The First Dynasty of Egypt is founded.

 

c. 1200-800 BC

High point of Phoenician culture

 

c. 1100 BC

Founding of Gades (Cadiz) as a Phoenician outpost.

 

814 BC

Founding of Carthage by settlers from Tyre

 

560-559 BC

Solon is told the story of Atlantis by a priest he meets in Egypt.

 

355 BC

Plato writes about Atlantis.

 

 c. 300 BC

Establishment of the Library at Alexandria 

 

146 BC

Destruction of Carthage by Publius Cornelius Scipio Aemilianus at end of 3rd Punic War.

 

50 BC

Cleopatra assumes the throne of Egypt.

 

48 BC

Fire and sack of the Library at Alexandria by Julius Caesar.

 

42 BC

Sack of the Library at Pergamon by Mark Anthony 

 

 

330

Constantine the Great moves the capital from Rome to Constantinople.

 

 

 

 

 

Final destruction of the Library at Alexandria decreed by Christian Emperor Theodosius I.

 

 

c 500

Chichen Itza is established.

 

 

529

 

Founding of The Benedictine Order – dedicated to the preservation of knowledge and restoration of ancient tomes.

 

793

The Abbey on the island of Lindisfarne is plundered by Vikings.

 

c 800

Significant additions are made to the structure of Chichen Itza by the Toltecs.

Abandonment of Teotihucan

 

921

Ahmad ibn Fadlān ibn al-Abbās ibn Rašīd ibn Hammād is sent from Baghdad as part of an embassy to the Volga Bolgars. Enroute, he falls in with a band of Viking and Celt warriors on the way to defend a local village from attack.

 

 

c. 970 

 

A monastery dedicated to St. Michael and Jerome is constructed on Mount Pirchiriano in the Susa Valley halfway between Italy and France in the Italian Alps, for the Order of St. Jerome, a strict Benedictine sect founded in Auvergne in the 6^th Century. 

 

 

1088

 

Ismaili mystic Hassan ibn Sabbā captures the castle at Alamut to found the Hashshasin Order (a Nizari Shia Ismali sect).

 

1095

November 18-28: Pope Urban holds a council at Clermont and proclaims the First Crusade to liberate Jerusalem from the Saracens.

 

1098

June 3: The Crusaders take Antioch.

 

1099

July 15: The Crusaders take Jerusalem.

 

July 22: Godfrey of Bouillon elected as Defender of the Holy Sepulchre, founding the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem.

 

1113

Foundation of the Sovereign Military Hospitaller Order of St. John in Jerusalem

 

1119

The Order of Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Christ and of the Temple of Solomon (Knights Templar) founded in Jerusalem.

 

1133

June 4: Lothar III crowned as 1^st Holy Roman Emperor by Pope Innocent II in Rome.

 

1146

Pope Eugenius III proclaims the Second Crusade on God’s behalf.

 

1150

Knights Templar begin generating letters of credit for pilgrims journeying to the Holy Land.

 

1163

Construction of Notre Dame de Paris begins.

 

1187

December: Pope Gregory VIII proclaims the Third Crusade to liberate Jerusalem.

 

1198

August 15: Pope Innocent III proclaims the Fourth Crusade to recover Jerusalem.

 

1204

Knights of the Fourth Crusade sack Constantinople.

 

1215 

The Dominican Order is founded, emphasizing poverty and dedication as a means to fight heresy (and the Cathar heresy in particular).

 

1235

Commencement of an Inquisition ordered by the Vatican.

 

1256 

15 December: Destruction of the fortress and library at Alamut and downfall of the Hashshashin Order by the Mongol warlord Hülegü.

 

c. 1300

The Black Plague sweeps through Europe.

The Anasazi culture disappears in the Southwest.

 

1307

13 October: Suppression of the Knights Templar ordered by Pope Clement V in Avignon and King Philip IV of France.

 

1312

At Council of Vienne, Clement V issues Bull of Ad Providam, turning all remaining Templar assets over to Knights Hospitaller.

 

1345

Construction of Notre Dame de Paris is completed.

 

1408

12 December: The Order of the Dragon (“Societas Draconistrarum”) founded by Sigismund, King of Hungary, and his wife Queen Barbara of Celje following the battle of Bosnia.

 

1452

Leonardo DaVinci is born.

 

1505

Formation of The Pontifical Swiss Guard by Pope Giulio II

 

1513

Juan Ponce de Leon makes his first exploration in Florida, seeking the legendary "fountain of youth." Instead he finds death by an Indian arrow.

 

1519

Leonardo DaVinci dies.

 

1588

Defeat of the Spanish Armada.

 

c 1623

Gruesome witch trials begin in Bamberg, Germany. 

 

1643

Innsmouth, Massachusetts founded.

 

1690

Miskatonic University is founded in Arkham, Massachusetts.

 

1692

The Salem Witch Trials.

 

1748

Excavation of the buried city of Pompeii by Alcubierre.

 

1771

The Earth passes through the tail of comet Lexell. The comet passes .0151 Astronomical Units from Earth, just a few times the distance of the Moon, crossing the Northern sky close to Polaris on its way into the Solar system toward the Sun. No comet is known to have passed closer (except for the poorly recorded course of the 1491 comet, which may have been as close as .0094 AU). 

Geraud de Brahm, a German engineer and the first white man to explore the region now known as North Carolina reports what has come to be known as the "Brown Mountain Lights." The lights, also reported in Indian legend, are described as dancing, flickering, and darting. Sometimes at night they seem to drift slowly, fading and brightening. At other times they seem to whirl like pinwheels, then dart rapidly away. Brown Mountain is located in Burke County, between Morganton and Lenoir, in the western part of North Carolina.   

 

1795

December 13: At 3pm, a meteorite crashed to earth on the outskirts of Wold Newton, a small Yorkshire Wolds village parish in Yorkshire, England. It is situated approximately 9 miles south of Scarborough and 9 miles north of Bridlington. This was the first observed meteorite fall in Britain, and was used by scientists as proof that Extraterrestrial matter existed. Fragments gather by the naturalist are now held by the Natural History Museum in London.

 

1805

Members of the Lewis and Clark expedition, exploring the Northwest, write of Indian men who are able to change their shape into that of a wolf.

 

1814

Napoleon's defeat cedes St. Lucia, Malta, Mauritius, British Guiana, Windward Islands and Cape of Good Hope to UK.

 

1843

Site of Nineveh discovered by Botta.

 

1848

The first reported case of "communication with spirits," in the form of a poltergeist in the Fox family home in Hydesville, NY.

 

1855

Yellow Fever, spread by mosquitoes, kills many people in the United States as far north as Boston.

