July 1926

Month of 1926 From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


The following events occurred in July 1926:

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France's three prime ministers, Aristide Briand (to July 17), Édouard Herriot (July 20-23) and Raymond Poincaré (from July 23)
July 13, 1926: Turkish legislator Ziya Hursit becomes first of 15 accused coup leaders to be executed.

July 1, 1926 (Thursday)

Prime Minister Meighen
  • The two-day-old government of Canadian Prime Minister Arthur Meighen was defeated in Parliament by one vote, 96 to 95[1] on a motion challenging the legality of Meighen's attempt to circumvent normal Parliamentary procedure by assembling a Cabinet consisting exclusively of acting ministers without portfolio. The votes against Meighen's government included 14 of his fellow Conservatives. Though the vote was not strictly a motion of no confidence, Meighen accepted the result as such and asked the Governor-General to dissolve Parliament and schedule a new election.[2]
  • The Swedish Air Force (the Flygvapnet) was founded by a merger of the aviation units of Sweden's Army and Navy.[3]
  • The largest chain of grocery stores in the western United States was created by merger of the 322 stores of the Safeway chain, and the 673 stores of the Skaggs Companies, all of which had been purchased by stockbroker Charles E. Merrill, with the 995 stores to be under the Safeway brand.[4]
  • The world's longest suspension bridge up that time, the 9,650 feet (2,940 m) long Delaware River Bridge linking Philadelphia to Camden, New Jersey, was opened three days before the celebration of the sesquicentennial of United States independence. At 1:00 in the afternoon, "three little girls" cut red, white and blue cords at the Philadelphia entrance and thousands of pedestrians began crossing the Delaware River from both sides.[5] Pedestrian traffic closed at 7:00 and the motor vehicle traffic was allowed at midnight.[6] The bridge would be renamed for Benjamin Franklin in 1955.[7]
  • The Government of Canada returned to the gold standard, and allowed its bank notes to be redeemed for gold to back its currency, after having chosen to abandon the standard on August 22, 1914. After the Great Depression, Canada abandoned the gold standard again on October 31, 1931.[8]
  • The town of Venice, Florida, was incorporated after Dr. Fred H. Albee, an orthopedic surgeon, had purchased 112 acres (45 ha) for development of the infrastructure and government buildings over a period of two years.[9]
  • Born:
  • Died: Alexander del Mar, 89, the first Director of the Bureau of Statistics at the U.S. Treasury Department[13]

July 2, 1926 (Friday)

President Calles

July 3, 1926 (Saturday)

July 4, 1926 (Sunday)

  • Torrential rains began falling in Germany at noon, flooding the town of Woltersdorf (where 14 people, almost all women drowned) and killing 17 others in other parts of the nation.[29]
  • The Nazi Party staged its 2nd Party Congress in Weimar. The Grossdeutsche Jugendbewegung (Greater German Youth Movement) was rebranded Hitler Jugend Bund der deutschen Arbeiterjugend (Hitler Youth League of German Worker Youth), commonly referred to as the Hitler Youth.[30]
  • The Sesquicentennial of the United States was celebrated to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence and the founding of the United States. A violent storm struck the city during and damaged the Sesquicentennial Exposition, particularly the Palace of Agriculture, where water accumulated on the building roof and workmen cut holes directly over the exhibit for the U.S. state of Maryland, damaging it with a rush of water.[31]
  • Poland chose to honour this sesquicentennial by collecting signatures for the Polish Declarations of Admiration and Friendship for the United States. This collection of 111 volumes of signatures and greetings would be presented eight months later to U.S. President Calvin Coolidge to acknowledge American participation and aid to Poland during World War I, with submissions from nearly one-sixth of the population of Poland as it then existed, including those of approximately 5.5 million school children.[32]
  • Knoebels Amusement Resort, the largest amusement park in the U.S. to have no admission fee (with rides paid for individually) opened in Elysburg, Pennsylvania on the U.S. sesquicentennial day with a large swimming pool and its first mechanical ride (a steam-powered carousel)[33]
  • A group of 21 Mexican prisoners at the Blue Ridge State Prison Farm, in Blue Ridge, Texas in Fort Bend County, near Houston, escaped by sawing their way through the main building of the facility. The remaining 32 chose to remain in the prison.[34]
  • Born:
  • Died: Amy Ella Blanchard, 72, American writer of children's literature, known for the Four Corners six-book series (from 1907 to 1914) and the four-book A Dear Little Girl series from 1910 to 1913), died of a stroke (apoplexy) at her desk while writing a poem.[40]

