March 1932

March 1, 1932 (Tuesday)

The Lindbergh kidnapping occurred. 20-month old Charles Lindbergh Jr., son of famous aviator Charles Lindbergh and Anne Morrow Lindbergh, was abducted from the family's home near Hopewell, New Jersey. A $50,000 ransom note was left on the window sill.

The Import Duties Act went into effect in Britain.

The Preston Sturges play Child of Manhattan opened on Broadway.

Died: Frank Teschemacher, 25, American jazz musician (auto accident)

March 2, 1932 (Wednesday)

Finnish President Pehr Evind Svinhufvud gave a radio address telling participants in the Mäntsälä rebellion that if they went home now, only their leaders would be punished.

President Herbert Hoover consulted with Attorney General William D. Mitchell on the Lindbergh kidnapping. The Department of Justice then announced that every agency in the Department would do its utmost to assist New Jersey's state authorities, even though the kidnapping was not a federal case.

Born: Takako Takahashi, author, in Kyoto, Japan (d. 2013)

Died: David Jayne Hill, 81, American academic, diplomat and author

March 3, 1932 (Thursday)

The United States Congress ratified the Twentieth Amendment to the United States Constitution, moving the presidential inauguration date up from March 4 to January 20 and eliminating lame-duck sessions of Congress.

Died: Alfieri Maserati, 44, automotive engineer and member of the Maserati Brothers (liver complications)

March 4, 1932 (Friday)

China refused to hold a conference to end the conflict with Japan, insisting that Japanese troops had to withdraw first.

The League of Nations unanimously voted in favour of a demand that Japanese forces withdraw from Shanghai.

Born: Ryszard Kapuściński, journalist, in Pinsk, Poland (d. 2007); Miriam Makeba, singer and civil rights activist, in Johannesburg, South Africa (d. 2008); Ed Roth, artist and car designer, in Beverly Hills, California (d. 2001); Frank Wells, businessman, in Coronado, California (d. 1994)

Died: Fawcet Wray, 58, British admiral

March 5, 1932 (Saturday)

League of Blood Incident: a member of Japanese extremist group the League of Blood assassinated businessman Dan Takuma. It was the group's second successful assassination after gunning down Junnosuke Inoue a month earlier.

German diplomat Fritz von Twardowski was wounded by a student in Moscow who fired four shots at him before being overpowered by police.

Died: Peder Kolstad, 53, sitting Prime Minister of Norway (blood clot); Dan Takuma, 73, Japanese businessman (assassinated)

March 6, 1932 (Sunday)

The Mäntsälä rebellion was put down when Finnish troops occupied Mäntsälä, the last stronghold of the Lapua Movement, and arrested its leaders.

Peruvian President Luis Miguel Sánchez Cerro was shot at a church in Miraflores, but not wounded seriously. The assailant was later arrested.

Charles Lindbergh received a second ransom note, increasing the amount demanded to $70,000.

Born: Bronisław Geremek, social historian and politician, in Warsaw, Poland (d. 2008)

Died: John Philip Sousa, 77, American composer and conductor

March 7, 1932 (Monday)

Four died and 30 were wounded when thousands of unemployed protestors clashed with police outside the Ford Motor Company plant in Dearborn, Michigan.

Born: Momoko Kōchi, actress, in Tokyo, Japan (d. 1998)

Died: Aristide Briand, 69, six-time Prime Minister of France

March 8, 1932 (Tuesday)

Franklin D. Roosevelt won the New Hampshire presidential primary.

Charles Lindbergh's attorney received a third ransom note, informing that an intermediary appointed by the Lindberghs would not be accepted. That same day, a retired school principal in the Bronx named John F. Condon published an offer to act as a go-between and to pay an additional $1,000.

March 9, 1932 (Wednesday)

Éamon de Valera took office as President of the Executive Council of the Irish Free State.

Puyi was installed as regent of the Japanese puppet state of Manchukuo.

The Soviet Union refused to recognize Manchukuo as a legitimate state.

An explosion at a gas plant in Camden, New Jersey killed 14 people. A fifteenth victim died the next day.

John F. Condon received a fourth ransom note accepting his offer.