 

1869

Opening of the Suez Canal

 

1870

Schliemann discovers the lost city of Troy

 

1877

Queen Victoria proclaimed Empress of India

H. Rider Haggard, as secretary to the Minister of Natal, raises the Union Jack over Pretoria with his own hands when England annexes the territory.

 

1878

The great Yellow Fever epidemic of New Orleans 

Boy's Own Paper launched in the UK.

 

1881

First excavations in the Valley of Kings by Brugsch.

 

1882

The Psychic Research Association is founded in New York City.

Ignatius Donnelly publishes "Atlantis: The Antediluvian World".

Gaetan Moliere begins exploring the vast sewer networks beneath Paris.

British occupation of Egypt.

 

1887

The Arkham Gentlemen’s Club is founded in Arkham, Massachusetts by renowned archaeologists Adrian Macalister, Chester Macalister and William Tyler-Hutchenson.

 

1888

The 'Jack the Ripper' murders of at least five London prostitutes.

The Arkham Gentlemen’s Club funds Miskatonic University’s expedition to Central America to study various known Aztec Pyramids.

 

1893

The Waldorf-Astoria Hotel opens in New York. Salad history is made.

 

1894

Late July/Early August: During the opposition of Mars, a great light is seen on illuminated part of the Martian disk.

 

1896 - 1898

Strange marks seen on the Martian disk during Opposition.

The “Macalister Collection” added to the Miskatonic Library.

 

1899

The Arkham Gentleman’s Club is reformed under the name of the Arkham Foundation, with membership open to all those in academia and professions dealing with Archaeology and the Paranormal.

 

1900

The first Zeppelin, 420 feet long, takes to the air.

Radon is discovered.

Max Planck formulates quantum theory, shaking conventional physics.

August: Eleven jets of green gas seen erupting from the surface of Mars, one per day.

The Boxer Rebellion takes place in China.

 

1901

The Mombasa-Lake Victoria railway is completed.

March 15: Horse racing is banned in San Francisco, last race held on March 16th.

May 12: President William McKinley visits San Francisco.

August 01: Burials within San Francisco City limits prohibited.

August 15: Arch Rock, danger to Bay shipping, blasted with 30 tons of nitrogelatin.

 

1902

The Aswan Dam opens.

December 14: The Silverton sets sail from the Bay Area to lay the first telephone cable between San Francisco and Honolulu. The project was completed by January 1, 1903.

 

1903

After The Tibetans refuse to enter negotiations, Lord Curzon, the British Viceroy of India, sends a British Army Expedition led by Sir Francis Younghusband into Tibet to ostensibly negotiate "frontiers and trade". A treaty is eventually signed in September 1904, after the Dalai Lama flees to Mongolia. 

May 14: President Theodore Roosevelt visits San Francisco

October 26: The Yerba Buena is the first Key System ferry to cross San Francisco Bay from Oakland.

December 17: The Wright brothers successfully fly a gasoline-powered airplane at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina.

 

1904

October 17: Bank of Italy (Bank of America) opens its doors.

 

1905

Sinn Fein founded in Dublin

January 22:'Bloody Sunday' uprising takes place in St. Petersburg as a demonstration is brutally crushed by police, followed by a general

June 29: Mutiny on the battleship Potemkin in Odessa.

 

1906

April 19: Massive earthquake in San Francisco.

 

1907

September 07: Sutro's ornate "Cliff House" in SF destroyed by fire.

 

1908

May 23: A dirigible is launched from Berkeley, California, but almost immediately crashes; 9 of the 16 passengers are injured.

 

1909

National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) founded.

 

1911

The Sullivan Act prohibits the concealed carry of firearms in New York City.

December 29: San Francisco Symphony formed.

 

1912

The South African Native National Congress, the forerunner of the African National Congress, is formed.

Jan 01: 1st running of SF's famed "Bay to Breakers" race (7.63 miles).

April 15: The RMS Titanic sinks.

 

1913

Apr 26: Panama-Pacific International Exposition, commerorating the construction of the Panama Canal, opens in SF.

 

1914

Panama Canal opens for shipping business

Igor Stravinsky's "The Rite of Spring" musically depicts a girl dancing herself to death in a pagan ritual.

Feb 16: First airplane flight to Los Angeles from San Francisco.

June 28: The assassination of Archduke Ferdinand by the Black Hand, a Serbian independence group, triggers the Great War.

Dec 11: Stockton Street Tunnel completed.

 

1915

Feb 21: World's Fair in San Francisco opens.

 

1916

Jul 22: A bomb was set off during a "Preparedness Day" parade in San Francisco, killing 10 and injuring 40 more. Thomas J. Mooney, a labor organizer and Warren K. Billings, a shoe worker, were convicted, but were both pardoned in 1939.

Oct 04: Market Street's "Path of Gold" streetlights lit for first time.

Zeppelin raids on Paris

Sinn Fein lead the Easter Rebellion in Dublin

Anzacs arrive in France

First use of tanks on the Western Front

Pancho Villa leads raid into New Mexico

Grigoriy Rasputin dies, murdered by a clique of aristocrats, but before finally dying he is poisoned, stabbed, shot and drowned.

 

1917

Revolution in Russia forces the Czar to abdicate

Battle of Passchendaele is fought where at least 300,000 men die.

The Allies execute Mata Hari as a spy

The first Pulitzer prizes are awarded

The Trans-Siberian railroad is completed 

Feb 15: San Francisco Public Library (Main Branch at Civic Center) dedicated.

April 6:: The U.S. enters the Great War.

December 6: The munitions ship Mont Blanc, already on fire from a collision with the Belgian relief ship Imo, glances off Pier 6 in the north end of Halifax Harbour and explodes, causing over 1000 deaths.

 

1918

USS Cyclops leaves Barbados and is never seen again.

Global influenza epidemic strikes, to kill 22,000,000 by 1920

Estimated total casualties of the Great War exceed 8,500,000.

Mar 14: The first seagoing ship made of concrete is launched at Redwood City.

November 11: An armistice is signed, ending the Great War.

 

1919

January 16: the 18th Amendment is ratified, to take effect next year.

Jun. 29: Treaty of Versailles signed, marking the official end of the Great War for Germany

October 10: Treaty of Saint Germain signed, marking the end of the Great War for Austria.

October: Eight members of the Chicago Red Sox, bribed by gamblers, throw the World Series.

 

1920

The Dalai Lama opens Tibet to outsiders after the political situation involving China and Russia relaxes somewhat.

The Republic of Turkey is born as the Ottoman Empire, once one of the most powerful and influential empires in the world, officially relinquishes its claim to all territories lost during the Great War.

First radio broadcasting station begins operation.

Nineteenth Amendment, US women’s suffrage, is ratified.

US population is 106 million.

