August 1923

August 1, 1923 (Wednesday)

• A medical bulletin from President Harding's physicians reported from San Francisco that there was a "slight improvement in the lung condition" but no change otherwise. A followup report said that he had eaten two soft-boiled eggs for breakfast and had "a slight and only slight attack of indigestion" that "was more than overbalanced by the decline of the President's temperature to normal for the first time." At the same time, committees in San Francisco and Los Angeles agreed to turn over the remaining expenses associated with entertainment during Harding's tour "to a state fund to provide everything necessary for the comfort of President Harding" during his convalescence, including the lease of a private home "in the cool and bracing atmosphere close to San Francisco" during August.
• A parade of the Ku Klux Klan drew a crowd of 100,000 people in Lima, Ohio.
• The silent historical drama Little Old New York, based on a play of the same name, was released by Goldwyn Pictures, and cast Marion Davies and Harrison Ford as a daughter and a stepson competing for a large inheritance. Produced by newspaper mogul William Randolph Hearst, the film was one of the 10 most popular in 1923.
• The wife of film comedian Al St. John was granted a divorce in Los Angeles court. "He started drinking in October 1917, and I haven't seen him sober since that time," she testified.
• Born:
• *Carter Brown, English-born Australian detective fiction author; as Alan Geoffrey Yates, in Ilford, London, England
• *Thelma Forshaw, Australian short story writer and journalist; in Glebe Point, New South Wales, Australia
• Died: Alexander Y. Malcomson, 58, American businessman who provided the initial financing for the launch of the Ford Motor Company; died of pneumonia

  August 2, 1923 (Thursday)

• United States President Warren G. Harding died at 7:30 p.m. San Francisco time. At 7:51, a statement of "the saddest news that telegraph wires can carry" was sent across the nation, signed by his five physicians: "The President died instantaneously and without warning and while conversing with members of his family at 7:30 p.m. Death was apparently due to some brain involvement, probably due to an apopleptic stroke. During the day he had been free from discomfort, and there was every justification for anticipating a prompt recovery." While the cause of death was officially said at the time to have been from a stroke, it is now more commonly believed to have been from heart failure.
• Konstantin Päts became the Riigivanem or "State Elder" of Estonia for the second time, succeeding Juhan Kukk as the Baltic nation's head of state and head of government.
• The military and economic alliance of France and Poland, signed on February 21, 1921, took effect upon ratification by both nations.
• British Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin told the House of Commons that "If the British people feel that the wounds of Europe were being kept open instead of being healed," by the collection of large reparations from Germany, "there might then easily ensue the last thing in the world that I would like to see," while Ramsay MacDonald said "It is perfectly clear that France is in the Ruhr not for the purpose of getting reparations," but "an attempt to continue war after formal peace has been declared."
• Born:
• *Shimon Peres, Israeli politician and statesman, served as the Prime Minister of Israel in 1977, 1984 to 1986, and 1995 to 1998, then as President of Israel from 2007 to 2014; as Szymon Perski, in Wiszniew, Poland
• *Ike Williams, American professional boxer and world lightweight champion from 1945 to 1951; as Isiah Williams, in Brunswick, Georgia, United States
• Died:
• *Warren G. Harding, 57, American politician, served as the 29th President of the United States from 1921 until his death; died of heart failure
• *George Alexander, 83, Scottish-born American politician, served as the 28th Mayor of Los Angeles from 1909 to 1913
• *Robert Alexander, 82-83, Scottish artist
• *Joseph Whitty, 19, Irish republican; died in the Curragh Camp prison hospital after a hunger strike

  August 3, 1923 (Friday)

• The inauguration of Calvin Coolidge as 30th President of the United States was held at the family home in Plymouth Notch, Vermont at 2:47 a.m. Coolidge took the oath of office from his father John Calvin Coolidge, Sr., the local notary public, by the light of a kerosene lamp.
• President Coolidge took a train to Washington and arrived in the nation's capital at 9:10 p.m. after having been driven from Plymouth Notch to Rutland, Vermont, where he boarded a private car at the station and traveled to New York City's Grand Central Station and departing at 4:15 p.m. local time for a nonstop trip to Washington in less than six hours. He then was taken from the Pennsylvania Avenue terminal in a private car. President Coolidge and his wife then went to their suite at the Willard Hotel in Washington, where he had lived since becoming vice president, until the White House could be readied for his arrival.
• The Irish Free State passed the "Defence Forces Act", to create "an armed force to be called Oglaigh na hEireann consisting of such number of officers, non-commissioned officers, and men as may from time to time be provided" by the parliament. A more permanent force would be established on October 1, 1924.
• The Palacio de las Garzas, the official residence of the president of Panama, was inaugurated with President Belisario Porras Barahona and his family as the first person to live there.
• Baseball commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis released a statement which read, "It is the sentiment throughout baseball that no games be played either today nor on the day of the funeral for the late President, and as a further mark of respect for his memory, flags at ball parks will be displayed at half mast until after the burial."
• Born:
• *Jean Hagen, American actress; as Jean Verhagen, in Chicago, Illinois, United States
• *Pope Shenouda III of Alexandria, Egyptian pope of the Coptic Orthodox Church, as Nazir Gayed Roufail, in Abnub, Kingdom of Egypt
• Died: Laura Ratcliffe, 87, spy and agent for the Confederate States of America during the American Civil War

