August 1934

[August 1], 1934 (Wednesday)

• With Paul von Hindenburg on his death bed, the German government passed the Law Concerning the Head of State of the German Reich, which abolished the title of President and merged its powers with those of Chancellor. Hitler was now to be known as Führer and Reich Chancellor. Passage of the law was not announced until noon the following day.
• Pope Pius XI traveled by automobile to the Papal Palace of Castel Gandolfo in the Alban Hills, a papal vacation retreat that no pope had visited since 1869. No popes left the Vatican between 1870 and the signing of the Lateran Treaty in 1929, and in the five years since then Pius XI had not left the immediate vicinity of Rome.

  [August 2], 1934 (Thursday)

• Paul von Hindenburg died at nine o'clock in the morning at his estate in Neudeck.
• The German government announced that a referendum would be held on August 19 for voters to approve the Law on the Head of State of the German Reich.
• Born: Valery Bykovsky, cosmonaut, in Pavlovsky Posad, USSR
• Died: Paul von Hindenburg, 86, Prussian-German field marshal and statesman; George H. Mallon, 57, U.S. Army officer and Medal of Honor recipient; Lucille Young, 52, American film actress

  [August 3], 1934 (Friday)

• After a month spent mostly at sea, U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt arrived in Portland, Oregon, and visited the Bonneville Dam.
• Born: Jonas Savimbi, political and military leader, in Munhango, Angola

  [August 4], 1934 (Saturday)

• During a 21–4 win over the Philadelphia Phillies, Mel Ott of the New York Giants scored six runs in one game, something that no player had done since 1899. Ott would score six runs in a game again on April 30, 1944, and become the only player to ever accomplish the feat twice.
• Born: Dallas Green, baseball player and manager, in Newport, Delaware

  [August 5], 1934 (Sunday)

• Adolf Hitler said in a Daily Mail interview that "If it rests with Germany, war will not come again. This country has a more profound impression than any other of the evil that war causes. Ninety-five percent of the members of the National Administration have had personal experiences of its horrors. They know that it is not a romantic adventure but a ghastly catastrophe."
• Born: Wendell Berry, writer, in Henry County, Kentucky; Gay Byrne, radio and television presenter, in Dublin, Ireland

  [August 6], 1934 (Monday)

• The body of Paul von Hindenburg was brought to the Tannenberg Memorial. The road for the funeral procession was lined with mourners bearing torches.
• Born: Billy Boston, rugby league footballer, in Tiger Bay, Cardiff, Wales

  [August 7], 1934 (Tuesday)

• The funeral service for Paul von Hindenburg was held. Hitler delivered the final oration.
• Franz von Papen stepped down as Vice-Chancellor of Germany. The position was left vacant.

  [August 8], 1934 (Wednesday)

• 50,000 gathered in Vienna for a memorial ceremony for Engelbert Dollfuss, organized by the Fatherland Front. Chancellor Schuschnigg and Vice-Chancellor Starhemberg both spoke at the event, proclaiming their determination to keep Austria independent.
• 12 drowned in Poland when a motorbus slide off a road into the Bug River. The bus driver and three passengers escaped.
• Died: Wilbert Robinson, 71, American baseball player and manager

  [August 9], 1934 (Thursday)

• The Bluebell Collision occurred in Newcastle, Australia, when the harbour ferry Bluebell struck a coastal freighter and sank.
• Adolf Hitler proclaimed a general amnesty for thousands of political prisoners, mostly affecting those incarcerated for lower-level crimes such as criticizing the government. The amnesty did not apply to those serving sentences for high treason, espionage or attempted murder. Hitler also ordered the dissolution of the Austrian Legion, the organization of Austrian Nazis who had crossed the border after Dollfuss had banned the Nazi Party there.
• The German Evangelical National Synod under Reichbischof Ludwig Müller passed a resolution requiring pastors and church officials to swear an oath to be "faithful and obedient to the Führer of the German people, Adolf Hitler."
• The 4th Women's World Games opened in London.
• Some 10,000 banana workers went on strike in Costa Rica. The strike, led by Carlos Luis Fallas and other Communist Party organizers, was the largest strike in Costa Rican history at the time.