Sun Myung Moon born in Seoul, South Korea.

Attempts to extradite the German Kaiser from the Netherlands fail.

Spain founds the Spanish Legion, a unit equivalent to the French Foreign Legion.

January 10: The League of Nations is formally established in Paris and subsequently moves to Geneva. 47 nations are members by year-end.

January 16: The 18th Amendment (Prohibition) goes into effect; the enforcing Volstead Act makes the manufacture, transportation, import, export, and sale of alcoholic beverages illegal.

February

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police begins operations.

Anna Anderson claims she is Anastasia, Grand Duchess of Russia and daughter to Tsar Nicholas II.

League of Women Voters founded in Chicago, Illinois.

April - May

The first game of the Negro National League is played in Indianapolis, Indiana.

Joan of Arc is canonized as Saint Joan by Pope Benedict XV.

After a failed coup, German communists form a 50,000-man "worker’s army" called the Red Ruhr Army. This army quickly defeats the police and army units sent to stop them, and threatens to turn Germany into the second communist state. After negotiations with the Red Ruhr Army fail Germany sends in a large force consisting of regular army troops, veterans of WWI. A state of civil war now effectively exists in Germany.

November: Warren Harding, a card carrying member of the KKK, is elected president of the United States.

November 15: The first Assembly of the League of Nations is convened by President Wilson in Geneva.

November 21: "Bloody Sunday" - British forces open fire on spectators during a soccer match at Dublin’s Croke Park following the deaths of 12 British agents.

 

1921 

South African Communist Party founded.

Arkham Asylum opened.

John T. Thompson patents the Thompson sub-machine gun, also known as the "Tommy gun," the "Chicago typewriter," and the "Chicago piano."

Jan 02: De Young Museum in Golden Gate Park opens.

Dec 31: Last San Francisco firehorses retired.

  

1922 

February: Egypt gains independence from Britain.

  

1923

Communist Party of India founded.

Feb 17: King Tut’s tomb is opened. The supposed Curse later kills many of the members of the expedition.

August 2: Warren G. Harding, 29th President of the United States, dies of an apparent heart attack or stroke at the St. Francis Hotel (after becoming the first president to visit Alaska.) He was 58 years old.

Sep 29: Steinhart Aquarium in Golden Gate Park opens to public.

  

1924  

Paper egg cartons and Kleenex are introduced.

The Hip Sing and On Leong tongs begin a war for the control of Chinatown rackets across the country; it will last for several years.

May 10: J. Edgar Hoover appointed as acting director of the Bureau of Investigation; and permanent director on December 10.

June 12: The last major train robbery in the U.S. takes place near Rondout, Illinois. The bandits steal over $2 million from a mail train, but are soon captured by police.

Oct 11: Palace of Legion of Honor dedicated in San Francisco.

November: The first Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade is held in New York City.

 

1925 

IG Farben is organized as a conglomerate of several smaller companies; the resulting company dominates the world's chemical industry.

Japan refuses to sign Geneva Convention ban on biological weapons.

January: The "Great Race of Mercy" relays diphtheria antitoxin via dogsled to Nome, Alaska. In the years that follow, this race is commemorated yearly as the Iditarod sled race.

February: The New Yorker magazine debuts. 

March: The Scopes Monkey Trial is held in Tennessee over the teaching of evolution in public schools. John T. Scopes is found guilty of teaching evolution and fined 100 dollars.

May 2: Kezar Stadium in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park opens.

July: Adolf Hitler publishes Mein Kampf ("My Struggle") from prison.

September 3: Dirigible Shenandoah crashes, killing 14.

September: Robber "Pretty Boy" Floyd first achieves national attention.

October 25: The first use of a Thompson SMG by gangsters, in Chicago.

  

1926 

The Auburn Automobile Company purchases Duesenberg, Inc. of Indianapolis in bankruptcy court.

Trotsky expelled from Politburo.

Rolex waterproof watch introduced.

Percy expedition disappears in the Brazilian Jungle.

March: Robert Goddard fires his first liquid-fueled rocket in Auburn, Massachusetts.

May: In separate flights, Admiral Richard Byrd and Roald Amundsen transit the North Pole. 

Oct 04: Dahlia is officially designated as SF city flower.

October 16: President Coolidge assigns 2500 Marines to guard mail shipments across the U.S. 250 of them will be equipped with Thompson submachineguns, the first first use of such weapons by the U.S. military.

October 31: Magician Harry Houdini dies of acute appendicitis.

December 17: KYA-AM in San Francisco begins radio transmissions.

December 27: The Chicago Police Department announces it will purchase 34 Thompson submachineguns to "quell gang violence". 

 

1927

Lindbergh flies solo and non-stop form New York to Paris.

A famous "Crystal Skull" is discovered in the ruins of Lubaantun in British Honduras, by F.A. Mitchell-Hedges, an amateur archaeologist and adventurer.

January: First transatlantic telephone call from New York to London.

January 15 The Dumbarton Bridge, first to cross the San Francisco Bay, opens.

May 07 San Francisco Municipal Airport (Mills Field) dedicated.

May 10: A new federal law bans shipping firearms through the mail.

  

1928

Byrd expedition to Antarctica.

Geiger counter and Vitamin C introduced.

14,700 cars were produced by the Auburn Automobile Company.

Studebaker bought $5.7 million in Pierce-Arrow stock, putting it in the number four position among US auto companies, behind Ford, General Motors and Chrysler.

February: The Federal government conducts several raids in and around Innsmouth, Massachusetts.

Apr 15: Alioto's on Fisherman's Wharf (SF) opens.

July 1: The first submachinegun murder in New York City, seen as a sign of the spread of "Chicago-style" violence.

December: The "Grand Council" of the Mafia meets for the first time, at the Statler Hotel in Cleveland. Their main concern: the ongoing war between Chicago's gangs.

  

1929 

Edwin Hubble, an American astronomer, proves that the Milky Way is not the only galaxy in the universe.

Albert Einstein announces a new theory relating gravity and electromagnetism

French Gabrielle "Coco" Chanel emerges as the queen of fashion

Bell Laboratories in New York demonstrates a system for color TV

First transcontinental all-air service begins from NY to LA (with one overnight stop).

Wyatt Earp dies in his sleep at 80.

Mussolini signs the Lateran Treaty, recognizing the sovereignty of the Vatican

Pope Pius XI becomes the first pontiff in 59 years to leave the Vatican.

French Premier Briand makes first proposal of a European Union at the League of Nations.

Months of incessant fighting between Jews and Muslims culminates in the Hebron Massacre.

48 nations sign Geneva Convention regarding treatment of war prisoners.

