August 1930

August 1, 1930 (Friday)

The British airship R100 completed an east-west crossing of the Atlantic Ocean when it was secured at St. Hubert Airport in Montreal, 78 hours and 51 minutes after its departure from Cardington, England – a new time record.

Born: Pierre Bourdieu, sociologist, in Denguin, France (d. 2002); Lawrence Eagleburger, statesman and diplomat, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin (d. 2011)

Died: Jack Zuta, 42, Chicago underworld figure (shot)

August 2, 1930 (Saturday)

Italy authorized Vatican City to issue currency of up to 1 million lire per year.

Born: Eddie Locke, jazz drummer, in Detroit, Michigan (d. 2009)

August 3, 1930 (Sunday)

Italy and the Soviet Union signed a commercial treaty.

August 4, 1930 (Monday)

The American supermarket chain King Kullen was founded by Michael J. Cullen.

Born: Ali al-Sistani, Usuli marja, in Iran

Died: Siegfried Wagner, 61, German composer and conductor, son of Richard Wagner

August 5, 1930 (Tuesday)

U.S. President Herbert Hoover held a press conference announcing the appointment of Douglas MacArthur as Chief of Staff of the United States Army.

Born: Neil Armstrong, astronaut and first man to walk on the moon, in Wapakoneta, Ohio (d. 2012)

August 6, 1930 (Wednesday)

Unemployment in Britain topped 2 million.

Britain signed a commerce treaty with Romania.

New York City judge Joseph Force Crater disappeared in Manhattan and became the subject of one of the biggest missing persons cases in American history. The mystery even entered the pop culture of the day with the phrase "pulling a Crater", meaning to go missing.

Born: Abbey Lincoln, singer, in Chicago, Illinois (d. 2010)

August 7, 1930 (Thursday)

Lynching of Thomas Shipp and Abram Smith: two African-American men accused of rape and murder were taken from a jail in Marion, Indiana, beaten by a mob and lynched. An iconic photograph was taken of the mob milling about below the two hanged men.

R. B. Bennett became Prime Minister of Canada.

August 8, 1930 (Friday)

Seven Reichstag members resigned from the German National People's Party because of disapproval with the increasingly right-wing direction of the party under Alfred Hugenberg.

The Bratvaag Expedition reached Victoria Island.

August 9, 1930 (Saturday)

The cartoon character Betty Boop made her first appearance in the Fleischer Studios short film Dizzy Dishes.

Polish Army Stadium opened in Warsaw.

King Carol II of Romania decided that his upcoming coronation would take place without his estranged wife Helen. Carol had suggested a compromise in which Helen could be crowned queen without a reconciliation, but Prime Minister Iuliu Maniu maintained that such a solution would not be acceptable to foreign royal guests.

Cricketer Jack Hobbs scored his 54,921st run, beating W. G. Grace's record aggregate of 54,896.

Born: Jacques Parizeau, economist and politician, in Montreal, Quebec, Canada

August 10, 1930 (Sunday)

A Scandanvian anti-fascist conference was held in Stockholm. 154 delegates, mainly communist and youth organizations, formed a committee to coordinate efforts to fight the spread of right-wing movements in northern Europe.

The Hankow garrison commander in China beheaded 16 communists in the street to discourage any further unrest.

Born: Jorma Panula, conductor and composer, in Kauhajoki, Finland

August 11, 1930 (Monday)

Germany marked Republic Day, the eleventh anniversary of the creation of the Weimar Republic. During celebrations at the Reichstag, Interior Minister Joseph Wirth made a nationally broadcast radio address saying that republican Germany "may boast of being the freest country in the world."

August 12, 1930 (Tuesday)

President Hoover said he was abandoning plans for a two-week vacation to Rocky Mountain National Park and would stay in the Washington area to direct drought relief work.

Actor Jack Pickford married for a third time, to actress Mary Mulhern in a small ceremony near Del Monte, California.

Born: George Soros, Hungarian-born American businessman and philanthropist, in Budapest

August 13, 1930 (Wednesday)

Frank Hawks set a new transcontinental west-to-east record of 12 hours, 25 minutes and 3 seconds, beating Charles Lindbergh's record set in April by over 3 hours.

Curuçá River event: the Curuçá River in Brazil experienced a meteoric air burst.

Born: Don Ho, musician, in Honolulu, Hawaii (d. 2007); Wilmer Mizell, baseball player and politician, in Vinegar Bend, Alabama (d. 1999)

August 14, 1930 (Thursday)

President Hoover met with the governors of thirteen states or their representatives at the White House to discuss a relief program for Americans affected by a serious drought.

The Church of England approved birth control in an Encyclical Letter from the Archbishop of Canterbury. The Letter called for strict control over the sale and advertising of contraceptives, however.

Born: Earl Weaver, baseball player and manager, in St. Louis, Missouri (d. 2013)

Died: Florian Cajori, 71, Swiss-American historian

August 15, 1930 (Friday)

Canada announced it was halting immigration from continental Europe with the exception of "experienced farmers of a suitable type" due to the country's unemployment problem.

The ocean liner RMS Tahiti lost its starboard propeller and sprang a leak about 400 miles southwest of Rarotonga, Cook Islands. The crippled ship began to slowly sink as it drifted in the Pacific Ocean while rescue efforts began.

Born: Selma James, feminist writer, in Brooklyn, New York

August 16, 1930 (Saturday)

The first British Empire Games, known today as the Commonwealth Games, opened in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.