July 5, 1926 (Monday)

July 6, 1926 (Tuesday)

  • The first Elektrichka commuter train, an electrically powered railway mass transportation system popular in Russia, Eastern Europe and the other republics of the former Soviet Union, was inaugurated. The initial service was in the Azerbaijani SSR for travel on a line between the Azerbaijan capital, Baku and a suburb, Sabuncu.[52]
Caillaux

July 7, 1926 (Wednesday)

July 8, 1926 (Thursday)

July 9, 1926 (Friday)

Chiang
  • The Northern Expedition officially commenced in China when Chiang Kai-shek lectured 100,000 soldiers of the National Revolutionary Army.[67][68]
  • The Soviet Union passed a law forbidding the transportation of the chervonets, worth 10 new rubles, out of the nation, a move to prevent smugglers from paying for foreign goods with what had become a more stable unit of money on foreign currency exchanges. The Soviets would follow on March 10, 1928, with another law barring the conversion of imported chervonets to rubles, making the currency worthless to foreign sellers.[69][70]
  • The Rudolph Valentino film The Son of the Sheik premiered in Los Angeles, though it would not go into general release until September.[71]
  • A solar eclipse was visible from Earth, with totality at 23:06:02 UTC. With the exception of the Hawaiian Islands at 1:02 in the afternoon local time, the path of the eclipse was over mostly uninhabited portions of the Pacific Ocean.[72] The phenomenon was rare, in that the Moon was almost at apogee (its shortest distance from Earth) and, therefore, completely obscured the Sun during totality. Because of the International Date Line, the eclipse began on July 10 at 10:05 in the morning local time west of the date line
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July 10, 1926 (Saturday)

  • A bolt of lightning struck the Lake Denmark Naval Ammunition Depot near the Picatinny Arsenal in New Jersey.[77] The resulting fire caused several million pounds of explosives to blow up in the next three days, killing 19 people[78] and destroying 187 of 200 buildings in and near Lake Denmark.
  • In a 4 a.m. vote following an all-night session, France's Chamber of Deputies voted to approve granting Finance Minister Joseph Caillaux the extraordinary powers he sought to address the country's economic crisis. The matter was then to go to the Finance Committee.[79]
  • Bobby Jones won the U.S. Open at Columbus, Ohio, by a single stroke over Joe Turnesa, 293 strokes to 294.[80] With the win, Jones became the first golfer to win both the British Open (which he had captured 15 days earlier on June 25) and the U.S. Open in the same year.
  • An international bridge over the Rio Grande, the border of the United States and Mexico, opened between McAllen, Texas in the U.S. and Reynosa, Tamaulipas state in Mexico.[81]
  • Macedonians from Bulgaria conducted the first of a series of raids across the border of the Kingdom of the Serbs, Croats and Slovenes.[82]
  • Born: Fred Gwynne, American television and film actor known for The Munsters and My Cousin Vinny; in New York City (d. 1993)[83]

July 11, 1926 (Sunday)

July 12, 1926 (Monday)

The music of Amhrán na bhFiann

July 13, 1926 (Tuesday)

July 14, 1926 (Wednesday)

July 15, 1926 (Thursday)

King Albert

July 16, 1926 (Friday)

July 17, 1926 (Saturday)

  • In Yugoslavia, near Sarajevo in Bosnia, 117 people were killed in a landslide which buried a railway train.[127]
  • France's Prime Minister Aristide Briand and his cabinet of ministers resigned after the Chamber of Deputies voted a lack of confidence in the Briand government, 285 to 243, on a motion introduced by the Chamber's president, Édouard Herriot. The motion followed after Finance Minister Caillaux's final demand for power to decree the value of the French franc.[128]
  • In Mexico City, a meeting of Catholics resolved to organize a nationwide boycott to protest the Calles Law. The boycott covered items that constituted a large part of government income (such as lottery tickets), items subject to heavy excise duties (such as stamps), and items subject to heavy import duties.[129]
  • The Royal Canadian Legion veterans organization was incorporated by special act of the Canadian Parliament.[130]
  • The National Kwangtung University, founded in 1924 in the Republic of China, was renamed National Sun Yat-sen University in honor of the founder and first president of the republic.[131]
  • Born:
    • Robert Ashby, African-American U.S. Army Air Forces pilot and one of the Tuskegee Airmen, known after World War II to become the first black airline pilot when was hired by Frontier Airlines in 1973; in Yemassee, South Carolina (d.2021)[132]
    • Calvin Zippin, American cancer epidemiologist and biostatistician who created the "Zippin Estimator" procedure for estimating wildlife populations using data from trapping experiments; in Albany, New York[133] (alive in 2026)
    • James Weinstein, American liberal commentator and historian known for founding the magazine In These Times; in New York City (d.2005)[134]
    • Willis Carto, American right-wing political activist, white supremacist and founder of the Liberty Lobby; in Fort Wayne, Indiana (d.2015)Martin, Douglas (November 1, 2015). "Willis Carto, Far-Right Figure and Holocaust Denier, Dies at 89". The New York Times. Retrieved July 28, 2020.
    • William Pierson, American TV actor; in Brooklyn, New York (d. 2004)[135]

