May 1930

May 1, 1930 (Thursday)

18 were killed in a series of tornadoes that swept the Midwestern United States.

President Hoover told a gathering of American businessmen in Washington that "I am convinced that we have now passed the worst and with continued unity of effort, we shall rapidly recover."

May 2, 1930 (Friday)

New York Police Commissioner Grover Whalen publicized a series of letters which he said were evidence of the Communist International financing riots and strikes in the United States. Amtorg Trading Corporation chairman Peter Bogdanov released a statement saying the letters alleged to have been written by an Amtorg official were forgeries.

Canada introduced the Dunning Tariff, the country's most drastic tariff revision since 1907, raising duties on American goods while giving preferential treatment to British goods.

Died: Isidor Gunsberg, 75, Austro-Hungarian chess player

May 3, 1930 (Saturday)

The Widnes Vikings defeated St. Helens, 10–3, to win the Northern Rugby Football League's Challenge Cup.

Born: Juan Gelman, poet, in Buenos Aires, Argentina (d. 2014); Bob Havens, big band and jazz musician, in Quincy, Illinois

May 4, 1930 (Sunday)

The Crown Hill Fire destroyed over 200 homes in Nashua, New Hampshire. Damage was estimated at $3 million.

Born: Lois de Banzie, actress, in Scotland; Katherine Jackson, matriarch of the Jackson musical family, in Barbour County, Alabama; Roberta Peters, singer, in the Bronx, New York

May 5, 1930 (Monday)

Mahatma Gandhi was arrested at Karadi, near Dandi.

The German airline Lufthansa began round-the-clock airmail service between Berlin and Istanbul.

The New York Times printed an open letter to President Hoover from 1,028 economists asking him to veto the Smoot–Hawley tariff bill.

A scandal broke in the art world when it was revealed that many paintings attributed to Jean-François Millet were actually forgeries created under the direction of Millet's own grandson.

May 6, 1930 (Tuesday)

The 7.1 Mw Salmas earthquake shakes northwestern Iran and southeastern Turkey with a maximum Mercalli intensity of X (Extreme). Up to three-thousand people were killed.

Outbursts of rioting around India in reaction to the arrest of Mahatma Gandhi killed about 20 people.

The all-metal Boeing Monomail plane had its first flight.

Japan capitulated to Chinese boycotts of Japanese goods by signing a tariff agreement with China.

Died: Charles Sidney Gilpin, 51, American actor

May 7, 1930 (Wednesday)

The U.S. Senate rejected President Hoover's Supreme Court Justice nominee John J. Parker by a vote of 41–39.

Born: Totie Fields, comedian, in Hartford, Connecticut (d. 1978)

May 8, 1930 (Thursday)

27 were reported dead in the textile manufacturing city of Solapur as rioting continued in India.

Foreigners were permitted to enter the forbidden city of Samarkand for the first time in the Soviet era.

Born: Heather Harper, operatic soprano, in Belfast, Northern Ireland

May 9, 1930 (Friday)

A mob in Sherman, Texas, burned down a courthouse during the trial of African-American man George Hughes, who was accused of assaulting his boss' wife, a white woman. The mob attacked the courthouse vault, retrieved the dead body of Hughes, dragged it behind an automobile and hanged it from a tree. National Guard troops were sent to Sherman to restore order as the mob looted stores in the black business district.

Gallant Fox won the Preakness Stakes horse race.

Born: Joan Sims, actress, in Laindon, England (d. 2001)

May 10, 1930 (Saturday)

Texas Governor Dan Moody placed the city of Sherman under martial law. 14 rioters were placed under arrest.

The National Pan-Hellenic Council was formed on the campus of Howard University in Washington.

Born: Pat Summerall, American football player and television sportscaster, in Lake City, Florida (d. 2013)

May 11, 1930 (Sunday)

New York Police Commissioner Whalen issued a report saying that the city's violent crime in 1929 went down 11% from 1928, although the number of murders increased from 339 to 357.

Born: Edsger W. Dijkstra, computer scientist, in Rotterdam, Netherlands (d. 2002); Bud Ekins, stuntman, in Hollywood, California (d. 2007)

May 12, 1930 (Monday)

Abbas Tyabji, the acting leader of the Indian civil disobedience movement since the arrest of Gandhi, was himself arrested in Navsari along with all his immediate followers.

Adler Planetarium, founded by businessman Max Adler, opened to the public in Chicago.

May 13, 1930 (Tuesday)

The British Ministry of Labour reported that 1.7 million were unemployed.

Died: Fridtjof Nansen, 68, Norwegian explorer, scientist, humanitarian and Nobel Peace Prize laureate

May 14, 1930 (Wednesday)

Carlsbad Caverns in New Mexico was established as a National Park.

May 15, 1930 (Thursday)

Sarojini Naidu led a march of volunteers on the Dharasana salt works. When they were blocked by police they sat down and waited the whole day as the police watched.

Born: Jasper Johns, painter and printmaker, in Augusta, Georgia

Died: William John Locke, 67, English novelist and playwright

May 16, 1930 (Friday)

General elections were held in the Dominican Republic. Rafael Trujillo was elected president unopposed when opposition candidates withdrew their names in protest, accusing members of the body overseeing the election of being appointed illegally.

May 17, 1930 (Saturday)

The Young Plan went into effect.

