July 1931

The following events occurred in July 1931:

July 1, 1931 (Wednesday)

• Wiley Post and Harold Gatty completed their round-the-world flight in a record 8 days 16 hours.^[1]
• The Trans-African Railroad opened, connecting Benguela, Angola to Katanga in the Belgian Congo.^[2]
• Born: Leslie Caron, actress, in Boulogne-sur-Seine, France; Marilyn Hickey, televangelist, in Overland Park, Kansas; Seyni Kountché, military officer, in Fandou, Niger (d. 1987)

July 2, 1931 (Thursday)

• A fistfight broke out in the British House of Commons. It began when Labour MP John McGovern criticized the arrest of two Scottish preachers for holding meetings on the Glasgow Green without permits. McGovern refused to sit down when he was not satisfied with the Secretary of Scotland's reply, and remained standing even after being suspended. A half dozen attendants arrived and tried to pull McGovern out of the chamber by force, but they were attacked by several Labour MPs. The fight lasted until McGovern was finally dragged out of the chamber.^[3]
• New York City gave Wiley Post and Harold Gatty a ticker tape parade.^[4]
• Born: Robert Ito, actor, in Vancouver, Canada
• Died: Peter Kürten, 48, German serial killer (executed by guillotine)

July 3, 1931 (Friday)

• Max Schmeling knocked out Young Stribling in the fifteenth round at Cleveland Municipal Stadium to retain the world heavweight boxing title.^[5]
• The Kroll Opera House closed its doors^[6] after a final performance of Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro.^[7]
• Cilly Aussem defeated Hilde Krahwinkel Sperling in an all-German Ladies' Singles final at Wimbledon.
• Sidney Wood was declared the men's champion at Wimbledon by walkover when Frank Shields pulled out of the final due to a leg injury. Shields had wanted to play, but the U.S. Tennis Association ordered him to forfeit so he would be ready for the Davis Cup.^[8]

July 4, 1931 (Saturday)

• A monument to Woodrow Wilson sculpted by Gutzon Borglum was unveiled in Poznań, Poland in the presence of Edith Wilson and President Ignacy Mościcki.^[9] It was destroyed by the Nazis in 1939^[10] but a different Wilson monument stands today in Poznań in a park named for Wilson.^[11]
• The British cruisers HMS Dorsetshire and HMS Norfolk docked in the port of Kiel as part of Kiel Week, the first time British warships visited Germany since July 1914.^[12]
• Born: Stephen Boyd, actor, in Glengormley, Northern Ireland (d. 1977)
• Died: Prince Emanuele Filiberto, Duke of Aosta, 62; Buddie Petit, 41?, American jazz cornetist

July 5, 1931 (Sunday)

• A marble memorial to Gustav Stresemann was unveiled in Mainz. Foreign Minister Julius Curtius spoke at the ceremony, which was briefly interrupted by a Nazi who jumped up to the microphone and shouted "Germany awake!" before being arrested.^[13]
• Born: Ismail Mahomed, Chief Justice of South Africa, in Pretoria (d. 2000)

July 6, 1931 (Monday)

• Billy Burke won the U.S. Open golf tournament.
• Rudy Vallée was secretly married in West Orange, New Jersey to actress Fay Webb.^[14]
• Born: Jean Campeau, businessman and politician, in Montreal, Canada; Della Reese, actress and singer, in Black Bottom, Detroit, Michigan; Robert Dunham, actor and writer, in Maine (d. 2001)

July 7, 1931 (Tuesday)

• Seven Nazis were arrested in Kiel for violent public disorder.^[15]
• Born: David Eddings, fantasy author, in Spokane, Washington (d. 2009)

July 8, 1931 (Wednesday)

• The German Communist Party newspaper The Red Flag was banned until July 21 for insulting the Berlin police.^[16]

July 9, 1931 (Thursday)