An explosion in a Cleveland hospital leads to the death of 124 people by poison gas

Charles Lindbergh marries Anne Spencer Morrow

Douglas Fairbanks Jr. marries Joan Crawford

Former Interior Secretary Albert Fall sent to prison and fined for part in "Teapot Dome" scandal.

Scotch tape introduced.

45,000 cars were produced by the Auburn Automobile Company.

E.L. Cord forms the Cord Corporation, a holding company which owned the Auburn Automobile Co. America's first front wheel drive car, the Cord L-29 Sedan is produced.

Pierce-Arrow introduces a new straight-eight line of long and low cars with a top speed of 85 mph, setting a sales record of nearly 10,000 cars. The new cars were offered in two models, the 133 in 12 body styles ranging in price from $2875 to $3325, and the 143 in seven body styles priced from $3750 to $8200.

January 6: Adolph Hitler appoints Heinrich Himmler as head of the SS, a "protection" unit for various Nazi leaders in Germany.

February 6: Dan Daly retires from the Marine Corps. He is employed as a bank guard in New York City.

February 14: The St. Valentine's Day Massacre of 7 rivals of Al Capone. The nation is horrified by the level of violence in Chicago; Al Capone is forced to reluctantly crack down on speak-easies; and it inspires the creation of the first "crime lab" at Northwestern University's School of Law (by Major Calvin Goddard).

March Herbert Hoover sworn in as President.

March 30:  Imperial Airways begins its London to Karachi service, a trip of 7 days.

May 13 - 15: Mobsters from the Midwestern and East Coast gangs meet in Atlantic City to form a national "crime syndicate".

October 24: Black Thursday, the Great Stock Market Crash marks the beginning of the Great Depression.

The Graf Zeppelin circles the world.

Aug 25: Graf Zeppelin passes over San Francisco, headed for Los Angeles after its trans-Pacific voyage from Tokyo.

Sep 11: San Francisco Mayor Rolph inaugurates new pedestrian traffic light system.

October 24: Black Thursday, the Great Stock Market Crash: some 13,000,000 shares are sold in a panic, marks the beginning of the Great Depression.

November: Admiral Richard Byrd becomes the first person to fly over the South Pole.

 

1930 

Clyde Barrow begins to gain a wide reputation as a bank robber.

"The Shadow" appears on CBS Radio and in print.

Radar used to detect airborne objects.

Wonder sliced bread introduced to the market. First frozen foods marketed. Bathysphere and Lawrence cyclotron invented.

The Lone Ranger makes his radio debut.

Federal Bureau of Narcotics formed.

Pavlov begins applying knowledge of conditioned reflex to human psychosis.

Eleven billion cigarettes are sold this year.

A sound-locator acoustic system for detection of aircraft in flight was developed

The Nazi party places second in German elections, but Adolf Hitler is kept from his seat in the Reichstag because he is an Austrian citizen.

In South Africa, white women can now vote, but blacks are still excluded under the regime that would soon be called apartheid.

Pluto, the ninth planet, is discovered by astronomers.

President Herbert Hoover signs the Hawley-Smoot Tariff Act, weakening the already failing global economy.

Over 1,300 American banks fail and unemployment exceeds 4 million as the Depression sinks lower.

British Airship R101 crashes in France en-route to India on its maiden voyage, killing 47.

February 10: 186 are indicted in a huge rum-running plot in Chicago, valued at $50,000,000.

March 28: Turkish nationalists change Greek name of Constantinople to Istanbul

April 3: Telephone service from the United States to South America is available for the first time.

In Abyssinia (Ethiopia), Ras Tafari becomes Emperor. He takes the name Haile Selassie (‘Might of the Trinity’).

April 8: Orville Wright is presented with the first Daniel Guggenheim Medal for Aeronautics for 1929

April 20: Charles Lindbergh and Anne Morrow set a transcontinental speed record from Los Angeles to New York, 14 hours, 45 minutes

April 24: The Chicago Crime Commission publishes its first list of "Public Enemies", with Al Capone as Number One. The Commission employs the "Secret Six", investigators and perhaps also vigilantes.

May 5-24: Amy Johnson becomes the first woman to solo between England and Australia.

May 7: The Maxim Company announces it will no longer manufacture silencers.

May 28: The Chrysler Building officially opens.

June 4; Lt. Apollo Soucek, flying a Wright "Apache" open cockpit landplane, sets a new world altitude record of 43,166 ft.

June 11: John and Kenneth Hunter begin a refueling endurance flight over Chicago, which breaks all records when they remain in the air for 533 hours, 41 minutes and 30 seconds

July 4: The Nation of Islam is founded in Detriot, Michigan.

August 6: State Supreme Court Justice Joseph Crater becomes and remains New York's most famous missing person.

August 13: A giant meteorite lands deep in the Amazon rain forest, causing a tremendous explosion.

September 7: The Barker-Karpis gang robs the Lincoln National Bank and Trust of $2.7 million, a record amount.

September: France's Costes and Bellonte become the first to link Paris and New York by flying east to west

September 28: Daniel Guggenheim dies at his home in Port Washington, Long Island

  

1931 

Nazi SS leader Heinrich Himmler gives Reinhard Heydrich the assignment to build an intelligence service inside the SS, the Sicherheitsdienst (SD).

Dust Bowl begins, thanks to a drought that continues on until 1939.

The Empire State Building is completed, making it the world's tallest structure.

Adolph Rickenbacker applies for a patent on the Electric Guitar.

Alka-Seltzer and electric razors introduced.

A 34-year-old Baptist preacher named Elijah Poole joins the Nation of Islam and becomes Elijah Muhammad, leader of the Black Muslims.

Unemployed Americans march on the White House, demanding a national program of employment at a minimum wage. They are turned away.

Japan occupies Manchuria (which they call Manchukuo), beginning a period of Sino-Japanese conflict which doesn’t end until Japan’s defeat at the end of the Second World War.

“The Star Spangled Banner" becomes the American national anthem.

34,000 cars were produced by the Auburn Automobile Company. Company assets at $25,000,000.

Britain's' Frank Whittle designed and patents the first jet engine.

January: Italy's Air Minister, General Italo Balbo, leads the first formation flight across the South Atlantic.

February 12: Dracula, starring Bela Lugosi, appears on the silver screen.

April 8: Amelia Earhart establishes the Pitcairn autogyro world's altitude record at 18,451 ft.

May 31: A pilotless monoplane is successfully flown by radio control from another plane in Houston, Texas.

June 23 - July 1: Winnie Mae: first circumnavigation of the world by a lone aircraft by Wiley Post and Harold Gatty.

September 10: With the assassination of Salvatore Maranzano, "Lucky" Luciano begins his final ascent to control of the national "Syndicate".

