June 1931

June 1, 1931 (Monday)

The United States Supreme Court decided Near v. Minnesota.

The Spanish provisional government eliminated all titles of nobility.

Fascist Italy banned Catholic youth organizations.

June 2, 1931 (Tuesday)

The British House of Commons approved a law abolishing the death penalty for pregnant women and replacing it with life imprisonment.

Born: Larry Jackson, baseball player, in Nampa, Idaho (d. 1990)

Died: Joseph W. Farnham, 46, American playwright, screenwriter and film editor

June 3, 1931 (Wednesday)

Cameronian won the Epsom Derby horse race. It was the first Epsom Derby to be televised.

Salvador Dalí opened his second solo exhibition at the Pierre Colle Gallery in Paris. It was at this show that the painting destined to become his most famous, The Persistence of Memory, was publicly displayed for the first time.

Born: Raúl Castro, President of Cuba, in Birán; Carmen Dell'Orefice, model and actress, in New York City; Lindy Remigino, track and field athlete, in Elmhurst, Queens, New York

June 4, 1931 (Thursday)

The Spanish provisional government issued a decree declaring 1,600 churches and castles to be "historical and artistic monuments belonging to the nation's artistic treasures" that could not be disposed of or altered without government approval.

The Nazi newspaper Der Angriff was banned for a month for violating the emergency decree of March 28.

Died: Hussein bin Ali, Sharif of Mecca, 76 or 77

June 5, 1931 (Friday)

German Chancellor Heinrich Brüning and Foreign Minister Julius Curtius arrived in England on an official visit. Brüning warned Prime Minister Ramsay MacDonald that due to the Austrian banking crisis, the German banking system was itself at risk of complete collapse.

Al Capone was indicted for tax evasion.

Germany passed an emergency decree attempting to balance the budget by implementing new austerity measures. Unemployment benefits were cut by 5%.

Jules Renkin became Prime Minister of Belgium.

Scottish-American Tommy Armour won the Open Championship golf tournament.

June 6, 1931 (Saturday)

Al Capone's Miami home was seized by Florida deputy sheriffs on an attachment writ for attorney's fees.

The Glass Palace at the Munich Botanical Garden was heavily damaged by fire.

The Temlag forced labour camp was established in the Mordovian ASSR of the Soviet Union.

June 7, 1931 (Sunday)

Partial general elections were held in Luxembourg; the Party of the Right won 14 of 26 seats.

The 1931 Dogger Bank earthquake is the strongest such event to strike the United Kingdom.

Born: Malcolm Morley, artist, in London, England

June 8, 1931 (Monday)

A British committee awarded sole ownership of the Wailing Wall to the Muslims, but granted Jews access at all times.

Born: Dana Wynter, German-born English actress, in Berlin (d. 2011)

June 9, 1931 (Tuesday)

The British submarine HMS Poseidon collided with a Chinese cargo ship off Weihai and sank with the loss of 21 lives.

The Italian government sent a note to the Vatican explaining the reasons for the recent banning of Catholic organizations throughout Italy, accusing them of plotting against the government. The note also expressed regret at reports of Fascist violence against the Catholic church, but fell short of the formal apology that the Vatican was seeking.

Born: Jackie Mason, comedian and actor, in Sheboygan, Wisconsin; Joe Santos, actor, in Brooklyn, New York

Died: Henrique Oswald, 79, Brazilian composer and pianist

June 10, 1931 (Wednesday)

Arturo Toscanini was given permission to leave Italy.

Born: João Gilberto, singer and guitarist, in Juazeiro, Brazil

June 11, 1931 (Thursday)

Rioting broke out across Germany in anger at the government's austerity measures.

Britain's Labour coalition government appeared to be on the verge of collapse when Liberal leader David Lloyd George announced he would not support the proposed land value tax without an amendment.

June 12, 1931 (Friday)

Amelia Earhart crashed in Abilene, Kansas during an attempt to make the first transcontinental flight in an autogyro, but she and her mechanic were unhurt.

June 13, 1931 (Saturday)

Twenty Grand won the Belmont Stakes.

The Ramsay MacDonald government was saved when it agreed to amend the land value tax.

Paul Doumer took office as President of France.

Pedro Itriago Chacín became interim president of Venezuela when Juan Bautista Pérez resigned.

Born: Moysés Baumstein, artist, in São Paulo, Brazil (d. 1991)

Died: Kitasato Shibasaburō, 78, Japanese physician and bacteriologist

June 14, 1931 (Sunday)

Saint-Philibert disaster: a pleasure boat capsized during a gale in the Loire near Saint-Nazaire with the loss of about 400 lives.

The British team of Lord Howe and Sir Henry Birkin won the Le Mans endurance race.

Born: Kenneth Cope, actor, in Liverpool, England; Ross Higgins, actor and comedian, in Sydney, Australia; Marla Gibbs, actress and singer, in Chicago, Illinois; Junior Walker, saxophonist and singer, in Blytheville, Arkansas (d. 1995)

Died: Henry L. Williams, 61, American football player and coach

June 15, 1931 (Monday)

Britain's Labour government was defeated in a surprise vote in the House of Commons on a minor amendment in the land tax bill, but it refused to accept the defeat as cause for resignation because many benches were empty. A second vote was called, which the government won by 14 votes.

Cardinal Pedro Segura y Sáenz was ordered to leave Spain.