Born: Ron Kline, baseball player, in Callery, Pennsylvania (d. 2002)

March 10, 1932 (Thursday)

Paul von Hindenburg gave a radio address in his one and only public speech of the German presidential campaign, emphasizing his nonparty status and pledging to "oppose those who merely stand for party interests".

The Kurt Weill opera Die Bürgschaft premiered at the Städtische Oper in Berlin.

March 11, 1932 (Friday)

The new Irish president Éamon de Valera cut his own salary and that of his cabinet ministers as part of an economy drive.

Adolf Hitler issued a statement denying rumors that the Nazis were planning to stage a putsch after Sunday's presidential election. "The National Socialist Movement today has less reason than ever before to abandon the legal path it has taken and on which the system will be forced to its knees", Hitler's statement read. "All of the rumors circulating to the effect that the NSDAP is planning a putsch are false and to be seen as typical signs of our opponents' election campaign."

Died: Dora Carrington, 38, British artist (suicide by gunshot); Hermann Gunkel, 69, German biblical scholar

March 12, 1932 (Saturday)

Upon the news of Ivar Kreuger's suicide, Sweden's state council rushed to introduce a bill granting a moratorium on the country's debt payments in the event of the suicide creating a business panic.

John F. Condon received a fifth ransom note, directing him to a sixth one near a subway station. The note led him to an unidentified man in a cemetery known as "John" with whom payment of the ransom money was discussed.

Born: Andrew Young, politician and diplomat, in New Orleans, Louisiana

Died: Ivar Kreuger, 52, Swedish civil engineer and industrialist (suicide)

March 13, 1932 (Sunday)

The German presidential election was held. Although Paul von Hindenburg beat runner-up Adolf Hitler by more than 7 million votes, he fell less than 1% short of the 50% majority required to win outright, so a run-off election had to be held on April 10.

Sweden ordered its stock exchange closed until further notice.

March 14, 1932 (Monday)

On the first day of trading since the suicide of Ivar Kreuger, stocks and bonds connected to Kreuger's financial empire plummeted as part of the phenomenon known as the "Kreuger Crash".

Jens Hundseid became Prime Minister of Norway, nine days after the death of Peder Kolstad.

Died:George Eastman, 77, American entrepreneur (suicide); Patrick Reynolds, 45, Irish politician (died of wounds from February 14 shooting)

March 15, 1932 (Tuesday)

Several shots were fired at a train carrying Adolf Hitler, Joseph Goebbels and Wilhelm Frick near Jena, but there were no injuries.

A few days after Kasturba Gandhi, wife of Mahatma Gandhi, was released after being arrested for civil disobedience activities, she was arrested again and sentenced to six months of hard labour.

March 16, 1932 (Wednesday)

The opera Maria egiziaca by Italian composer Ottorino Respighi was performed for the first time at Carnegie Hall in New York City.

John F. Condon received a baby's sleeping suit as proof of identity and a seventh ransom note.

Born: Don Blasingame, baseball player and manager, in Corinth, Mississippi (d. 2005)

March 17, 1932 (Thursday)

Nazi headquarters throughout Prussia were raided by police looking for evidence of a Nazi plot to plunge the country into civil war. Hitler issued a statement calling the raids "a political maneuver inspired by anxiety over the intended rescue from defeat of the Socialist Party at the forthcoming diet elections", stating further, "I have long known that the raids were planned. Minister Severing knows that the seizure of power by the National Socialists is only a question of time, but this maneuver will not save his party from coming to ruin."

The German government declared an "Easter truce" from March 18 to April 3 forbidding open air political meetings, political speeches and distribution of political posters and leaflets.

The United States refused to recognize Manchukuo.

The film The Wet Parade premiered at Grauman's Chinese Theatre in Hollywood.

Born: Donald N. Langenberg, physicist and professor, in Devils Lake, North Dakota

March 18, 1932 (Friday)

Forbra won the Grand National horse race.

The Bohuslav Martinů composition Les Rondes was performed for the first time, in Paris.

Born: John Updike, writer, in Reading, Pennsylvania (d. 2009)

Died: Chauncey Olcott, 73, American actor, singer and songwriter; Harry Powers, 39 or 40, American serial killer (hanged)

March 19, 1932 (Saturday)

The Sydney Harbour Bridge in Australia officially opened.