July 18, 1926 (Sunday)

"King Faustin II"
  • U.S. Marine Corps Gunnery Sergeant Faustin E. Wirkus, stationed on Haiti's Gonâve Island during the U.S. occupation of the Caribbean nation, was crowned as "King Faustin II" and co-ruler with the tribal ruler of the island, Queen Ti Memenne. Because of his assistance in having charges dismissed against the Queen, and the coincidence of having the same first name as Faustin Soulouque, who had ruled Haiti as "Emperor Faustin I" from 1849 to 1859, Staff Sergeant Wirkus was recognized by the Taino people of Gonâve as their monarch before being transferred to the U.S. mainland in 1929.[136] After leaving the Marines in 1931, he would tell of his experiences in a book.[137]
The Zeiss Planetarium

July 19, 1926 (Monday)

  • The government of the Lebanese Republic published the decree "Competition for the Selection of the Lebanese National Anthem" in two phases, one for composing a suitable Arabic language poem and the second for setting the chosen poem to music. In October, Rachid Nakhle won the competition with the poem "Kullunā li-l-waṭan, li-l-ʿulā li-l-ʿalam" ("All for the Homeland, for Glory, for the Flag") and Wadih Sabra would win the prize for the melody.[146]
Piccadilly Circus six years after the roundabout
  • To relieve traffic congestion at London's Piccadilly Circus, a one-way roundabout went into operation to handle traffic entering from the streets of Haymarket, Pall Mall and Cockspur, following a similar pattern used in Trafalgar Square. A newspaper article in The Times noted that "All traffic entering Piccadilly-circus will turn left and proceed in clockwise direction... and under the scheme there will be only five direct traffic cuts compared with 18 under the existing conditions."[147]
  • Rudolph Valentino responded to the previous day's editorial in the Tribune with an essay of his own for the Chicago Herald-Examiner, challenging the writer to come forward and face him in a boxing or wrestling match. The author did not come forward, to Valentino's disappointment.[148]
  • Rumored dissensions among the crew of the airship Norge in the recent North Pole expedition fell into the public sphere as Umberto Nobile shot back at a statement Lincoln Ellsworth had made which denied that Nobile had piloted the airship. Nobile insisted that he steered the entire flight and asserted that Ellsworth was "just a passenger."[149]
  • Born: Helen Gallagher, American stage actress and soap opera performer, winner of the Tony Award in 1952 and in 1971 for No, No, Nanette, and three Daytime Emmy awards for Ryan's Hope in 1976, 1977 and 1988; in New York City (d. 2024)Tate 1991, p. 244.
  • Died:
    • Charles Avery (stage name for Charles Avery Bradford), 53, American silent film director and actor known for being one of the original seven Keystone Cops, died in the bathroom of his apartment in Hollywood, California. His body would be found four days later.[150]
    • Ada Cambridge, 81, English-born Australian writer of serial novels and romance fiction[151]

July 20, 1926 (Tuesday)

  • Édouard Herriot took office as the new Prime Minister of France and his new Finance Minister Anatole de Monzie worked on presentation for his plans to save the franc, which had continued to plummet, down to 49.22 against the U.S. dollar.[152][153]
  • The grand jury in the Aimee Semple McPherson case adjourned, finding insufficient evidence to indict McPherson and her mother on charges of manufacturing evidence and giving false testimony to police.[59]
  • Born: Manolo Navarro, Spanish matador celebrated as "el decano de lost matadores" ("the dean of the bullfighters"); in Albacete (died from COVID-19, 2020)[154]
  • Died: Felix Dzerzhinsky, 48, Soviet Russian police agency administrator who was the first director of the secret police organizations Cheka and its successors, the GPU and the OGPU, died of a heart attack at his apartment, hours after delivering a two-hour speech to the Central Committee of the Soviet Communist Party.[155][156]

