December 1930

The following events occurred in December 1930:

December 1, 1930 (Monday)

• 75,000 Scottish coal miners went on strike.^[1] The action coincided with a new British coal mining act taking effect which provided for a flat seven-and-a-half-hour working day unless the owners and the miner's federation agreed to a spreadover of 94 hours per fortnight.^[2]
• Born: Joachim Hoffmann, historian, in Königsberg, Germany (d. 2002)

December 2, 1930 (Tuesday)

• President Herbert Hoover gave his second State of the Union message to Congress. Like the previous year, it was delivered as a written message.^[3] "In the larger view", Hoover stated, "the major forces of the depression now lie outside the United States, and our recuperation has been retarded by the unwarranted degree of fear and apprehension created by these outside forces." Hoover reviewed what the government had done to cope with the economic crisis over the past year and asked Congress for up to $150 million to provide further employment through public works.^[4]
• Born: Gary Becker, economist, in Pottsville, Pennsylvania (d. 2014)

December 3, 1930 (Wednesday)

• Meuse Valley fog: hundreds of people in the Meuse Valley in Belgium began experiencing severe respiratory problems from industrial air pollution. Over 60 people died in the next few days.^[5]
• German police raided a Nazi-inhabited castle near Breslau along the Polish border, arresting hundreds of brownshirts and seizing large quantities of arms and ammunition. The Nazis were organizing a defense force to protect "oppressed" Germans in Upper Silesia.^[6]
• The rebuilt Adelphi Theatre opened in London.^[7]
• Born: Jean-Luc Godard, film director, screenwriter and film critic, in Paris, France

December 4, 1930 (Thursday)

• Otto Ender became Chancellor of Austria.
• André Tardieu's cabinet fell by 8 votes on a senate motion.^[8]
• Born: Jim Hall, jazz musician, in Buffalo, New York (d. 2013); Harvey Kuenn, baseball player and manager, in West Allis, Wisconsin (d. 1988)

December 5, 1930 (Friday)

• The film All Quiet on the Western Front had its German premiere at the Berlin Mozartsaal. Nazis led by Joseph Goebbels disrupted the premiere by throwing smoke bombs and sneezing powder, and attacking members of the audience who protested the disturbance.^[9][10]
• Died: Raul Brandão, 63, Portuguese writer, journalist and military officer

December 6, 1930 (Saturday)

• The Toronto Balmy Beach Beachers defeated the Regina Roughriders 11-6 to win the 18th Grey Cup of Canadian football.
• Born: Daniel Lisulo, Prime Minister of Zambia 1978–1981, in Mongu (d. 2000)

December 7, 1930 (Sunday)

• The Industrial Party Trial ended in the Soviet Union, with five of the eight defendants sentenced to death and the other three given prison terms of three to ten years.^[11]
• Born: Christopher Nicole, British writer, in Georgetown, Guyana
• Died: Jesús Flores Magón, 59, Mexican politician, journalist and lawyer

December 8, 1930 (Monday)

• The Soviet Union reduced the five death sentences handed down in the Industrial Party Trial to ten years' imprisonment. An official bulletin explained that the decision was made because the sentenced men had "repented their crimes" and "because soviet power cannot be guided by a mere desire for revenge".^[12]
• The Cole Porter stage musical The New Yorkers made its Broadway debut at the Broadway Theatre.^[13]
• Black Coffee, the first play written by the crime novelist Agatha Christie, premiered at the Embassy Theatre in London.
• Born: Stan Richards, actor, in Barnsley, South Yorkshire, England (d. 2005); Maximilian Schell, actor, director and producer, in Vienna, Austria (d. 2014)

December 9, 1930 (Tuesday)

• Five Italian communists were sentenced to prison terms of three to ten years for spreading propaganda in Turin.^[14]
• Born: Buck Henry, actor, writer and director, in New York City; Edoardo Sanguineti, poet, writer and academic, in Genoa, Italy (d. 2010)
• Died: Rube Foster, 51, American baseball player, manager and executive; Laura Muntz Lyall, 70, Canadian Impressionist painter

December 10, 1930 (Wednesday)

• The 1930 Nobel Prizes were awarded in Stockholm. The recipients were Sir Chandrasekhara Venkata Raman of India for Physics, Hans Fischer of Germany (Chemistry), Karl Landsteiner of Austria (Physiology or Medicine), Sinclair Lewis of the United States (Literature), while in Oslo Nathan Söderblom was awarded the Peace Prize.^[7]
• Brooklyn and the Bronx were the scenes of massive bank runs as crowds of 20,000 to 25,000 people lined up for hours in desperation to withdraw their money before closing time. Armored cars drove extra cash to besieged branches to meet the demand.^[15]
• In Hamburg, 1 was killed and 6 injured in a battle between police and a mob of unemployed demonstrators.^[16]
• The Bertolt Brecht play The Decision premiered.