• U.S. Secretary of State Henry L. Stimson met with Benito Mussolini in Rome to discuss peace and disarmament.^[17]
• Mussolini decreed that no Italian could simultaneously be a member of the National Fascist Party and Azione Cattolica.^[18]
• At Lake Garda, Kaye Don set a new boat speed record of 110.22 mph in the Miss England II.^[19]
• The Landtag of Prussia approved the removal of the book All Quiet on the Western Front from school libraries.^[20]

July 10, 1931 (Friday)

• A Norwegian royal proclamation was issued claiming part of eastern Greenland as Erik the Red's Land.^[21]
• Outdoor political rallies were banned in Bavaria due to frequent violence.^[22]
• Born: Nick Adams, actor, in Nanticoke, Pennsylvania (d. 1968); Alice Munro, author, in Wingham, Ontario, Canada
• Died: Francis W. Fitzpatrick, 68, American architect (hit by automobile)

July 11, 1931 (Saturday)

• Prime Minister Ramsay MacDonald, David Lloyd George and Stanley Baldwin made a plea for disarmament in an international radio address from Royal Albert Hall.^[23]
• The 58,000-seat Ernst-Happel-Stadion opened in Vienna, Austria.^[24]
• The drama film Smart Money, starring Edward G. Robinson and James Cagney, was released.^[25]
• Born: Tab Hunter, actor and singer, in New York City

July 12, 1931 (Sunday)

• In a game against the Philadelphia Phillies, Mel Ott of the New York Giants hit his 100th career home run at the age of 22 years and 132 days. This still stands as the major league record for the youngest player to hit 100 homers.^[26][27]
• The German government shut down the Nazi newspaper Völkischer Beobachter for three weeks.^[28]
• Died: Nathan Söderblom, 65, Swedish clergyman

July 13, 1931 (Monday)

• The Danatbank in Germany failed, causing a run on all other leading banks in the country.^[29]
• The German government issued an emergency decree through Article 48 ordering all banks in the country closed down for 48 hours.^[30] The German stock market was also shut down and ended up not reopening until September.^[31]

July 14, 1931 (Tuesday)

• The Hungarian government ordered all banks closed until Friday to protect Hungary from the German financial crisis.^[30]
• The first Republican Cortes Generales opened in Spain.^[32]

July 15, 1931 (Wednesday)

• Communists and police clashed all over Germany in unemployment demonstrations.^[33]
• Born: Clive Cussler, novelist and archaeologist, in Aurora, Illinois
• Died: Ladislaus Bortkiewicz, 65, Russian economist

July 16, 1931 (Thursday)

• Banks throughout Germany reopened. The only withdrawals that were allowed were for shopkeepers to meet payrolls, and foreign currency exchanges were prohibited.^[34][35]
• Haile Selassie introduced a constitution for Ethiopia.^[21]
• A bomb was discovered at St. Peter's Basilica by a janitor. It was moved to a nearby meadow where it exploded at 2 o'clock Friday morning.^[36]
• Born: Mighty Igor, professional wrestler, in Michigan (d. 2002)
• Died: Mary Foote Henderson, 88, American author and social activist; Charles Studd, 70, British cricketer and missionary

July 17, 1931 (Friday)

• An accident occurred on the set of the film Scarface when some dynamite caps exploded prematurely, injuring four actors and bystander Gaylord Lloyd (Harold Lloyd's brother), who was struck in the right eye.^[37]
• Died: Nicolae Paulescu, 61, Romanian physiologist and politician

July 18, 1931 (Saturday)

• The German government issued several new decrees aimed at making foreign currency more difficult to acquire. A special visa was introduced that every German intending to cross the border was required to obtain for a fee of 100 Reichsmarks.^[38][39]
• Died: Hermann Hendrich, 76, German painter

July 19, 1931 (Sunday)

• Five died in Bangalore when police fired into a crowd of demonstrators at the Binny Mills.^[40]
• Born: Mary Lou Studnicka, baseball player, in Oak Lawn, Illinois (d. 2014)

July 20, 1931 (Monday)