September 18 Units of the Japanese Kwantung Army attack the Chinese 7th Brigade at its barracks near Mukden after claiming that a section of the South Manchurian Railway had been sabotaged by the Chinese. Subsequently, Japanese forces occupy Manchuria and rename it Manchukuo; it becomes a dependent state with a puppet president, Poe Yi.

October 4 - 5: First nonstop crossing of the Pacific: Clyde Pangborn and Hugh Herndon in a Bellanca CH-400, Japan to Wenatchee, Washington.

October 24: Al Capone is sentenced to 11 years in prison for income tax evasion. In his absence, one of his lieutenants, Frank Nitti, begins trying to wrest control of the Chicago mobs.

November 21: Frankenstein, starring Boris Karloff appears on the silver screen. The film was banned in Kansas upon its original release on the grounds that it exhibited "cruelty and tended to debase morals".

December 17: "Legs" Diamond is finally murdered in Albany, New York after many attempts on his life.

  

1932  

The 20th Amendment, which will move the presidential inauguration to January 20, is sent to the states for ratification

The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier is dedicated in Arlington National Cemetery

The U.S. teams win 16 gold medals in the Summer Olympics in Los Angeles

The first Autobahn was opened between Cologne and Bonn, designed for motor vehicles with a speed of at least 25 mph and having four 25-foot-wide lanes for each traffic direction.

Gandhi begins fasting to protest British treatment of India’s untouchable caste. After just 6 days, he wins concessions.

The Chaco War breaks out between Paraguay and Bolivia; it ends in 1935.

Amelia Earhart becomes the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic.

Buck Rogers airs on CBS radio.

Route 66 Opens. Zippo lighter and Mars Bar introduced.

Mohandas Gandhi begins fasting to protest British treatment of India's untouchable caste. After just 6 days, he wins concessions.

Wall Street’s Dow Jones Industrial hits its Depression-era low, 41.22.

Physicists Sir John Douglas Cockcroft and Ernest Walton split the atom for the first time.

The Great Depression continues to take a heavy toll: in this year alone, 1,161 banks fail, nearly 20,000 businesses go bankrupt, and 21,000 people commit suicide.

February 2: League of Nations convenes a two-year Conference in Geneva for the Reduction and Limitation of Armaments.

March 1: The son of noted aviator Charles Lindbergh is kidnapped and dies. Richard Bruno Hauptmann is eventually arrested for the crime, beginning the “Trial of the Century.”

March 29: A bank robbery in Minneapolis is the first large-scale, nationally reported crime by the Barker-Karpis gang.

June 7: "Pretty Boy" Floyd and accomplices escape from a police trap in Okalahoma, in part because they are wearing bullet-proof vests, sleeves, and skullcaps.

June 19: The first concert is given in San Francisco's Stern Grove.

July 1: the Bureau of Investigation becomes the Federal Bureau of Investigation; interstate kidnapping is added to the crimes which the FBI can investigate.

July: The Nazi Party receives the largest share of the vote in German elections, but they fail to gain a majority.

August 7: Soviet Russia announces a law on the protection of state property; citizens can be shot for taking so much as a single ear of wheat from a collective farm.

September: A border dispute erupts into war between Peru and Colombia. Fighting lasts until May 1934.

September 14: Germany notifies the President of the Conference for the Reduction and Limitation of Armaments of its decision to withdraw from the Conference.

October 15: The War Memorial Opera House opens in San Francisco, becoming the first municipally-owned opera palace in the US. "Tosca" was the first opera presented.

November 8: Franklin Delano Roosevelt, pleadging a “New Deal”, is elected President.

November 24: The FBI establishes the "nation's first crime lab", failing to mention the lab at Northwestern University ...

December 6: A Soviet decree proclaims a complete blockade of villages sabotaging grain procurement.

December 11: San Francisco's coldest day (27 degrees F), snow falls.

December 22: The Mummy, starring Boris Karloff, appears on the silver screen.

  

1933

Canonization of Saint Bernadette of Lourdes

Karl Jansky announces the detection of radio waves from the centre of the galaxy.

January 3: Japanese troops occupy Shanghai.

January 15: Political violence has caused almost 100 deaths this year in Spain.

January 17: U.S. Congress votes favorably for Philippine independence, against the view of President Hoover.

Chicago's mayor Cermak orders the police to stop working with the "Secret Six", claiming their vigilante practices were getting out of hand.

January 23: President Hindenburg of Germany denies Chancellor von Schleicher's request for power to rule by decree.

January 30: Adolf Hitler is appointed as Chancellor of Germany, replacing General Kurt von Schleicher. The SS and SA have grown to a membership of tens of thousands.

Edouard Daladier forms a government in France.

The first of 2,956 episodes of "The Lone Ranger" airs on the radio.

February: During this month and into early March, bank holidays of several days or weeks duration are declared by the governors of every state in the U.S..

February 2: The Ahnenerbe is founded by Prof. Frederick Hielscher, spiritual teacher of Wolfram Sievers (who eventually becomes director of the Ahnenerbe after it is absorbed into the Nazi bureaucracy in 1935). The Austrian mystic Karl Maria Wiligut joins the Ahnenerbe (and the SS) later this year.

February 3: Chancellor Adolph Hitler speaks to the commanders of the German army and navy of the need for "a New Order": an authoritarian state purged of Marxism and pacifism, the occupation of living space in the East ("Lebensraum im Osten" and "Germanisierung") for the German people, rearmament, and resistance to the Versailles Treaty. He stressed the importance of the military and promised not to involve it in domestic political disputes. This speech is not reported in the press.

February 4: A mutiny breaks out in Java on the Dutch cruiser Zeven Provincien. The Sumatran crew ejects the Dutch officers and puts out to sea.

February 6: The 20th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution goes into effect.

New elections are scheduled for March 5th in Germany; the Nazis are expected to consolidate their hold on political power.

February 9: John "Killer" Schmidt, "Gloomy" Gus Schafer and others rob a U.S. mail truck of $233,411 at Sacramento, California.

February 10: The first singing telegram service begins in New York City.

A penumbral eclipse of the moon is visible in Asia, Australia, and western North America.

February 15: Giuseppe Zangara attempts to assassinate President-elect Franklin D. Roosevelt, but instead mortally wounds Chicago, Illinois Mayor Anton J. Cermak (dies March 6th).

February 20: The Blaine Act begins the process for the repeal of the Eighteenth Amendment.

February 25: The USS Ranger is launched in Newport News, Virginia, becoming the first purpose-built aircraft carrier. 

February 26: Golden Gate Bridge ground-breaking ceremony held at Crissy Field.

February 27: The Reichstag Fire, set by a Dutch Communist, is used as an excuse for a decree the following day "for the Protection of the Nation and State", suspending civil liberties, and expanding the police powers of the German government. The decree effectively establishes a dictatorship in Germany.