July 21, 1926 (Wednesday)

July 22, 1926 (Thursday)

July 23, 1926 (Friday)

  • Raymond Poincaré formed the new government in France. He took the positions of both prime minister and Finance Minister.
  • Fox Studios purchased all rights to the patents owned by the Case Research Lab for the Movietone sound system for recording sound onto film.[179]
  • New revelations came out in the Aimee Semple McPherson kidnapping mystery, as claims surfaced that McPherson had been around Carmel-by-the-Sea, California, living in a rented cottage with a man named Kenneth Ormiston during the time she was allegedly kidnapped.[59]
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  • Died:
    • Kurt Wüsthoff, 29, German flying ace with 27 confirmed victoriies in World War One, died five days after crashing while at a flying show practicing aerobatics. The air show was in commemoration of the death of Max Immelmann, another German flying ace, who had been killed when his airplane crashed after being shot down.[182]
    • Kaneko Fumiko, 23, Japanese anarchist, died of an apparent suicide in her jail cell after rejecting a commutation of her death sentence to life imprisonment for plotting an assassination of the Emperor.[183]

July 24, 1926 (Saturday)

July 25, 1926 (Sunday)

  • On the last Sunday before the anti-religious Calles Law was to take effect in Mexico, thousands of Roman Catholics made a pilgrimage to Tepeyac the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe, and to other shrines and churches in the country. The journey followed the publication in newspapers around Mexico of a pastoral letter, signed by the Archbishop of Mexico City, José Mora y del Rio, as well as seven other archbishops and 29 bishops, ordering the suspension of services in all Catholic churches and directing all priests to stay away effective July 31. The advertisements also called for, as an act of protest, an boycott of businesses supporting the Calles Law.[192][193]
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July 26, 1926 (Monday)

July 27, 1926 (Tuesday)

July 28, 1926 (Wednesday)

1923 photo of an MS-1 plane on the deck of the submarine USS S-1

July 29, 1926 (Thursday)

  • The Convention and Statute on the International Régime of Maritime Ports, signed in Geneva on December 9, 1923 to provide freedom of access to maritime ports without regard to a ship's nationality or maritime flag, went into effect.[216]
  • A group of 2,000 pilgrims from Milan, attempting to visit the church of the Madonna del Sasso in Locarno were barred by Italian authorities from crossing the border into Switzerland. Premier Benito Mussolini had ordered Italians to spend their money within Italy.[217] The event marked the first time in 400 years that the pilgrimage from Italy had been stopped.[218]
  • After spending one night in jail, ganglord Al Capone of Cicero, Illinois, was freed after having been arrested on charges arising from the April 27 murder of assistant State's Attorney William McSwiggin and two friends, James J. Doherty, and Thomas "Red" Duffy. The new assistant State's Attorney, George E. Gorman, said that the state of Illinois did not have evidence to support the charge. Capone posted a $5,000 bond for other charges arising from an indictment for conspiracy to violate the prohibition law.[219]
  • Born: Jacek Bochenski, Polish novelist, nonfiction writer and dissident; in Lwow (now Lviv in Ukraine[220] (alive in 2026)

July 30, 1926 (Friday)

July 31, 1926 (Saturday)

  • The "Calles Law", an anticlerical executive decree by Mexico's President Plutarco Elías Calles for strict regulation of religion (including government licensing of Roman Catholic priests) went into effect after having been announced on June 14.[226] The Catholic Archbishop of Mexico, José Mora y del Rio, directed the nation's priests to go on strike, and rioting broke out with three people dying, others injured more than 50 arrested.[227] Four days later, on August 3, the Cristero War, an uprising by the LNDLR (Liga Nacional Defensora de la Libertad Religiosa), nicknamed Los Cristeros), would begin as a peasant uprising against the Calles government.[226] The day before, police in Mexico City fired on a group that refused to leave the San Rafael Church, and firefighters used water cannons to disperse angry crowds who were throwing stones at authorities.[228]
  • By a margin of 295 to 188, the French Chamber of Deputies voted overwhelmingly in favour of Prime Minister Raymond Poincaré's drastic tax increase plan to save the nation from bankruptcy by adding 2.5 billion francs (equivalent to $62 million U.S.) to the nation's treasury in 1926 and nine billion francs (90 million U.S. dollars) in 1927. Poincare warned deputies that every day of delay in passage would cost the French Treasury 16 million francs.[229][230]
  • Born:

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