President Hoover gave a lengthy speech in Indianapolis on the economy and the government's measures to fight the Depression. "We have come out of each previous depression into a period of prosperity greater than ever before", Hoover said. "We shall do so ths time." Hoover said that the "underlying forces of recovery are asserting themselves."

Died: Anna Adams Gordon, 77, American temperance leader

June 16, 1931 (Tuesday)

The Bank of England extended a loan of 150 million schillings to the National Bank of Austria to stem the country's financial crisis.

June 17, 1931 (Wednesday)

The Spanish provisional government received notes of protests from the Vatican and exiled cardinal Pedro Segura y Sáenz, claiming he had been mistreated at the hands of authorities and that only the Vatican had the right to recall a prelate.

June 18, 1931 (Thursday)

Le Journal printed an interview with Benito Mussolini in which he explained his views on the relations between church and state in light of his recent conflicts with the Vatican. Mussolini said that religion was "indispensable", but "[f]or that I let the priests work; that's religion. The rest is politics, and politics – that's me. I will not admit that anybody, absolutely anybody touch in any way that which belongs to the state. My formula is clear – everything within the state, nothing outside the state, nothing within the state."

Two German professors at the University of Berlin published a paper announcing the invention of a 2.6-million volt X-ray tube, double the power of anything else in the world.

Born: Fernando Henrique Cardoso, 34th President of Brazil, in Rio de Janeiro

Died: Fanny Holland, 83, English singer and comic actress

June 19, 1931 (Friday)

The first commercial photoelectric cell was installed, operating the door between the kitchen and dining area of a restaurant in West Haven, Connecticut.

Born: Joan Marshall, film and television actress, in Chicago, Illinois (d. 1992)

June 20, 1931 (Saturday)

President Hoover announced his proposal for a one-year moratorium on war debts owed by the Allies to the United States, provided they would grant Germany a similar holiday on reparations.

Karl Buresch became Chancellor of Austria.

Born: Olympia Dukakis, actress, in Lowell, Massachusetts; Arne Nordheim, composer, in Larvik, Norway (d. 2010)

June 21, 1931 (Sunday)

Film actress Evalyn Knapp was seriously injured in a fall from a cliff while hiking Hollywood Heights. Doctors feared she would be permanently paralyzed, but she recovered in a few months.

Parliamentary elections were held in Bulgaria, with a victory for the four-party coalition known as the Popular Bloc.

Born: Margaret Heckler, politician, in Flushing, Queens, New York

Died: Hubert Chevis, 28, British Army officer (murdered by strychnine poisoning)

June 22, 1931 (Monday)

A mass trial of the Sicilian Mafia ended in Italy after almost a year. 124 were given prison terms while 54 were freed.

The Social Democratic Party of Germany's newspaper Munich reported on the rumored homosexuality of SA leader Ernst Röhm.

Died: Armand Fallières, 89, President of France 1906–1913

June 23, 1931 (Tuesday)

Wiley Post and Harold Gatty took off in the Lockheed Vega Winnie Mae from Roosevelt Field in an attempt to fly around the world in record time.

The Arthur Honegger ballet Amphion was performed for the first time at the Paris Opera.

Born: Ola Ullsten, politician, in Umeå, Sweden

June 24, 1931 (Wednesday)

Germany and the Soviet Union extended the 1926 Treaty of Berlin.

The Soviet Union signed a treaty of neutrality with Afghanistan.

Italy announced that it would accept the Hoover Moratorium with no reservations, while France offered a counterproposal.

Born: Billy Casper, golfer, in San Diego, California (d. 2015)

June 25, 1931 (Thursday)

French, English and American banks agreed to give the Reichsbank a loan to tide it over until the end of the month.

The Cuban government imposed censorship on four Havana papers for criticism of the Machado administration.

Born: Jack Beal, realist painter, in Richmond, Virginia (d. 2013); V. P. Singh, 8th Prime Minister of India, in Allahabad, British India (d. 2008)

June 26, 1931 (Friday)

Spain fired Ramón Franco as chief of Aeronautics for alleged involvement in an anarchist plot to disrupt Sunday's elections. Due to fears of Franco's popularity, the decision was made not to imprison him.

Bela Lugosi became a naturalized American citizen.

Born: Colin Wilson, novelist and philosopher, in Leicester, England (d. 2013)

June 27, 1931 (Saturday)

The French Chamber of Deputies voted to accept the Hoover Moratorium with reservations.

The Republic of Galicia was proclaimed, though it only lasted a few hours.

Born: Martinus J. G. Veltman, theoretical physicist and Nobel laureate, in Waalwijk, Netherlands

June 28, 1931 (Sunday)

General elections were held in Spain, with socialist parties winning the largest share of voting. Eight died in various outbreaks of violence around the country.

Died: Henry Hobbs, 44, American football player and coach (heart disease)

June 29, 1931 (Monday)

Pope Pius XI published the encyclical Non abbiamo bisogno.

Born: Brian Hutton, Baron Hutton, Lord Chief Justice of Northern Ireland and British Lord of Appeal in Ordinary, in Belfast

Died: Nérée Beauchemin, 81, French Canadian poet

June 30, 1931 (Tuesday)

The film All Quiet on the Western Front, though banned in Germany, was allowed to be shown in a Berlin hall that had taken all precuations to avoid disturbances.

Born: Joyce Wieland, artist and experimental filmmaker, in Toronto, Canada (d. 1998)