March: The government-produced famine in the Ukraine is at its peak; 25,000 people are dying every day. 7 million or more people will die of the famine this year, more than a quarter of the Ukraine's population. In fact, this year the Soviet Union exports 1.7 million tons of grain to the West. No foreigners are allowed into the Ukraine, and international news coverage only reports "some hunger".

March 3: $1.2 million worth of jewelry is stolen from a display at a charity ball in San Francisco, despite a strong police guard. A strange vapor of Chinese origin is used by the thieves to render bystanders and police unconscious. One of the thieves, a Chinaman, is captured during the robbery, but dies in jail the next day without revealing any information.

By this afternoon, there is hardly a bank open for business anywhere in the U.S., either due to the States ordering them closed, or due to the bank not being able to provide funds for its depositors.

Earthquakes and tidal waves on the northeast coast of Japan killed over 2500, washed away, shook down, or burned 4500 houses; 2000 fishing boats are missing.

Terrorism increases throughout Cuba, with daily attacks on trains by armed bands of rebels.

March 4: The inaguaration of President Roosevelt; his inaguaration speech includes the famous phrase, "We have nothing to fear, but fear itself". He also states that if Congress fails to pass necessary measures, "I shall ask the Congress for the one remaining instrument to meet the crisis -- broad Executive power to wage a war against the emergency, as great as the power that would be given to me if we were in fact invaded by a foreign foe." See here

All American stock and currency markets are suspended, and bullion transfers are halted.

March 5: A Chinese steamer in San Francisco Bay opens fire on Coast Guard vessels approaching it to perform a search, and 6 Coast Guardsmen are killed. The ship is stormed and found to contain a large amount of armaments for the Chinese government, being transported illegally. 4 of the Chinese crew are killed, and 38 are arrested.

The German Reichstag passes the "Enabling Act" which gives Adolph Hitler dictatorial powers, setting aside the Weimar constitution.

President Roosevelt calls for a special session of Congress to meet on March 9th, to pass legislation needed for national recovery. He proclaims a national banking holiday; the use of "scrip" currency is allowed. The export of gold and silver now requires a Treasury department permit.

In Greece, the general elections are won by the Royalist party headed by Tsaldaris, whereupon a military dictatorship is proclaimed by General Plastiris, followed by a cabinet of union elements. He fled after a few hours and Tsaldaris formed a cabinet.

March 7: At Berlin, Herman Goering, Reich Minister without portfolio, has identified and ordered the suppression of "one of the greatest dangers to German culture and morals": nudists.

March 8: The U.S. Prohibition Bureau announces that it has directed its forces throughout the country to specialize in eradication of the sources of liquor supply, leaving the handling of "speakeasies" to the States.

March 9: The 73rd Congress met in special session this day and passed a measure giving President Roosevelt dictatorial powers over transactions in credit, currency, gold and silver, including foreign exchange. The Senate voted 73 to 7; the House unanimously. Maximum penalties for resisting these measures are $10,000 fine and 10 years in prison. The hoarding and export of gold are forbidden; the records of gold transactions are to be checked to locate gold hoards. Americans have until May 1st to turn in their gold and gold certificates.

March 10: Earthquakes in Southern California, bordering the Pacific Coast, killed 120 persons, mostly in Long Beach. The shockes continued at intervals for two days. Property damage totaled over $40 million.

March 11: The House of Representatives passed President Roosevelt's $500 million economy program, 266 to 138, and sent it on to the Senate.

Nanking troops replaced the North China armies of the resigned Marshal Chiang Hsiao-liang withdrawn from the Manchurian and Jehol frontiers and sent southward for "rest and recuperation".

March 12: A penumbral eclipse of the Moon is visible in the Americas, Europe, Africa, and western Asia. See here

In Germany, a decree announces that the swastika shall become the national emblem.

In Soviet Russia, 33 persons were sentenced to death and executed for efforts to balk the government's "farm reform" plan.

Over 40 persons were electrocuted or crushed to death when an electric wire broke in a movie theater at Ahualulco, in Jalisco state, Mexico.

The first of President Roosevelt's "fireside chats" is broadcast, regarding the banking crisis and measures taken to correct it.

March 13: Most of the large banks, and many of the smaller ones, re-open in the U.S., on licenses issued by the Secretary of the Treasury; deposits exceed withdrawals on this day. During the week, most of the remaining banks and financial institutions in the country resume business, although many states limit the amount which a depositor can withdraw (for example, $50 per week in New York). The currency being issued by the banks are new Federal Reserve Notes, with the Great Seal of the U.S. on the reverse.

Joseph Goebbels becomes Reich Minister for Public Enlightenment and Propaganda.

March 14: The U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill to amend the Volstead Act to legalize beers of up to 3.2% alcoholic content.

Several British employees of the Metropolitan-Vickers Company are arrested by Russian police in Moscow, causing parliamentary protests in London. The Russian authorities allege the Britons were damaging turbines at the Dnieper power plant.

March 15: The U.S. Senate passes Pres. Roosevelt's economic recovery bill.

The N.Y. Stock Exchange and most of the other security and commodity exchanges throughout the country re-opened. Stocks closed up this day an average of 15% over prices on March 4th.

One thousand people attend a dinner in New York City in honor of Albert Einstein.

March 16: The U.S. Senate passes an amended version of the bill legalizing beer, and adds wines of up to the same strength.

March 18: Premier J. R. MacDonald, of Great Britain, begins a three-day conference at Rome with Premier Benito Mussolini, on disarmament and other European problems.

Moslems are in revolt against China at several cities in Sinkiang, near Turkestan.

March 20: Pres. Roosevelt signs the economic recovery bill into law.

Charging that Prof. Albert Einstein had arms and ammunition stored in his secluded home in Caputh, Germany, the National Socialists sent Brown Shirt men and policemen to search it, but the nearest thing to arms they found was a bread knife.

Workers in Spain seize several large estates.

March 21: The first German concentration camp is completed, at Dachau; the commander is Theodor Eicke.

March 22: The President signs into law the legalization of beers and wines up to 3.2% alcoholic content, to take effect on April 7th.

March 23: The German parliament (the Reichstag) passes a bill ("Law for Removing the Distress of the People and the Reich") conferring blanket powers for four years upon the government.

The first political prisoners arrive in Oranienburg concentration camp.

President Juan B. Sacasa lifts the state of siege which has obtained over Nicaragua for two months and appeals to the country to support the peace. Martial law was declared in January following battles between the National Guard and Cesar Augusto Sandino, insurgent leader, who on February 2nd signed a pact ending six years of hostilities.