December 11, 1930 (Thursday)

• Germany's board of film censors banned All Quiet on the Western Front from the country, explaining that the film dwelled too much on Germany's defeat and painted an inaccurate picture of its military. The Nazis, who had disrupted screenings of the film for all six days of its release, hailed the decision as a great victory and a "vindication of German honour."^[17]
• The Bank of United States and its 59 branches were closed and its assets taken over by the New York State Superindent of Banks.^[18]
• Bugs Moran was acquitted of vagrancy charges by a jury in an Illinois court.^[19]
• Born: Jean-Louis Trintignant, actor, screenwriter and director, in Piolenc, France; James Arthur Williams, antique dealer and historic preservationist, in Gordon, Georgia (d. 1990)

December 12, 1930 (Friday)

• A military revolution broke out against the Spanish government in Jaca.^[20]
• The Arthur Honegger operetta Les aventures du roi Pausole premiered at the Théâtre des Bouffes-Parisiens in Paris.^[21]
• The surrealist film L'Age d'Or (The Golden Age) was banned in France.^[22]
• Died: Nikolai Pokrovsky, 65, Russian politician

December 13, 1930 (Saturday)

• The Spanish government swiftly crushed the uprising in Jaca.^[23]
• Théodore Steeg became the new Prime Minister of France.^[24]
• Army defeated Navy 6-0 in the Army–Navy Game at Yankee Stadium. It was the first time the two teams had met in three years; the game had not been played in 1928 or 1929 due to a controversy regarding eligibility.^[25]
• Died: Fritz Pregl, Slovenian and Austrian chemist and physician

December 14, 1930 (Sunday)

• The glass-bottomed tour boat Eureka II had an engine room explosion and sank south of Miami. 135 were rescued but at least 3 died.^[26]
• Two Spanish army officers were executed by firing squad following a drumhead court-martial for the Jaca uprising.^[27]
• Died: F. Richard Jones, 37, American film director and producer

December 15, 1930 (Monday)

• Ramón Franco and 500 other insurgents launched a revolt against King Alfonso XIII from Cuatro Vientos Airport, sending wireless messages and dropping leaflets from airplanes proclaiming a republic.^[28] Spanish troops responded by shelling the airport and the rebellion was broken up, with Franco escaping the country by plane to Portugal.^[7][29]
• Chicago Stadium hosted the first indoor game in National Football League history. The Chicago Bears defeated the crosstown Cardinals 9-7 in front of an estimated 10,000 fans.^[30]
• Al Capone's 18-year-old sister Mafalda married John J. Mariote, the younger brother of Legs Diamond. This marriage between two rival gangs contributed to a peaceful co-existence of gangs in Chicago.^[31][32]
• Born: Edna O'Brien, author, poet and playwright, in Tuamgraney, Ireland

December 16, 1930 (Tuesday)

• 11 banks closed in North Carolina.^[33]
• The Spanish football team Real Madrid Castilla was founded.
• Born: Sam Most, jazz flautist and tenor saxophonist, in Atlantic City, New Jersey (d. 2013)

December 17, 1930 (Wednesday)

• The Central Executive Committee of the Soviet Union published a decree forbidding workers to change jobs without government permission.^[34]
• Born: Armin Mueller-Stahl, actor, painter, writer and musician, in Tilsit, Germany
• Died: Peter Warlock, 36, British composer and music critic (coal gas poisoning, possibly suicide)

December 18, 1930 (Thursday)

• The Soviet government forcibly closed the Japanese-Korean bank in Vladivostok and seized its assets, accusing the bank of violating the Soviet money trading rules.^[35]
• The George Fitzmaurice-directed romantic drama film The Devil to Pay!, starring Ronald Colman and Loretta Young, premiered at the Gaiety Theatre in New York City.^[36]
• Born: Bill Skowron, baseball player, in Chicago, Illinois (d. 2012)