Gallant Fox won the Kentucky Derby horse race.

French Foreign Minister Aristide Briand submitted his plan for a United States of Europe to the 26 European members of the League of Nations.

The British government announced the restriction of Jewish immigration to Palestine.

Died: Herbert Croly, 61, American editor and political philosopher; Max Valier, 35, Austrian rocketry pioneer (killed in rocket explosion)

May 18, 1930 (Sunday)

The Austrian Heimwehr declared their opposition to democracy and support for a dictatorship at their annual meeting.

May 19, 1930 (Monday)

Servants joined the Indian civil disobedience movement by refusing to provide services to anyone wearing foreign-made fabrics.

White women in South Africa were given the right to vote.

Born: Lorraine Hansberry, playwright and writer, in Chicago, Illinois (d. 1965)

May 20, 1930 (Tuesday)

Sir Oswald Mosley quit as Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster due to disagreements with Prime Minister Ramsay MacDonald over the government's unemployment policy. Mosley would be replaced by Clement Attlee.

May 21, 1930 (Wednesday)

Sarojini Naidu was arrested at Dharasana.

An interview was published between British journalist George Slocombe and Mahatma Gandhi conducted in Yerwada Central Jail, Gandhi's first interview since his imprisonment. Gandhi clarified the conditions to be met before the civil disobedience campaign would be called off, said he was alarmed by the reports of violence and expressed optimism about the movement's future. "In forty years of struggle I have been frequently been told that I was attempting the impossible, but invariably I have proved the contrary", he said.

Born: Malcolm Fraser, 22nd Prime Minister of Australia, in Toorak, Victoria, Australia (d. 2015)

May 22, 1930 (Thursday)

The High Commissioner of the Levant introduced a new constitution turning Syria and Latakia into republics with representative government. Latakia would be reincorporated in Syria in 1937.

Born: John Barth, author, in Cambridge, Maryland; Harvey Milk, politician and activist, in Woodmere, New York (d. 1978); Agustín Tosco, union leader, in Argentina (d. 1975)

May 23, 1930 (Friday)

The Literary Digest, an influential American magazine, published the results of its nationwide poll on Prohibition in which over 4.8 million opinions were recorded. 40% favored outright repeal of the Eighteenth Amendment, 29% voted to have the law modified, and 30% wanted the existing law maintained. Prohibition was most strongly favored in the state of Kansas, while Nevada was the "wettest" state.

The German war film Westfront 1918 premiered at the Capitol Theatre in Berlin.

May 24, 1930 (Saturday)

English aviator Amy Johnson landed in Port Darwin, Australia and became the first woman to fly solo from England to Australia.

Muslim leaders in India issued a statement calling on Muslims to join the independence movement, which had been chiefly a Hindu-led campaign up to this point.

Police in Düsseldorf apprehended the serial killer Peter Kürten.

May 25, 1930 (Sunday)

The George Antheil opera Transatlantic premiered in Frankfurt.

Died: Randall Davidson, 82, Archbishop of Canterbury 1903–1928

May 26, 1930 (Monday)

35 were reported dead in rioting all over India.

The International Olympic Committee officially recommended Berlin as the host of the 1936 Summer Olympics.

An association representing the Nazi Party bought a new headquarters in Munich that would come to be known as the Brown House.

May 27, 1930 (Tuesday)

The Chrysler Building in New York City opened to the public. It was the new tallest building in the world at the time, but it only held the title for a year before the Empire State Building was completed.

The war film Hell's Angels premiered at Grauman's Chinese Theatre in Hollywood.

May 28, 1930 (Wednesday)

President Herbert Hoover penned his first veto, striking down a bill expanding pensions for veterans of the Spanish–American War.

President Hoover signed the draft resolution designating April 14 as Pan American Day.

Grover Cleveland Alexander appeared in his final major league game, giving up a couple of unearned runs pitching two innings of relief for the Philadelphia Phillies during a 5–1 loss to the Boston Braves.

Born: Frank Drake, astronomer and astrophysicist, in Chicago, Illinois

May 29, 1930 (Thursday)

600 members of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals stormed a bullfight in Paris and started a riot by throwing a smoke bomb and other projectiles. 17 women were arrested. Bullfighting was illegal in France but the promoters had promised no bloodshed.

May 30, 1930 (Friday)

Billy Arnold won the Indianapolis 500.

A Canadian federal election was called for July 28.

Canadian daredevil William "Red" Hill went over Niagara Falls in a steel barrel.

May 31, 1930 (Saturday)

Italian finance minister Antonio Mosconi announced a budget deficit for the year ending April 30, the country's first deficit since the Fascists came to power. Mosconi maintained that the difficult economic conditions in Italy were the result of general conditions throughout the world.

Joseph Goebbels was fined 800 Reichsmarks for libeling President Paul von Hindenburg in an article published in the December 29, 1929, issue of Der Angriff. Goebbels defended himself confidently in court and wrote in his diary afterward that the whole trial had been "brilliant propaganda for us."

The Brazilian football club Esporte Clube Siderúrgica was founded.

Born: Clint Eastwood, actor, filmmaker and politician, in San Francisco, California; Paul L. Maier, American historian and novelist

Died: Gaspar Milazzo, 43, Italian-born American mobster (assassinated)