March 24: Reports in the foreign press of atrocities suffered by German Jews at the hands of the Nazis are branded as "pure invention" in a statement issued by the Central Union of German Citizens of the Jewish Faith.

At Madrid, the Cortes formally approved the seizure of all Catholic Church property in Spain, valued at about $500 million.

A very bright, fiery meteor was visible in Texas, Oklahoma, Arizona, New Mexico, and Colorado.

March 25: A passenger airplane flying from Los Angeles crashes at Hayward; the plane then burns and explods. One house is destroyed, and two others are damaged; 11 persons on the ground are killed, along with the 3 persons in the airplane.

March 27: Japan's foreign minister, Count Yasuya Uchida, gives notice of its withdrawal from the League of Nations, citing irreconcilable differences with the League over Manchuria.

20,000 Jews attend a meeting in New York City's Madison Square Garden, to protest alleged Nazi atrocities against Jews. Similar meetings are held in Chicago, Boston, and other cities.

In Berlin the Nazi party announced that it would boycott Jewish businesses in Germany if Jews in the United States and England continued their own boycott and propoganda activities.

March 28: The Catholic Church lifts the ban it placed on the Nazi movement two years ago.

The German government orders the bans on duelling in German universities to be removed.

March 29: Wang Ching-wei is reelected Premier of China (President of the Executive Council, and Chairman of the Central Political Council), succeeding T.V. Soong, who becomes finance minister.

March 31: President Roosevelt signs a bill removing practically all restrictions from the prescription of liquor by physicians; and another bill establishing the Civilian Conservation Corps, employing 250,000 young men in reforestation, road construction and developing national parks.

April 1: A one-day boycott of Jewish businesses in Germany passes off without serious disorders. The Nazi government seizes Professor Albert Einstein's bank account; he had already renounced his Prussian citizenship.

April 2: In Siam, the King substitutes conservatives for Communists in the State Council; there is no bloodshed.

April 4: U.S. dirigible Akron crashes off the New Jersey coast - 74 dead.

April 5: President Roosevelt issues an executive order prohibiting "hoarding" of gold coins, bullion, and previously-issued gold certificates. All persons must deliver all gold to Federal Reserve Banks by May 1st, to be paid for in "any other form of coin or currency coined or issued under the laws of the United States.". Exceptions include amounts under $100, collectors coins,

April 7: Beer and wine reappeared in the U.S. as a lawful beverage for the first time in 13 years. 19 states (including California) and the District of Columbia allow sales; there are large celebrations in many cities -- in New York City, 160,000 barrels of legal beer were consumed on this day.

The Chinese government abolished the tael as a coin, and substituted the silver dollar.

April 8: The first CCC men arrive at Army camps in the East for two weeks of training.

April 10: Michigan is the first state to ratify the repeal of the Eighteenth Amendment.

April 11: Hermann Goering is appointed as Premier of Prussia.

April 12: Hermann Goering and German Vice Chancellor Fritz von Papen are received in a private audience by Pope Pius.

The U.S. Senate confirms Mrs. Ruth Bryan as Minister to Denmark -- the first woman envoy accredited by the U.S.

The cruiser USS New Orleans is launched at the Brooklyn Navy Yard.

April 13: At London, Lieutenant Norman Baillie-Stewart of the Seaforth Highlanders, who was recently court-martialled under the Official Secrets Act, is sentenced to dishonorable dismissal from the army and five years imprisonment in the Tower of London. He gave military secrets to Germany in return for sexual favors, and out of admiration for Germany.

April 15: The new U.S. ambassador to Mexico, Josephus Daniels, arrives safely in Mexico City. A broken rail, due to wreckers, had delayed his train above Monterey.

At Opichen, in the Mexican state of Yucatan, 38 peasant rebels and 3 Federal soldiers were killed in a clash.

April 17: The U.S. House of Representatives approved an arms embargo resolution.

April 15: The U.S. officially goes off the gold standard; no exports of gold are allowed except by the government, to foreign governments.

April 21: At Akron, Ohio, the dirigible USS Macon, sister-ship of the ill-fated Akron, makes her maiden flight.

British Premier J.R. MacDonald arrives in Washington to confer with President Roosevelt.

April 23: In China, Moslem insurgents hav captured Urumchi, capital of Sinkiang province.

April 26: Earthquakes in Alaska damage Anchorage and Seward.

The wooden "Sacred Cod" which hangs in the Massachusetts State House is stolen by the staff of the Harvard Lampoon, and not returned for three days.

May: Construction begins on Yankee Stadium in the Bronx, New York City.

Lincoln Memorial dedicated in Washington, DC. 

May 10: Hundreds of thousands of books are burned in Germany today, mostly written by Jewish or Communist authors.

June: German minister of the interior Wilhelm Frick puts in motion the passage of the "law for the prevention of hereditary diseases in posterity"- the sterilization law. All political parties in Germany except for the NSDAP are banned.

July 4: Work begins on the Oakland Bay Bridge.

July 20:  A concordat between Germany and the Catholic Church is signed in Rome.

July 24:  President Roosevelt in a radio broadcast appeals to the American people to sign up individually on his emergency industrial code and thus help put millions back to work. The blank form is being mailed for signature to 5 million employers. The symbol of the National Recovery Administration is a picture of a blue eagle.

July 27th:  Spain recognizes Soviet Russia.

July 29th: The ship Wyatt Earp, carrying the Ellsworth Transantarctic Flight Expedition, departs from Bergen, Norway. The airplane of the expedition is a Northrop Delta.

August 1:  In a suburb of Hamburg, Germany, 4 Reds are executed by the guillotine for taking part in an attack on a Nazi troop parade in July of 1932 (18 persons were killed and 50 injured in the attack).

August 2:  In Managua, Nicaragua, the national arsenal explodes; martial law is declared.

August 3:  The greatest naval building program ever undertaken as a unit in the history of the country is ordered when the Navy Department awards contracts for 21 ships to be built by private shipyards and allocates 16 vessels to be constructed in navy yards.  Total cost over $130,000,000.

August 5:  In a monoplane, Lieut. Maurice Rossi, of the French Army air corps, and Paul Codos, French commercial pilot, leave Floyd Bennett Field, Brooklyn, at 5:41 a.m. The plane passed over Le Bourget Field, near Paris, at 3:20 p.m. on Aug. 6 (33 hours, 39 minutes from Brooklyn), and landed at 1:10 p.m. on Aug. 7 at Ryak, Syria -- 5,900 miles (a record non-stop flight). They had crossed Europe north of the Alps, over Vienna, the Balkans and the Aegean Sea.

August 7:  Manufacturers of submachineguns promise the U.S. Government to sell hereafter only to the government or its subdivisions and will endeavor through checking numbers on the guns to prevent them from falling into the hands of criminals.