December 19, 1930 (Friday)

• Vyacheslav Molotov became Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars of the Soviet Union, replacing Alexei Rykov.^[37]
• The Finnish ships Oberon and Arcturus collided in a fog off Læsø, Denmark. The Oberon sank with the loss of 42 of 82 on board. Coincidentally, the two ships were captained by brothers.^[38][39]
• Japan sent a note of protest to the Soviet Union, calling its closure of the Japanese-Korean bank an "unfriendly act".^[40]
• Retired French general Joseph Joffre had his right foot amputated in an attempt to save his life as gangrene set in. The operation was kept a secret for eight days.^[41]

December 20, 1930 (Saturday)

• President Hoover signed the $110 million emergency construction bill and a $45 million drought relief bill.^[42]
• Born: Pat Hare, blues guitarist and singer, in Cherry Valley, Arkansas (d. 1980)

December 21, 1930 (Sunday)

• Joseph Stalin had Alexei Rykov expelled from the Politburo.^[43]
• Born: Adebayo Adedeji, politician, in Nigeria; Kalevi Sorsa, four-time Prime Minister of Finland, in Keuruu, Finland (d. 2004)

December 22, 1930 (Monday)

• The Central Executive Committee of the Soviet Union published a decree calling for a complete revision the country's food distribution system.^[44]
• Died: Charles K. Harris, 63, American songwriter

December 23, 1930 (Tuesday)

• Former Indiana governor Warren T. McCray was granted a pardon by President Hoover. McCray had served three years in prison for fraud.^[45]

December 24, 1930 (Wednesday)

• In his Christmas Eve message, Pope Pius XI warned against "blind nationalism" and encouraged increased cooperation between nations to secure world peace.^[46]
• Born: Mel Triplett, American football player, in Indianola, Mississippi (d. 2002)

December 25, 1930 (Thursday)

• The German film Storm over Mont Blanc directed by Arnold Fanck and starring Leni Riefenstahl premiered in Dresden.^[47]
• Born: Salah Jahin, Egyptian poet, lyricist, playwright and cartoonist, in Cairo, Egypt (d. 1986)

December 26, 1930 (Friday)

• Louis II, Prince of Monaco suspended the country's constitution in a surprise move.^[48]
• Frankie Genaro met Midget Wolgast in a flyweight title unification boxing match in Madison Square Garden, but the bout ended in a draw and both men kept their titles.^[49]

December 27, 1930 (Saturday)

• A landslide after heavy rain in Algiers crashed down on a house where a wedding was being celebrated, killing 30.^[50]
• Born: Wilfrid Sheed, American novelist and essayist, in England

December 28, 1930 (Sunday)

• German dancer Mary Wigman made her American debut to a sold-out house at Chanin's 46th Street Theatre in New York.^[51]
• Born: Mariam A. Aleem, artist and professor, in Egypt (d. 2010); Gladys Ambrose, actress, in Everton, Liverpool, England (d. 1998)

December 29, 1930 (Monday)

• An article by the Italian Futurist Filippo Tommaso Marinetti was published in the Gazzetta del Popolo, in which he called for the abolition of pasta in favour of Futurist meals. Marinetti explained that pasta was hard to digest and made Italians "skeptical, slow [and] pessimistic", in addition to requiring heavy importation to Italy. Rice, on the other hand, would create "lithe, agile peoples who will be victorious" in future wars and was already being homegrown in vast amounts. The manifesto also called for the abolition of the knife and fork.^[52][53][54]
• The Econometric Society was founded.
• Died: Walter L. Cohen, 70, African-American politician and businessman

December 30, 1930 (Tuesday)

• Colonial National Monument in Virginia was proclaimed by President Hoover.^[55]
• The Louis Weitzenkorn play Five Star Final premiered at the Cort Theatre in New York City.^[56]

December 31, 1930 (Wednesday)

• Adolphus Busch Orthwein, the 13-year-old grandson of Anheuser-Busch CEO August Anheuser Busch, Sr., was kidnapped, presumably for ransom, by a masked gunman in Huntleigh, Missouri.^[57][58]
• Pope Pius XI promulgated the encyclical Casti connubii.
• Born: Jaime Escalante, educator, in La Paz, Bolivia (d. 2010); Odetta, musician, actress and activist, in Birmingham, Alabama (d. 2008)

References