Theodor Duesterberg essentially withdrew from the second round of the German presidential election when the Nationalist Party that backed him announced it would not be participating.

7 died in an American Airways plane crash in Calimesa, California when the Fokker F.10A struck a power line in a heavy fog.

university of Cambridge won the 84th Boat Race.

March 20, 1932 (Sunday)

Mexican bandits derailed a train 12 miles north of Querétaro, killing two. The ensuing attack was quickly repulsed by a small guard and one bandit was slain.

Born: Jack Cady, fantasy and horror author, in the United States (d. 2004); Marthe Villalonga, Algerian-born French actress, in Bordj El Kiffan

Died: Chief Buffalo Child Long Lance, 41, American journalist, writer and actor; Ilya Ivanovich Ivanov, 61, Russian biologist

March 21, 1932 (Monday)

The Deep South tornado outbreak began.

John F. Condon received an eighth ransom note insisting on strict compliance.

The U.S. Supreme Court decided New State Ice Co. v. Liebmann.

Born: Walter Gilbert, chemist and Nobel laureate, in Boston, Massachusetts

March 22, 1932 (Tuesday)

The Deep South tornado outbreak ended. A total death toll of 334 was recorded over two days.

The Irish government released an official statement declaring that the Irish Free State had the right to modify the constitution by removing the Oath of Allegiance to the king, and that the results of the recent election constituted a mandate to do so.

Born: Els Borst, politician, in Amsterdam, Netherlands (d. 2014)

March 23, 1932 (Wednesday)

Hollywood couple Ann Harding and Harry Bannister announced they were divorcing.

Nazi publications were banned across Germany for durations varying from five to fourteen days after publishing attacks that were supposedly endangering the Weimar Republic. The Communist newspaper The Red Flag was also banned for five days.

Born: Bettina Le Beau, actress, in Antwerp, Belgium; Don Marshall, ice hockey player, in Verdun, Quebec, Canada

Died: Charles F. Daniels, 83, American baseball umpire

March 24, 1932 (Thursday)

The first radio broadcast from a moving train was made in a B & O Railroad train. The variety show with Belle Baker was aired over WABC in New York.

The German film The Blue Light, marking the directorial debut of Leni Riefenstahl, was released.

Born: Václav Zítek, opera singer, in Tisá, Czecheslovakia (d. 2011)

March 25, 1932 (Friday)

The adventure film Tarzan the Ape Man starring Johnny Weissmuller was released.

Born: Woodie Held, baseball player, in Sacramento, California (d. 2009); Wolfgang Helfrich, physicist and inventor, in Germany

March 26, 1932 (Saturday)

A Japanese government spokesman said that Japan would quit the League of Nations if it asserted undue pressure over the situation in Manchuria and Shanghai and that the dispute could only be settled through direct talks with China.

March 27, 1932 (Sunday)

The 57,000-member Socialist Workers' Party of Germany held its first party conference.

The musical film Girl Crazy, starring the comedy team of Wheeler & Woolsey in a loose adaptation of the Gershwin stage play of the same name, was released.

Born: Trevor Stubley, painter and illustrator, in Leeds, England (d. 2010)

March 28, 1932 (Monday)

Scottish pilot Jim Mollison completed a flight from London to Cape Town, South Africa in 4 days and 17 hours, a new record.

March 29, 1932 (Tuesday)

British pastor Harold Davidson was brought before court to answer charges that he had pursued and molested young girls. The case became a notorious tabloid sensation.

Died: Filippo Turati, 74, Italian sociologist, criminologist and Socialist politician

March 30, 1932 (Wednesday)

Government by presidential decree was inaugurated in Poland.

Frank Lloyd Wright's autobiography was published.

John F. Condon received a ninth ransom note threatening to increase the demand to $100,000.

Born: Ted Morgan, Swiss-born French-American writer, in Geneva

March 31, 1932 (Thursday)

Ford Motor Company announced its V8 engine. Although the V8 was not new, the affordable price made it a true landmark in automotive history.

Born: Nagisa Oshima film director and screenwriter, in Tamano, Japan (d. 2013)

Died: Eben Byers, 51, American socialite, athlete and industrialist