  August 4, 1923 (Saturday)

• The Otira Tunnel, at the longest tunnel in the British Empire and the seventh-largest in the world at the time, was opened by the Midland Railway Company on South Island in New Zealand.
• Rauf Orbay resigned as Prime Minister of Turkey.
• Calvin Coolidge's first official act as U.S. president was to declare August 10 a day of national mourning and prayer on the occasion of Warren Harding's funeral.
• Sir Arthur Conan Doyle ended his visit to North America, boarding the in New York bound for England. "After a period of about three days the spirit of President Harding may, if sought, advise Calvin Coolidge, the nation's new chief executive, wisely and helpfully on the great problems confronting him", Doyle said just before leaving.
• Born:
• *Reg Grundy, Australian TV producer and media mogul; as Reginald Grundy, in Sydney, Australia
• *Mayme Agnew Clayton, African American museum founder who amassed the largest privately held collection of African American historical materials in the world; in Van Buren, Arkansas, United States
• *James E. Lewis, African American artist, art collector, and professor whose collection of African art is amassed in the James E. Lewis Museum of Art at Morgan State University; in Phenix, Virginia, United States
• Died: Blanche Georgiana Vulliamy, 53-54, English artist and writer

  August 5, 1923 (Sunday)

• Iowa Senator Albert B. Cummins proposed a constitutional amendment limiting the president to one term only. "Human frailities are too great to stand the strain which the presidency places on a man," Cummins said. "We should limit the President to one term. It might be made a six year term, but I am not so sure about that even."
• Born:
• *Devan Nair, Singaporean union leader and politician, served as the third President of Singapore from 1981 to 1985; in Malacca, Straits Settlements
• *Michael Kerry, British Procurator General and Treasury Solicitor, 1980 to 1984; in Hampstead, London
• Died: Candace Thurber Wheeler, 96, American business operator and the first major female interior designer, founder of the Society of Decorative Arts in New York, the New York Exchange for Women's Work, the interior decorating firm of Tiffany & Wheeler, and the textile manufacturer Associated Artists

  August 6, 1923 (Monday)

• Manuel Teixeira Gomes was elected President of Portugal by the 194 members of the Congresso da República in a joint session of the Senado and the Câmara dos Deputados on the third ballot. Requiring at least two-thirds of the votes cast, Gomes had 108 of 187 votes split among five candidates, with former president Bernardino Machado receiving 73. On the next ballot, Gomes had 117 of 200 votes cast to 71 for Machado. The final ballot was between Gomes and Machado only, with 68 of Machado's supporters casting blank votes and Gomes receiving 121 of the 126 cast.
• Henry Sullivan became the first American to swim the English Channel, accomplishing the feat in 27 hours and 25 minutes.
• The United States and Turkey signed treaties of commerce and extradition.
• Born:
• *Moira Lister, South African stage, film and TV actress and writer; in Cape Town, South Africa
• *Marisa Merlini, Italian character actress on film; in Rome, Kingdom of Italy

  August 7, 1923 (Tuesday)

• German Chancellor Wilhelm Cuno called a conference of the six top party leaders where it was decided to put the country back on a gold basis.
• U.S. President Harding's funeral train reached Washington, D.C. at 10:22 p.m. and his casket was moved to the White House, where it lay overnight in the East Room.
• Born:
• *Margaret Hayman, British educator, co-founder of the British Mathematical Olympiad; as Margaret Crann, in New Earswick, North Yorkshire, England
• *Victor Nendaka Bika, Congolese politician, director of the national police and intelligence agency of the Democratic Republic of Congo from 1960 to 1965; in Kumu, Bas-Uele District, Belgian Congo
• *Licinio de la Fuente, Spanish politician, served as Labor Minister from 1969 to 1975; in Noez, Spain