August 11:  Cuban army leaders take possession of Havana and other places and tell President Machado to quit office, which he does the next day. With several of his cabinet he flees by airplane to Nassau, in the Bahamas.

August 18:  In a statement to the American people, Lieut. Gen. Sadao Araki, Minister of War of Japan, says, "The Japanese Empire has no apologies to offer the world for what critics abroad have considered the drastic and abrupt action her armies have taken in Manchuria and more recently in North China. Such criticism clearly indicates either ignorance of or unwillingness to understand the history of the past generation, especially with reference to Japan's relations with China and with the rest of the world."

August 19:  Cardinal Innitzer, Archbishop of Vienna, issues and appeal in which he says that millions have died of starvation in the Soviet Union in the last few months. This is denied by Moscow.

August 20:  The price of bread is doubled by government order in the Soviet Union.

August 29: President Roosevelt issues an executive order authorizing the government to handle the sale of all gold recovered from "natural deposits" in the United States. Gold hoarders must report their holdings within 15 days or face prosecution.

September: Karl Maria Wiligut is introduced to Reichsführer-SS Himmler this month at a conference of the Nordische Gesellschaft, and soon after is appointed (with the SS rank of Sturmbannführer (major), under the pseudonym "Karl Maria Weisthor") to head a Department for Pre- and Early History which was created for him within the SS Race and Settlement Main Office (RuSHA). He will be promoted to the rank of Standartenführer (colonel) in April 1934, made head of Section VIII (Archives) for RuSHA in October 1934, and promoted to the rank of Oberführer (lieutenant-brigadier) in November 1934. In Spring 1935 Wiligut will be transferred to Berlin to serve on Himmler's personal staff, as Himmler's personal Aryan-mysticism expert.

September 8: Acacia Lexington's expedition to Antarctica departs from New York City, with a Northrop Delta airplane, and a Cierva autogyro.

September 10:  Prof. Albert Einstein, who fled from Belgium fearing Nazis, has secluded himself in a log hut high on a barren Norfolk (England) heath, where he is closely guarded.

September 11: The Starkweather-Moore Antarctic Expedition departs from New York City, aboard the S.S. Gabrielle. They are bringing two Boeing Model 247 aircraft, and a smaller Fairchild FC-2W.

September 15: the Barsmeier-Falken Antarctic Expedition departs from Bremerhaven aboard the ship Wilhelmina.

September 23:  In Prussia, the Nazi government dissolves the "Tannenburg Bund" founded in 1926 by Gen. Eric von Ludendorf. It includes worshippers of the ancient Teuton gods, and its members decline the Christian faith. The government order alleges that many radicals have been secretly enrolling.

     Also on this date, Imperial Airways service is extended to Rangoon, Burma. It takes 9 days.

 

October: Benito Mussolini becomes Prime Minister of Italy.

October 1: Establishment of the NKVD (People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs) from the CHEKA (All-Russian Extraordinary Commission for Combating Counter-Revolution, Profiteering and Corruption).

October 5:  The Hitler government makes public the text of its National Press Law, under the terms of which every working newspaper man in Germany becomes a servant of the State. He will be licensed as such through membership in the National Press Federation and will be held morally and legally responsible to the State for his professional activities.

October 7:  The New York Giants defeat the Washington Senators to win the World Series (4 games to 1).

October 8: Coit Tower is dedicated in SF, a monument to firefighters 

October 14: Germany gives notice of withdrawal from the League of Nations.

October 16:  Harry Hopkins, the Federal Emergency Relief Administrator, announces that the government will immediately purchase large amounts of beef and butter for distribution among the destitute and unemployed during the coming Winter.

October 22: Admiral Richard Byrd's 2nd Antarctic Expedition departs from Lynnhaven Bay, Virginia, aboard the ships Jacob Ruppert and Bear. The people of Iceland vote this day to repeal their nation's prohibition on alcohol.

October 26:  The dirigible Graf Zeppelin arrives in Chicago from Brazil for the Century of Progress Fair.

October 27:   In Palestine, at Arab demonstrations against Jewish immigration, 20 are killed and 130 wounded in clashes with soldiers at Jaffa, and others are killed at Haifa and Nablus. The disorders on Oct. 29 cause three deaths in Jerusalem.

November 2:  At Pasadena, California, the beginning of a new cycle of sunspots is announced at the Carnegie Institute's Mount Wilson Observatory. Scientists expect increased magnetic disturbances on the earth, with occasional disruption of wirelestelegraph and telephone service; aurora borealis visible further south; more ultra-violet radiation; cooler weather.

November 5:  The headquarters building of the League of Nations is completed in Geneva. In Italy, Premier Mussolini takes over Cabinet control of the Ministries of Aviation and the Navy. Air Marshal Italo Balbo is made Governor of the Colony of Libya, in North Africa.

November 7:  Repeal of the 18th (prohibition) amendment is assured after votes in seven states today. Voters in New York City choose for mayor Fiorello LaGuardia, who headed the Fusion ticket, defeating the Tammany incumbent.

November 8:  Mohammed Nadir, King of Afghanistan, is assassinated at Kabul, and is succeeded by his son, Mohammed Nadir Khan.

November 12:  The Nazi government of Germany announces a 92% vote by the populace in support of quitting the League of Nations. The Century of Progress Fair ends in Chicago.

November 13:  Dust storms from west of the Mississippi stretch over Chicago and east as far as Albany, New York.

November 15:  Henry Morgenthau is appointed as acting Secretary of the Treasury by President Roosevelt.

November 16:  Normal relations between the United States and the U.S.S.R. are resumed.

November 20:  Strong earthquakes, recorded on instruments all around the world, are concentrated in the Artic region of Baffin Bay, caused supposedly by a slippage of submarine rock. At Foochow, China, the province of Fukien is declared an independent republic.

November 24:  Ghulam Dastgir, so-called pretender to the throne of Afghanistan, surrendered with his companions to Zahir Khan, the young Afghan King.

November 26:   The two men who kidnapped and murdered a young San Jose merchant are lynched by a mob in San Jose, California. Governor "Sunny" Rolph in a statement later commended the lynching as a "good job," a lesson to "every State of the the Union."

December 5:  Repeal of the Eighteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution by 36 of the 48 states is accomplished. President Roosevelt appeals for law and order, adding, "I ask especially that no State shall, by law or otherwise, authorize the return of the saloon, either in its old form or in some modern guise." In only 19 of the States is the sale of liquor legal. In Italy, the Fascist Grand Council votes not to remain in the League of Nations unless it is reformed.

December 9:  Imperial Airways extends its service east to Singapore, via Bangkok and Alorstar. The trip from London takes 10 days.

 

 

 

391