left….The left-wing movement…is bound to be transient, but while it lasts it has pretty well killed intelligent criticism in this country. Books are judged not by their worth as works of art, but by their political content…”
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #quote
Testified before Congress in support of the Costigan–Wagner Bill
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
Of meningitis, leaving Mencken grief-stricken
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
Haardt was in poor health from tuberculosis throughout their marriage and died in 1935 of meningitis, leaving Mencken grief-stricken.
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #life
- #personal-life
1933· 1 entry
Mencken resigned as editor
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
1932· 1 entry
To accomplish this abolition of the Eighteenth Amendment
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
1931· 1 entry
The Arkansas legislature passed a motion to pray for Mencken's soul after he had called the state the "apex of moronia"
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
1930· 2 entries
Mencken married Sara Haardt, a German American professor of English at Goucher College in Baltimore and an author eighteen years his junior
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
“Treatise on the Gods (1930), pp. 345-346”
- #wikiquote
- #saying
- #lang:en
- #lang:pt
- #multi-edition
1926· 1 entry
Deliberately had himself arrested for selling an issue of The American Mercury, which was banned in Boston by the Comstock laws
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
1923· 2 entries
The two met in 1923, after Mencken delivered a lecture at Goucher; a seven-year courtship ensued.
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #life
- #personal-life
After Mencken delivered a lecture at Goucher; a seven-year courtship ensued
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
1915· 1 entry
“That it is meaningless I grant you, but surely not futile. So long as there is the joy of a job well-done—whether an epic, a fried egg or a murder—there will be plenty of excuses for remaining alive.”
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #quote
1908· 1 entry
Became a literary critic for The Smart Set magazine, and in 1924 he and George Jean Nathan founded and edited The American Mercury, published by Alfred A
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
1880· 1 entry
Born 1880-09-12.
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikidata
- #birth