The German film Dreyfus starring Fritz Kortner in the title role about the Dreyfus affair, premiered in Berlin.

Born: Robert Culp, actor, screenwriter and director, in Oakland, California (d. 2010)

August 17, 1930 (Sunday)

The Matson liner Ventura reached the disabled Tahiti and took aboard all 175 of its passengers.

Born: Ted Hughes, poet and children's writer, in Mytholmroyd, Yorkshire, England (d. 1998)

August 18, 1930 (Monday)

The 142 officers and crew of the Tahiti were rescued; the ship sank soon after.

The Noël Coward play Private Lives opened at the King's Theatre, Edinburgh.

Born: Rafael Pineda Ponce, professor and politician, in San Miguelito, Intibucá, Honduras (d. 2014)

Died: Van Lear Black, 54, American publisher and civil aviation pioneer (lost at sea)

August 19, 1930 (Tuesday)

The 28,000-ton arches of the Sydney Harbour Bridge were completed.

Born: Frank McCourt, teacher and writer, in Brooklyn, New York (d. 2009)

August 20, 1930 (Wednesday)

Former U.S. Ambassador to Germany James W. Gerard named 59 people as the "men who rule the United States." Instead of elected officials, the list was made up of industrialists, media moguls, bankers and motion picture executives. John D. Rockefeller Jr., Henry Ford, William Randolph Hearst, George Fisher Baker, Harry Warner and Adolph Zukor were among those named. "They themselves are too busy to hold political office, but they determine who shall hold such office", Gerard explained.

Died: Douglas King, 53, British naval commander and politician (drowned)

August 21, 1930 (Thursday)

Viceroy of India Lord Irwin received a letter written from prison by Mahatma Gandhi outlining his terms for cessation of the civil disobedience campaign.

Born: Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon, at Glamis Castle, Scotland (d. 2002)

August 22, 1930 (Friday)

The Bengal legislative council passed a bill giving authorities the right to imprison terrorists for five years without trial.

Australia won the Ashes series.

Albert Einstein made the opening speech of the Seventh German Radio Show in Berlin. It began with the famous words, "Ladies and gentlemen who are present and who are not! When you hear the radio, think also about how people have come to possess such a wonderful tool of communication."

Copenhagen newspapers reported the discovery of the remains of explorer Salomon August Andrée, who went missing along with two companions in 1897 during a balloon expedition to the North Pole.

Born: Gylmar dos Santos Neves, footballer, in Santos, São Paulo, Brazil (d. 2013)

August 23, 1930 (Saturday)

Three were killed and ten injured in Bolesławiec, Silesia when police clashed with communists who tried to forcibly enter a pre-election meeting of Nazis.

Born: Mickey McMahan, big band musician, in Dallas, Texas (d. 2008)

August 24, 1930 (Sunday)

The Sunday Express, a weekly publication looking for a fresh angle to write on the birth of Princess Margaret three days earlier, published an astrology-themed article titled "What the Stars Foretell For The New Princess". The article drew so much interest that the Express made horoscopes a regular column and the newspaper horoscope was born.

Died: Tom Norman, 70, English business and showman

August 25, 1930 (Monday)

Peruvian president Augusto B. Leguía resigned under military pressure as his government was toppled in a coup. General Manuel María Ponce Brousset became interim president.

A League of Nations Mandate Report condemned the British government for failing to provide adequate protection for Jews during Arab riots against Jewish settlers in Palestine.

The D. W. Griffith-directed film Abraham Lincoln premiered at the Central Theatre in New York City.

Born: Sean Connery, actor, in Fountainbridge, Edinburgh

August 26, 1930 (Tuesday)

Hack Wilson of the Chicago Cubs hit his 44th home run of the season, a new National League record, during a 7–5 win over the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Died: Lon Chaney, 47, American actor (throat hemorrhage)

August 27, 1930 (Wednesday)

Luis Miguel Sánchez Cerro became the new President of Peru.

Born: Gholamreza Takhti, wrestler, in Tehran, Iran (d. 1968)

August 28, 1930 (Thursday)

24 people died in London during a heat wave.

The Marx Brothers comedy film Animal Crackers premiered at the Rialto Theatre in New York City.

Born: Ben Gazzara, actor and director, in New York City (d. 2012)

August 29, 1930 (Friday)

The death toll from heat in London and its suburbs rose to 50.

Sturmabteilung (SA) commander and Schutzstaffel (SS) commander-in-chief Franz Pfeffer von Salomon resigned both posts. Adolf Hitler took personal charge of the two organizations.

Died: William Archibald Spooner, 86, British scholar and priest

August 30, 1930 (Saturday)

The Federal Trade Commission building in Washington was heavily damaged by fire, destroying many documents.

A semi-official government newspaper in Yugoslavia announced new rights for German-speaking minorities. Parents would have the right to decide whether to send their children to German or Yugoslavian schools, and the Serbo-Croatian language would not be taught before third year in the German schools.

The comedy film Doughboys starring Buster Keaton was released.

Born: Warren Buffett, business magnate, investor and philanthropist, in Omaha, Nebraska

August 31, 1930 (Sunday)

The sunken cargo ship SS Egypt was positively identified by Italian divers. The ship sank in the English Channel in May 1922 with $5 million U.S. worth of gold and silver in its hull and efforts to locate it had been ongoing for the past six months.

Died: Vladan Đorđević, 85, Serbian physician, writer and Prime Minister of Serbia