  [August 10], 1934 (Friday)

• General Werner von Blomberg issued a decree ordering all German soldiers to refer to Hitler as "Mein Führer" instead of "Der Führer".
• Babe Ruth of the New York Yankees announced that the present season would be his last as a full-time player. "I really don't know what the future holds for me – only time will tell", Ruth said. "I would like to remain in the game as a manager and perhaps do a little pinch hitting on Saturdays and Sundays or days when I figured it would help the gate."
• Twenty-three-year-old American music student Isobel Lillian Steele was arrested in Berlin on suspicion of espionage. During her four months of captivity her case became a cause célèbre in the American media as the U.S. government worked to free her.
• Born: James Tenney, composer and musical theorist, in Silver City, New Mexico
• Died: George W. Hill, 39, American film director and cinematographer

  [August 11], 1934 (Saturday)

• The Women's World Games ended.
• William Beebe and Otis Barton broke their own deep-sea diving record, attaining a depth of in a bathysphere off Bermuda. Beebe reported seeing strange deep sea fish equipped with "headlights" that gave him an impression that "stars in a black sky twisting around crazily, had suddenly gone mad."

  [August 12], 1934 (Sunday)

• Babe Ruth visited Fenway Park for the last time as the Yankees split a doubleheader against the Boston Red Sox. A then-Fenway record of 46,776 fans came out to cheer for the Babe in the ballpark where his major league career began in 1914. Ruth went 2-for-5 with a double in the first game and 0-for-1 with two walks in the second game.

  [August 13], 1934 (Monday)

• The Copley Street riot in Cork, Ireland arising out of a conflict between farmers and the state during the Anglo-Irish trade war.
• The comic strip Li'l Abner first appeared.
• Four Austrian policemen were hanged for participating in the July Putsch.
• Died: Mary Hunter Austin, 65, American writer

  [August 14], 1934 (Tuesday)

• John S. Labatt, president of Canada's Labatt Brewing Company, was kidnapped while driving between his summer home in Sarnia and his office in London, Ontario. The kidnappers left a note demanding $150,000.
• Hitler received a signed document containing Hindenburg's 'last wish', which was for the restoration of the Hohenzollern monarchy. Hitler did not have the document published.
• The New York City Police Department Combat Cross was established.
• Hermann Göring was injured in an accident outside Munich when the car he was driving collided with a truck on a narrow road. He sustained injuries to his back and cuts to his face and knees, but left the hospital the next day.
• Died: Raymond Hood, 53, American architect

  [August 15], 1934 (Wednesday)

• Hindenburg's 'testament' was published in the German press, speaking highly of "my Chancellor Adolf Hitler and his movement".
• The United States occupation of Haiti ended after 19 years, in accordance with President Roosevelt's Good Neighbor policy towards Latin America, as the last contingent of American troops departed.
• William Beebe and Otis Barton broke their own deep-sea diving record again, achieving a depth of. Beebe attempted to take some motion picture film of the deep sea fish he first saw on Saturday, but the fish kept swimming away from the bathysphere's searchlight and the film proved inconclusive.
• Born: Nino Ferrer, singer, in Genoa, Italy

  [August 16], 1934 (Thursday)

• Italy ordered the 48,000 troops rushed to the Austro-Italian border during the July Putsch to return to their regular bases.
• Hitler's amnesty announcement went into effect, releasing the prisoners in time to vote in Sunday's referendum.
• The Cecil B. DeMille-directed epic film Cleopatra starring Claudette Colbert was released.
• Born: Donnie Dunagan, actor, in San Antonio, Texas; Ed van Thijn, politician, in Amsterdam, Netherlands ; Diana Wynne Jones, fantasy novelist, in London, England

  [August 17], 1934 (Friday)

• In Hamburg, Hitler made his lone campaign speech before the referendum, explaining that he arranged for the abolition of the presidency in order to prevent any attempts by foreign elements to stir up intrigues over the question of succession. Hitler also attacked the system of government under the old Weimar Republic as not being capable of action but "only of compromise."
• John Labatt was released by his kidnappers at Forest Hill, Toronto when they panicked over the ransom money not arriving fast enough while the police were closing in. Labatt promised his kidnappers he would deliver $25,000 to a place of their choosing in exchange for his release, but they did not try to contact him again and he never paid.
• The adventure film Treasure Island starring Wallace Beery and Jackie Cooper was released.
• The National Beta Club was founded in USA.

  [August 18], 1934 (Saturday)

• Manchukuo severed all relations with the Soviet Union due to a variety of border incidents including soldiers firing on each other. The two states did not have formal diplomatic relations but had been communicating unofficially due to shared borders and commercial interests.
• Born: Vincent Bugliosi, attorney and author, in Hibbing, Minnesota ; Roberto Clemente, baseball player, in San Juan, Puerto Rico