• A conference of seven powers (Great Britain, the United States, France, Italy, Japan, Belgium and Germany) met in London to discuss the economic situation in Germany.^[41]
• The Royal Mail Case trial began at the Old Bailey. The director of the Royal Mail Steam Packet Company, Lord Kylsant, was accused of publishing a fraudulent balance sheet.^[42]
• Died: Herbert Baddeley, 59, British tennis player

July 21, 1931 (Tuesday)

• The Heywood Broun-produced musical Shoot the Works opened at George M. Cohan's Theatre on Broadway. Broun himself sang, danced and acted in the show.^[43]
• Born: Gene Fullmer, boxer, in West Jordan, Utah (d. 2015)

July 22, 1931 (Wednesday)

• Acting Governor of Bombay Sir Ernest Hotson survived an assassination attempt at Fergusson College in Pune. The first of two shots fired at point blank deflected off the metal stud of his pocket book.^[44]
• Mickey Walker and Jack Sharkey boxed to a 15-round draw at Ebbetts Field in Brooklyn.^[45]

July 23, 1931 (Thursday)

• The London Conference broke off with little accomplished other than producing a request to world bankers to maintain their existing short-term credits to Germany.^[46]
• Great Britain transferred sovereignty over the Ashmore and Cartier Islands to Australia, effective May 10, 1934.^[21]
• Born: Te Atairangikaahu, Māori queen, in Tūrangawaewae Marae, Ngaruawahia, New Zealand (d. 2006)

July 24, 1931 (Friday)

• Living in exile in Fontainebleau, King Alfonso XIII of Spain abdicated and passed the right to the throne to his third son, 18-year-old Don Juan de Borbón.^[47]
• In Helsinki, Paavo Nurmi ran two miles in 8 minutes 59.6 seconds, another world record.^[48]
• The Paul Abraham operetta The Flower of Hawaii premiered at the Neues Theater in Leipzig.

July 25, 1931 (Saturday)

• The German government announced the formation of a new bank, the "Acceptance and Guarantee Bank", which would make reserve cash available to all banks to assure them of money to meet possible bank runs.^[49]

July 26, 1931 (Sunday)

• Carlos Ibáñez del Campo resigned as President of Chile following three days of rioting by citizens who were preparing to call a general strike in opposition to his rule.^[50]
• Princess Ileana of Romania married Archduke Anton of Austria in Sinaia, Romania.^[51]
• Antonin Magne of France won the Tour de France.
• Born: Fred Foster, songwriter, record producer and founder of Monument Records, in Rutherford County, North Carolina

July 27, 1931 (Monday)

• Ramsay MacDonald became the first British Prime Minister to visit Berlin since the world war. "We are filled with admiration for Germany and we are firmly convinced that if she continues her efforts, if she asserts all her intellectual, moral and economic powers to get on her feet again, without giving way to despair, other nations will help her and not suffer her to go under", MacDonald said.^[52]
• Juan Esteban Montero became President of Chile.
• Born:Jerry Van Dyke, comedian and actor, in Danville, Illinois

July 28, 1931 (Tuesday)

• Otto Dietrich was appointed Press Chief of the Nazi Party.^[53]
• Died: George Wells Parker, 48, African-American political activist

July 29, 1931 (Wednesday)

• George Bernard Shaw met Joseph Stalin in Moscow.^[32]
• All England waited anxiously for news of David Lloyd George as he underwent an operation for hematuria.^[54]
• Born: Mr. Food, television chef and cookbook author, in Troy, New York (d. 2012)

July 30, 1931 (Thursday)

• The trial in the Royal Mail Case ended with Lord Kylsant sentenced to a year in prison.^[55]

July 31, 1931 (Friday)

• Arriving in Warsaw after his visit to the Soviet Union, George Bernard Shaw said that other countries must follow the USSR's "remarkable example", saying, "Unlike the western politicians, who are working for their own benefit, the Russian rulers are working for the people and for their country. I am a confirmed communist, as I was before Lenin, and even more so after seeing communist Russia. Talk of forced labour in Russia is rubbish. There is more slavery in other countries." Shaw also described Stalin as "a most honest and able man."^[56]
• The Peruvian football club Defensor Lima was founded.

References